Where's Andrew

SANTA CRUZ TREK, PERU - OCTOBER 15 TO 18

Lake on the Way to Cashapampa

Shane, Seleka and I are up by 4:00AM to catch a van to the start of the Santa Cruz Trail at the town of Cashapampa and we are all keen to get going. It is a 6 hour drive and we go right past the start of the Laguna 69 trail where we hiked a couple days before. We drive up over a mountain and reach a summit of about 4800m. The road is crazy narrow with too many switch backs to count and we have a fabulous view of Huascaran which is the tallest mountain in Peru at 6768m. We finally get to Cashapampa where we are given our lunch which is a sandwich, some fruit and snacks and it is little after noon before we actually get on our way.

Chen, Carly, Stuart, Seleka, Shane, Yoram, Arnon & Andrew

There is 8 of us in our group; there is Carly and Stuart from England, Anon, Chen & Yoram from Israel and us. Everyone is over 30 which is kind of surprising and the 3 Israelis are all 44 and have known each other since they were 6 and somehow managed to get a 1 month pass from their families to do this trip to Peru. There is also Abel our guide, a cook and a porter that takes care of the donkeys and setting up camp. We also have a horse with us that Chen pays for. He really struggled with altitude sickness the day before on the Laguna 69 trek so he paid $100US to bring the horse just in case he gets sick again.

The start of the trail is at 3700m but we drop over 400m into a valley before starting to slowly climb. The first couple of hours of the hike is through a farming area with many small houses and a well established trail. We come across many children as they get out of school and the swarm us like moths to a light looking for cookies and chocolates. They obviously know that us gringos all have snacks with us for the hike and we do share some with the kids. There are also lots of women who carry blankets with wool hats, scarfs and gloves that they are trying to sell us. Within a couple of hours, we have climbed out of the farming area and, other than some cows, we leave civilization behind. Majestic snow capped mountain peaks are all around us and every time we round a bend in the valley, there are more snow capped mountains.

Abel is worried about the cook; our porter and the donkeys passed us a while ago but no sign of the cook and he likes to drink. It becomes obvious that Abel is trying to slow us down to give the porter more time to set up camp by himself. We were expecting this first day to take 4 hours to hike 15kms to our first camp but with all of the stops we take, we get there around 5:30PM and there is still no sign of our cook. Our campsite is in a small valley near a stream and is called Cebollapampa and it is beautiful. We are at the base of a large glacier topped mountain on one side of the valley and more mountains on the other.

Domkeys Packing in Our Gear

Right away I notice there are only 3 tents set up, 2 of them are 3 man tents and 1 is a 2 man tent. I ask Abel where the other tent is because Shane, Seleka and I had specifically asked for 2 tents. He checks with the porter and comes back and says that the person from our hostel who booked the trip with the tour company did not request 2 tents for us so we only have the 1 tent. Instead of saying that he is sorry about the mistake, he just continues to blame the person from our hostel who booked the trip for us. I start to get annoyed and tell him that it does not matter who made the mistake as it makes no difference whether it was the person

from our hostel or the person from the tour company who took our order. I tell him that I don't want to hear any more excuses and that a simple "I'm sorry there's been a mistake and we don't have a tent for you" would be a better way of handling this. He continues to make excuses with no apology and I finally lose it and tell him to just stop with the excuses. I can tell I have hurt his feelings but I'm frustrated. Shane is almost as big as me and 3 of us in a tent would be a very tight fit. Also, Shane and Seleka are a married couple who do not want some Canadian guy they have know for a couple of weeks in the same tent with them. And finally, we are all tired after the hike and I'm worried that I will likely snore and keep them awake.

There are 2 other large tents set up and I ask Abel what they are for, one tent is used for cooking and for the 3 tour company guys to sleep in and the other tent is where we eat and socialize. I tell Abel that I will sleep in this 2nd tent and I can tell he thinks this is a bad idea.

Few minutes later Abel finally comes over and says he is sorry that there was a mistake and they don't have a tent. I can tell he still does not really understand what the issue is. I explain to him how Shane and Seleka just met me a short time ago and that they want privacy in their own tent and I also explain to him that as a big older guy, I will likely snore and keep them awake at night and he seems to finally get it. I thank him for coming and apologizing and he immediately starts with the excuses again. Oh well, at least he did come and apologize.

Our Camp Site at Cebollapampa

About then the cook finally gets to our camp. He's a little drunk but he is here and gets started on dinner. I start checking out the tent where I will sleep. It has no bottom to it and has large gaps between the walls and the ground. There are also lots of small holes on the ceiling and walls. As I gather firewood, I start to think that there is no way I can sleep in that tent. We are at 3800m altitude, the temperature has already started to drop noticeably and it will be near freezing tonight. Shane then comes over and tells me that the porter has left our camp and is heading to another camp site an hour away to get a tent and he should be back just after dinner.

Sunset that evening is awesome as the mountain glacier is to our west and the sunlight coming through the peaks as the sun sets is amazing. After having a nice dinner with an awesome soup and then chicken, rice and pasta main course, our porter returns with a tent. I thank him and Abel profusely and am very relieved to have my own tent.

It is just after 8:00PM by the time we get the tent setup but we all go to bed right away as we have all been up very early and we are getting up at 4:30AM to get an early start on the next day's hike. Although I sleep on a foam matt, I find the ground very hard and I hate mummy style sleeping bags because they aren't made for big guys over 6 feet tall. Although I went to bed fully clothed, I am cold much of the night so I don't sleep well and my wake up call comes very early but at least they have hot tea ready for us when they wake us.

Today will be a hardest day; we have to climb for 4 hours to the summit of the trek at 4750m before descending down into a valley at about 4100m. The total distance is about 13km but it is the altitude change that will make this a tough day. We quickly pack up our personal gear and have a hot egg breakfast with lots of coca tea. The coca tea is supposed to help with the altitude and tastes pretty good as well.

We were 30 minutes late in getting woken up and it is almost 6:30AM before we get hiking. It's cold in

the morning so I'm wearing long pants and several layers of shirts with an outer shell. Abel leads us up a medium incline at a slow steady pace. We see another group of hikers a few hundred metres up the trail and soon catch up with them. It is the 3 Israeli couples from the Laguna 69 hike, 2 girls from France and their guide. The Israeli couples all seem to be more comfortable with the altitude so it seems a couple extra days in the mountains has helped them acclimatise. I quickly start peeling layers and within an hour I am hiking in a T-shirt and shorts as the temperature climbs above 10C. I am so glad I

Shane & Carly on a Steady Climb

brought some snacks. Between the snacks given to us with our lunch sandwich and the snacks I brought, I am able to eat something every time the group stops for a rest. It is amazing how much energy you burn up when hiking at altitude.

After a couple hours of steady climbing, we come to a lake and take a snack break. There are mountains all around us and a ridge line high above the lake. Abel points out a small notch in the ridge and says that is our summit called the pass of the Punta Union. It's 300 to 400m above us with a steep incline and we set off with the 2 groups

Small Notch is the Summit

hiking together. This section is much steeper and we all soon get strung out along the trail with Shane leading the way with Seleka and I following. The trail is steep and difficult as it is rocky in some sections and has flat sloped sheets of rocks that are difficult to walk up in others. The last 100m of altitude is getting really hard to breathe and I am stopping a lot to catch my breath and to let my heart rate slow. The 2 French girls pass me a few minutes before I finally get to the summit but I'm the 5th out of 16 hikers which is pretty good. It took about an hour to get from the lake to the summit. I'm so glad this is the end of the ascent because it is so hard to hike up steep inclines at this altitude and you never seem to have enough oxygen. It's cold up here so I quickly get more clothes on as we wait for the others to join us. It takes about 20 minutes before we all have reached the summit and we take some time to get some nice photos.

Near the summit, we came across a dead donkey. It had fallen a few days earlier with a full load and broke its hip. We also see several dead cows and a dead horse while doing the trek. It is a reminder of what a harsh environment this is and that it does not take much for an animal to get in trouble here or a person for that matter. The dead animals often will bring the world's largest flying bird, the Andes Condor, down to feed as it is a scavenger and has no feathers on its head like a vulture. It has a wing span of up to 3.5m and can carry off up to 4kg of weight. We keep our eyes peeled but unfortunately, we do not see one.

We can see for many kilometers down the other side of the summit. There is a greenish blue lake a couple of hundred metres below us and there is a steady steep incline for about 500m of altitude before the valley floor starts to flatten out. Part of the valley has been devastated by a large land slide far below and there is another greenish blue lake far in the distance at the end of the valley. There are also snow capped towering mountains on both sides of the valley. We start down the incline heading to the valley floor below where our next camp site is. It takes a little over 2 hours to reach the start of the valley floor

which is called Taullipampa and our campsite is located another couple of kilometers farther down the valley at 4100m and it is only a little after 2:00PM when we get there. I'm sore but feel pretty good and could have hiked farther. Stuart, Shane and Abel go for a swim in the river next to our campsite but I decide not to as I know how cold the glacier fed water is. Both Shane and Stewart are in and out of the water in seconds as it is only about 3 or 4C.

We spend the next few hours relaxing, drinking tea

and playing cards while the Israeli guys have a well earned afternoon nap. Dinner is very good again with soup to start and then fish with rice, potatoes and pasta. They really load us up on the carbs as you need it at this altitude because we burn through calories like crazy. Abel then entertains us we some stories. The stories themselves aren't that great but his delivery is hilarious which is also helped with his struggles with English and we are all laughing hysterically.

Horses Near Our Taullipampa Camp Site

The next morning we are awaken at 4:30AM by the Israelis. They sound like a bunch of teenage boys at summer camp wrestling in their tent. Shane yells at them to shut up to no avail. So the rest of us just lie in our tents until 5:00AM when hot tea is brought to us and it is time to get up. I slept a little better this time as I wore 2 pairs of pants, added a couple more shirts and wore a knitted hat to bed. The only problem was the sleeping bag, I had a different one and it was smaller than the one from the night before and it was like sleeping in a straight jacket.

Today we have opted to complete the hike to the town of Yungay so that we can spend the next morning at a hot spring instead of hiking. This means that we have 23kms to hike but at least it is mostly downhill. The other tour group that we hiked with yesterday is gong to do the same thing as well. We are on our way at 6:30AM and hike to a viewpoint to get a better view of one of the mountain peaks. The mountain is actually the one that Paramount Pictures uses in the opening of their movies and the view we have is the same as shown on movie screens but unfortunately it is a bit cloudy and we don't get a real good look at the mountain peak. In fact, it kind of looks like it could rain but we all have our fingers crossed that it won't.

Start of Landslide

We also get a real good look at a huge landslide that happened about a year ago. This slide devastated the valley below us and actually completely destroyed a lake. Shortly after leaving the viewpoint, we are hiking through the devastation which continues for many kilometers. We finally leave the remnants of the slide behind and reach a lake called Laguna Chinancocha. At the end of the lake, the trail starts to steepen as it winds along a river that steadily drops downwards. The trail here is full of loose rocks in many places and my left knee starts to get sore with all the steep downhill hiking.

After 9.5 hours, we finally reach the end of the river canyon and arrive in Yungay. Our tents for both groups have been setup in the yard of a local family. They have a small store and we are happy to see that they have cold beer which we are all soon enjoying. Our guide Abel then challenges all of us guys on the trek to play a little football (soccer). At first we think he is joking, we have just walked more than 48kms in 3 days at altitude and Yungay is 2900m above sea level. But, the next thing I know we are at a outdoor basketball court with small nets set up and we play football for about 45 minutes.

Arnon, Yoram and Chen Showing that White Men Can Jump

It's gringos versus Peruvians and we play 6 on 6. Somehow, us gringos actually win 9 to 7 but the most amazing thing is that we played at all and this is the first time in about 6 or 7 years that I've played any soccer.

That evening we have another nice dinner and drink beer. The owner of the house has a harp setup in his basement and we all sit down and listen to him play and sing some local songs and he is very good. Somehow Abel even manages to get most of the couples up dancing at one point. But by 9:00PM we are all done and go to bed. We can sleep in until 7:00AM which will be nice. But once again, the Israeli guys are up at 5:00AM and

won't shut up. All the tents are packed together and they wake everyone up. The more people tell them to be quiet, the louder they are. It is a good thing that they are such nice guys or we really would have been mad at them.

After breakfast, we all head down to the hot springs which is a 45 minute walk down along a river. The hot spring is simply a small pool made with river rocks along the side of the river. After the 3 days of hiking and the football game, the hot water is awesome and we stay for a couple of hours. Abel has arranged for the van to come pick us up just

Having a Beer Minutes after Finishing the Trek

after noon. The van has already picked up all of our stuff back at camp so we are soon on our way back to Huaraz. We get there around 5:00PM and arrange to meet up with everyone from our group for dinner at 6:30PM which gives Shane, Seleka, Carly, Stuart and I just enough time to go buy tickets for the night bus to Lima and for all of us to have nice showers.

It was great to have dinner together one last time. It sounds like we may all be in Cuzco around the same time so hopefully we get together again. The trek was incredible but I'm sure it would not have been so good if we did not have such a great

View Towards the Slide from Summit

group to trek with. Abel also turned out to be a real character and really added to the enjoyment of the trip. The guide of the other group was not so good. He basically totally ignored the Israeli couples completely and only talked to the French girls in an effort to get lucky. Abel ended up spending way more time informing the other group of the various sites and flora along the trek than their guide did.

I loved my time in Huaraz and would tell anyone coming to Peru to make it a don't miss stop but it is time to go and by 10:00PM we, minus the 3 Israelis, are on a night bus to Lima. We found a bus company called CIAL which had a really good price on their doubledecker bus to Lima so we splurged a bit and got a fist class seat. The seats themselves are awesome, they are 25% wider so there are only 3 across instead of 4 and the recline to about 160 degrees. So, it is almost like being in a bed.

More on Lima in my next post.