ft), and various points in Huascaràn National Park, where we'd be
hiking and camping, are much higher. Our job upon arrival was to
acclimatize.
Because we were doing this at high altitude, and because we were going
with kids, we decided to hire a tour company. Paulino at Huascaran
Tours took care of everything for us, including an introductory hike
the day before we left, to judge our abilities.
So on May 18 we left for a short hike in the hills above Huaraz. We
met our guide Francisco at the shop and got a drive up to the trail.
Our very first stop was an underground tomb, in a tiny cave. Equipped
with headlamps, we all climbed into a manhole-sized opening and
crawled about 20 metres to a wide underground opening. This was where
folks in the town used to bury their most important figures. The bones
and artefacts are apparently now in a museum in Huaraz. Next, it was
time to walk. We walked for a couple of hours, through tiny
communities and various fields. Always upward. And then, Maïa and I
ran out of gas in a rocky field banked at about 45 degrees. We sat
while Derek, Solanne and Francisco went up further. It turns out that
Maïa and I made it to about 3900 metres; the rest of the crew went up
to 4000. While the achievement on its own is good, it isn't much when
you consider that the highest point of our hike was going to be 4900
metres!
Francisco assured us this was normal, and that we'd be fine. Back in
town, we went to the tour office to go over our itinerary with
Paulino. He also assured us we would do well. So I steeled myself and
hoped that the experts were right.
We left early the next morning.
Team: Maïa, Solanne, Derek, Cristina, Francisco (guide), Paty
(Patrizia; other guide), Julian Oro (arriero or mule driver), three
donkeys, and one horse. And lots and lots of stuff.
Day 1
Distance hiked: 13km
Total elevation ascended: about 800m
We had a three-hour ride up to Huascarán National Park. We hiked
upward for a chunk of the day. We breaked for a few minutes here and
there, and stopped in a pretty little dale for lunch. Paty and
Francisco prepared us tomato and avocado sandwiches. This was only a
hint of how spoiled we were going to be on the food front. The girls
were tough that first day; they walked the whole morning and only got
rides on the horse in the afternoon. And throughout, they took turns
holding Frsncisco's hand, which was a godsend. Neither of them
complained around him, and they always moved faster when they were
with him.
We arrived at our campsite as the sun had moved behind a mountain. Our
arriero had gone ahead of us (those donkeys can move!) and set up the
tents. There was a large cooking tent, a dining tent complete with
table and four comfy camp chairs, two two-man tents, and our outhouse
tent. We were all alone at the campsite until dusk when another small
party moved in. We ate late: a lovely noodle soup followed by trout
with rice and some kind of potato. We retired to our warm beds soon
after.
Day 2
Distance hiked: 23km
Another clear day. We started out with a hearty breakfast and got
going as quickly as the four of us are able. The first half of the day
was an easy walk, along the bottom of the valley. We were always
within 20 metres of the river. We saw cows, donkeys and horses grazing
in the meadows, with tall green mountains on either side of us and
beautiful snowcapped mountains ahead. Within the first half hour of
our hike, we were reminded that nature is not only beautiful, but it
can be difficult. A little foal came into view - likely about a week
old according to Paty. He was standing, resolutely, by his dead
mother. Maïa understood what had happened and wondered what might
become of the foal. There are no easy answers, and trying to explain
to her that I don't know was almost as difficult as leaving that
little sad-eyed foal to his fate.
We continued on and soon met the other group of hikers I'd seen at our
campsite. One of them is from Montreal and is a photographer/
videographer for National Geographic, and his two companions are
French journalists; they were working on a story about Peru, including
the Santa Cruz trek. We saw them quite a bit during our journey.
Lunch was by the river, then we made our way upward to the base camp
of Alpamayo ("the most beautiful mountain in the world" according to
the German Mountaineering Club). We snacked there, then backtracked
down, zigzagging all the way, and continued on our path to the next
campsite. We had a thick soup and spaghetti that night. Solanne was so
tired that she fell asleep in her chair at the table, before the pasta
was even served!
Day 3
Distance hiked: 28km
Total elevation ascended: 800m
This was the big day: a hike almost straight up to a pass called Punta
Union. A lot of the ascent was very tricky, so the kids couldn't hitch
a ride with the horse. They were strong and brave (stronger and braver
than me!). Punta Union is a tiny doorway, way, way up in the mountain,
that separates one valley from another. When we finally arrived, there
was cheering (from us as well as our National Geographic friends). We
snacked up there and greeted others who arrived through the pass from
the other direction (doing the trek backwards from us). I have the
distinct feeling that we wrecked one woman's day, since she was
exhausted but proud of herself for making it up, only to find a six-
year-old and an eight-year-old in fine form after their ascent to 4700m!
Soon it was time to make our way down - a descent of about 900m,
mostly on rocky terrain. This valley was decidedly different from the
first. It was cooler here, and it was grey and rain threatened (it was
sunny and rather warm in the previous valley). Down we went, until we
thought we had reached the bottom of the valley and there was a turn,
and it went down some more. Francisco pushed us to get as low as
possible before any rain might come. We had a quick lunch by a little
lake and continued on. After what felt like forever, we arrived at our
campsite, just before dark. It was getting cold, so we put on our
extra layers, ate supper and went straight to bed.
Day 4
Distance hiked: 6km
We woke to the sound of rain on the tent and the promise of a rather
dreary day. Luckily, this was our short hike day. We hiked out of the
park as the rain turned to drizzle and eventually stopped altogether.
The hike was nearly straight up toward a town called Vaqueria where we
caught a combi to take us to our next destination (too far to hike).
We piled our gear high onto the roof of the combi and said goodbye to
our donkeys and horse. The walk up had taken about three hours, and
the ride was another hour or so. Our journalist friends were with us
in the combi, so when the van got a flat tire, the videographer was
nearly giddy with excitement; it would seem that a flat is a common
occurrence for combis but he had not yet witnessed - or taped - one.
This was his chance. And it was our chance to once again disembark,
but we didn't need to help this time. The driver, Francisco, and
others were already jacking up the van and changing the tire by the
time we got out.
Once we were back on the road we got decent views of a few mountains
and a couple of beautiful lakes. Unfortunately, the clouds obscured
the mountaintops. We zigzagged down the road on hairpin turns as
Francisco told us about the various fatal bus accidents that had
occurred on that road over the years. I think he just enjoyed watching
Derek and me turn a little green.
The combi dropped us off at our campsite in early afternoon. We
unloaded all our gear, said goodbye to our arriero as well as our
journalist friends and made camp. For the first time, Derek and I were
not only present for tent-pitching but were allowed to help a little.
Once everything was set up, it was time to rest. The sky had cleared
somewhat, so it was a pleasant enough afternoon, if a little cool. The
kids drew, Paty and I chatted about this and that (I practiced my
Spanish and she tried out the few English words she knows), and Derek
and Francisco played a couple of matches of soccer against the
arrieros that camp out nearby, waiting for a gig. I have to say that
for a guy who doesn't play soccer, he held his own at 3900m!
As the day wore on, the girls retired to the cooking tent where Paty
showed us her stove (complete with full sized propane tank, which the
donkeys had been carrying!). Soon the boys joined us and Francisco and
Paty were busily preparing supper, so we slipped out to make room for
them - though we would have preferred to stay; it was much warmer in
the cooking tent!
Day 5
Distance hiked: 16km
Total elevation ascended: 1000m
I have to be honest, if we'd known that we were hiking up to 4900m
before we left, we may have bowed out. Sometimes ignorance is your
friend...
Francisco and Paty rock-paper-scissored to decide who got to take us
up to Lago 69 and who had to stay back to make lunch. Francisco won,
and it was relatively early when we set out to go up to what promised
to be a beautiful sight. With no horse (it was too hard anyway), the
girls had to make the whole hike on their own steam. So we walked. Up.
And up. And up. Francisco described the walk as being up in zigzags
followed by a flat part, then more zigzags. I suppose the "flat" part
was relative, because even that part was banked upward.
A troupe of police officers-in-training passed us along the way. You
know you're on a hard trail when it's used for bootcamp... After three
hours of up, of hard, hard work upward, we finally reached our goal:
the bluest lake I have ever seen. We sat and enjoyed the view (and
tried to ignore the hooting of the police officers-in-training). Above
the lake rose a giant glacier, and we could hear the intermittent
cracking of the ice high above, and I kept wondering if we'd see an
avalanche (we didn't).
We had our snack and made our way back down - 8km of down. Maybe I'm
getting old, but my knees sure were aching after that. The kids? They
were in fine shape. Lunch awaited us at the campsite: causa, a Lima
specialty of potatoes prepared in various fashions. This one was like
a pâté chinois: a layer of mashed potatoes, a layer of tuna, then
another layer of mashed potatoes. It was delicious. As we finished
eating, our guides were already packing up our gear. The company van
was waiting for us; it took us on the last leg of our trip: the three-
hour drive down to Huaraz.
In town, Paulino met us upon arrival to see how things had gone. Paty
offered a teary goodbye and Francisco clapped Derek on the back and
accepted the girls' enthusiastic hugs. Paulino's final and most
generous act as a host was to invite us back to his place the
following evening for Pisco Sour (a Peruvian aperitivo) and some rice
pudding that Paty had made for kids.
Some notes
• it gets cold at night at those elevations: about zero degrees
• the sun at such high elevations is strong: SPF 50 for all!
• in the mornings, our guides gave us each a little tub of hot water
to wash up
• coca tea (made of coca leaves) is served to help alleviate altitude
sickness
• we always had fresh water, thanks to rivers and streams and our
handy SteriPen (which uses UV rays to sterilize water - one litre in
one minute)
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