sudamerica 2009: sea lions, sand boarding, lagoons, the santa cruz trek, and more amazing scenery near huaraz
31st-mar-2009 - posted by dtra
once again, it's been a while since the last post, but i didn't want to post after lima last week, cos it was so shit; so get ready for another long post, and a lot of pictures. after a week in and around huaraz in the north of peru, it's time to to show you all some of the most scenic locations on earth. after arequipa, i headed back to sea level for the first time in several weeks, and huacachina (near ica), for some sand boarding, and then to paracas for perus poor man's galapagos, islas ballestas. the sand boarding was pretty fun, only did it for an hour or so, but it was a good experience, easier than snow boarding, and less painful. the sand dunes in huacachina are ridiculously massive, and there is a little town right next to them. anyway, here is a picture of the dunes, and a video of myself going down a sand dune, you lie on your belly, it's a lot easier that way (and more fun i think). i almost fucked up the zoom on my f50 doing this, so i hope you appreciate the lengths i go to, to give you all some joy in your dreary lives.
the next day, i got on a bus to pisco, then a taxt to paracas (for the wildlife tour). this was pretty much my first mishap in terms of transport, i missed my stop, because no one came onto the bus, and said, pisco!! then later, some guy comes up and asks for my ticket, then says, pisco was back there, so i asked if i could just go to lima, and they said, there's a woman waiting for you at pisco, so i had to get out at the next stop, and get a bus back. finally got there, and a really nice woman helped me get to the pier, and stuff, so i could get on a boat to see the animals. anyway, it was a two hour boat ride, and i saw sea lions, cormorants, boobies (birds), penguins, pelicans, a turkey vulture, and a few other types of birds, it was actually pretty good, how close you get and stuff, hopefully i can get to the galapagos, and see some more. here are the pics (the first one is of a couple of dodgy guys trying to get money for pelican photos, i didn't give them any, so they started feeding the pelicans so that they'd walk away from me):
i went to lima on the same day, and from the moment i smelled the fishy smell of the ocean, to the time the taxi driver charged me $20 soles for taking me to the central area of miraflores (where he couldn't find my hostel), and the dodgy internet cafe charged me for an hour when i only used 20 minutes or so, i knew i wasn't going to stay in lima long. first, from the bus station i shared a taxi with this german guy who was staying in the place recommended by the lonely planet (mochilero or something), i didn't stay there cos my friend phil said it was crappy. the cabbie charged him $18 soles, then took me to the central area of miraflores, about five minutes away, and charged me $20, and didn't even know where my hostel was. so i went to the loki, they didn't have any rooms so i went to the internet cafe across the street to look for a place nearby. went in and sat down at a computer, which didn't have skype, so i went to another one, then after finding a place to stay. the guy asked me for my ticket for using the computer, and of course i didn't have one, but he insisted that he gave it to me, whatever. stayed two nights and left, didn't like it at all, the centre has a massive mcdonalds, a kfc, burger king, pizza hut, etc, etc, not my cup of tea, needless to say, there was no need to take any photos.
onward to huaraz (about 3100m altitude), i checked out photos of the area on flickr, and there was no way of skipping this town. even though it's rainy season (and it does every afternoon), the scenery here is amazing. there are so many mountains and opportunities to trek in the area, you could probably spend years here, and not see half of it, anyway, i don't have that long, so i only saw a few places. day of rest my first day, then went to see laguna churup, a day hike of about eight hours return. i shared a cab with two others from my hostel to the start point of pitec, but somehow, we missed the obvious sign pointing to the laguna churup trail, and ended up walking in the wrong direction for 45 minutes, and getting to the entrance to the quebrada quilcayhuanca trail, we couldn't be stuffed walking all the way back, so walked on for an hour, before going back to town, that was pretty tiring. so tiring we had to go and find a big meal, the place for that, el ranchero, nice big portions (even for me, though i finished mine, and had some of another's), and cheap for the size.
the next day, the three of us went to do the hike to laguna 69 (still don't know why it's called that) at about 4600m, our hostel organised a taxi for us for $140 soles total, three hours drive from huaraz to the start point of the hike, and two and a half more hours of hiking to the lagoon. it was really worth it, as you will see from the pictures (especially once i get back to australia). it was pretty tough going up, the altitude combined with the incline, makes it so hard to move, i certainly have a much greater appreciation for hiking now. it rained a little, but we still saw some great scenery. the taxi went past laguna llanganaco, where you're meant to get a good view of huascaran, the tallest mountain in peru, too cloudy for us though.
got back tired, but still had to prepare for the santa cruz trek, the most famous one in the region. it's a four day (or less if you want) hike through the santa cruz valley, where you can see many mountains, and amazing scenery, including lagoons, lakes, rivers, waterfalls (rainy season haha), and some interesting wildlife, as well as some hard arse trekking (though maybe not as hard as i thought). me and friend paid $85usd, while another paid $100usd, and two $150usd (including the $65 soles park entry fee to be fair) respectively. the agency i went through was siula adventures, but the actual tour operator was quechuandes, it all worked out well in the end i think. the first day, is reasonably easy, we left at about 6am, and got a public bus to yungay, and then to vaqueria for the start, that took three and a half hours or so. then we hiked for nine km mostly flat, but a fair bit of up and down. it started at 3700m, and camp was at about 3900m (bout 9km of hiking), with lots of kids to support us. ok, we had a guide, a donkey driver, a horse, and two donkeys to carry all the heavy stuff, but still, i'm not used to hiking, especially at altitude.
the second day, was shit hard, we were to climb for about four hours to the high point at punta union (4750m), and then descend to 4200m for camp (about 14km in all). it was tough, and cold, but as you can see from the picture, tough aussies can do it (as long as we have donkeys) 
. there was actually fresh snow up the top, but walking up at that altitude was still hot, and hard. the night was freezing, i think i must have got about an hour of sleep, it was freezing outside (frost on the outside of the tent the next morning), and the ground was hard.
the third day would be relatively easy, going down to about 3200m to camp, it was about 12km of flat and downhill hiking, so not too difficult, but at altitude, and with slippery rocks underfoot, nothing can be taken for granted. we saw alpamayo, the world's most beautiful mountain in the morning (you'll see that later). apart from having a case of a very upset stomach, everything went smoothly (a big thanks to the englishman richard, for the imodium tablets, what a lifesaver). we ended making some playing cards out of paper so that we could do something in the tent, as it was raining outside.
the last day was really easy, three kilometres of downhill to town. the tough part was the transport back to huaraz, first, a taxi squeezing seven of us into the cab, three in the front, and four in the back, how lucky was i, getting the middle of the front, about 40 minutes of sitting on a gear stick, on bumpy and hilly roads, nice!! my feet pretty much went dead, then in a cramped van colectivo on the bumpy and pothole ridden roads back to huaraz, with a maniac driver swerving all over the place for a bit more than an hour, superb. anyway, that was a great four days, and there will be a lot of hdrs and panoramas to post once i get back home i think, hopefully they will work out, cos it was tough, what with the grey skies, and rain. overall, a great four days, we had a really good group (except for one person........................................ ........................NOT!!, sorry i've seen borat the movie twice in the past week or so), i'd definitely want to come back here and see some of the other mountains in the area, especially during high (and dry) season, although, we didn't see another tourist on our trek except right at the end, two others were going in the opposite direction as we were approaching our final destination.
now it's time to get back to sea level, and hit the beach, i'm heading for trujillo tonight, and hopefully from there to mancora for some beach fun. a couple days there maybe, then onto ecuador, and we'll see what is to be done there. picture of some of my group members taking photos of an unknown mountain (to me at least), the second day, before punta union.
transport and accommodation
not much to say for transport, some cheap buses and stuff between pisco and lima, and more cruz del sur for the other longer rides, which i've already talked about. stayed in the rocha hotel ($20 soles) or whatever it's called, in huacachina, simple, but did the job for one night. then in lima, i stayed at k'usillu's hostel ($9usd), pretty nice place, with good chillout areas, though no one wanted to use them. here in huaraz, i've been staying at caroline lodging ($13 soles), it's a bit away from the centre, but it is really nice. it's a family run hostel, and the family are so nice and friendly, they even pick you up and drop you off at the bus stations when you arrive and leave.
#33 dtra (david tran)
tags/bookmarks
notes
you idiot stimpy!! i left my camera at the hostel in huaraz, so i have to go back tonight to pick it up, then wait for the night bus back to trujillo, basically, it's going to be two wasted days, i guess i can watch a couple more movies at the hostel tomorrow.
dtra
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10:24 1st-apr-2009
doh!... some awesome photos there.. those mountains are amazing.
did you photoshop that blue water or is that what it actually looked like. 
alf
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6:44 5th-apr-2009