Huaraz and Laguna 69 day trek

We ended up leaving Huanchaco a day later than planned because we booked the bus too late and there were only 2 spaces left. The guys were on a time constraint, so Hannah and I just left Monday night instead. The bus went fairly slowly as it wound up the mountain sides. We got in around 430am and went to a hostal recommended by Hannah's friend. The hostal was locked in behind an alley so we weren't too sure about it at first. We woke the lady who runs the place up and she found us a temporary spot to sleep until she could check which rooms were actually free. We ended up in a room for 6 people, the rest of them are pretty intense climbers. It´s hard to take pictures of the mountains and get the full effect of them. From the hostal I counted 7 snowy peaks. Here´s a photo of a few from the Plaza de Armas:

Huaraz has really stunning views surrounding the city. When the weather is clear you can see several snow capped mountains and some also beautiful regular ones. On Monday the guys wanted us all to go to Laguna 69 for a day trek, that left at 6 am. We decided against that since the bus just got in and we hadn't acclimatized yet. We ended up going to the ruins of Willcahuain, which ended up being these two structures built out of massive stones that were used by the Wari as enclosures for dead of the elite. They were interesting but there wasn't much there so we decided to just go wander around the mountainside. The sky was clear, the air was fresh an the views were amazing. We came across many small agricultural patches, many of which were eucalyptus of various ages. Walking around for an hour was surprisingly tiring, the altitude really does get to you! We got back in the collectivo back to the city and were so exhausted and found a panaderia (bakery) to regain some energy. We though we got apple pasties but it was actually banana an it tasted amazing. We got a bunch of other things to take with us on our day hike the next day. Feeling refreshed, we wandered around city a little more before we met the guys for dinner. 

Tuesday morning we were up at 6 am to try to go on our own to Laguna 69. To my surprise, the sun was rising over the snowy mountains creating a glorious pink glow in the cloudless sky. Something I likely won't see again. Everyone said we were crazy for trying to get to Laguna 69 on our own and that we had left too late, super encouraging start to the day... We were determined, so we left the hostel around 630, got some sandwiches and a hot quinoa beverage for breakfast and found the collectivo that went to Yungay, about an hour away. As usual, we were the only non-Peruvians in the van. There was supposed to be more collectivos that would go to Cebollas Pampas, but apparently they all left early that day because of a festival. We had to take a taxi that would cost 80 soles, but luckily there was a Spanish couple in the same situation, so we could split the cost. Into the taxi we went and started the almost 2 hour journey up the bumpiest, windiest, slowest dirt road with the most stunning views of the countryside and the mountains. The ride itself was just amazing. We saw the tallest mountain in Peru and the mountain that the Paramount pictures logo was designed from, and some others. Along the way we stopped at Llaganuco, a stunningly blue lake. 

On the drive we came across another lake, though I´m not sure what the name of it is:

Once we arrived at the starting point our taxi driver tried to get us to have him come back for us and pay the full 80 soles between the 2 of us. We managed to get one of the other private tour companies to take us back down for 25 soles. It´s hard to get down if you don´t prearrange it. I heard one story of a guy getting stuck there and having to walk back which takes about 7 hours and then when you get to Yungay there generally isn´t any collectivos to get back to Huaraz.

The hike itself was supposed to take us 3 hours. All the drivers said we were leaving too late, but that didn´t phase us. Off we set not really knowing where we were going or what we would really see. The beginning was fairly simple, though difficult in the altitude. We walked for about 50 minutes then stopped for a break at a waterfall. I felt like my heart was going to pump out through my neck at this point. Stopping for less than a minute allowed us to quickly regain our breathing abilities and rest our achy legs. 

We saw a giant waterfall across from where we were walking and thought maybe the lake was just over that ridge. As we got closer we had convinced ourselves it was there beacuse our legs are aching and it felt like we´d been walking for a while. Of course though, once we got to the top of that valley, there was an even larger and steeper climb ahead of us. Around that point we overcame some other hikers and we knew we were making good time. The second portion was much harder to walk. Already really tired and feeling the alitude, I had to take a break about every five or six steps, stop for two seconds, then repeat. It was really steep and zig-zaged up the mountainside. The views all around were stunning as the clouds came and went. The last portion we got snowed on. It was a bit refreshing. Hannah managed to get to the top 5 to 10 minutes before me, and we made it all the way up in about 2 hours 45 mins. At the top we enjoyed the beautiful blue lake, had a picnic of apple pie and cheese sandwiches we had brought. Hannah went knee deep into the water, which was probably near freezing cold. Yesterday the boys had gone all the way into the water in their underwear. Too cold for me! The walk down was really easy and we did it in about 1h30 mins. We went fairly quickly and the sun was out the whole way down. The driver was pretty shocked to see us back so soon. I thought I had felt fine until we sat in the van waiting for the others to return. I felt like I had all the flu symptoms, strong fever and headache. The ride down was absolutely horrible. Every bump we went over felt like someone was taking a sledge hammer to my head, and bumps were about every half a second. Once we got back to Yungay on the smooth highway to Huaraz, I fell asleep and only the speed bumps woke me up. We got back to the hostal around 7pm and I had started to feel much better now that I had slept and we were lower down in altitude. Overall, it was worth it. Would I do it again knowing I´d feel so horrible after? Absolutely.

My time in Huanchaco

I've been in Huanchaco for two weeks now and am planning to move onto Huaraz on Sunday with some people. Huanchaco was a great start to my trip. Before I left for this trip I was so busy all the time with everything in Toronto, so I've been very lazy here so far. I'm currently sitting on a cliff overlooking the town watching the waves and people trying to catch them on their boards. The sun is shining an not a cloud as far as the eye can see. I must say, it's super enjoyable. This is the second day of sun in a row, which is rare this time of year. 

Laura was volunteering with Otra Cosa and there is a group of about 15 of them doing different projects around the area. They are all really awesome people and I've spent a fair bit of time with them here. The town is small enough that you can just walk around and run into a few people you know wherever you go. Between these people and all the locals I've met, it's hard to be lonely around here. A lot of people don't have cell phones so you have to put in more of an effort to see people and go knock on their doors, or hope you see them in the street, which you generally will. Most of the locals we know are involved with surfing here, so it's easy to go down to the beach and find anyone lazing about. It's also handy being friends with the surfers because lessons are much cheaper. Surfing is quite hard, but a lot of fun. I feel like it's something I could get good at if I had more time. Walking around Huanchaco is very interesting because there is a ton of street art around the city. 

One of the projects Otra Cosa runs is a skate ramp park up in the shanty town of El Cerrito. It's basically just a giant ramp in an area that was probably a house at some point. I've gone up to help out a few times since being here. I basically just entertain the kids that don't skateboard. I usually bike up there, so they immediately ask to borrow my bike when I arrive. The bike is taller than some of them but they still manage to get on the bike and go up and down the street. The skate ramp itself is quite large and the guy running the program wanted to build a smaller version for the littler kids to learn on. The end product ended up being a little steeper than he wanted it, but the kids still use it anyways. It was interesting to watch the kids being super resourceful when building their ramp. Tomorrow the volunteers are organizing a run for charity that will end up at tr skate ramp. There will be a small skate competition for the kids to show off their moves after the run. Hopefully the weather can stay nice for one more day! 

Mancora!

Huanchaco is pretty small and there is rarely any sunshine this time of year. We were toying with the idea of heading north for the weekend to Mancora, but the idea had kind of fizzled out. Last minute on Friday we decided to just go. Laura and Andrew booked it to Trujillo to get the tickets for the overnight bus. Mancora is about 9 hours from Trujillo near the boarder of Ecuador and is all sunshine and warm ocean waters. It's funny because back home 9 hours on a bus seems super far, but here it seems like a very short ride. 

We arrived at 6am to a hoard of taxis very aggressively trying to get us to pick them to take us to the hostel. The hostel was at the end of the beach away from the town which was very nice. The beach was basically empty other than us and the occasional local fisherman. We spent most of the day sun burning on the beach. We had put some sunscreen on, but being so close to the equator for so many hours, we all got burnt. It was nice regardless. 

At night we went into town where it seemed like all the locals go. There's a strip on the beach of about 6 place that are all open and blaring horrible music. If you are standing near the front or outside you just hear 3 songs all mixed together and you just hear bad noise. We didn't stay very long. 

The hostel was nice and the food was amazing. They had more of a variety of international-ish dishes, which was a nice change. I couldn't finish my chicken fried rice one meal and they didn't have take away containers, so into a plastic bag it went. Typical Peru. It was a fun trip, but I don't think I could laze about on a beach for more than 2 days. 

Trips into the city

Laura and I decided to go check out Trujillo, since she hasn't been over there yet and we didn't really have anything else to do. Catching the bus is rather amusing here because there are no stops and the buses are actually vans where a guy hang out the door/window yelling the stops at people. They really rush you on and off the bus, they have no time to waste! The guy says about 3 words constantly, basically just get off an go (baja! baja! baja! vale! vale! vale!). It's about 20 minutes into the city. We didn't really know where to get off, so Laura made an educated guess. It worked out well since we got of about 2 blocks from where we generally wanted to go. We found a few pedestrian streets that we nice. 

We got into the city around 1 and found a great little cafe to get a late lunch in. When we were walking around there was tons of great pastries and other goodies to try. I wanted to try the ice cream here, which was served in a neon yellow cone, but it's not so great here. Laura got a giant blob of meringue, which she tried to wear as a hat... 

Around 3pm everything seemed to be closed for some reason. We found the market and wandered around a bit, but really didn't do much there. 

Today I biked with Luis to Trujillo. He needed to get a new blanket for the volunteer coming tonight. It was quite the adventure on the way there. The bike I took needed air in the back tire, so we stopped a a gas station about 10 minutes down the road and I filled it. Of course, there's no gauge and the air came out really fast and I thought I had a good amount in it... But I had over filed it and it popped. We had to take a rickshaw to the repair shop. When we were waiting for the tire to get patched, these 2 Americans came by, to take a picture of Luis' bike, and they started their journey in Paraguay and are biking home to Chicago, hoping to arrive in April 2014. 

Once we made it all the way to Trujillo we stopped to get some shambar, a soup here that you can only get on Mondays for some reason. It was delicious. Biking aroun Trujillo was interesting and I got to see more of it with Luis as a guide. When we got back I went and got some more shambar for dinner. 

Our place in Huanchaco

Laura is volunteering for Otra Cosas here in Huanchaco and through that she is staying in a homestay like place. The place is owned by this slightly older hippy jungle Peruvian man, Luis. He's very friendly and chill. Currently there are 11 of us staying at his place, 6 Argentinians, 2 Americans, 1 Dutch and us 2 Canadians. Laura and I share one room right by the kitchen. It's not the quietest, but that doesn't bother me. The place is great and the people are fun and it's only 12 soles a night. Argentinians are so hard to understand though!! There is no roof over the kitchen, but it rarely rains so it doesn't matter. Though stray kittens often come down searching for food. There is a three legged cat here and one dog, both are super cute. The cat tries to use his missing leg all the time. Last night we cooked dinner here, just a basic ate dry. The Argentinians cook all the time. They make food every day to take into the city to sell. They say the make pretty good money doing it. One of them busks when the traffic lights are red and 2 also play music. The guys play guitar really well and there's always music in the house when they're home. Huanchaco is a pretty small place and were about a 3 minute walk from the ocean and the surfing, and everything else in the town. Trujillo is about a 20 minute drive away and the buses go very often. 

Made it to Peru!

I arrived in the hostel in Lima on Wednesday around 1115pm and was ready to crash since I'd been in transit since 3am and I didn't sleep much on the various plane rides. The hostel was exactly what I expected it to be, clean and quiet enough. The next morning I just walked around the area and went got my bs ticket. I was the only tourist in the area I think, well at least the only gringo I saw. It was interesting to see how everyone is going about their day.  I got on the bus around noon en route to Trujillo. 

It was a good ride until the bus broke down and we spent 2 hours in Casma waiting for another bus to come get us. Laura was meeting me at the station and I had no way to tell her I was going to be very late! The scenery has been mostly desert and dunes along the coast, we were starting to get into more a mountainous area when we stopped. Where the bus broke down ended up being a great spot to watch the sunset. 

The bus itself is great. Greyhound could learn a thing or two! The seats are ginormous an leather that recline 160 degrees. We got on at noon and were given a hot meal at 1215 of rice, potato and some really good chicken. Around 6 when the bus died we were given a ham an cheese sandwich and a juice box. I was not expecting to be fed at all, so that was a nice surprise. As soon as we broke down everyone got off the bus to see what was going on, maybe Peruvians are just nosy...? I think some of them temporarily fixed the problem till we got into the town. They all got off the bus and are waiting outside for the next one to come. It's a bit chilly and they're just standing there, I figured its just fine to wait on the bus in the comfy seats. 

Once the next bus arrived, they only had space for 4 people to get on. Luckily I was one of them! We go into Trujillo around 1130pm. Laura was waiting for me at the station and we immediately left for Huanchaco, about a half hour taxi ride away. 

Huanchaco is a great little place. We went to a bon fire on the beach and met up with people Laura knows. It's a small place, so it's hard to not run into people.

My 2 days of transit have given me a lot if time to think since i didnt bring anything to do... I've mostly been thinking about all the awesome things going on in my life lately. I'm pretty lucky to have such great friends and family that support my decisions and goals, or lack thereof..., while I go off and figure shit out. You guys mean a ton to me and I'll be thinking of you often wherever I end up, even if it seems like I haven't been keeping in touch. 

I'm definitely getting excited about what will happen over he next few days, weeks and maybe months. Not knowing is the best part. So many people just don't understand this. For those of you that do, I really appreciate the support. For those of you that don't, we'll that's fine. Plans never work out and when they don't you just end up disappointed. There are things I would like to do, but if it doesn't happen, I'll be okay. I would like to talk to other travelers and locals and see what their opinions and experiences are for things to do. I want to be open to being able to do anything, it's my choice, and mine only. 

I'm going to attempt to keep this thing updated and anyone that gets bored and cares to read it can, or it will just be a personal journal type thing for me to keep track of everything. I'm mostly going to post from my phone, so posts might show up a bit wonky...