July 12

We woke up feeling poorly, but managed to stuff our belongings into our bags and got out before 9.  A taxi brought us to our tour  and we rushed to find food.
Alas a tough day in Peru.  Bethany is sick as a dog, and is barely conscious for the tour.  Which isn't all the of a problem because the tour guide is a dull robot who speaks too quietly to understand, but too loud to sleep.  We saw the puya raimondi- ok and we saw some petroglyphs - not bad and a glacier - pretty nice really.  Then we had lunch and the tourist trap was sprung. Bad soup and tasteless chicken (but at least it was expensive).  It is off to Lima tonight for our final day in Peru (and a second viewing of that outstanding movie The Marine II).  Hopefully tomorrow will be the great send off we would like to end our trip.
This entry wouldn't be complete without mentioning how cool our Hostal owner Emilio was.  He was incredibly friendly and helpful. Anyone going to Huaraz should stay at Hostal Ezama.

-Patrick (&Bethany)


July 11

This dry air is brutal. It makes us wake up every two hours to drink (and the altitude makes us pee)

So we needed a slow day. It started with an extra hour in bed. The California Cafe was our next stop for a delicious breakfast, some great music & Wifi. Then it was a short walk to the artesenal market to buy some Peru.
Shopping, of course makes a person hungry so we went back to our favorite crepe place for a burger.   An alpaca burger! It was nice and tasty.
Finally we decided it was time to do some hiking, so we found a combi to take us to the trail.  It sat for a while and we wondered why we weren't moving.  That is when I saw the driver hog tie a lamb and tie it to the roof.  Next a woman with a dog came in, a woman with a puppy and a woman with a bag of pigs!  We are definitely in Peru.
Our combi took us to the Wilkuhuain ruins which were closed, but incredibly well preserved.
We realized that we didn't have time, so we did just a shortened walk to a field of boulders with a fantastic view.
After the walk down we had a bit of time to wait so we split a beer and relaxed.
The night ended on a more sour note as we did some last minute chores and realized we were both quite under the weather.

-Patrick (&Bethany)


July 10

Waking up early today was not exactly a treat, but where we headed was.  Today was the Laguna 69 hike.  We met our new companions (Joe & Christina) at the combi terminal and set out for Yungay. Next up we hired a taxi to take us up the crazy, hour long ride to the trailhead. We passed the beautiful Llanganuco lake and a few others and then set off on our 6 hour hike.
It was, of course, beautiful.  We could see the snow covered peaks of Huascaran, great waterfalls, a high plain where cattle were grazing and finally Laguna 69.  The water was incredibly clear and beautiful and just below the glacier.  We sat and had lunch and listened to the mountains alive with winds and rock slides.  It was a glorious day.

-Patrick (&Bethany)


July 9

A slow start to this day as we slept poorly. We spent too much time and money looking for breakfast.  Eventually, we found our way to the combi to Llupa where we would start our trek to the Laguna Churup.  There we met Joe a peace core  volunteer from CT volunteering in Ecuador.  He negotiated a more reasonable price for our trip and off we went to Churup.
It was a hot and steep hike up to the lake, but well worth it.  The scenery was spectacular, the day great and when we arrived, the lake was beautiful.
We took a few pictures and then high-tailed it back down to where the combi was waiting. We were 35 minutes late, but thankfully he was still there.  We were really glad to see him as we were out of water and parched.
After a shower we had dinner with Joe & his girlfriend Christina at our favorite Crepe place. Then we fell down and pretended to be dead for approximately 8 hours.

-Patrick (&Bethany)


July 8

To acclimatize to the high altitude we decide to take a tour to see Chavin de Huantar.  Our very helpful host Emillio dropped us off at the tour bus and even helped us buy some breakfast.
A very personable and humorous tour guide (who spoke only in Spanish) had the bus in stitches.  Patrick got only a few of the jokes.
We stopped at a pretty lagoon on the way.  The aquamarine blue water was beautiful against the snow capped mountains.
We stopped for lunch. At what seemed a tourist trap, but turned out to have some tasty chicken.
The tour at the archaeological site was nearly incomprehensible, and that which was understood seemed far fetched, but the site was wicked cool. There was a underground labyrinth and a series of truncated pyramids and a big old statue.
Later we went to a museum that showed the stone heads that had once adorned the side of the temple.
Back to Huaraz and a tasty dinner of panchamanca (3 meats and veggies cooked in earthenware) and a causa (funky potato salad).

-Patrick (&Bethany)


July 7

Another day another ancient temple. This one was especially nice as it depicted many decapitated and/or dismembered bodies.  Those guys at Sechin knew how to have a good time.
The bus ride to Huaraz through the Cordillera Negra into the Cordillera Blanca was pretty as a peach.  Even better was the fried dough that we found on our walk to the hostel.  We are going to eat a lot of those I think.  It might be best for our health that we are leaving in a week.
Really the best thing was dinner at Creperie Patrick.  The name is not it's only outstanding feature.  The loom saltado in cognac sauce and the chicken crepe were marvelous.

-Patrick (&Bethany)



July 6th

What fun! More long bus rides! Start in Chiclayo, go to trujillo eat a lousy dinner and go to Chimbote (which smells like fish) and then to Casma which seems to be just a noisy stop on the highway ( ok there is a ruin outside of town, but this is a grim place).

-Patrick (&Bethany)