From the Mountains to the Capital

After a cultural start to Peru, we moved into a more physical mode by going to Huaraz. This is quite a way into the mountains and in fact the Cordilleras Blancas is the second highest mountain range after the Himalayas with 22 peaks over 6,000 metres.

The first trip from Huaraz was to the Pastoruri Glacier. This involved passing through a long valley which is famous for the Paya Raimondi, a plant that takes 100 years to grow. But at the end of the valley we took a path up to 4,955 metres where the Pastoruri Glacier reaches down to a lake.

There are signs which show how the glacier has retreated in the last twenty years, and highlights the effects of climate change. In fact ice is apparently retreating faster in Peru than elsewhere. Despite this, it was great to get up close to a glacier, as well as seeing the snow-capped mountains in the area.

The second trip was much more dramatic as we took the trek to Laguna 69. In a different part of the Cordilleras. This involved a vertical climb of around 700 metres to a lake surrounded by snow-capped mountains and glaciers.

We started at 3,850 metres at the wonderful Laguna de Llanganuco, which was deep blue and at the bottom of a steep valley. From there we took a path up the valley which was overlooked by Huascaran, Peru’s highest mountain. Passing waterfalls and lakes we eventually reached the last trek up to the magnificent lake.

Arriving in sun, it soon turned to snow and hail, and back again. It was a fantastic place to stop and have a packed lunch before trekking back down, at a much quicker rate. It was a wonderful day, and highlighted the beauty of the region.

We followed up with a few days in the capital Lima. This is the second driest city after Cairo, and we were fairly lucky to enjoy mainly sunny days. The historical centre is beautifully preserved, but apart from that there is not much to see. However, we loved the time chilling in the smart Miraflores and more Bohemian Barranco districts.

We enjoyed some downtime before sweeping into the south of the country, and the main tourist areas, which we guessed might be much busier than we had seen to date.