Arrived in Lima at a decent hour, got accosted by taxi drivers at the bus terminal but got lucky - our taxi driver took us to a pretty decent hostel, with helpful staff and not to expensive - this truly never happens! Our time in Lima was really about relaxing, quickly checking out the city and moving on so that is exactly what we did.
Basing ourselves in Miraflores (which is a wee bit nicer than Lima central) we checked out the lovely beach, the nice restaurants and pretty up market shopping centre (even when travelling you do need to spoil yourself sometimes!). Now, many of you may have heard of a website called `couchsurfing` that is essentially a site that brings travellers together through sharing accomdation, meeting up for a drink etc. Whilst we were in Lima we ran into a guy we had met on the nightmarish Ruta 40 trip out of El Chalten who is quite an active member and who had arranged to meet some people in Lima. For us, this was quite a cool experience. That night, we met up with a couple of girls who then took us on to one of their friends housewarming parties, followed by a trip to one of the local nightclubs. The next day we met them again and went to a beach a couple of hours outside of town, which we wouldn`t have even found if we hadn`t met this girl. It was a really good experience and allowed us to see some things we wouldn`t have seen had we just stayed on the `gringo trail`.
Still, after a couple of days, we boarded our night bus and headed off to Huaraz for some walking, trekking, mountains and ultimately lots and lots of rain!!
The thing about Huaraz is that it is known for its amazing scenery and very cool hiking opportunities so we were quite looking forward to this after having been in cities for a while. We arrived early one morning and wandered around town until some local tour guide took pity on us and showed us to an early morning cafe where we could get tea and breakfast. As soon as was reasonable we made contact with someone we had linked with (again through couch surfing) and he was able to give us some local information and showed us to the hostel that was to become our home for the next few days.
Our first day in Huaraz was quite wet and so we wandered about, checked out the town and got some information on what to do and where to go. Day two was also really quite wet so we spent the day hanging around the hostel and updating the blog. Day three dawned wet once again but we optimistically donned our coats and headed out for a day trek to a pretty beautiful spot - Laguna 69, which sits at about 4500m. There were only a few other people there that day (did I mention it was raining?) and although the walk was really tough, particularly being at altitude again, as you came around the final bend the veiw of the lake seriously took your breath away. Out of all these rocks emerged this stunningly blue lake, ice cold and completely untouched by pollution.
As the weather was closing in again we started the walk back and were very lucky to hitch a ride back with a German couple who had hired a taxi to take them out. The true benefit of this must be understood in contrast with the bus ride out. We got there at about 8.30am for the bus that was to leave in about 10 minutes. 30 minutes later the bus was as full as I thought it could get and pulled out. Not long after we started, we stopped to load in several more people and then again to load in a few more and a few more ... Eventually, there were no more people and we started the very slow, very crowded, very smelly 2 hour ride to our destination. To put this into perspective, I thought it might be helpful to give some details. In the back seat of this mini-van (a seat built for 3) were Tim and I, two local lads and one of the boys` sister. Next row, had two women who had obviously just got off the night shift at a greasy spoon cafe (you know, that smell really does linger), a young girl sitting on the floor and finally a mother with her very young baby who, of course, required feeding and a nappy change during the journey. In the third row up, there was an older local couple and a child along with a man perched in the aisle and and older man in the next seat. In the front row, there were three in a seat for two and then in front of them, sitting on the little ledge behind the driver were two other tourists and three locals and standing somehow between all this was the guy who jumps on and off accosting new passengers. Along with the driver, there were another 3 people in the front. Now, keep in mind that all these people had a minimum of at least one backpack each. I think you get the picture ...
Anyway, as I said, the lake was stunning.
The following day, the rain continued and we made a rather sad decision that we really couldn`t spend any more time waiting for the rain to stop and the condition of the treks was such that many of the high passes were closed due to snow and the forecast was not looking good.
And so, yet another night bus, this time, to the ocean!!!!!
More adventures from the ocean soon
Hope you are all well and healthy
take care
Tim and Tracey
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