Map, Journey and Costs

Note: prices are for 2 adults with baggage

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From	To	Mode	Duration	Cost
🇪🇨 Quito Airport	🇵🇪 Lima Airport	Plane	02:15	£453.64
🇵🇪 Lima Airport	🇵🇪 Hotel Sueno	Taxi	00:33	£11.39
🇵🇪 Hotel Sueno	🇵🇪 Cruz del sur (Lima)	Taxi	00:15	£2.56
🇵🇪 Cruz del sur (Lima)	🇵🇪 Cruz del sur (Huaraz)	Bus	09:30	£32.70
🇵🇪 Cruz del sur (Huaraz)	🇵🇪 Lhoste hostel	Taxi	00:04	£3.27
🇵🇪 Linea coach station (Huaraz)	🇵🇪 Linea coach station (Trujillo)	Coach	09:42	£23.83
🇵🇪 Pizzeria la Italiana (Trujilo)	🇵🇪 Transportes Primavera (Trujillo)	Taxi	00:34	£2.88
🇵🇪 Transportes Primavera (Trujillo)	🇵🇪 Mancora	Coach	09:30	£36.83

Welcome to our first foray into Peru!

We arrived with the goal of joining a 10 day trek of the Huayhuash, a mountain range in Northern Peru. It’s pronounced “why wash?”, which is very apt. We could think of a few reasons by day 10.

The timeline here makes no logical sense. After this we head back up to Ecuador for a bit, and then later return to spend another month in Peru. But alas, we had to work around a fixed hike departure date. The Huayhuash is a niche expedition.

Laura had completed this hike before. 9 years ago, fresh out of midwife school, she was without a care in the world. She really enjoyed it, and enough time had passed for her to blank out the tough parts.

We spent a couple of days in the city of Huaraz before we set off. The Huayhuash is a high altitude hike. The trail rarely dips below 4,000m altitude, and climbs up to 5,000m at its peak. It’s recommended that you do at least one day-hike from Huaraz to acclimatise.

Our schedule only allowed for one acclimatisation hike. We chose to do Laguna Churup, as it didn’t need a super-early start time 😴.

A collectivo (public minibus) scooped us up from our hostel, and drove us up to the start point at 4,200m.

We slogged up to the lake at 4,600m. I found it super tough, and had to take a lot of breaks. Oxygen concentration in the air is 20.9% at sea level. At the altitude of Laguna Churup it’s only 11.8%. Rough 🤮. Laura found it hard, but seemed much more capable than myself. I was also feeling the effects of a couple of beers the night before, which packed an extra punch at that height.

There were some very cool views at the top:

Whilst a successful endeavour, it did leave me worried about what we were getting into!

Another peril awaits at high altitude. It gets freezing at night 🥶. Bag space is not a luxury we’re blessed with this year, so we had to hire appropriate sleeping bags for the hike.

Our guide, Rodolfo, kindly offered to meet us the night before we set off to get us kitted out.

I was also very worried about how my back would cope with 10 consecutive nights camping. I’m like the princess and the pea when it comes to airbeds. It took a good few years to find one that I was comfortable with for camping trips in the UK 😱.

An obliging and iron-lunged hire shop owner blew up every inflatable he could muster. Manually. Red faced, he showcased the merits of each, and I settled for one. I only used it for the first night, as I discovered it caused more discomfort than it relieved 🤦‍♂️. It was £65 and a lot huff and puff down the drain.

Here are the stats of the expedition.

Each day in itself doesn’t appear too challenging. The gruel came from the altitude and the amount of camping involved.

Rodolfo swung by our hostel in a coach the next morning. We did a mystery tour of Huaraz, picking up our fellow hiking buddies.

There were 9 hikers in total. It was an international group, made up of two people from the Czech Republic, an American, a Dutch dude, a Brazillian bro, and a mother/daughter pair of Kiwis called Jill and Margy.

Margy and Laura were the only people who had done the hike before. Margy had completed it 19 years ago. She’s now 75 years young and was raring to do it again. Take note, Mums. There’s no excuse!

Rodolfo was Margy’s guide 19 years ago. He became a family friend, and has been to stay with them in New Zealand.

As tough as the hike may first appear, we were very pampered. There was a support crew, who consisted of:

• Two guides
  • Although one caught D&V a couple of days in. He tried to persevere on horseback but ultimately had to bail.
• Two chefs
  • Breakfast, lunch and dinner were covered.
• Two donkey drivers
  • With the help of 13 donkeys and 2 horses.
  • They were responsible for transporting our main bags, camping equipment and provisions between campsites.

Whilst not official members of the group, we had an entourage of puppas 🐕. Plenty of wild dogs live in the Andean mountains. Some of them have decided that following hiking routes is a good way of life. Humans can be good for company, and dishing out grub.

Our first evening meal was fried fish. It went down very well. Plates were spotless afterwards, except nobody fancied eating their fish’s head 🐟.

Not wanting to let good heads go to waste, the chef gave a feast to a dog that was hanging around the campsite:

He decided that we were his kind of people, so joined the hike! We named him Ice, and accepted him as one of the pack:

Ice enjoyed a lie-in. Every day we’d set off at a hideously early hour and leave him at the camp. At some point during the hike he’d manage to overtake us, and be rewarded with treats and belly rubs. He was very aware of our itinerary, and would be waiting at the next campsite before we arrived.

We picked up another dog along the route, who wasn’t as beloved. He had some anger issues, and would often bark at Ice.

But then found found another pack member. We didn’t name him :(

It’s not all good news having a canine crew. Towards the end of the hike, we had amassed quite the dog haul. Our eighth campsite was on a football field in a village. Our puppas didn’t see eye to eye with the village doggos. Nobody got a wink of sleep due to the scraps 😱.

Each day was highly structured. A rigid routine allowed everything to run like clockwork.

Here’s what camp looked like:

No need for an alarm clock. At 6am Rodolfo would bellow from the doorstep of the tent and hand us two coffees. It was a horribly early start. At high altitude it would often be literally freezing at this time:

It took lots of moaning to get out of our cozy sleeping bags.

We had to be out of the tent. The bag we wanted the donkeys to take had to be packed and ready.

Breakfast would be ready in the dining tent. I had extra motivation to get moving. The Czechs would be in the tent super early, guzzling away at the coffee flask. You had to be prompt to get a second cuppa.

Brekkie wasn’t the standout meal of the day. It would be something simple, such as an omelette, pancakes or porridge.

Snack provisions would come out! On day one we were each given a snack pouch with a 10 day supply of nuts. Each morning a piece of fruit, some sweets and a couple of biscuits would be given to supplement.

We would hand in a couple of empty water bottles each. The chef would top them up with water that had been boiled then cooled. That would be our daily water ration.

We hit the trail!

Typically we’d all walk at our own pace. Rodolfo would stay at the back to make sure nobody fell too far behind.

The Czechs were filled to the brim with beans, and would get a good couple of miles ahead in no time.

Arrive at the next campsite. The donkey drivers had pitched our tents, the dining tent, and started cooking lunch.

We collapsed in the tent for a bit. But it would be uncomfortably hot.

Lunch is ready!

We reconvene and scoff down whatever is on the menu. We had a good variety of lunches. They were always hearty.

The sun tinted the dining tent fluorescent orange. It was trippy when you eventually left the tent:

Afternoon tea! Milo (Nesquik) was the main event for most people. I focused on eating as much butter as possible after Asia deprived me.

Dinner time!

Again, good variety and quality of food. It would be getting cold by this time. The soup starter was always a crowd pleaser.

There was plenty of hot water available for drinks afterwards. We opted out after the first night. The altitude led to bladders working overtime. We discovered it’s best to avoid toilet trips in the early hours due to wild dogs (not Ice, he’s a good boy) and the cold 🥶.

It’s very cold by this time. We wrapped up and went to bed.

What an experience! I told Laura on the final day that it was one of my favourite adventures. Her response was that she’s not doing it a third time 😂. We had a excellent hike, met some cool people, and left with great memories. We’re looking forward to meeting up with Jill and Margy when we arrive in New Zealand at the end of October. Hopefully the weather there will be more forgiving.

We were wiped afterwards.

We had a rest day in Huaraz. Then caught a day followed by night bus to the beachy town of Mancora:

We pretty much sat, ate and drank. Other than a tiny hike to see a lighthouse:

That was our first stint in Peru. Join next time to hear about all the cool animals we saw on the Galapagos islands.