The adventure begins

After spending the last weekend together, we had another week of everyday life with school, hospital, and surf lessons on the program. Both of us found it difficult to motivate ourselves for this program again, as we had really enjoyed traveling over the weekend and would have liked to continue. Eventually, we survived the week and the highlight was both sad because we met many great people whom we had to say goodbye to. On the other hand, we are extremely excited that the unplanned, independent, and spontaneous part of our journey is finally starting.

We met in Trujillo on Saturday and traveled from there to the mountains of Huaraz at an altitude of 3000 meters by night bus. We arrived at 5 am and met a Chilean named Jeanette at the bus station, with whom we immediately joined forces. Later we found out that she is not around 30 years old as we thought, but 41. She also said that we are now la madre y sus chicas (the mother and her girls) XD

After breakfast, we spontaneously set off on an easy trek. This led to a small lagoon about 500 meters above the valley, which is not worth seeing at all. However, the panorama over the valley and the surrounding mountains was all the more impressive.

On the second day, we got up at 4:45 am and took the bus to Parque Nacional Huascarán. In this nature reserve, practically the entire part of the Cordillera Blanca (mountain range of the Andes) is above 4000 meters. The journey to the starting point of our trekking was already quite adventurous and from about halfway it led over a very bumpy gravel/sand road. Eventually, our bus couldn't handle it anymore and stopped at a curve. After several attempts to continue, it turned out that the front axle was broken and the bus was no longer steerable. Luckily, this happened at slow speed uphill... For us, that meant we had to walk for an hour to the restaurant where we could have breakfast. Then a replacement bus arrived and we were able to continue our journey. The starting point was at an altitude of 3900 meters and the hike led through a breathtaking landscape past waterfalls, mountain streams, glacier walls, steep climbs, and swamp areas in about 2.5 hours to Laguna 69 at an altitude of 4625 meters. The hardships of the ascent are rewarded with a breathtaking view of the turquoise blue lagoon. The color of the water is simply incredible. Behind it rise impressive, vertical limestone walls that turn into the mighty glacial tongues of the 6108-meter-high Chacraraju higher up. If you haven't seen this picture with your own eyes, you probably can't imagine how beautiful it is!

Finally, we made our way back to the starting point and returned to the hostel by bus - this time without any problems - which we reached around 8 pm after a long day. Carole spent the rest of the evening sleeping due to a sunstroke, while Julia and our Chilean colleague enjoyed a well-deserved dinner.

On Tuesday, Carole took a day off for sightseeing and shopping, while Julia went with Jeanette to the Pastoruri Glacier, located at an altitude of 5100 meters. After some initial difficulties due to a roadblock, they arrived at a wonderful national park. They visited various small lagoons and a strange plant called Puya Raimondi. After a short walk, they reached the glacier and enjoyed the view.

Next, we will continue to Lima by night bus.