This past weekend, half of our group went on a trip to Huaraz, Peru, a city that is 10,000 feet above sea level. Huaraz lies in a valley surrounded on two sides by the Cordilleras Blancas (White mountains) and the Cordilleras Negras (black mountains), both of which are part of the Andes Mountain Range. The white mountains, named after the permanent white snow caps at their peaks, were the first thing I noticed when I stepped off the bus. I've never used the word 'majestic' to seriously describe anything but that's the one word that kept popping in my head every time I looked up at Huascarán, the tallest tropical mountain in the world.
We arrived in Huaraz at 7:30am, and immediately began to look for a hostel, which turned out to be harder than we thought. But after a few hours of searching, we walked up the shadiest looking alleyway in Peru to knock on the door of Alpes Huaraz. We expected a serial killer to open the door, but instead one of the nicest peruvian guys I've met so far let us in and gratiously welcomed us into his beautiful home.
After some relaxing and napping, we explored the city of Huaraz. The lifestyle there was very different from that of Trujillo. The people were more laid back, and never in any rush. The streets were lined with vendors, kids, and all kinds of colorful shops. One group of Peruvians even set up a volleyball net over a street, and they were bumping and setting like pros (they can't spike though). Every time a car would come by, they would simply raise the nets to let the car go under.
After some more exploring, we visited a few travel agencies to plan our hikes for the next two days. Saturday was a lot of fun and a great experience, but hopefully some one else will talk about the sites we saw that day. I want to focus on the hike we went on Sunday morning. The travel agency we signed up with provided transportation to take us to Parque Nacional Huascaran. The van picked us up at our hostel on Sunday at 6am and we arrived at the national park three hours later.
The first placed we stopped at was Lake Llanganuco, which is located near the base of Huascaran. The monstrous glacier mountain feeds Lake Llanganuco, and the water is a stunning turquoise color. It's hard to capture the beauty of Lake Llanguanuco in a few words, so hopefully the picture below will give you an idea of just how magnificent this lake was.
After a few more minutes in the van, we started our hike. During the first hour or so, I stopped several times to take pictures of the amazing scenery around us. However, soon I realized that the higher up I climbed, the more breath taking (this was probably partly due to the higher altitude) the views became. The climb became steeper and the weather became much cooler as we climbed towards the peaks of the mountains. Fortunately, every time the sun peeked out from behind the clouds, the temperature instantly rose about 10 degrees, providing both warmth and a boost of morale.
The goal of our hike was to arrive at Laguna 69, a small lake/pond located at 15,000 feet above sea level. After hiking on rocks for about 12 miles and climbing vertically for half a mile, we finally arrived at the bluest lake I had hever seen. This beautiful lake was surrounded by the glaciers of the Cordilleras Blancas but it was still warm enough to walk around in a t-shirt if the sun was out. Arriving at the laguna was one of the most rewarding experiences of my life, and once again I can't describe the beauty of the place in words.
For me, the hike down from the laguna was mentally one of the most difficult things I have ever done. At peak of our hike, I was hit by altitude sickness; I had a splitting headache, nausea, dizziness, loss of appetite, and I barely had enough energy to take pictures of the wonderful sights in front of me. However, we were on a tight schedule so I had to climb down sooner than I wanted to, and there was little time to rest. With some help from Erica and Jackie (thanks by the way!), I managed to stumble down the mountain and make it back to our van. I think that the fact that I was ill and yet still had the time of my life on that hike is a testament to just how astonishing that national park is.
Overall, I would say that my experience in Huaraz was incredible. In Illinois, we get excited if we see a hill that's over 50 feet tall so it was definitely very exciting to look up at the horizon and see the majestic snow capped peaks of the Cordilleras.
Thanks for reading!
-Davel Patel
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