Retiring the Tent Early in Huaraz
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Thought I better put this unemployed arse to use and catch up on these things! Allow me to pick up where I left you and take us back in time to Peru in the wet season:
We got to Huaraz first thing in the morning after another overnight bus. To our surprise (and delight), on arrival to our hostel we were offered a complimentary breakfast while we waited for our room to be ready. Not the reception we were used to!
We spent the first day wondering the town, acclimatising and checking out the central market for some tasty feeds. The next day we got into the hiking with a day hike up to Laguna Churup. The walk was short and steep with a few rope assisted rock climbs.
We made a slight navigational error just before the lake that saw us traversing some thick and steep bush to save forfeiting 10m of altitude. We did make it to the lake though with the sun shining above us and only one other couple there.
We were intending to walk up to Laguna Churupita another 200m up as well but with the vibes good and legs already well used, we opted instead to have a long lunch by the lake with a quick dip to cool off.
The next day we set out with tent and sleeping bags towards Laguna 69, staying the night near Refugio Peru. Apart from a slight delay trying to find our collectivo out of Huaraz, the hike started off well as we were dropped off by our taxi driver at the base of the track with stunning views of the valley.
With the sun shining we set off up the hill at 11am without another soul in sight, except a few locals.
Despite the blue skies and hot sun 1 hour earlier, exactly 10 minutes before we arrived to our campsite, a light shower started that steadily grew heavier. We got our tent set up mostly dry before receding to the nearby bivvy as we watched the rain turn to hail and then snow. At one point, within 20 minutes our 3 season tent went from looking just a bit wet to suddenly very saggy and completely covered in 2cm of snow.
We spent the rest of the evening in the bivvy, eventually running the gauntlet to the tent to get cozy and get some sleep - except we didn’t. The altitude had us feeling nauseous and we spent most of the night tossing and turning with the occasional venture out in to the night when nature called.
We woke (if you can say that without having slept) to more rain and decided to forgo Laguna 69, instead heading straight back down the track we climbed to lower lands. It was at this point we decided to retire the tent for our travels and stick to day walks.
We made our way down feeling defeated, but more alive with every metre of elevation lost. Without a ride arranged to get home we parked up on the side of the road a stuck our thumb out at every vehicle that drove by. A few hours passed by, with multiple promises of a collectivo that never came, before a local couple driving a truck pulled over and gestured for us to get.
Stoked to be on our way home, we talked in broken español and learnt the truck was full of avocados on their way to Lima. Halfway to Yungay (our first destination) the couple started talking business out the window to just about every house in this one town. They eventually seemed to be sufficiently interested in one in particular and jumped out after telling us “un minuto!” Thirty minutes later they jumped back in and apologised profusely, offering us strawberries as consolation from a large tray they had acquired. We were in no rush and very happy to accept their offerings! Through more broken spanish, we deduced that they had just loaded the back with a few trays of strawberries to also take to Lima where they would get a good price.
It turns out they were also heading to Huaraz and offered us a ride the whole way, which we graciously accepted. Of course there was another stop in Yungay at the local market where they bought a whole lot more avocados. Now the truck was really full.
After a day off to recover, we set out again to Laguna 513. This required a collectivo to Carhuaz, from where we chartered a taxi to take us to the trailhead and then wait to take us back. Didn’t seem like the most efficient approach but he grabbed some lunch from his house on our way out and then appeared to sleep the whole time we were gone! We did hold off paying him until afterwards to make sure he would be there to take us back.
The next day we did Laguna Llaca, this time only requiring a single collectivo with other fellow travellers doing the same trail. This walk was straightforward and not too long, barre a large slip that had cut off the road the night before. We weren’t intending to walk the road but the slip had cause flooding which had washed out the bottom half of the track.
On the way up we ended up in the road to where the slip was which was a lot more significant than we expected. We ended up running the gauntlet down and opted to bush bash the other side of the valley on our way back.
Human for scale.
A successful day in our books. And with that we finished off our time in Huaraz and headed straight to the beach. I headed for the longest wave in the world in the somewhat remote town of Chicama, while Kenzie headed for the beach goers paradise of Mancora, where I would meet her a few days later.
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