Peru and big mountains

We considered going from Vilcabamba into northern Peru´s Amazonas but the transport links, and our schedule, didn´t allow it. So we got the early connection across the border to Piura, in Northern Peru. On the way, at Loja bus station, we saw a familiar face. Judith, the Swiss guide, from Guatemala, who had unfortuntely not been our guide on the Pacaya volcano when we had shared the shuttle ride there.

In Piura we stumbled across her other half, Victor, as we tried to get bus tickets up into Huaraz and the Cordillera Andes. Judith and Victor you see are serious mountaineers, experienced guides and were on the way to hire a mule and set off on a two week hikey-climb into the wilderness. And we were going to see the mountains. It was a different world of adventure. But we enjoyed a nice afternoon, a cozy night bus and a stress free morning on our way to Huaraz. In true amazing race style Anna and I picked up stupidly fast connections via Trujillo, Chimbote and another night bus to arrive in Huaraz the night before our extreme buddies. We asked around, nearly paid for a guide, but then the lovely people at gave us a map to Lake 69.

The next day we went on an six hour walk that took us up to 4800m and the stunning Lake 69, nestled in amongst 4 of the Andes´ highest peaks, all over 6000m and snowcapped. The last couple of hundred metres were torchure, even though we had spent quite a few days over 3000m, and we experienced the tiring effects of altitude. Huaraz was a hustling mix of adventure tourists and mountain market centre, with a constant flow of people, great value Chinese food and a kind of frontier spirit in awe of the mountain gods. It was very cool and we would´ve loved to have gone further into the wilderness ourselves.

The Cordilleras await

Lago 69 at 4800m

We always look like this

Some big mountains