Huaraz & the Huayhuash hike

So, we arrived in Huaraz quite early in the morning and our first mission was to find a hostel. When we were here before we stayed in a fine and quiet house with a rather mad lady. The way to find our way home was to walk to Jesus in the main plaza and then two blocks on, turn right at the golden man. We were quite distressed to find that not only was the golden man missing but someone had removed the MASSIVE statue of Jesus. So, we settled for another odd hostel run by a guy called Even(HEHEHE). Eight years have passed since we were in Huaraz and the city has really grown. We went for a juice in our usual hang out, no longer a stall in a lane way, but a fine shop with 8 blenders on the go, crazy music blaring on the television and a steady flow of locals, guzzling fruit juices! Still the same price for a juice though, and a piece of vanilla cake.

We decided that our first trip out of Huaraz would be a bit of high altitude training. Two or so hours from Huaraz is the town of Pocpa which is the starting point for a multi-day trek around the Huayhuash range of mountains. Most of the mountains are above the 5000m metre mark, with many towering over 6000m, including Siula Grande(6344m) and Yerupaja (6617m). http://huaraz.com/map/huayhuash/

should give a bigger map.

The first part of this long journey started with us crawling out of bed at 3.50am, putting our bags on our backs and walking to the bus station. The bus finally left by 5am and we arrived in Chiquian about 7am. Joe was not feeling the best that morning and my concern was growing for him the whole journey. We were lucky to have the very back seat on the bbbuuusss and he was looking pretty green. Joe had a snooze at the side of the road in Chiquian and we soon boarded another bus to Llamac and on to Pocpa, even more bbuuummppppyas we went up and down switch backs. Amazingly, Joe picked up a bit and by 10.30am were were marching up a hill for four and a half hours to our first camp!!!

So, for the next nine days we had a job to do; walk from one camp to another with our bags on our backs and stop on the way somewhere with a very fine view to enjoy a very fine lunch!!!! Most peole who take on this challenge make it a bit easier for themselves; they hire a guide to show them the way. They also hire some donkeys to carry their equipment and food. They then need an arriero( who usually work in twos) to look after their donkeys. Their guide and arrieros need to be fed and so they also need a cook. This then means that two people heading for a walk in the hills turns into six people, five donkeys and a horse

( in case of emergency). Joe and I were just two and happy. Yes, our bags were heavy, yes, we had a porridge/ smash / pasta combo for nine days, but we were happy!!! We walked every day for between 5 and 8 hours, with about an hour plus of breaks. After getting off the bus we walked from Pocpa (3650m) to Matacancha where we had our first camp and the misfortune of having our pots stolen from our tent at night! (We managed to buy a well worn one from a local). On day two we walked to Laguna Mitacocha, over a 4685m pass. We were lucky that it was a bit over cast and so we didn´t get fried in the sun. On day three we walked over a 4650mm pass to Laguna Carhuacocha. We passed some small stone houses and locals selling cola and beer. On day four we walked to Laguna Carnicero over a 4800m pass.

The days seemed to be getting longer as we moved along, never mind the severe amount of undulating terain that we were trudging along!!!! High altitude treking is not a walk in the park!! We did however pass out all other parties during the day, as we enjoyed the stunning views around us. So, different day, different valley of mountians. Some things stayed constant and that was our eating routine......

Awake with the sun about 6am. Sit up in bed and put on a pot of tea. ( a great addition to our equipment is our thermarest seats, turning sleeping mats into seats with back support- thanks Bod & Claire). Tea is followed by porridge and then its time to get out of the sleeping bag!! Pack up bags, take down tent and put on a brew of fresh coffee to enjoy with a biscuit or some chocolate. If we managed

to leave by 8am we were doing well!! Lunch is crackers, cream cheese, salami and onion. On arrival at camp we have noodles, followed by soup. A game of cards, and its time for dinner. Pasta or smash with tuna followed by tea and a tasty treat of chocolate. Pot of water goes on again to make a hot water bottle for Joe ( to subsidise his very cold sleeping bag) and then its time for sleep before we start it all again. Creatures of habit!!One of our pleasures in the mornings was watching the arrieros trying to round up the donkeys.They would wander far from the tents up the side of the far off hills looking for that really tasty grass.

On day five we were in for a treat. It was a short day but also brought the reward of hot springs!!!! We sat in the scalding water, soothing our bodies and chatted to the peruvian porters as they tried to not drown in the pool!!( an entire nation of non - swimmers!!) I however developed a bad sore throat and had to add gargling hot salty water to my food routine!! On day six we decided to really push the boat out and climbed to a pass at 5000m then down to the valley floor and up to another pass at 5100m. The view was wonderful with deep blue lakes sitting below threatening glaciers. We climbed

steadily down to another valley floor and just had the tent up before the rain came!!! You have no idea how tasty a bowl of noodles tastes after a day of hiking like that!! Day seven saw a bit more rain and another very long days hiking, taking us past the small settlement of Huayllapa with more downhill than up!! After breakfast on day eight, we crossed Tapuish pass at 4800m , went down to the valley floor and had lunch with a view of Laguna Susucocha. We then climbed steadily up again to Yaucha pass at 4840m and arrived at Laguna Yahuacocha with aching knees and backs, eager for more noodles!! Up at 4.30am on day nine, we had our last porridge breakfast before a four and a half hour jaunt to the town of Llamac. With a certain sense of survival and relief we feasted on egg sandwiches and beer before negotiating a taxi back to Huaraz.