The journey to the Cordillera Blanca mountains of Peru begins with a 3 legged flight from Denver to Dallas to Miami to Lima. I was able to book all my flights first class with frequent flier miles, so that was a nice (and inexpensive!) treat.
I could get used to first class flying very easily… After landing at about 4:30am I took a cab to the hostel where Alex, Andy and Quinn had arrived late the night before. It was a nice, basic place to stay.
We gathered our 8 big bags and 4 day packs and took a cab to the bus station. As was to be the case pretty much every time we took a cab, we overloaded the vehicle with people and gear and usually ended up lashing equipment to the roof. Next step was a very interesting 8 hour bus ride from Lima to Huaraz.
Heading north from Lima, one first goes through areas of considerable poverty where adobe and tin shacks are the norm. The landscape is barren and incredibly arid despite its location next to the Pacific Ocean. After about 100 miles of pretty bleak terrain and “neighborhoods”, the road begins climbing into the mountains.
After getting to maybe 3000’, the air gets cleaner and the sky becomes blue. Locals along the way live in very basic dwellings and apparently live off subsistence level farming. The road continues to wind its way sharply up into the Andes. The monster double decker bus we were on was quite an amazing vehicle. With two sets of wheels steering in the front and two drive axles in the back, it was surprisingly nimble considering it’s load of 70+ passengers + luggage and the mountain grades.
We enjoyed reclining bucket seats with footrests along with a decent meal by sitting in the first class section. The ride tops out at over 13,000’ before dropping into Huaraz at about 10,200’ that night. We got a quick cab to our Hostel – “Casa de Zarela”, checked in with all of our monster bags and had a beer before going to bed. It had been a fairly long journey to Huaraz, but we were excited to see the mountains in the morning!
In the morning we got up and started exploring town along with trying to secure information on climbing conditions on various peaks. It seems it had been snowing up high quite frequently over the previous two weeks, but for our first day we were greeted with beautiful blue skies! We wandered around town, had a nice lunch and decided that the next day we would do an acclimatization hike up to 15’000’ in the mountains just north of Huaraz. Unfortunately, I came down with a significant cold on this first day and I ended up spending a bunch of time in bed trying to sleep it off, but it was not to be…
The next day we got up and took a cab to the Lago Cherup trail head. This trail head is at about 12,500’ or so. The drive up was very interesting as well as very bumpy. Back roads in Peru are not exactly well maintained… We drove by many tiny settlements with locals out tending to their crops and livestock.
The local women dress in very bright colors and large hats and contrast sharply with the adobe and tin shacks they call home. The men dress in fairly dull outfits. It is interesting to note that virtually no locals wear sunglasses of any sort, despite the altitude and generally sunny conditions. The hike was very pretty and a good way to check in with the altitude. I moved more slowly than normal and it was clear that my cold had a pretty good hold on my system – yuk. Our goal was to hike into Inshinca valley the next day so we also attended to extensive gear and food sorting that evening.
The journey to the Cordillera Blanca mountains of Peru begins with a 3 legged flight from Denver to Dallas to Miami to Lima. I was able to book all my flights first class with frequent flier miles, so that was a nice (and inexpensive!) treat. 
I could get used to first class flying very easily… After landing at about 4:30am I took a cab to the hostel where Alex, Andy and Quinn had arrived late the night before. It was a nice, basic place to stay. 
We gathered our 8 big bags and 4 day packs and took a cab to the bus station. As was to be the case pretty much every time we took a cab, we overloaded the vehicle with people and gear and usually ended up lashing equipment to the roof. Next step was a very interesting 8 hour bus ride from Lima to Huaraz. 
Heading north from Lima, one first goes through areas of considerable poverty where adobe and tin shacks are the norm. The landscape is barren and incredibly arid despite its location next to the Pacific Ocean. After about 100 miles of pretty bleak terrain and “neighborhoods”, the road begins climbing into the mountains.
After getting to maybe 3000’, the air gets cleaner and the sky becomes blue. Locals along the way live in very basic dwellings and apparently live off subsistence level farming. The road continues to wind its way sharply up into the Andes. The monster double decker bus we were on was quite an amazing vehicle. With two sets of wheels steering in the front and two drive axles in the back, it was surprisingly nimble considering it’s load of 70+ passengers + luggage and the mountain grades. 
We enjoyed reclining bucket seats with footrests along with a decent meal by sitting in the first class section. The ride tops out at over 13,000’ before dropping into Huaraz at about 10,200’ that night. We got a quick cab to our Hostel – “Casa de Zarela”, checked in with all of our monster bags and had a beer before going to bed. It had been a fairly long journey to Huaraz, but we were excited to see the mountains in the morning!
In the morning we got up and started exploring town along with trying to secure information on climbing conditions on various peaks. It seems it had been snowing up high quite frequently over the previous two weeks, but for our first day we were greeted with beautiful blue skies! We wandered around town, had a nice lunch and decided that the next day we would do an acclimatization hike up to 15’000’ in the mountains just north of Huaraz. Unfortunately, I came down with a significant cold on this first day and I ended up spending a bunch of time in bed trying to sleep it off, but it was not to be…
The next day we got up and took a cab to the Lago Cherup trail head. This trail head is at about 12,500’ or so. The drive up was very interesting as well as very bumpy. Back roads in Peru are not exactly well maintained… We drove by many tiny settlements with locals out tending to their crops and livestock. 
The local women dress in very bright colors and large hats and contrast sharply with the adobe and tin shacks they call home. The men dress in fairly dull outfits. It is interesting to note that virtually no locals wear sunglasses of any sort, despite the altitude and generally sunny conditions. The hike was very pretty and a good way to check in with the altitude. I moved more slowly than normal and it was clear that my cold had a pretty good hold on my system – yuk. Our goal was to hike into Inshinca valley the next day so we also attended to extensive gear and food sorting that evening.
(Parts II, III, and IV to come...)
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