Nov 30, 2012 - Huaraz y la Cordillera Blanca

Après une après-midi de pause à Lima, nous sommes maintenant à Huaraz, une jolie ville au pied de la Cordillère Blanche. Notre séjour dans la région n'était par contre pas vraiment une réussite. Le deuxième jour, nous avons décidé de marcher jusque sur les hauteurs de la ville à un petit mirador. La police touristique nous avait prévenue : un des deux miradors est très dangereux il y a souvent des attaques de touristes à main armée, mais en allant au deuxième on ne risque rien. Nous sommes donc partis pour le deuxième, mais alors que nous...

Jun 10, 2012 - Von Trujillo nach Huaraz via Cañon del Pato (Entenschluch)

Am Dienstag morgen gings endlich los. Mit unseren vollbepackten Rädern suchten wir uns zuerst den Weg aus dem Stadtverkehr Trujillos um dann auf der Panamericana Richtung Süden zu radeln. Bis wir die Küstenwüste verliessen war die Landschaft ziemlich trostlos, aber das änderte sich dann als wir uns den Bergen näherten. Die Strasse war mittlerweile mit Schotter bedeckt, zum Teil recht gut, dann aber auch eher mühsam fahrbar. Am dritten Tag hatte Martina einen Platten am Hinterreifen, aber da sie schon viel Uebung im Schlauchflicken hatten...

May 20, 2012 - It's a wonderful world

Sulla strada del ritorno del trekking nella Cordillera Blanca, nel Parco Nazionale di Huascaran, osservando cascate scendere da ogni angolo, lagune incastonate tra le vette delle montagne, ghiacciai imponenti, animali e fiori selvatici tipici del paesaggio andino, ho cominciato a fischiettare il ritornello di “It’s a wonderful world”, perché niente più di quella canzone poteva rappresentare i miei pensieri di quel momento. Alle 7 siamo partiti da Huaraz, con prima destinazione Yungay, città completamente rasa al suolo in conseguenza al...

Jun 13, 2011 - Huaraz

After our 8 hour overnight bus from Lima, we arrived in Huaraz early in the morning and were greated with brisk mountain air and our first glimps of the impressive Cordillera Blanca mountains that overlook the city. We were a bit grogy after the long bus ride and after gaining so much elevation (Huaraz is at an elevation of 3,091 meters or about 10,200 feet). We huffed our way to the guest house (Albergue Churup) that would be our home durring our stay in Huaraz, and were offered a breakfast of deliciouse bread, tangarines, cofee and juice...

Apr 11, 2011 - Fuehrungslos

Leute, wie die Zeit vergeht und - ganz anderes Thema - ein Grund, warum ich ohne Reisefuehrer unterwegs bin, ist seine vorstellungszerstoererische Wirkung! Ich freute mich die ganze Busfahrt ueber von Cali (Kolumbien) nach Quito (Ecuador) auf mein erstes Biseln suedlich des Aequators und trank aus projektunterstuetzenden Gruenden ein Bier mehr. Kurz vor Quito ein Blick in Sitznachbars "Lonley Planet Suedamerika" und der besagt: Die Abflussrichtung der Spuelung haengt nicht von der geographischen Lage ab; ein WC-Maerchen also. Der Druck auf...

Jun 21, 2010 - Huaraz

No day pack! Left on bus to Huaraz at 2. Went half way on paved roads, then stopped at 3:30 for 1 1/2 hours for ??? who knows (rumor was that road construction caused it). Great mtn road/views, road was indeed being reconstructed (see pics), majorly, some places barely 1 lane, room for only single vehicles so waitng for traffic coming the other way at wide spots in road. Then about 7:30 we reached the 'pass', +/- 12,500' at which point the road became newly paved, 2 lanes and took us an hour getting down to Huaraz at 9,200' mainly because...

Aug 22, 2009 - Peru: Cordillera Blanca

(Apologies all for the slightly out-of-date journal updates!! Only a month behind but have been a little busy...) After 13 hours and two bus rides we arrived in Huaraz at6am, checked into our hostel and slept for a while. We had originally planned to do only a one day trip called Lago 69 to see ice covered mountains and glacial lakes in the Cordillera Blanca mountain range. For some reason we got a little over excited (and over ambitious) and booked our Lago 69 hike followed by a four day trek Santa Cruz trek (recommended by people we met...

Aug 11, 2009 - Huaraz and the Cordillera Blanca

Well it´s my turn to continue the story. Unfortunately we don´t have much to say for ourselves and the amazing hikes we were supposed to do in the Cordillera Blanca. A mountain range containing 22 peaks over 6000m. Shortly after arriving we signed up to do the most popular trek...the Santa Cruz Trek, which is said to have the most beautiful mountain views. Our first day starting out though, I was already feeling a bit under the weather and about an hour and half in I started feeling really sick due to the altitude. I thought I was going to...

May 9, 2009 - Back in PERU

Mountains and more mountains. Back in Peru. Back to thinking about which food and water is safe. Back to bumpier roads and rugged travel, more street people and more cons. Chile was kind of like life as I know it at home. In essence, you can drink the tap water. This to me is the sign that you are in a modern country, in a developed world. Forget about Gross National Product, exports, political stability, etc. If I can drink water from the tap in a country then I know that I can get just about every other amenity there. But there is a...

Apr 7, 2009 - Huaraz

Apres une bonne semaine a Lima, nous reprenons la route cette fois-ci dans la montagne, a Huaraz. Nous sommes au pied de la Cordillere Blanche, l’une des plus belles chaine de montagnes du monde. En arrivant, c’est le meme combat que Cuzco pour dire non aux augences touristiques qui veulent vendre des tours. On prefere prendre notre temps a rechercher comment faire les choses par nous meme. Ce meme jour il se met a pleuvoir, et cela ne s’arretera pas jusqu’a la fin de notre sejour ici. Le jour suivant nous tentons une ballade mais le...

Dec 1, 2008 - Huaraz and Parque Nacional Huascaran

Nov. 30 & Dec. 1: Huaraz Huaraz itself is not a beautiful town (it's dusty, dirty and cold), but it's flanked on all sides by snow capped mountains, the hostel is friendly and boasts a rooftop patio and open air kitchen, and I've met two terrific travellers (Sam and Mark - thanks Mark for the photos!) - making our 2 day stay here relaxing and enjoyable. The three of us acclimatize by ice climbing in the mountains near Huaraz. We all make it to the top of several climbs with a little help from our guide who yells up to us in Spanish (but a...

Oct 1, 2008 - Peru, Huaraz

After spending a night in Lima we set off early to go to the mountains to the northwest of the capital. We were delayed in leaving Lima as our bus was inspected on the outskirts of town and deemed unfit for the road, so we waited for a few hours for another bus going the same way. We were lucky there were even seats for us on the other bus as we piled onto the back of the stuffy bus. 10 hours later after climbing high into the Andes we made it to the lovely town of Huaraz, altitude 3100m. It was night when we got there so in the morning it...