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From desert to snowy mountains in one bus ride!
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Hello,
We are now in Huaraz, one 8 h bus ride took us from beachside desert up to just over 3000m in the Andes. We are now in the Cordillera Blanca, the world´s highest tropical mountain range which contains Huascaran, Peru´s highest mountain. After taking a day to get used to the altitude again, whenever we arrive at altitude our hostal always seems to be up five flights of steps and it is when you have to drag your rucksac up them you really feel it. We then arranged 3 day trips to areas of interest in the area, the Llanganuco lakes, Chavin de Huantar and the Pastoruri glacier. The Llanganuco lakes On the way to the lakes we passed through Carhuaz a pretty mountain town, where our guide (it has been a bit of brain strain as everything is in spanish) told us was the home of the macho helado (helado is ice-cream, well ice really). None the wiser we hopped into the first ice-cream shop..one of about 5 in the main square to find that cervesa ice-cream seemed to be the order of the day! I wimped out with some tasty coconut instead, hey I´m not macho.
Next stop was Yungay, where after a devastating landslide in 1970 all that was left of the town was the cemetery. The villagers built the new village down the road and turned the old area into a garden of remembrance. Here you could see just how sudden the landslide was, as all that remains is an upturned bus and a small part of the church. Next stop up a winding path was the lakes, over 3800m above sea level. In the background of the pictures you can see the ice cap of Huascaran. Chavin de Huantar In our quest to keep you updated with some culture, the next day trip was to Chavin. This site (Chavin culture) is thought to influence all the following cultures including those we saw in the desert. The original temple complex here was built in approx 800BC, and unfortunately my spanish lessons lacked archaeological terms so I rather struggled with the details here, but the building work was impressive and there were some great underground passages that we had alot of fun hamming it up Indian Jones stylee. On the way we stopped at a beautiful lake called Querococha (Quero is quechua for teeth, which the mountains above look like).
Pastoruri glacier Today (11/5/07) we visited the Pastoruri Glacier, on the way we stopped to see the Puya Raimondi Plant which can grow up to 10m in height (look at me in pic Puya Raimondi Plant 1 to see just how tall!). We then headed on the glacier, and took a short walk up to the snow line at over 5100m...it literally took your breath away! You were able to go inside an ice cave at the head of the glacier which was really spectacular with the ice in ripple effect on the walls. Next stop is Lima, off on the next bus journey in about 2 h! Bye for now! More thumbnails ...
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| 20. | From desert to snowy mountains in one bus ride! - Huaraz, Peru May 08, 2007 (  28 ) |
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