South America and South Africa

Huaraz (alt. 3,000 m) is the main town of the Cordillera Blanca, where apart from the range of the Andes running along the Chile-Argentina border the highest mountains in South America are. The mountain range is easily visible and from Huaraz alone one can see 23 peaks higher than 5,000 m. The town is well known among international climbers, Peru’s highest mountain, the Huascaran (6,768 m) is only about 40 km away. While I was in Huaraz it was clear to me that I wanted to go hiking. I made two hikes, one self organized acclimatization hike to Laguna Churrup and one day-hike to Laguna 69. Both hikes started on an altitude of about 4,000 m and lead to an altitude of 4,600 m (the Mont Blanc as the highest mountain in Western Europe is about 4850 m high).

When I started the hike to Laguna Churrup at 1 p.m. it was too late to reach the lake and return to Huaraz while there is still daylight. Therefore I decided to turn around at 3.30, in time to be back before dusk. Despite I didn’t see the lake I enjoyed the day a lot, particularly organizing everything with the uncertainty how it’ll work out. I got to Llupa, the starting point of the hike, with a public-transport minibus together with ten Peruvians coming from the market with their stuff on the roof and all watching me. When I disembarked the minibus unfortunately I forgot to ask when the latest minibus is returning to Huaraz. Hence I learned the hard way that there were no buses operating from Llupa anymore when I returned from the hike. However, a farmer’s woman kindly told me so when I was walking by and she also pointed me to a different dirt road back to Huaraz saving me from making a huge detour. Eventually I caught a minibus when I was already expecting to have to walk back the entire way.

For the hike to Laguna 69 I booked the transport and the hike started “in the backyard” of the Huascaran. The weather here is always unpredictable and I was requested to bring clothing pretty much for any possible weather conditions. (Given the high altitude it is not a surprise that it gets really chilly when it is not sunny but windy.) The hike is in total twelve miles long and goes 600 m up. It consists of two parts which are more or less flat and two medium-long steep parts. A lot of people were doing it as it is arguably the most rewarding one day-hike in the area.

I was writing these lines while I was already in Nasca, the Peruvian town where ancient cultures cut lines in the desert, some of those more that 2,600 years old. It is still unclear what they were used for. However, it appeared kind of surreal to me being in the desert after seeing the Pacific Ocean four hours ago while riding on the coach and less than 24 hours ago being on 4,600 m above sea level surrended by glaciers.