Huaraz, Peru

A beautiful, pleasant, sleepy eight-hour bus ride brings us to Huaraz. We immediately see snow-capped mountains that are about 6000m high, many people on the streets, and we have a good feeling about our choice of destination. We find our hostel right away with our backpacks and our intuition, checked in, and the party night with the guys can begin! We drink a traditional, apparently very healthy drink called 'tschu tschu' and then have what feels like ten 'Pisco con limon'. You can imagine that we slept like princesses.

Right now we are in our room in Huaraz! It is the cheapest room we could find for 10 soles per night for each of us, which is about 3€. Next to us are construction workers and at least one family also lives in the house. Here in Huaraz, we met Carlos and Alan, or rather we got in touch with Carlos through couchsurfing! The two guys help us check all the things we need for our trip tomorrow. Carlos looks like an Indian, is 27 years old, and works in a brewery, which of course immediately made us like him. Alan has many jobs, one of which is running the accommodation we are currently staying in together with a friend! There is only ice-cold water and mattresses that are totally worn out, but we feel comfortable. As I said, we are chicas sin plan and we will have no problems because we are the problem 😉

Santa cruz track On August 28th, we get up at half past five, okay, we have already been awake in bed at 5 because we are a bit excited. Brushing our teeth, washing our faces, and off to Avenida Antonio, where we meet Max and Marius, two German guys, at the corner near the blue school! We met Marius and Max by chance at a tour office when we were getting information about the track! The guys approached us because they listened to us and also planned to do the same track as us. So we chatted a bit and decided to start this adventure together. So at six o'clock in the morning, we sat in a colectivo that takes us to Vaqueria, which is located in the Huascaran National Park. The journey takes forever, we drive up a gravel road that is really brutal. It's bumpy and jolting. Along the way, we see the highest mountain in Peru (Huascaran), which is 6768m high. The view is really a dream, and if our asses didn't hurt so much and if it wasn't so cramped, we could imagine sitting in the colectivo for even longer. But we are quite happy that we finally arrived after two hours. At an altitude of 3400m, we have bread with eggs for breakfast, drink instant coffee, and then we start the absolutely beautiful Santa Cruz track. For the next 4 days, we will be trekking with a lot of baggage on our backs, completely cut off from civilization, up and down the mountains. At the beginning, we got lost for about an hour and a half, which was very good for our fitness :) Finally on the right track, we walk moderately and comfortably uphill for three hours until we reach the first checkpoint. Here we sign in a book, and a man checks everything. We also take a short break here, eat some nuts, and fill our water bottles with fresh water that we pass through a water filter. Marius having a water filter with him is very useful for us on the track. Some acroyoga, a few handstands, and we continue the trip. There are mega high mountains all around us, some of them covered with a beautiful white snow cap, small mountain rivers, countless mosquitoes, llamas, cows, donkeys, and various bushes and flowers. The sandy, rocky track winds its way between the mountains through fog forests, always heading towards the glacier. It is beautiful in the mountains, peace surrounds us, and walking is a welcome meditation for us. Iris and I are walking really fast, our fitness surprises even ourselves, we keep leaving the guys behind, but we also wait for them. Max's backpack is so heavy that after a while he can barely walk. I take his backpack, which feels like it weighs 30kg, for the last hour where it's just straight ahead. Phew, I've taken on something, this thing is really heavy, but my ambition is great, and I will carry the damn backpack until the next camp. We walk through a beautiful wooded plain where llamas and donkeys graze. Iris and I go off the beaten path and have to walk through a muddy area. 'You can step on it, Iris,' splash, and I'm ankle-deep in thick mud! Iris was a little smarter and stayed mud-free, but we both had a blast. It starts to rain on the last stretch to the camp, luckily just lightly. We already see a large green area next to a river, where we will probably set up our camp. Quick, before it gets dark, we set up the tents, unroll the sleeping bags and mats, and get the gas stove ready. Once everything is set, we have a warm coca tea because it is really cold up here. Within minutes, it becomes completely dark. Dinner time. We have instant noodles and a piece of bread. We even thought of dessert, a little piece of chocolate for each of us. Wow, you can't imagine it, but by eight o'clock, we are already so tired that we retreat to the tents. A shiver runs through our bodies, but we cuddle up together, and within a few minutes, we are already in dreamland. The first night in the mountains was very pleasant. We get up at half-past seven (a bit late) in the morning. We both are convinced that we must take a dip in the freezing cold river in this cold weather. The guys think we're crazy, but we feel quite fresh and alert after the refreshing bath. Now we have a warm and delicious breakfast for all of us. Oatmeal with dried fruits, fresh apples and bananas, all cooked with water on the gas stove. Yummy, this gives us strength for the tough day ahead! We start at around ten o'clock. It's pretty relaxed, slightly uphill. Of course, through a picturesque valley. Two 6000-meter peaks in front of us, and blue sky and sunshine accompany us. It starts getting steeper, and our hearts already pump hard due to the extreme altitude. When we thought we were at the pass, we take a break, wait for the guys, and have a small snack (a piece of chocolate, a mini banana, and a few nuts)! And off we go, the glacier is getting closer, and to our regret, we realize that the pass is still ahead of us - oh no! Walking becomes more and more difficult, we have to stop almost after every second step. Iris and I motivate each other with sentences like 'just half an hour more, then we're there' or 'we've already done more than a quarter' or 'there's sun and chocolate at the top'! We have left the guys completely behind, we don't even see them anymore, but we continue towards the summit! You can't imagine how thin the air gets at 4000m, you can barely breathe. And now it starts to snow, hehe, and we're wearing shorts. It's that styrofoam snow, which is actually quite pleasant. Sometimes it gets really tough, and we have to fight with ourselves, but we keep telling ourselves that we can easily do it. Thoughts are swirling in our heads, like 'if others can do it, we can do it without a problem' or 'there is no turning back, we have to keep going up'. Fully absorbed in walking, I suddenly hear Iris say, 'just two more turns and there will be sunshine and chocolate'! Her motivation rises in the last meters, and yes, we have reached the summit on Punta Union at 4750m, woo-hoo!!!! We are the strongest velochicas 🙂 The sight makes us forget all the effort, the ice-blue mountain lake at the foot of the glaciers, the sound of breaking ice, and the beautiful view into the next valley. We've probably never been so high up in our lives before!!! Happiness floods through us as we enjoy these wonderful feelings, and yes, we are still waiting for Max and Marius, where are our guys, it's getting cold up here! And yes, after some time, Marius comes through the rock gate, and a bit later, Max arrives too. Both of them are a bit worn out, but they are thrilled to have reached the summit! The way down was not so strenuous anymore. Unfortunately, it started raining heavily on the way, it was freezing cold, we had no water left, and setting up the tent in the rain was quite miserable! But well, we lay down in our tiny tent, enjoyed a cigarette, and then went to the guys. The four of us sat in the really comfortable tent and cooked instant noodles, as usual. At some point, the rain stopped, and we went to sleep. The morning was beautiful, the view was a dream, with a layer of ice on the tent and a delicious breakfast. We started the next stage quite early. The day was incredibly relaxed, after about two hours of walking, we came to a dreamy blue shimmering mountain lake where we laid out all our things to dry and took a short bath. On the track, a few onlookers stopped and watched us jump into the cool water. After another hour and a half of hiking, we found the spot for our next camp. We felt like we had conquered a fortress next to a river, set everything up, drank liters of hot coca tea, and Marius took some really beautiful pictures with stars and tents before we went to bed. The last day has begun. We enjoyed the sunny morning and took quite a long time before starting the final stretch of the track. We walked through paradise, an ice-blue wild river next to us, beautifully overgrown trees adorn the riverbed, and wild cows, horses, and donkeys meet us. We can't stop marveling. The last section leads through a canyon, steep downhill full of rocks and gravel. Soon, we can see the gate between two mountains. Iris says, 'the mountain releases us here'. We come to Cochapampa, where the mighty, diverse, beautiful Santa Cruz track ends. The taxi ride to Caraz is quite exciting. Seven of us sit in a taxi, and along the way, we have a car accident. A moto taxi crashes head-on into us. Fortunately, no one is hurt, but the two young drivers are quite sad. We feel sorry for them. However, we continue after a long wait. In Caraz, we get into a colectivo, and about 3 1/2 hours later, we reach Huaraz. Under the warm shower we can now afford, another dinner with the guys, and off to the cozy, extra loud bed. The next morning, we feel our whole bodies, especially our totally bitten legs. Iris has 36 painful, swollen mosquito or fly bites on one leg (we're not quite sure), I don't have as many, but both of us are itching like crazy. We go together with our guys to a 'wellness oasis' in Chancos. Here, there is a somewhat dirty but relaxing warm pool and natural saunas inside the mountain, which unfortunately smell a bit stronger of urine, but you get used to it, and we can relax really well 😉 Back to Huaraz, a couple of 'tschu tschuasis,' which is our favorite drink here. Here we also meet Alan and Carlos and tell them about our track. We pay a visit to the guys' mega beautiful hostel, exchange photos, and drink beer. We were really happy about having an internet connection, but unfortunately, neither of us received good news. Iris now has lovesickness, and I have heartache... well, that's life! In any case, we both sleep wonderfully, cuddle up together, and console each other. The day begins with tears and coffee, packing our backpacks, and yes, now we are sitting in a cozy restaurant, and at 10 o'clock at night, we continue to Paracas !!! You will hear from us, velochicas van al sur !!!!