huaraz

We arrived in Huaraz some time in the evening, and when I got off the bus I felt like nothing had changed. It was still raining and I found myself on streets that I know without even thinking and that I’ve walked on so many times. The Orly thing I didn’t know was where to go – I didn’t know anything about the hostels here, since I’d always had my own place.

So we just walked on a random street and it was super easy to find something we liked.

For me, it felt weird being back, but I also liked the feeling of coming to place that I already know, where I don’t have to figure everything out from the beginning and I was very excited about showing everything to my mom.

She was doing surprisingly good with the altitude, so we spent our first days in Huaraz walking around and I was explaining the things that were important to me. We went to my old house, my favourite little store, the market I used to go to, walked the streets I used to walk, went to my favourite café and, of course, we also visited the school where I used to work.

One afternoon we also went to the little village of Marian, where some of my friends live in the most awesome house ever built.

It felt surprisingly good to be back, and made me realice how much I love the mountains and that it really is the landscape that makes Huaraz so special to me. Also, coming back with some improved Spanish skills made me see and experience the people differently. Huaraz is a place that makes you feel like a foreigner no matter how long you are here, but over all most people are not as bad as I remembered them and I got to love them.

One day my mom and I went to the ruins of Chavin (she had to see at least some ruins here in Peru) and I enjoyed learning and seeing more and more about a place. (I think by now I’ve seen a loto f the places around the area, and I feel like everything is kind of familiar)

On the day alter Chavin we took off for the Santa Cruz Trek. That’s probably the most touristic trek around the area, but I still never got to do it while I was living here.

Organizing the thing was much easier than I’d thought (you can easily do everything in colectivo) and my mom was ready to do anything with me (especially alter the motorcycle ride in El Carmen).

After we got lost a little bit in the beginning everything went smoothly and neither of us had big problems with the altitude. The backpacks were big, but it was doable, and the trail was just beautiful.

We started off next to a river, in a valley. The first day we had to make quite some altitude, but it wasn’t that bad at all, and when we got to the campsite we were the only people there, just accompined by some donkeys and cows.

The second day was “tranquilo” and we arrived at the camp quite early. The landscape had changed completely though, and instead of green riverside trails, flowers, and wide sandbanks we were now closer to the mountains and the landscape had gotten rockier and not as diverted as before. Also the night was colder and when we woke up the next morning the snow of the mountains had definitely gotten closer.

That day we had to hike up to the Punta Union, the highest point of the trek, and back down on the other side, wich made it the most exhausting day of all. Besides that, we had bad luck with the weather and it was raining and snowing all day.

It wasn’t really inviting to sit down and eat and due to the weather we also missed the panoramic view that you are supposed to have from the Punta Union.

After nine hours of hiking we called it a day and set up our camp.

On the last day we Orly had about two hours more to walk, and the landscape had become what I was used to from several other hikes. We also passed some small villages until we got to our end point. We arrived exhausted but happy, andi t didn’t take long until the colectivo came to take us back into civilization.

After the trek I only ha done more day with my mom, which we mostly spent in a café until I brought her to the bus stop.

It was hard to say goodbye, for I had really enjoyed traveling with my mom and seeing her after such a long time, but I was also looping forward to having some time for myself again, and I was going to stay at my friend’s house in Marian for a little bit.

reaching the Punta Union together with my mom :)

The first reason to stay was that one of my friend’s birthday was just a day before mine and we wanted to celebrate together.

So we had a party at the house on the 6th and then went to some awesome hotsprings on the 7th, to relax.

It was good.

And now I’m still here, and I’ve been doing stuff all the time. I went trekking, got into climbing again, and got to the top of a super high mountain.