Stay Useless: La Luna de Miel de Brant & Katie: Viva El Peru, pt. 1

July 10, 2013 - Bozeman to Lima:

It began like so many of our vacations -- before dawn. We departed Bozeman en route to Denver as the sun rose and had just enough time for coffee in Denver before our next flight to Houston. In Houston, I redeemed one of the perks of my United credit card and we were allowed access to the ultra-exclusive but only moderately swanky United Club Lounge. Best feature: free drinks. Being dirtbags, we brought food from home and Katie hoarded tea and cookies for the rest of our trip as we whiled away several hours before flight to Lima. Per United policy that one of every three flights must not go smoothly, we were delayed leaving Houston. This time they pulled the ol' "get everyone on the plane and then make them sit there while we make up weird excuses". And so we were late. After an extensive wait for our luggage and with 16 hours of travel at our backs, we were relieved to exit the airport to find a sign with our names on it and a ride to our accommodations for the night. Our first opportunity to speak Spanish went reasonably well as did our first foray into the chaos that is South American traffic. As we drove from the airport, our surroundings evolved from dismal to pleasant as we reached our hostel in the classy San Isidro neighborhood of Lima. The drive took about 45 minutes as Lima is a sprawling mess of around 8 million people. At our hostel, we were greeted warmly by a terribly near-sighted gentleman despite the late hour. It turned out that he had lived in Chicago for 14 years. By this point, it was well past midnight and we crashed out in our tiny room.

At least they still feed you on international flights:

Click below for three more days and way more pictures!

July 11, 2013 - Lima to Huaraz:

We awoke early and after a hot shower and small breakfast, we took a cab ride to the Cruz Del Sur bus station to begin a the next leg of journey: a bus ride to Huaraz. Expected duration: 9 hours. Snacks for the ride -- some kind of weird peanut butter cookies -- were purchased at the station. "Quiero..." followed by pointing. Our bus, a rad double decker, left on time by Peruvian standards. Because we had booked way in advance, we had seats in the upper front of the bus. We spent the first 3 hours in traffic and watching American movies. We spent the next 6 winding our way to Huaraz and still watching American movies. The meal that was served on the bus was better than the one from United the day before. Eventually, we escaped the clouds that envelop Lima at this time of year and turned inland. The bus ride culminated in a few hours of grinding and switchbacking up the foothills to the mountains and up the mountains to an alpine valley surrounded by even taller mountains. We rumbled into Huaraz as the sun began to set, catching a glimpse of the massive peaks that surround the town as well as Huascaran, the highest peak in Peru, in the distance. Our hotel for our first stay in Huaraz was the brilliant Olaza's Guest House. After checking in and chatting with Tito the owner, we ventured into town to find some food. We found ourselves at El Horno, tucking into wood-fired pizza (with a fried egg on it!), meat skewers and that Peruvian staple -- French fries or as they call it papas fritas.

Stoked:

Lima traffic:

Free from the traffic, but still in the clouds:

Mountains at last:

July 12, 2013 - Huaraz:

Breakfast at Olaza's is served on the roof deck. Great food, great coffee, great views. Breakfast was eggs, fresh juice, and rolls with butter and jam. Something we would become accustomed to over the course of the trip. After discussions with Tito, we decided to hire a taxi to take us to the trail to Laguna Churup, about an hour away. Ouside of town were numerous small villages and small family farms. Buildings tended to be made of mud brick and the people often wore traditional attire. Due to the length of the drive (long) and the condition of the road (poor), the taxi would wait for us at the trailhead and bring us down at the end. The hike started at around 4,000 m (~13,000 ft) and ascended steeply to the laguna at 4,450 m. (Huaraz itself is at 3,000 m.) From the outset, the views were amazing. Maybe it was simply the excitement of finally hiking in Peru, but the elevation was a minor annoyance at most. We conquered the one steep rock scramble with the aid of a fixed cable and arrived at the spectular laguna, which offers stellar views of the Nevado Churup (5,500 m) that had been hinted at from below. After a quick lunch and numerous exchanges of "This is awesome!", we descended back to the trailhead. Upon completion of the hike, we found that our taxi was gone. We asked a van driver who was also waiting there and were told that our taxi had left with another fare. Amazing. As we were deciding what to do, a car drove up and offered us a ride into town. We thought the driver was a park ranger (much of the land in the area is part of Huascaran National Park) so we accepted. It turns out he wasn't, but we were delivered safely (and cheaply) to the center of town. We had dinner at a Chilli (sic) Heaven, an impressive Thai/Indian restaurant run by a jaded British ex-pat, and followed that with beers at Los 13 Buhos. The owner of the bar brews his own and it is damn good. We returned to our hotel to receive an explanation from Tito that our taxi driver had had a flat tire and needed to return to town. Right.

View from our window:

Looking back at Huaraz from the Laguna Churup trailhead:

And so it begins:

Katie and Nevado Churup:

Rock scramble! This was actually kind of exposed.

More cables:

Laguna Churup:

Big grin:

Katie and a tall Ale Roja:

July 13, 2013 - Huaraz:

The day began nearly identically to the previous day. Not a bad thing at all. We got an earlier start and, despite the previous day's taxi misadventures, we hired another one to take us to Laguna Rajucolta. This was a bit more of a drive and the road was much worse than the previous day. After bottoming out our beat up Toyota Corolla station wagon several times, Katie attempted to convince our driver to turn around. No dice. After several more dubious maneuvers, we reached the trailhead and began our march up the Quebrada Rajucolta to the lake. The quebrada (literally, break but in the case, it means essentially valley) was broad and flat with steep walls on both sides. Already the tremendous Nevado Huantsan (6,400 m) was visible. The peak and the monstrous glacier beneath it would dominate our views and our minds the rest of the day. We could not comprehend its scale. After walking a good distance among the cows that filled the valley, we did not appear to be any closer. We finally reached the lake and were truly awed. Upon departing the lake, we were hailed by a man named Santos, who claimed to be a park ranger and charged us the entrance fee of 5 soles each. The entrance fee is real, but I'm skeptical if this man was a ranger. We were happy to pay him regardless. We returned to the trailhead to find our taxi still there and our driver asleep in the car. The ride home was smoother (relatively) but upon returning to pavement, there was no doubt that the car was not okay. We spent the afternoon drinking coffee at the Cafe Andino, souvenir shopping and meeting with the owner of our trekking company and our guide for our trek, which would begin the next day. The coffee at Cafe Andino was possibly the best coffee I have ever had. After a dinner that was best forgotten, we returned to our hotel to pack and sleep in preparation for our early departure the next day.

Entering the park: