Climbing into the Andes

For our first proper town stops in Peru, we’ve been to the seaside town of Huanchaco, and then climbed into the Andes to the town of Huaraz.

The main reason for being in Huanchaco was to see some ancient ruins. There wasn’t much else to do here, and the place was in fact a bit of a dive. Many of us even compared it to Margate.

Before we started exploring, it was Halloween, so we arranged a shit t shirt exchange between us which we then had to wear for the entire day. It was a lucky dip, and I got very lucky, choosing a shirt I’d probably wear at a music festival.

We then spent our day here exploring the Moon temple which had only been discovered fairly recently. So recent in fact that they are still excavating a second Sun temple. To protect the temples, they practically but annoyingly added structures over the top, which doesn’t make the photos particularly interesting.

After a very boring museum tour of artefacts, we then headed to the Chan Chan ruins, which was more of the same.

The next day, we climbed into the Andes in our truck, reaching a height of 4,000 metres. Somewhat naively, I never knew South America was at such an elevation. But it was beautiful.

The town of Huaraz doesn’t really have much going for it in itself, but it is a gateway to the Andes, where we completed the Laguna 69 hike. This is the most gruelling hike I’ve ever done, not because it’s particularly strenuous, but due to its altitude. Your breathing becomes heavy, you feel dizzy, and you have to take a large number of rest breaks. However, it was all worth it.