On the 28th of October, Fiona and I woke up early and took a local mini-bus to Yungi. After waiting an hour, our next bus filled up and we headed east, over the mountains. It took over three hours on the dirt road to cross a 4500 meter pass and come a little ways down the other side.
In Vaquera, we got off the combi/colectivo/mini-bus/van. It was early afternoon. We strapped on the packs and started walking. We went down a hill, crossed the river, went over the next rise, went down to the next river and started following it up to the mountains.
Before five, we made it to the first campground. This is were I learned how they make campgrounds in the mountains of Peru. If you want nice short grass in a flat place in Peru, you let your cows do the upkeep. This, of course, meant that every night we had to kick the cow patties out of the way before we could set up camp. We made a nice dinner and called it a day.
After a nice breakfast of oatmeal and milk, we packed up and started walking some more. We passed by a really tall mountain with some glaciers and then continued up, above the tree line.
After lunch the day started to get pretty long. We climbed and climbed and eventually we got to the lakes we were supposed to camp at. Unfortunately, they were not the lakes we were supposed to camp at. It turned out that we had another hour to climb. Then, finally, we really were at the right place to camp, at a cold 4500 meters above sea level.
The stove was frustratingly unreliable, but eventually we made our pasta and went to sleep. It was a very cold night and I found out that my tent is definitely a three-season tent and that the night was bordering on the fourth season.
After a not too early start on the morning of the 30th, we quickly made it to the top of the pass, Punto Un?n at 4700 meters. It was a nice day and we had great views of glacier covered mountains in several directions. We took a few photos and then started down into the Santa Cruz valley. We were now about 1800 vertical meters and 23 walking kilometers from the end, Cashapampa.
After about ten minutes of heading down, Fiona slipped and hurt her ankle. We continued on, had lunch and then made it to the nicest camping place on the whole trail. By this time Fiona could barely walk and was in definite pain.
We set up camp in a nice flat place, near a river and I made a very nice potato curry and rice dinner. That night it rained. This meant that the clouds kept the heat in the valley and blocked the moonlight. Between the sound of rain on the tent, the lack of light, our being at a lower altitude, and the warmer night, I got my best sleep in Peru so far.
In the morning, there was no question about us moving on. We propped Fiona up against a rock, with a view of our little stream and iced her foot. My lighter had broken and my matches proved very difficult, so we spent the morning waiting for trekkers to come by so we could bum a few matches. Two groups of two passed by and we ended up with a lighter with very little gas, a lighter with a lot of gas but no flint and three matches that allegedly burn underwater.
Our next concern was water. I grabbed the water bottle and looked at our nice mountain stream. It was no longer clear and inviting. The water level had risen a couple of feet and it was muddy. About then a local boy came and pointed out that the stream was flooding and our tent was nearby. He helped me move camp to a safer place. He was a good kid and I ended up giving him a pen and half a candy bar.
The stream ended up rising from about two feet deep to perhaps six feet deep. It covered the bridge and prevented the cows from leaving our area. After lunch, it started to drizzle, so we sought shelter in the tent. The sun was still shining so it got hot in the tent as we read.
By a little after four, I had too much energy and drizzle or no drizzle, I was going for a walk. I headed up the side valley with the intention of finding out where all the water was coming from. I ignored the drizzle and headed up. It soon stopped raining and I made it up into a high valley. There was not so much water up there, but there were a lot of cows and some great glaciers and tall mountains. On the way back to camp I ran down hill. It is always so much fun to run downhill at high altitude, you go so fast.
It was Halloween night, but we were the only ones around. I did not go trick-or-treating. Instead we had a good dinner and turned in.
Fiona's foot was still pretty suspect, but she declared herself ready to start walking. We walked nine kilometers before lunch and planned to do six after lunch. After lunch we saw a sign that said we still had nine kilometers to go, it was a bit depressing.
As we got to lower altitudes, it got warmer and the black flies started attacking. My legs still itch from their bites. Somehow Fiona kept going and, after passing through a narrow canyon, we made it to Cashapampa. We had walked 18 kilometers that day. Fiona did it with a bad ankle and I managed it with all of my stuff and much of her stuff on my back. I now know that I can walk long distances, at high altitudes, with a heavy pack on my back. This is a good thing to know.
From Cashapampa, we took a colectivo to Caray. Fiona and I both agreed that this was the scariest road we have ever been on. The narrow, windy mountain road was made of sand. The driver kept the speed moderate and this was not a problem. But, you could feel the van slide a bit on the turns. Where streams crossed the road, could see where the road had washed out and timbers were placed to shore it up. In Caray, we changed combis and returned to Huaraz. There were quite a few chickens on this bus.
Fiona spent the next day resting her ankle and I poked around town. We took the Cruz del Sur Imperial class bus back to Lima and I almost won the bingo game. Yesterday, Fiona rested her ankle again and we hung out in Luis's apartment. He has a lot of great books to read. In the evening we met Luis and Karem at the fancy mall type place and ate Ben and Jerry's ice cream.
Today we are doing research for the next part of our trip and taking it easy. The plan is to continue south and visit Nazca, Arrequipa and Cuzco this month, and eventually make our way to La Paz, in Bolivia.
Believe it or not, this was only my third backpacking trip in my life. Twice before, I have headed out with a tent, a sleeping bag, a partner, food and a stove for a two night trip and returned after one. These four nights in the mountains were my longest and most difficult backpacking trip ever. I enjoyed it.
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