Huaraz, Peru 🇵🇪

I am off to part of the Huascaran National park today to hike up to the  Pastoruri glacier.  The tour is Spanish speaking which is okay as the guide takes trouble to explain some of the more important points in slow broken English for me.  I also have Nathan (10) and Luke (6) sat across from me, they are from the USA visiting their Peruvian family and are not only entertaining but are excellent translators.  

We stop a couple of times, once for a cup of coca leaf tea and again for good photos of the snow peaked mountains that make up the Cordillera Blanca range.  By midday we arrive at the valley of Carpa, where the Puya de Raimondi plant grows. These are strange plants, that are actually the largest member of the bromeliad family (relative of the pineapple), hence the biggest pineapple plants in the world! They grow at altitudes between 3500 to 4700m and can be found in only a few areas of the Andes.

The Puya Raimondi look prehistoric and are actually quite incredible.  They grow to 15m over a 100 year period.  Once they reach maturity they bloom with thousands of flowers up the stem and then die.  Quite amazing to see clumps of plants with these majestic spikes in this rocky landscape.

Onwards to the main attraction and we park at about 5000masl to start the short hike to the Pastoruri Glacier.  This takes me about an hour, trying to go at an even pace to avoid altitude issues as we climb up to 5240masl.  The Glacier is in a beautiful spot and the rocky landscape has beautiful colours.  It isn’t as awesome as the Perito Moreno Glacier I saw in Argentina but still beautiful and the views across the Cordillera are fab.  It is really apparent here how climate change is affecting these natural elements.  Looking at pictures of this glacier regression it is about a third of the size it was 30years ago.  I think another 15-20years and there will be nothing to see, quite a sobering thought to think about how that will affect the area.

Huaraz, Peru 🇵🇪

Today is a bus day, travelling up to Huaraz with Cruz del Sur.  The service is basically that of a plane, with a hostess that brings a small meal whilst you watch a movie on your personal screen.  I have to say the seats are pretty comfy, good armchair feel with recline and footrest.  It is 8 hours up to Huaraz but great scenery as we wind our way up to the town which sits at 3,000masl.

Huaraz is a pretty ugly town, it was rebuilt after a earthquake in the 70s destroyed a lot of it.  My impression of the town is that it is chaotic and noisy.  They seem to play music all night from random shops, and there are loads of taxis that beep their horns just to let you know they are there, it’s constant.  I do find good coffee and chips at Cafe Andino which ranks as a highlight of this town.

The good news is that I didn’t come here for the town, I came to hike in the surrounding Cordillera Blanca whose snow capped peaks I can already see from the town.  My plan is to readjust to the higher altitude and then try to hike up to Laguna 69.  I have booked a short hike for tomorrow to the Pastoruri glacier to help with the acclimatisation.

Lima, Peru 🇵🇪

Nicki and Liam are in town today and so we arrange to explore together.  This includes taxi negociations and it’s been a while since I have been in a city where you can’t just walk to key sights.  First stop is the Plaza de Armas which sits at the heart of Lima’s historic center. This is the spot where Francisco Pizarro founded the city in 1535. A fountain serves as the square’s centerpiece, with key buildings framing the plaza.  One is the Palacio de Gobierno, official home to Peru’s President, where we are headed to watch the changing of the guard at midday.  As we arrive there are road closures and clearly a celebration starting.  There are groups dressed in different traditional dress and a mounted guard band.  The guards are actually playing ‘despacito’ which amazes me, fortunately this popular song moves on to more serious tones for the changing of the guard.  It is a length process with a slow high kicking foot march, entertaining enough but we are distracted by the loud and lively icon procession coming out of the Catedral de Lima.

I am not sure what the celebration is for but it was fabulous to watch the different groups in a procession with religious icons and doing their dances.  The most bizarre was the masked men carrying dead baby llamas on their backs whilst whipping each other round the ankles.  It is all very colourful and everyone seems to be enjoying watching the procession.  We are getting hot and hungry so I find a traditional sandwich spot where I have Chicharron filling, almost a hog roast! Just needs apple sauce and stuffing.

Nicki and Liam have the next destination as a cat park.  Somewhat skeptically we catch a taxi to Parque Kennedy where it indeed is home to cats.  A mix of abandoned and a feral population keeps us amused via a cat spotting game, I don’t think there are as many as the guys expected but they loved playing with the little kittens.  We wander down the main Larco street to the Peruhop offices where we can bag a free T-shirt and I can book a tour for when Steve arrives.

After all the excitement we are flagging but a couple of scoops of ice cream serves as a pick me up as we walk to Larcomar.  We visit a few shops and of course Paddington bear, a gift from the people of the UK (well he is from darkest Peru!).  

I manage to show them a few bits of street art on the way back to Barranco but Nicki is clearly hobbling post the 18km run they did yesterday… we all take a rest before going to dinner nearby.  I go home and pack ready for the bus tomorrow whilst they visit the fountain show.  It looks lots of fun, so one for the list when I come back.

Lima, Peru 🇵🇪

Today is a little overcast and smoggy.  My plan is to stay in Barranco for the day as it is known as a bohemian and artsy district.  First I visit the Museum of Pedro De Osma, more for the building than the collections it houses.  It has lots of colourful flowers and birds surrounding the building.  The main house has wonderful long stained glass windows which are different themes in each room.  In terms of collections it has a wealth of religious art and a big silver collection.  The more captivating is the history of the last Inca family and traditional artefacts from the period.

Next door is the MATE gallery, which showcases the work of Mario Testino.  He is primarily a fashion photographer but famously photographed Lady Diana for her Vogue cover.  The photos are really good, particularly his series of celebrity party shots.  There are a couple of guest exhibitions with a sense of the strange ‘art’ subjects including one of a reflective disc in a dark room….wierd.

Back to my barrio browsing and I walk down underneath the ‘bridge of sighs’ (which is a small wooden bridge across the cleave) to the sea.  I sit on the shoreside to watch the people enjoying the promenade .  Walking back, I take a route that was recommended to see some great street art.  One of my favourites is a monkey spaceman.  

I enjoy a local dish of anticucho for dinner, which is spiced beef kebab skewers, together with boiled potatoes and white corn. I also manage to find a delicious heladeria for a couple of scoops of dessert before heading back.

Lima, Peru 🇵🇪

I would have liked a lie in, but it seems my body clock to primed for a 6.30am wake up.  The hostel do a great breakfast with eggs and I spend most of the morning planning the next two weeks.  Steve arrives into Lima on the 7th July, and I think this gives me good time to see three towns in the north of Peru with a bit of hiking.

Today is Nicole’s birthday, so once she is functioning post last night’s hangover we arrange to meet at Laromar.  This is a shopping complex on the edge of Miraflores barrio that overlooks the sea.  The walk up there shows the contrast between the colourful Barranco and the high rises of Miraflores.  Once I find Nicole we go to a photography exhibition of the world’s press, it’s good and reminds me of how much is going on in the world outside of my adventure.  

We enjoy a couple of cakes while watching the sunset to celebrate Nicole being a year older before parting as Nicole is still feeling rough.  I enjoy beef noddles at a Asian restaurant, looking forward more of the renown culinary delights of Lima.

Coast of Peru 🇵🇪

Pick up is at 05.15am today as I settle in for a full day on the bus.  We are heading 13 hours up the coast to Huacachina.  If we ignore my excitement at getting to watch Top Gun, the scenery was amazing.   It was more interesting than I was expecting, once out of Arequipa we hit the coast and the beaches were lovely and totally deserted.  The road wound through rocky parts and sand stones but we kept the sea for about two thirds of the trip.  We stopped for lunch at a small fishing village called Chala which was really quaint and then headed north for 3 hours to Nazca.

We stopped briefly to climb a tower that gives a birds eye view of 2 of the designs.  The Nazca lines were created 1900 years ago and surprisingly only discovered 100 years ago. They are still shrouded in mystery but are thought to have been gifts or prayers to the gods for water in this dry land.

We eventually arrive at Huacachina after sunset and I don’t feel too bad after such a long bus trip.  Nicole is already here so we meet for a bite to eat and a cheeky beer.