Huayhuash was great. It was so relaxing to be unplugged for a week just moving forward concentrating on where I was walking. Every morning they’d knock on our tent with coca tea and I wouldn’t want to get out of my sleeping bag and wake up, but then the tea worked! Our guide doubled as an amazing chef so breakfast consisted of pancakes a lot and even eggs! I couldn’t believe they carried that in. So a note on that… we were glamping for a week. During the day we only carried our day packs with water, snacks & some clothes. There was a total of 8 donkeys plus one baby and two horses plus a calf to carry our things. Our tents were set up by the porters before we got there and taken down each morning. It made it so easy to not have to factor that into our timing each day. And we had sooo muuuch food. A snack pack in addition to breakfast, lunch, dinner and lonche (What people call an afternoon snack here)! Sometimes it made it hard to start walking again after we had eaten a big meal. I tried mulled wine for the first time on this trek! It was delicious. We also had flan and strawberry mousse, the desserts were on point. Most mornings the ground would be frosted over and at night it got windy. We were there during a full moon and had so much light at night and then finally at the last campsite the mountains blocked the moon and I got an unadulterated view of the stars. Every campsite except for one had toilets with plumbing which I wasn’t expecting at all on an 8 day trek. I jotted down some notes each day about our route, so enjoy! I had a lot of trouble putting pictures on this, I think there’s a limit. Stay tuned for the in depth fb album!
Day 1:
Leave chiquian 8am arrive campamento de Matacancha 10am. Pack up burros left at 10:30. Starts in Ancash and going down from pass goes into Huanuco. Windy and cloudy made it kinda chilly.
1:12 stopped for lunch 1:40ish left
2:45 arrived at campsite Mitucocha.
Saw about 4 condors in Ancash! Altitude for the day: about 4100msnm. This was a shorter day for us. Unfortunately the campsite included a trash dump right behind the camping grounds next to the river. The fees for the community entrance are supposed to provide for cleaning up and such but apparently not everyone comes to the trainings about that and they don’t want to carry trash out. Some guides are also irresponsible and the porters don’t want to carry the trash out on their donkeys so they dump it instead. It’s very sad to see this juxtaposition with the awe inspiring natural beauty.
Welcome to Peru, the land of the Incas, a civilization that revered nature- Mother Earth, Father Sun, the Mountain Gods… yet today the people are not mindful of the environment.
Day 2:
Left at 8amish. Arrive 3:20. Campsite: Carhuac cocha. Fun fact: cocha means lake in Quechua. Saw condors again! I had heard people who went last year saw condors and I didn’t want to get my hopes up but I was so happy to see the condors in their natural habitat somewhat unexpectedly rather than in Colca Canyon where everyone is bused in to see it, although that is still awesome. This day we were the only group who didn’t go along the donkey path. We did what our guide called “The Mischief of Algaecocha”. It was basically walking along a slanted side of a mud mountain. It had rained the days before so the ground was really wet and our guide had to come back and ferry us each along because we were sliding so much. It used up a lot of adrenaline and emotional energy because we were nervous but totally worth it for the views- a long snow capped mountain range with condors above and the classic blue glacial lakes. My friend Carter noticed the shape of a puma in the snow!
Can you spot the puma?! Unfortunately some of the picture got cut off but it has a super cool reflection!
Altitude for the day: 4400msnm at least because it’s a little higher than the day before. The campsite was amazing, a huge blue lake and rippling green mountain ridges leading into the impressive gray rock jutting up into white crevasses. We were situated next to the latrines which doesn’t sound great but was actually convenient. The sunset was gorgeous because the light caught on the clouds and snow to create a Trix yogurt colored sky.
Lunch views for the day
Always gotta stop for pictures!
Will’s and my tent was the red one to the right. Check out that super close proximity to the latrines! Oh, and the full moon!
I just couldn’t get enough of dusk and dawn and the colors and the clouds on the mountains. Each campsite was magical. You can see our big dining tent to the left and the orange and purple kitchen tent to the right of that.
Day 3:
Left 8:10 for Siula pass. Could see breath in the am and light frost.
Arrive mirador at 11:40, left 12:16, at pass at 1:10pm, altitude 4834msnm pass. Leave lunch at 1:45. Arrive to campsite Tupac Amaru/huayhuash 3:25. 4345 msnm for the night. We had to walk around the lake this morning and had the most stunning and breathtaking view of the mountain reflection in the lake.
THE FAMOUS THREE LAKES! WE MADE IT!
On the way to the famous Three Lakes pass and viewpoint we went up to one of the lakes, just a 7 minute uphill detour. After the three lakes we had another small pass then went down and ate lunch by a lake. One part I really liked of today was some ground that was like green moss mounds with water surrounding it and it made me think of Mario Kart. Not that I’ve ever played that though so a bit of a strange comparison. 20 minutes before the campsite we rejoined with the donkey road, which was actually the Inka Road! It used to be very wide but hasn’t been kept up and is narrower now. Supposedly this Inka trail leads all the way to Junín, another region of Peru.
The original Inka Trail wall.
Day 4:
Left 8:15. Very frosty ground. Arrive 12:45pm Viconga. Saw condors. Today is the day! Hot springs baby! Also didn’t think on an eight day trek I’d be bathing. And let me tell you, this wasn’t the longest I’d gone without showering as a Peace Corps Volunteer. As soon as we arrived to the camp I scarfed down my lunch and ran to the trough to quickly wash some socks. Dr Bronner’s is a miracle worker! It was nice to wash with hot water for once! Then I jumped into the hot springs- one small pool for soaping up that was the hottest and two bigger pools for swimming and relaxing. I was worried about getting burnt because it was out in the open and sunscreen wasn’t going to do any good in the water but somehow I escaped unscathed. It felt so good to relax, hang out with all my friends and fellow travelers, and porters and guides. With our porters we had a swimming competition (I won!) and shared some beers. Honestly I was surprised some porters could swim because they come from communities similar like mine where there are no pools or swimming classes so just not many opportunities to learn.
The steam at the eye of the hot springs, We boiled the egg around here.
This was my favorite hot springs in all of Peru. It was gorgeous and smack between the mountains. I didn’t want to get out ever and wanted to come back the next morning and even just live there. One of our porter guides took us up to the “ojo”, the eye of the spring and they hard boiled an egg in the bubbling water! Tonight was the lunar eclipse so we kept an eye out and delayed dinner but unfortunately with the late rise over the mountains we couldn’t see any of it.
The first two/three days Muna was running ahead of us and would always have to stop and wait. She finally got tired out and rested more along the trail. She is modeling her “Outward Hound” backpack that she used to carry her food and water bowls as well as her hiking boots. Yes, you read that right.
Muna wasn’t the only one who got tired!
Day 5:
Left 7:30. Less sun in the am at this campsite. Paso cuyo 5000m. Arrive at top of pass at 10. 5mil m. Leave at 10:15. Down at 11. Got to first Pampa past campsite up to San antonio (5100msnm) at 12. Up to second Pampa at 12:45ish. Left at 1. From San Antonio you see Laguna Sarapococha. Up at 1:35 until 2. Down at 2:15. Huanacpatay campsite at 4:35. 4356 msnm for campsite altitude.
Felices Fiestas Patrias! (Cuyo Pass. Touching the Void mountain in the back)
San Antonio
This was the hardest day with two passes. From the first pass you can see the mountain that “Touching The Void” is about, a fish shaped mountain swimming away from you. On the way up to the pass we encountered a lot of cows and their tagging was braided strings hanging from their ears, which was beautiful. After the first pass we kept going beyond a campsite where everyone else was staying to head to the San Antonio pass and then a campsite 2hrs beyond that that we had to ourselves. We left our bags at a field right below San Antonio pass to make it easier to go up. It was hard to get up there because it was straight up and it was the highest point we were going to and our legs were screaming as we trudged through the muddy snow, but we all made it! I was so happy and proud of us. Today was also July 28, “Fiestas Patrias”, Peru’s Independence Day. As we were walking along Andrea and Rebecca taught us more of the national anthem and we sang all day. It was very special for me to spend this holiday exploring Peru and getting to know it better, appreciating the best of it.
Snow at San Antonio
MOOdeling the latest fashion at Cuyo Pass, the first of the day.
Day 6:
Left 8:20 arrive at 3:20. Before lunch we took a small detour (completely downhill then up on the way back) to a town called huayllapa at 3500msnm. This would be super cool if you’ve never seen a small, rural town in Peru but I should’ve just waited at the community entrance because it was quite steep and I could’ve saved some energy. We also bought some snacks at the shops in town which was a nice treat. For lunch we left the town and continued walking up along the river to stop and eat there. Finally arrived at the campsite (Huatiaq at 4253msnm) and had it to ourselves! There was a nice view of some snowy mountains.
Day 7:
The second to last day! From Huatiaq to Tapush Punta pass at 4759msnm. Then Yaucha Punta pass at 4847msnm. The passes led to wide open views of the mountain ranges, great photo opportunities.
I thought these red/orange mountains looked like such a fake Mac OS background. Apparently a mining company created the road going up looking for minerals. Mining is common in all of Peru, especially the mountain areas where we live, with detrimental effects to the environment.
The view of Jahuaccocha from above. Peep the brightly colored tents to the left of the smaller lake.
Camp in Jahuacocha at 4200m. Since it was the last campsite on this end of the circuit before finishing it was a crowded one! Apparently some people may stay there a little longer and have little cook outs, we saw a group that brought kayaks for the lakes, and one of the kitchen/dining tents was actually shaped like a house. The sunset was just gorgeous over the snow topped mountains and as we were walking around at dusk we saw a group of teen boys who had come up from the closest town on their school break to hang out and a friend and I started playing soccer with them. I think they were impressed! Also with our Quechua, which we used all the tome with the porters and he community members who collected fees. My brother said he also overheard one of our porters telling another porter we spoke Quechua and seeming happy about it, so I like to think he was proud of us and proud to be our guide. After dinner I stood outside for a while to look at the skies. The other nights the full moon drowned out the stars but finally the moon was hidden and the sky was just amazing. Where I live I have a pretty clear view of the stars with little light pollution but this was even more expansive! And I saw 4 shooting stars! I could now end the trip happy.
Day 8:
This was an early day because we needed to make the 11:30 bus in Llamac (3300m) to Chiquian. I think we were all eager to push through today and once we got far away from the campsite there weren’t as majestic mountain views. It was basically all downhill today except for a bit at the beginning after leaving the field of the campsite. So count on uphill & downhill every day. It ended up that we actually missed the bus going to Chiquian because completely out of character it left earlier than the scheduled time. Our guide somehow wrangler up a pickup so 8 of us squished in there with all our stuff to get back to Chiquian to then take the bus to Huaraz. I sat in the bed and did not anticipate how much dust would actually get on me- my face was literally caked. But it was fun!
Community Entrance Fees
20 llamac
15 pocpa
40 Carhuacocha
25 quisarcancha
25 Tupac Amaru/huayhuash
20 Viconga
40 huayllpa
20 pacllon
Guide info: Yoder Bernabe. Lives in Chiquian and works with the Peace Corps volunteer there. +51 943 851 202
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