Let the hiking madness begin!
Huaraz and the Cordilla Blanca
Reading about Huaraz, it conjured up an image of Baños; amazing mountains and lots of great hiking. We arrived early into Huaraz and were greated by who I thought was a tourist advisor. He informed us of all the hostels that we should stay at and the tours that we could book. Well, while on the way to the Plaza de Armas our new friend casually strawled away informing us that he was going to go and book our tour, Anna and I looked at each other thinking, ¨What?¨. To add to the confusion of the day, our hostel, the one described painfully well in Lonely Planet called Bellapampa was no where to be found. We asked a policeman, received instructions from taxi drivers, but alas, know one knew exactly where it was. So we stayed at Joe´s place, a rather tall, unimpressive hostel with really unfriendly owners. Joe may have been a cool guy back in the day but these days he could depress even the happiest of puppies. The best thing about Huaraz are the tall white peaks surrounding it.
In order to fully appreciate the Cordilla Blanca we decided to do the Santa Cruz trek. Its a 4 day trek that runs past the most beautiful mountain in the world (as rated by old men, a long time ago). We booked through our hostel and while we asked all the right questions, we realised later on that we didnt actually ask anything about the tour agency itself. On the day, we were praying that the van would come and pick us up at the happy hour of 5am. Galaxy Tours, while having a tacky name, turned out to be a really solid company.
The only thing that will possibly do justice to the whole experience are the pictures. It would be pointless to describe all of our hiking, but there were some things that should be mentioned. The one thing that really suprised us was the afternoon lunch, usually something tasty and filling like tuna ceviche. It was great not having to carry all of our stuff ourself for once, those donkeys definetly earned their carrots on that trek. Once the hiking for the day was finished, we would be treated to a mid day snack of tea, coffee and biscuits to be followed by a really delicious dinner from our experienced chef.
Overall, the food was amazing and the views, some at over 14000 feet were absolutely breathtaking. Along the trek we came across amazing turqouise lakes, massive glacial peaks and a number of different landscapes. But not only that, we also found out that an earlier civilization lived around the area and to get around the valley quicker, they built a number of underground tunnels. They have never been explored due to lack of oxygen, but they are supposed cover an enormous area.
Arequipa
Our intended stop after Huaraz was meant to be Cusco, because looking at the map of Peru it looks like there are roads going straight to it. While there are roads, buses dont actually use them. Instead of going straight to Cusco the buses go through Arequipa which is further south and then north from there. We decided that Lima wasnt worth the trip and wanted to go straight through it. The other dillema was that we didnt know which bus company we should choose to get down there because the bus ride to Arequipa is a whooping 24 hours. We decided to check out Cruz del Sur, the fanciest and most expensive bus company in Peru. Their prices are usually twice anybody elses, but we found out that it was justified. While talking to the lady at the terminal she informed us that Cruz del Sur regularly has promotion tickets on their buses. These tickets are half the price of a normal ticket with the exact same service. We booked two bus rides which ended up costing us 80 soles each ( about $30 ish) instead of the regular price of 170 soles each.
Needless to say the bus ride was amazing. It felt more like a plane ride than a bus. Because its so expensive, the buses are never booked out, so haf the bus is usually empty. The bus attendend wears a crips looking suit and tries to be very professional. Meals include breakfast, lunch and dinners, pretty much the same quality as a plane. But not only that, the buses have two drivers which switch off every 4 hours and the buses are monitored by GPS at all times to make sure they dont stray from their shedueled path. As you can tell, we were pretty impressed by the whole thing.
As described in the Lonely Planet, Arequipa has an amazing central plaza. The city itself has a clean, colonial feel. Its a modern city with all the necessities but still retains a classy vibe. Its call to fame is definitely the atmosphere but also its gigantic supermarket. The best way to describe it is as ¨Peru`s Wallmart¨. It was enormous and had everything anyone would ever need. Being inside their did not feel like we were in Peru.
We stayed in the best hostel of our journey thus far; Arequipa Backpackers Downtown. Not only was it cheap for a big city, the mattress were brand new, the showers really hot with a massive shared kitchen. Not only that, they had 3 tv rooms, 1 play station room, airhockey table and a pool table. It was the perfect place to relax and unwind. It was also the perfect place to meet other travellers and to get the latest scoop on things to do around Arequipa.
One of our reasons for coming down to Arequipa was because we wanted to hike in the Colca Canyon, the second deepest canyon in the world (twice as big as the Grand Canyon)(the deepest canyon is next door). While we could have taken a tour, we decided to catch a local bus and do it all ourself. Our first day we arrived in Cabanaconde, the starting point for the hike. We stayed in a little place called Pachamama because Lonely Planet described it as friendly, upbeat and ran by really cool hippies. It really wasnt that cool and didnt actually feel very nice at all. One of the coolest things about Cabanaconde was the local dress style. While on the bus we stopped to pick up the farmers coming back from a hard day`s work and all the ladies were wearing amazingly decorated hats. Some were wearing dresses and skirts to match. The hats were all of varying design and were worn by ladies and little girls alike.
The next day we got up at 8am and hiked for 6 hours to the Oasis. The first 3 hours are straight down the mountain, where Anna carried our heavy backpack, with the tent and all. It was a spectacular journey, the deeper you go, the more real the towns in the deep gorge feel. Arriving at the Oasis was spectacular, a green and blue oasis in the middle of the canyon surrounded by brown. For just 5 soles each, we pitched our tent and proceeded to spend the rest of the day hanging out in and by the pool. The next day at 5am while slowly getting out of our tent and preparing our breakfast, the guided groups were already leaving. They prefer to hike out at 5am, to beat the sun, without having any food. We hiked out at 6am and pretty much ran the vertical 1000m up the mountain. We were trying to beat the sun as hiking under it would have been impossible. It took us two hours to reach the top where the usual estimation is 3 and a half hours; legs and lungs on fire and trails of sweat that would make snails proud.
In all, Arequipa was a fantastic city and we had a great time. We discovered that we could buy a really good tasting 1.1L of beer for 5 soles ($1.60) and that the markets are far more expensive in the south of Peru than they are in the north. Ofcourse this is relative, where the usual price of a huge mango is 50c (US) and bananas are 12 for $1.30. Its easy to lose sight of the price of things and to bicker about 10 cents, however allot of the time its the principle. Those little ladies are tricky and will take the casual foreigner for all he has.
Huaraz and the Cordilla Blanca
Reading about Huaraz, it conjured up an image of Baños; amazing mountains and lots of great hiking. We arrived early into Huaraz and were greated by who I thought was a tourist advisor. He informed us of all the hostels that we should stay at and the tours that we could book. Well, while on the way to the Plaza de Armas our new friend casually strawled away informing us that he was going to go and book our tour, Anna and I looked at each other thinking, ¨What?¨. To add to the confusion of the day, our hostel, the one described painfully well in Lonely Planet called Bellapampa was no where to be found. We asked a policeman, received instructions from taxi drivers, but alas, know one knew exactly where it was. So we stayed at Joe´s place, a rather tall, unimpressive hostel with really unfriendly owners. Joe may have been a cool guy back in the day but these days he could depress even the happiest of puppies. The best thing about Huaraz are the tall white peaks surrounding it.In order to fully appreciate the Cordilla Blanca we decided to do the Santa Cruz trek. Its a 4 day trek that runs past the most beautiful mountain in the world (as rated by old men, a long time ago). We booked through our hostel and while we asked all the right questions, we realised later on that we didnt actually ask anything about the tour agency itself. On the day, we were praying that the van would come and pick us up at the happy hour of 5am. Galaxy Tours, while having a tacky name, turned out to be a really solid company.
The only thing that will possibly do justice to the whole experience are the pictures. It would be pointless to describe all of our hiking, but there were some things that should be mentioned. The one thing that really suprised us was the afternoon lunch, usually something tasty and filling like tuna ceviche. It was great not having to carry all of our stuff ourself for once, those donkeys definetly earned their carrots on that trek. Once the hiking for the day was finished, we would be treated to a mid day snack of tea, coffee and biscuits to be followed by a really delicious dinner from our experienced chef.
Overall, the food was amazing and the views, some at over 14000 feet were absolutely breathtaking. Along the trek we came across amazing turqouise lakes, massive glacial peaks and a number of different landscapes. But not only that, we also found out that an earlier civilization lived around the area and to get around the valley quicker, they built a number of underground tunnels. They have never been explored due to lack of oxygen, but they are supposed cover an enormous area.
Arequipa
Our intended stop after Huaraz was meant to be Cusco, because looking at the map of Peru it looks like there are roads going straight to it. While there are roads, buses dont actually use them. Instead of going straight to Cusco the buses go through Arequipa which is further south and then north from there. We decided that Lima wasnt worth the trip and wanted to go straight through it. The other dillema was that we didnt know which bus company we should choose to get down there because the bus ride to Arequipa is a whooping 24 hours. We decided to check out Cruz del Sur, the fanciest and most expensive bus company in Peru. Their prices are usually twice anybody elses, but we found out that it was justified. While talking to the lady at the terminal she informed us that Cruz del Sur regularly has promotion tickets on their buses. These tickets are half the price of a normal ticket with the exact same service. We booked two bus rides which ended up costing us 80 soles each ( about $30 ish) instead of the regular price of 170 soles each.
Needless to say the bus ride was amazing. It felt more like a plane ride than a bus. Because its so expensive, the buses are never booked out, so haf the bus is usually empty. The bus attendend wears a crips looking suit and tries to be very professional. Meals include breakfast, lunch and dinners, pretty much the same quality as a plane. But not only that, the buses have two drivers which switch off every 4 hours and the buses are monitored by GPS at all times to make sure they dont stray from their shedueled path. As you can tell, we were pretty impressed by the whole thing.As described in the Lonely Planet, Arequipa has an amazing central plaza. The city itself has a clean, colonial feel. Its a modern city with all the necessities but still retains a classy vibe. Its call to fame is definitely the atmosphere but also its gigantic supermarket. The best way to describe it is as ¨Peru`s Wallmart¨. It was enormous and had everything anyone would ever need. Being inside their did not feel like we were in Peru.
We stayed in the best hostel of our journey thus far; Arequipa Backpackers Downtown. Not only was it cheap for a big city, the mattress were brand new, the showers really hot with a massive shared kitchen. Not only that, they had 3 tv rooms, 1 play station room, airhockey table and a pool table. It was the perfect place to relax and unwind. It was also the perfect place to meet other travellers and to get the latest scoop on things to do around Arequipa.
One of our reasons for coming down to Arequipa was because we wanted to hike in the Colca Canyon, the second deepest canyon in the world (twice as big as the Grand Canyon)(the deepest canyon is next door). While we could have taken a tour, we decided to catch a local bus and do it all ourself. Our first day we arrived in Cabanaconde, the starting point for the hike. We stayed in a little place called Pachamama because Lonely Planet described it as friendly, upbeat and ran by really cool hippies. It really wasnt that cool and didnt actually feel very nice at all. One of the coolest things about Cabanaconde was the local dress style. While on the bus we stopped to pick up the farmers coming back from a hard day`s work and all the ladies were wearing amazingly decorated hats. Some were wearing dresses and skirts to match. The hats were all of varying design and were worn by ladies and little girls alike.
The next day we got up at 8am and hiked for 6 hours to the Oasis. The first 3 hours are straight down the mountain, where Anna carried our heavy backpack, with the tent and all. It was a spectacular journey, the deeper you go, the more real the towns in the deep gorge feel. Arriving at the Oasis was spectacular, a green and blue oasis in the middle of the canyon surrounded by brown. For just 5 soles each, we pitched our tent and proceeded to spend the rest of the day hanging out in and by the pool. The next day at 5am while slowly getting out of our tent and preparing our breakfast, the guided groups were already leaving. They prefer to hike out at 5am, to beat the sun, without having any food. We hiked out at 6am and pretty much ran the vertical 1000m up the mountain. We were trying to beat the sun as hiking under it would have been impossible. It took us two hours to reach the top where the usual estimation is 3 and a half hours; legs and lungs on fire and trails of sweat that would make snails proud.
In all, Arequipa was a fantastic city and we had a great time. We discovered that we could buy a really good tasting 1.1L of beer for 5 soles ($1.60) and that the markets are far more expensive in the south of Peru than they are in the north. Ofcourse this is relative, where the usual price of a huge mango is 50c (US) and bananas are 12 for $1.30. Its easy to lose sight of the price of things and to bicker about 10 cents, however allot of the time its the principle. Those little ladies are tricky and will take the casual foreigner for all he has. 
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