Andrew’s parents joined us in Quito soon after Ashley left and we spent the first few days researching last minute cruise options and then attempting to withdraw cash to pay for said cruise (Ecuadorian ATMs are not overly friendly). They kindly brought over some Tim Tams which was very exciting. As Andrew outlined previously, the Galapagos was an incredible experience. Leaving the booking to the last minute saved us a lot of money and if you are flexible with time and itinerary, I recommend doing it this way.
After our time in the Galapagos we flew to Guayaquil, where we spent one night in the centre of town. Andrew and I had stayed here on the way up to Quito, but didn’t see anything as we stayed near the bus terminal. The waterfront area was pleasant and, strangely, there was a park full of iguanas in the centre of town! As we liked it so much the first time, we stayed in Huanchaco again to break up the journey south from Guayaquil to Huaraz. The town was equally as charming the second time round and it was great to spend a night in a proper bed between overnight buses. It also allowed us to visit the Temple of the Moon, an impressive ruin of the Moche people just outside Trujillo that we didn’t see on our way north.
We ascended about 3000m in altitude during the bus from Trujillo to Huaraz. The feeling after an overnight bus is never great, but the patchy sleep combined with the altitude gain left the four of us feeling sluggish. This first day in Huaraz was spent talking to many different tour providers to try and work out what trek we were going to do and whether we’d do it supported or by ourselves. More enjoyably, it was also the day we were introduced to Café Andino by Jan and Philip, who had frequented it when they were in Huaraz 4 years ago to do the Huayhuash trek. We hoped that walking up the staircase to the café would count as extra acclimatisation walks, although any benefits of the stairs were quickly undone by the delicious food and drink that was consumed.
Supported trekking is common in Peru, especially for the longer treks at high altitudes. In the end, we decided to do the 10 day Cedros Alpamayo walk with the same company that Jan and Philip had used in 2013. We wanted to see the famous pyramidal face of the Alpamayo peak (once voted the most beautiful mountain in the world), which is not seen from the far more popular 4-5 day Santa Cruz trek. The promise of less people also helped the decision.
We did 4 acclimatisation day walks of varying lengths and increasing altitude, which filled in the time well before the trek was scheduled to start. The first two walks were to Quechan named Lakes Wilcacocha and Uruscocha, and we finished our acclimatisation with 2 of the biggest tourist attractions in the area, Laguna 69 and Pastoruri Glacier.
Acclimatisation is a must before starting a multi-day trek in Huaraz, as the passes can be close to 5000m and most nights are spent around or above 4000m. This means that most people spend more time in Huaraz than they would have otherwise. The city was tragically flattened by a massive earthquake in 1970, and as a result the architecture is not too inspiring. The traffic seems like it should belong in a larger city, not one of just 120,000 people. However, trekkers and climbers are going to flock to the area no matter what the city looks like. It is a base for two stunning nearby mountain ranges, the Cordilleras Blanca and Huayhuash, known for their 6000m+ steep snowy peaks, glaciers and picturesque turquoise alpine lakes.
During our trek, our group consisted of the four of us and another couple from the USA. The 10 days would see us climbing 9 passes, the highest at 4860m, and covering around 130km. The nights were bitterly cold and we woke up to frost on the tent and frozen water bottles most mornings, but the days were sunny and clear. The scenery was incredible and we didn’t see many other groups on the trail until the second last day, when we climbed Punta Union pass (the main pass of the Santa Cruz trek).
Not being the biggest fan of heights, I was a bit nervous about how I’d go on the passes. The altitude certainly made them more difficult, but I got through them all ok, albeit slowly. Neither the passes nor the altitude seemed to slow the Gatenbys down though! I had never done a trek this long before, which combined with the challenging nature of the walk and the amazing landscapes we saw left me with a real sense of achievement upon finishing.
It was lovely to see Jan and Philip after 7 months on the road and we really enjoyed having them over here. When they arrived in Quito we only had a rough idea of what we wanted to do whilst they were here and didn’t have anything booked, but we managed to piece together a very fun and varied 6 weeks.
Erin
dred 