Peru - Into the Mountains

It was not easy for me to part with Ecuador and even with Montanita. After a week, I had become accustomed to the relaxed beach town's atmosphere, and by the end, I knew so many locals and felt like a part of the crazy Montanita family.

From Montanita, we embarked on an endlessly long bus journey to Huaraz in Peru. Out of the total 2 full days of travel, we spent 31 hours on the bus. That's 2 nights on a relatively uncomfortable night bus and 2 days without a shower. The border crossing into Peru in the middle of the night went smoothly: everyone got off the bus, collected the exit stamp, got back on the bus, continued driving, everyone got off the bus again, got the entry stamp in the passport, and got back on the bus. Even the Venezuelans on our bus made it across the border.

The first impression of Peru was not exactly positive. There was a lot of garbage everywhere, and the people didn't seem as warm-hearted as in Ecuador or Colombia. Maybe it was just because of the exhausting bus ride.

Exhausted from the grueling journey, we arrived in cold Huaraz in the early morning. Huaraz is located at an altitude of 3000 meters in the Andes, surrounded by beautiful mountains, and is the starting point for many hiking and trekking tours in Huascaran National Park.

We decided to stay in the simple but family-friendly and clean Vacahouse Hostel. Here, we paid only 29 € for 2 people for 3 nights in a dormitory, including breakfast. We could also book affordable tours through the hostel.

First, we went to Laguna 69. We were picked up by the bus at 5 am!!! The journey to the starting point of the hike took 3 hours with a short breakfast stop. The hike is a total of 14 km long and leads to Laguna 69 at an altitude of 4600 meters. Initially, we walked through a beautiful valley surrounded by mountains, following the river with little incline until we reached a waterfall. From here, we zigzagged steeply up the mountain to a small green and enchanted-looking lake. Here, another valley opened up, surrounded by rugged mountains, some of them snow-covered and steep cliffs. On the final stretch, we had to climb steeply uphill again, which was quite exhausting at that altitude. But the effort paid off, and the view of the shimmering blue lagoon with snow-covered peaks all around was simply breathtaking (we already had barely any air left after the strenuous ascent). We were able to stay at the top for about an hour, enjoying the view and taking photos, of course. The way back was fortunately more relaxed, as it was all downhill. We were lucky with the weather, as the sun often appeared during the hike, and the sky was blue. It only started raining when we got on the bus. The whole tour cost only 16 € per person.

The next day, we decided to take a trip to the Pestoruri Glacier at an altitude of 5000 meters. This time, we were fortunately picked up at the hostel at 9 am. We spent almost 3 hours mainly on a gravel road, once again through a beautiful valley framed by mountains, until we reached the glacier. From the parking lot, it took us about 40 minutes on foot to reach the glacier. The path was not too steep, but every step was still exhausting due to the altitude. Once at the top, we could enjoy the view of the glacier, the glacier lake, and the surrounding mountains and get close to the glacier itself. Unfortunately, we didn't have much time up there and had to start making our way back early.

We could easily have spent several more days in Huaraz or in the surrounding mountains, but we decided to continue traveling to a completely different region of Peru...

Stay tuned 😉