Santa Cruz trek

On Sunday, we joined a 4 days' trek in the Cordillera Blanca. It is the Santa Cruz trek, one of the most popular in the area.

We left Huaraz at 6 am and after a 6 hours' drive (which included going up a steep unpaved road consisting of an endless succession of hairpin bends), we reached Vaqueria, a tiny village where the trek starts. By then we had met our guide, a 22 year old Peruvian called Abel, and the people we would be walking with: Stephen and Lison (backpackers from California) and Aviv and Michal (newly-weds from Israel who were there on their honeymoon. Not quite the usual Caribbean honeymoon dream!). We walked for 4 hours on the first day and reached the camping site at about 5 pm.

Since we were at 3,900 metres, the night was cold and it was pretty hard to get out of our sleeping bags when we woke up at 5.30 am! However the view we got of the sunrise made it well worth it:

We set off after a quick breakfast (Stephen and Lison actually didn't continue the trek but made their way back to Huaraz as she was feeling very ill). Day 2 was definitely the most physically demanding, as it consisted of going up a pass at 4,750 metres above sea level. We walked for just over 8 hours - it took about 5 to reach the top but our efforts were rewarded with some amazing views:

Despite the fact that we are well acclimatised to the altitude (after all we spent a lot of time in Quito, which is at nearly 3,000 metres above sea level), we both felt the effects of going up so high over a short period of time.

On the way down from the pass to our camp site, we bumped into Gerome and Virginie, whom we had met in our hostel in Quito over a month ago. How strange that this should happen in the middle of nowhere! A funny coincidence which we turned into a nice Kodak moment ;)

Back at the camping site (4,200 metres up), we had once again amazing views of a huge mountain called Taulliraju:

Abel cooked us a lovely meal which helped us recover from our altitude headaches. Once we were warm and had a full stomach, he introduced the idea of doing a detour to see a lake at 4,600 metres the next day, which meant we would do a 9 hours' walk rather than the standard 6. I guess he got us at a moment of weakness, as we all said yes! We were tucked up in our sleeping bags by 8 pm, having no energy left whatsoever to socialize with our trekking partners.

So on Day 3, we once again woke up at 5.30 am and set off at sunrise. The good thing is, you tend to warm up very quickly! On the way to the lake, we saw a mountain which looked very familiar... does it remind you of something?

Here's a clue...

The detour was definitely worth it: fantastic views on the way and the lake we were aiming for was stunning... we could hear avalanche sounds coming from the mountain directly opposite us. This kind of thing makes you feel very very small!

(from afar the piles of stones look like Buddhist stupas but they were really just cairns).

We were stunned when we saw a woman from another group taking a dip in the freezing lake. Seriously, it was cold! She actually had a bit of a swim... even Abel told us that he had been in the water once, but not stayed in for more than 20 seconds. What a (brave/crazy) lady!

On the way back down, we had a nice picnic lunch... how very civilised. We were seriously spoilt by our guide :)So we had plenty of energy to walk all day, and we did make it to the next camp site in the 9 hours predicted. On the way there we were once again treated to some lovely landscapes...

And for our last night we camped in a nice little spot by the river.

I guess we had built up stamina from the day before, and in the evening we had enough energy and enthusiasm left in us to play a few games of card with Aviv and Michal. I am pleased to report I kicked Gary's ass big time!

Finally (and sadly) the last day came... we reached the little village of Cashapampa, where the trek ends, in a couple of hours. We stood, proud and stinky, for one last photo...

Needless to say it was wonderful to peel off our clothes and have a hot shower when we got back to Huaraz yesterday! We were a bit too shattered for a celebratory night out, but after a good night' sleep and a nice lie in this morning, we are both in the mood for a few Pisco Sours tonight.

We are going to stay in Huaraz for a bit, as the plan is to try and climb a snowy summit (we're currently thinking of Pisco, which is 5,700 metres high). It'll be my first time, I'm both scared and excited at the prospect... watch this space!

C.