Trekking through Ancash

A couple weeks ago I had the pleasure of being able to visit the Cordillera Blanca, a prominent mountain range of Peru. The Andes Mountains run through all of western South America and constitute a huge segment of Peru’s geography. The highest segment would have to be in the department of Ancash, situated around its capital, Huaraz with its highest peak Huascaran reaching a height more than 6,000 meters. I went with a group a six people to explore some of the trekking that Ancash has to offer. After doing a little research and hearing good things from other volunteers and from sources online as well, we decided on the Santa Cruz Trek of 4 days 3 nights. So we all readied our equipment, or in my case borrowed from friends, and set off to Huaraz to start the journey. One of the members of our group got there a day early and did some research and found an agency (one of seemingly hundreds) to rent some equipment we needed. We decided on a small propane burner, pots/pan/utensils, cooking tent in case of rain, a guide and got some burros to haul it for us. On the day before the trek we went to finalize our order and pick up our stuff. We sat down and proceeded to chat a little while with the owner. He asked what trek we were doing, what we were interested and whatnot, and after hardly 5 minutes we changed our minds completely. Instead of the more traveled and well known Santa Cruz trek, we decided on a recently opened and less tested one. The owner assured us that the scenery was much better, and that we would save a ton on the transportation cost because to get to the other trek it would have taken almost 4 hours while this one was 1 hour. So in the end we decided on the trek Akilpo – Ishinca, named for the canyons we trekked up and down, surrounding the peak, Urus.

After leaving the agency we had time to enjoy a nice meal, settle into a hostel and get some rest before starting our trip. We also had to buy all of our food for the next four days and plan out what we were going to eat and who was going to cook each meal. The next morning we got up, went to the agency, packed our van and set off. We met up with our guide and his two sons at the start of the trek about an hour away from Huaraz, and loaded up our donkeys and headed off. The first day was a short hike of about 3 hours uphill to some glacier lakes where we set up our tents. We had time to do a little fishing, and start a bonfire (both of which proved unsuccessful). We then went to bed early to wake up at the crack of dawn for the next day’s excursion. The second day we backtracked a little and then started up another stretch along the Akilpo Canyon. This day was about 6 and half hours of hiking to where we set up camp in a great spot right next to a river, situated in an old mountain hacienda. This time we were able to successfully start a fire with the help of our guide’s son and enjoyed the warmth extensively. I’m not sure exactly how cold it got each night but it was well below freezing and my sleeping bag turned into more of a cocoon. On the third day we continued our ascent up the canyon to reach the pass between two of the peaks and to where we would start our journey back. After about 3 hours of climbing we reached the mountain pass and were greeted by about 2 and half feet of snow. The top layer had frozen enough to provide some stability but more just a false sense of security. After about 50 feet I began to start sinking in up to my waist and had to trudge through the rest of it. After reaching the top we ‘skied’ down the other side until we got back to the rocky terrain. From there we had a long descent down the mountain to reach our last and final camping destination. We arrived to find our donkeys unloaded and cooking tent already set up. Our guide’s sons had already started cooking us a nice late lunch.

The fourth and final day we made our descent to end up in the town where our guide lived and where a car was awaiting us to take us back to Huaraz. At this point we had to wait for our donkeys to catch up with all of our stuff and to pay our guide and the donkey driver. We had previously come to an agreement with the owner of the agency on a price yet were given a different, higher one, when we finished. After stating our case we were then told that the price for the guides they quoted us was for the trek we were originally planning, and that this trek typically charged more for its guides. However, even after the sudden price hike it was still reasonable and the trip was more than worth it overall. I got to see a vast variety of topography and fauna and would recommend it anyone.

Getting busy and Canoñcillo

During these past couple weeks I would have to say I’ve been fairly busy. The tourism idea is taking a bit more form, and we have some good people to start working with. Also I’ve started working with a fellow volunteer on an annual international marathon in the town over that was started by a previous volunteer 3 years ago and is growing stronger year by year. Also, we’re trying to get a college fair together for all high school students in the Province. In addition, this past Wednesday there was tourism fair, where all high school tourism clubs in the area were invited to partake in the sharing of culture, dance, and gastronomy. I must say that my town’s stand we was well put together and my opinion, the best in the fair. It gave us the chance to showcase the ancient Moche culture, artisan work, and the two biggest companies in my town, a national yogurt producer and hydroponic lettuce farm.

And as the title precludes, I went on a trip to Canoñcillo with my host dad, some friends, and another volunteer. Now this was an experience all in its own, from just the planning to the trip itself. This trip was borne out the initiative of my host dad. Canoñcillo is known as a ‘national park and archaeological complex’. And more simply it’s a forest in the middle of the desert. But anyway my host father has had the ideas for years to take horses from my town to this forest and we had been mulling it over for quite some time. After a while my dad finally found someone willing to lend us five horses to take from my town to the bosque, for what my dad says is a hour and half trip but I think in reality would be closer to three. But anyway, we supposedly had them ‘guaranteed’ and the Thursday before our Saturday trip my dad and I went to talk to man who we were going to get the horses from. Well by went to talk I mean, I waited in the street for him to come back from working in the fields, and was told to look for a “man driving a cart with a grayish horse, younger than me with a hat”. Seemed strange but simple enough and on the second try found the man I was looking for. After a quick and mildly decipherable exchange I realized the horses were longer available, and that they were in fact not his own, but rather horses that he cared for and since we had struck a deal he had gotten in a fight with the owner, long story short there goes the horses.

So my dad and I were rightly disappointed and on such short notice it proved impossible to get other horses, however we decided to hitch a ride there and go on with the trip on foot. After a 5 am wake up we all met up in the next town over and got on combi to a neighboring town called Cruce de San Jose. From there we found a taxi to take us near the entrance to the forest. From there we started our journey, water and lunch packed away (I was lucky enough to get the 2.5 liter bottle of limonada in my pack). After a short while we arrived at the entrance and it was truly impressive, a lush forest in the middle of sand and bare mountains, with multiple lagunas and various forms of wildlife. It’s not a secret but certainly not visited very frequently and it was a breath of fresh to see no paper or bottles littered throughout the ground. After a few of hours of hiking we neared the end of the forest and came to the huge sand dunes. From here we took a little break and my host dad started to charge on toward what I would describe as a mountain. Myself and the rest of the group thought he was kidding when we said we’re going to the top but after a few minutes, we realized he was on a mission. After trekking through the sand we stopped to where we thought we were going to turnaround, but sure enough my 67 year old host dad kept going and eventually went out of site. We decided to go on in the hopes of finding him and mid way through the trip reluctantly decided to finish the journey to the top. After what seemed liked hours of trekking up we reached the top and got to enjoy our deserved sense of entitlement and spectacular view. The mountain had a huge streak of sand going down the middle of it and we decided to race down, mid way through having to stop to take a rest.

We then meandered our way back through the forest and stopped at the largest lake to eat our lunches and enjoy a little siesta on the banks. We then finished our journey back the way came and after passing through some fields got back to the beginning where we celebrated with a Cusquena Negra (a dark beer they have here, that almost tastes sugary) and relaxed. We then took some moto taxis to the next town where we found a taxi back my town. Shortly after arriving home and eating some ceviche my host mom had made I settled in and took a long awaited nap.