Huaraz and 'The Santa Cruz'

So we boarded a bus for a 9 hour journey from Lima to Huaraz. Kenny was over joyed as it was the first time he had enough leg room on transport!

The journey was not what we were expecting, our first taste of the roads here saw sheer drops and crazy over-taking.

We arrived in Huaraz. A wonderfully colourful town with more shop signs than I have ever seen. It is a city in the mountains sitting at over 3000 meters high. The main things to do here involve hiking in some shape or form.

We happened upon a parade, we think for the universities. However no health and safety here they just danced right through the traffic.

The beautiful parade costumes.

Here as in Lima many folk make a living from shoe shining.

Yes they are real chickens! There was a whole street of shops like this. We came across shops later that sold sheep heads too.

The fantastic array of fruit & veg.

Kenny after proudly purchasing his bread & cakes in Spanish.

We decided that before doing the classic 'Santa Cruz' 4 day hike we needed to acclimatise better so we headed off from our hostel up the valley and through the small villages high in the mountains.

Most of the houses are made of a combination of mud and clay bricks.

Kenny, my husband! Obviously not trying to fit in with the locals.

We came across some ancient ruins used as burial sites from 600 AD. The people were a lot shorter then.

From the outside, here is our guide a 7 year old boy who took us round the tombs explaining their purpose in Spanish all for a small 3 Sol's fee.

After 2 days of acclimatising we set out at 6am on our 4 day hike the 'Santa Cruz' trek. After driving for 7 hours over very rough roads we stopped by an incredible lake. The most amazing colour.

The road took us higher & higher and further and further until we reached somewhere in the region of 4000 meters, the view shows the very same lake in the bottom.

Finally we arrived at our start point where our guide hired 3 donkeys & 1 pony plus a Donkey guide to carry our equipment for the next 4 days.

Before too long Kenny needed some rest so our group of 7 plus a Peruvian guide stopped for a while.

Mind he chose a great place to stop.

The trail continued, as you can see it is totally flat at but still around 3400 meters above sea level. The reason I point this out as this was the most challenging walk I have ever done. It was 4km of sheer hell as I struggled with the altitude. Imagine trying to breath through a drinking straw and walk at the same time. This is how it felt as my body went into breathing and pulse rate over-drive walking even just down hill.

The Sherpa donkeys who have no problem at this altitude!

Thankfully I found a stick from a donkey's load to help me struggle through.

Kenny - today he had no problem with the altitude.

Finally we arrived at the first camp - see the relief on my face!

And our Donkeys' were not far behind us.

Camp day 1

The view from our campsite - not bad eh?

We all ate together the delights that our guide & donkey driver prepared, in a small tent. Stocking up on carbs for the next day. 10km climbing 900meters to a maximum height of 4750 meters above sea level! (I, at this point, had no idea how I going to manage.)

A few minutes into the trek, day 2, and Kenny realises why he should have gone to be fitted with contact lenses before we came away! (I know, I know, a bit crap considering my job!)
P.S. Kenny holds full copyright of this photo for all advertising purposes!

The group starting out up the valley which looks fairly easy going so far.

Note my more content expression today, somehow, maybe due to the nights rest or the 3 cups of Cocoa leaf tea I drank at breakfast, I am not struggling so much with altitude. The same cannot be said for Kenny unfortunately who, as soon as we started to climb, had to give me the heavy rucksack to carry as he was having trouble walking more than 3 steps at a time!

But wow was it worth it! The area we climbed to is at the far left of the photo.

But to get there means a long ascent.

Kenny - Are we nearly there yet?
After my bad day yesterday I had no problem in empathising, just one foot in front of the other at this point.

Apparently if you are a donkey with a heavy load you can trot up! Really what these animals climbed up and the speed they did it at was incredible.

We made it! Finally Kenny could smile.

Was it worth it you may ask?
Well this was our view at the top. Just breath taking.

To put this in perspective at 4750 meters above sea level we are basically the same height as Mount Blanc, over 3 times higher than Ben Nevis and yet just over half the height of Everest.

Very proud moment.

The veiw of where we are going next. A steep trail down to the plain below and our next camp site.

We arrived there to gloriuos sunshine, our tents already errected and coffee and popcorn pepared for us - who said that this hiking business is difficult!

Veiw from the camp, the intrepid traveller!

Looking wistfully into the distance.

I had definately got my enegry back.

The view of the start of tomorrows hike.

'A Poo with a Veiw'
Going for a poo outside is an interesting experience, however the view made it far more managable!

The incredbile mountain view from the campsite, we crosses over the range at the far right of the photo, just to the left of the first hump.

This truely was the view from our tent that night, just amazing.

It became evident that most of my kit was of the same brand and colour but despite this I was not sponsored by 'The North Face'.
I am also not sure why I look 12 in this photo???

Setting off on day 3 we were promised a beautiful lake.

After climbing for a few hours..........

............... we arrived at the most incredible lake. This photo does not do it justice, the colour was just magical and at the far end was a glacier which had made its way down. The glacier also had tints of the same aqua colour. It really was worth the climb.

The glacier as it hits the lake.

Me & Kenny

The way back down was home to some of the most unusual plant life. Huge cacti.

A long walk through the valley.

Lunch by another lake. I was a little miserable at this point, very tired after no sleep for 2 nights and it had started to rain!

It is hard to imagine that this plain is almost 4000 meters up.

The last post.

I could not resist taking this photo of one of our donkeys, quite happily snoozing on top of a rock.

The short walk to the end on day 4 was a different scene altogether, deep valleys with wonderful water rapids and vegitation.

I think I look the part - feeling like an early explorer.

The end.

This is what 3 nights of no sleep and 4 days of hard hiking at altitude does to you - be warned!!!
Worth every single minute!!!!!