Peru- Week 3

After our amazing trip in the Santa Cruz, we still had eight days left in Huaraz.  Marco, one of the brothers who runs Galaxia Expeditions, offered to let us stay at his house in a small village about 30 minutes out of Huaraz in the Yarush.  We had hiked by his home a week earlier and it seemed like the perfect way to unwind and get out of the city.   

Marco's house from the road 

Marco's house from the hike above. 

There were some complication about our accommodations-- access to the bedrooms and availability of electricity.  But we made ourselves at home, even if it meant Hazey sleeping in a hammock and the rest of us on a sectional couch.

One of the objectives for the adults in our party was to climb a peak in the Andes.  Most peaks involve at least a days trek in and therefore would be a 3 day adventure.  We weren't sure how fired up the kids would be to get back on the trail, so we decided to go on two separate day summits for each of the couples.  Because of some GI distress that had hit Tom and Cara, John and I arranged to join our friend Aldo (one of the Galaxia brothers who is a guide) and his Finnish wife and her brother on a trip up Mateo, a 17,000 ft subpeak of a much bigger mountain.  This involved getting up at 3:00 am for a 3:30 departure and a 2.5 hour drive each way.  We were hoping for a blue bird day, but we ended up driving into a snow storm!

We weren't necessarily prepared for the winter conditions, but it proved to be an exhilarating and fun adventure.  John and I had never really mountaineered together, but we made a great team.  I loved it-- snow and all!

It felt great to put on crampons and rope up for an adventure, but the elevation could definitely be felt. We were back at Marco's mountain home by 2pm. The kids had had a great day with Tommy and Cara and we all took advantage of some sunshine, views and relaxation on the porch. 

John was motivated to fish a few trout out of the trout pond and cook some up for dinner.  Our neighbor Wilmer was thrilled to be able to help us with the process of catching and cleaning the fish. Wilmer's mom spent a lot of time while we were at Marco's house cutting the grass.  This meant using a sickle and hand cutting every blade.  It was so time consuming, but Wilmer would hang out while she did that, so we were able to host them for dinner each night. 

Aldo's wife, Elena, had told us about a wonderful ecolodge in the mountains near us, run by a Canadian couple.  They also started a preschool and cafe to teach women and children in the area.  She also mentioned that they made divine brownies with ice cream.  So, when we asked the kids if they wanted to hike to the Lazy Dog Inn for brownies, they jumped at the offer (even if it was uphill and about an hours walk). 

Amazing views while we hiked for brownies

scenery along the way

more amazingness

the preschool

Yaruc Yuca Cafe

Yaruc Yuca Cafe

"Best quesadilla ever" says Hazen

The ladies who knit and cook

Younger Peruvians love to look at themselves after pictures are taken

We made it back from our brownie adventure with plenty of time to make woodfired pizza in an oven that Marco has in the house.  Finding wood is not easy and it takes quite a long time to get the thing up to temperature, but it was a fun adventure. 

Pizza rolling

the pizza oven in the far right corner

Hazey thrilled to be riding, even if it was a rickety mess

The next day was the 4th of July.  An American family in Huaraz had invited us to a good old American BBQ.  As much as I wanted to stay in the mountains, it made sense to head back to the city where we had access to transportation and could go on some day excursions.  But, before we left, we decided to "hike for brownies" one more time.

 

We made it into town in time for a really fun celebration hosted by Ted Alexander and Jenn Hrinkevich. They have lived in Huaraz for almost a decade.  They have two sons, started a Waldorf inspired elementary school, own a restaurant that serves local food, have an energy bar company and a really great brewery.  Oh, and they run a guiding service and Jenn is a nationally ranked mountain biker.  They are really well connected and doing amazing things for local people in the area.  I loved meeting them. They are such an inspiration.

Hazey playing on the climbing wall

We returned to the Galaxia Hotel, our home away from home.  The quarters are tight, but the convenience and friendliness we received from Inez and Nani every time we returned was unparalled.

Cally and Inez

our room

On Wednesday, we felt inspired to do another day hike to Churup Lake.  It was a hike that seemed a bit too aggressive early on, but after the kids showed us how strong and capable they were on the Santa Cruz trek we felt like this would be a great adventure.  The hike was relatively close to town (only about an hours drive).  We started at about 12,800 ft of elevation and hiked up to 14,400 ft.

It was not an easy hike, but it was a gorgeous day and we pushed up the mountain. 

There were some really fun sections of the hike where we had to use fixed lines to scramble up rocks.  It definitely made the hike more interesting, if not stressful.

We made it to the lake just before the clouds set in for a late lunch. 

These nutty kids continued to amaze me.  While neither of them really wanted to go on a five hour hike, they not only persisted, but they rocked it.  Each time a party of hikers walked by us, they brought a smile to their faces and mine, as well.   

I am so proud to be the mom of these super strong kids.  When I imagined having kids, I could have only dreamed of having two hard charging red heads like this.  Anyone who knows John and me is not surprised that our kids would be great little hikers and adventurers, but I still pinch myself every day that I get to spend doing what I love with these little troopers. 

On Thursday, Tom and Cara finally felt strong enough to go for their attempt at Mateo.  We decided to do an excursion to see Pastoruri glacier and the sites along the way.  Sadly, the glaciers in the Andes are disappearing.  John has seen it for himself after visiting this region over the course of 20 years.  The Pastoruri glacier used to be a tourist site for building snow men and skiing.  Today it has shrunk to 1/3 of a square mile (nbc.com). It involved sitting on a tour bus and was not a very aggressive hike, but we needed a "rest day" of sorts.

First stop was a view of the raimondi plants. It is an endangered plant (member of the pineapple family) that can grow up to 24 ft tall and only blooms every 40 year.

I did mention that it was a touristy excursion, but when in Rome......

As touristy as it was, the landscape was amazing.

We arrived at our destination and took our time eating a lazy lunch.  Suddenly, we realized we only had an hour to do a 1.5 mile hike to the glacier (and also had to make it back).  The path to the glacier was more like a road and the kids immediately noticed that there were horses that were delivering people to the glacier.  John and I assumed they'd charge and arm and a leg to let you ride a horse, but also knew that the kids had demonstrated that they were more than capable of doing the walk.

Neither child was particularly happy with our decision, but they did make it to the glacier, although you couldn't actually touch it or anything. 

When we got to about a mile from the bus, I finally inquired about how much a horse ride would cost.  It turns out it was cheaper than it would be for us to pay for the kids to ride a pony at the Champlain Valley fair.  It was $5 for the two of them to saddle up. 

They lit up!  They both loved it.  Cally was able to ride her horse without anyone leading the horse and Hazey felt bold enough to go no handed.

We didn't get back to Huaraz until after 6pm and were anxious to hear about Cara and Tom's mountaineering experience. They had much better conditions than we did.  The picture below was taken by a drone that one of the clients piloted for photos. 

Our last day in Huaraz was spent shopping and saying our good byes.

Hazen insisted that he eat cuy-- a.k.a. guinea pig before he left Peru.  So we took Marco out to dinner and he ordered it up (and ate it).  I'm told it tastes like stringy chicken.

We took the 8 hour bus back to Lima on Saturday morning. We were sad to say good bye to our Peruvian "family", but left knowing that we will be back.  Our time in Huaraz exceeded every expectation I had.  I loved the people, the scenery, and the adventures.  My only regret is not being able to speak the language.  Next goal is to take Spanish lessons.

We arrived in Lima right before rush hour and took a taxi to the apartment I'd rented on Orbitz.  The bus station was attached to a mega mall like nothing I'd ever seen The owner of the apartment insisted on driving us to a "great place" for dinner.  This meant getting into his van and driving back to the bus station where we had been dropped off!  Gustavo moved traffic cones to park his car and paraded us though the last place I wanted to be spending my last night in Peru.  That said, there was some pretty good people watching and we did have a decent Americanized dinner.

Tom, Cara, the kids and I flew out of Lima at 8:30 on Sunday morning.  Gustavo drove us to the airport and later saved the day when I realized I had John's passport (he wasn't leaving until midnight, so was sleeping in).  We flew to Miami and went through customs, flew to Montreal and went through customs at 11pm and then went through customs again when we drove through the border to Vermont.  We got home at 1:30am.  Phew!

What a trip.  I'd do it again in a second and I wouldn't change a thing.  It worked out in such amazing ways.  I can't wait for our next adventure.