Trekking in the Cordillera Blanca

The Cordillera Blanca is one of the highest and most beautiful mountain ranges in the world. It was made famous by the book and movie "Touching the Void" in which British climber Joe Simpson makes and incredible self-rescue after being left for dead by his climbing partner. We were not planning any death-defying adventures -  just a 5 day trek on the Santa Cruz trail, considered one of the best hikes in the world. Unlike many Kositsky-Huang adventures, this one had no major travel delays, forgotten items, or unexpected surprises - just an amazing week in the mountains.

We only had a limited period of time as the girls were on school vacation, so we flew to Lima on a Saturday and spent the night near the airport (rather than take the bus). The next day we flew on a small plan to Huaraz, the biggest town in the northern Andes of Peru. Once we got settled into our Bed and Breakfast we strolled around town, got some supplies for our trek, and rode an alpaca around the plaza.

On Monday we took an acclimatization hike to a lagoon with Milagros, an employee of the guide service we used for the trek (Adventure Travel Agency Huascaran). It was a nice easy hike but the altitude definitely tired us out.

The next day we were picked up at the Bed and Breakfast around 6:00am and drove a few hours to Huascaran National Park to start our trek. We set up camp (well, our guide Epi set up camp) and then did another acclimatization hike to Laguna 69 which was at about 14,000 feet. It was an incredibly beautiful spot.

On Wednesday we took public transportation to the town of Vaqueria where we met the mule skinner Hoshe and assistant guide/cook Fidel (all 3 guides were from the Andes and spoke Quechua as their first language).  This was the real start of our trek. We hiked through a few mountain villages before making it to our camp at Paria. As you can see in the photos, camp was a pretty luxury set up - we had sleeping tents, a kitchen tent, dining tents and a potty tent. It was also pretty darn beautiful.

Thursday was our hardest day, walking from Paria to Taullipampa.The hike took about 8 hours and brought us over a pass called Punta Union which is at 15,600 feet.The girls did great, but Hannah took advantage of the "taxi service" (aka a horse).  While walking with the guide managing the horse, I got to listen to his anti-Jewish tirade. I then realized the "shaloms" as he called them were not Jews in general, but Israeli tourists (who can be quite obnoxious). I explained the difference between Jews and Israeli's but did not have the heart to tell him I am Jewish as he would have been horrified.

We were allowed to sleep late the next day because it was so cold in the morning. When we finally got up, we had breakfast and hiked about five hours to our camp at Llamacorral.We passed some beautiful mountains, including the famous Alpamayo.We then hiked for miles through a valley that was devastated by a huge landslide, offering us a glimpse of the awesome power of nature. I hate to use such a cliche, but there is no other way to describe it.

Saturday we made the five hour hike to Cashapampa where we were met by a van that took us back to Huaraz.We said goodbye to all of our guides and of course the horse that made Hannah's trip more enjoyable.

That evening we had an amazing meal at a pub that serves British-style curry as well as some Mexican food.

It was an amazing trek through some stunning mountains.  As usual, our pictures do not do it justice but it is a trip we would highly recommend.  Actually, if had more time (and money), we would have opted for a longer trip. One of the best parts of our week in the mountains was watching Emma and Hannah delight in the wilderness and in each other. They had a wonderful time making up stories and games as they hiked, exploring the mountains, and building fairly habitats at each of our campsites (there are some very lucky Andean fairies out there).  They also spent a great deal of time just being goofy, entertaining hundreds at restaurants, plazas, villages and airports throughout Peru.