2017 travel

From september 22nd to october 2nd

From Vilcabamba in Ecuador, I entered Peru through the La Balsa border, that is little frequented. The bus from Vilcabamba left me at the border at 1:30pm, but the peruvian immigration office is closed from 1 to 3 for lunch. At 3pm I finally could get my stamp, and an ecuadoriano-peruvian couple took me in their car to the next town, San Ignacio (I would have had to wait several more hours to find public transport). From there, I took a 3 hours collectivo taxi to Jaén, and another 1 hour one to Bagua Grande, where I spent the night, before taking a bus to my destination: the city of Chachapoyas.

The city itself doesn’t have much to offer, but there are several interesting places in the surrroundings. I stayed 3 nights in Couchsurfing. On sunday the 24th I visited the Kuélap archeological site, quite impressive, very big, on top of a mountain. They are the ruins of an old city of the Chachapoyas culture, anterior to the Incas. (To sum up, in Peru and around, there were several cultures and civilizations, and around 1400 ac the Incas conquered them all) To get there, there is a cable car, that has been in service only for a few months, and that saves a lot of time (20 minutes to get there instead of 2 hours) Being the first there, I had the site to myself.

The next day, I went to see the Karajía sarcophagi. It’s something quite unique of the region, sarcophagi that contain mummies, on the side of the cliff. I had not heard anything about it before getting to this region, and I decided to go see them, because I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything similar.

On tuesday the 26th, I hiked to the Gocta waterfall, the third highest in the world with 771 meters (in 2 falls).

That same night, I took a night bus to the city of Trujillo, on the coast. When I got there I visited the archeological site “Huaca de la luna”, close to the bus terminal, of the Moche culture (pre-inca as well).

In the afternoon I went to visit another site, el Brujo, with the mummy of a high rank tattooed woman, that was very well conserved.

The next day I went to visit another archological site called Chan Chan. I was impressed by these sites built in the desert with sand, that survived hurricanes and earthquakes.

After walking around the historical center of Trujillo, I took a night bus to to the city of Caraz.

I had heard of Huaraz, a city close to the Huascarán National Park, in the white cordillera, a good spot for hiking. After a bit of investigation, I saw that Caraz was a smaller town, where the andean culture can be appreciated more, and is 50km north of Huaraz, closer to the park entrance and to the trek I was interested in: the Santa Cruz trek.

This trek normally takes 4 days and 3 nights, at least that is how the tour agencies that take tourists with guides and donkeys to carry the gear sell it. I investigated on the net, and it turns out that it is very possible to do the trek with no guide, the path is well indicated. I also saw that it is possible to do it in only 3 days, and that there is possibility to go to the lake 69 (another 1-day trek) on the 4th day. I like challenges and I generally walk at a good pace, better than the times indicated. Therefore, I thought it would be possible to do these 2 treks one after the other, in a total of 4 days. I bought food for 4 days, and pills to purify water. In Caraz there is a sport shop where I could rent a gaz burner and buy a small bottle of gaz.
On saturday september the 30th, I took a colectivo to the village of Cashapampa, starting point of the trek. I was on the bus at 6, but in Peru the colectivos leave only when full, so we left at 6:40. In Cashapampa, I payed the entry for the park, and the guard told me that since it was early, I could get to the 2nd campsite that day(so do 2 of the 4 steps on the first day). I started walking at 8:15.

At 3pm, I was an hour away from the 2nd campsite, but I decided to go to a lake that I had heard was worth it. I met people on the way that told me I was 2 hours away from the lake, and that I could camp there. I got to the lake at 5:30, a little bit tired I must say… There was a shelter in which I was able to build my tent. The lake was indeed worth it, with a glacier going into it, and the mountains around were also worth it, despite clouds that were hiding some of them. In total that day, I walked 24km and went up 1500m… Good score!

The next day I woke up early (as a matter of fact I didn’t sleep very well, because of the altitude: 4,500m) and as soon as I was ready I started walking, around 7.

I passed the second campsite at 9:10.

At 11:30, I arrived to the highest point of the trek: Punta Union, 4750m. I stayed a bit there, like several other hikers, to watch the beautiful views and take some pictures.

I started walking down at 12. At 4pm, I got to the control point, the entrance of the park. I knew that this point was 2 hours away from the village of Vaqueria, where the trek ends and the colectivos pass. But I was starting to be tired and I knew that the 2 hours ended by some uphill. Moreover, in Vaqueria there was no campsite. So I stopped there to spend the night.

The next day I woke up early again, and started walking at 6:30. I arrived to Vaqueria before 8:30. A long wait followed, as no colectivo -as a matter of fact, no vehicle- going my way was passing by. After one and a half hour waiting, a truck passed, and agreed to take me to the starting point of the lake 69 trek. I put my backpack on the back of the truck and we got going. 45 minutes later we realised the back of the truck was not locked… And my backpack had disappeared! I started panicking. I got down, left the truck go its way (the road was to narrow to turn around anyway) and started walking the other way. After a few minutes a motorbike stopped, I explained the situation, and the driver agreed to take me with him. We started going down, I was looking on the side of the road but couldn’t see my backpack, we saw another truck going up, I stopped it, they had not seen it… I was starting to be scared, what if I had lost it for good… A few minutes later we saw a tourist van coming up, I stopped it and asked the driver, YES they had found the backpack and and they had it, I thanked the motorbike guy and got in the van. I could relax 🙂 With all that I had lost an hour and a half…

We got to the starting point of the lake 69 trek. I decided to try it. I had been told it was 2 and a half hours up to the lake, and one and a half back down. I had time to get back down before the night and to find a transport to Caraz, where I had left my belongings (what I didn’t need for the trek) I started walking, and after a few minutes I hid my backpack in a bush, I would get it on the way back.

I kept walking at a good pace. It took me 1h40 to get to the lake. It was 3pm when I got there. There was no tourists left, I had crossed them going down on my way up. Only 3 peruvian were there. I was warm after the hike up, so I was able to get in the cold water easily.

I stayed a little while by the lake to enjoy this beautiful place. Then I started walking down. I was hoping some tourist bus would still be there so I could get a ride… But no luck, nobody was there anymore. But some road workers had finished their work day were ok to give me a ride. After an hour with them, I was able to take a bus to Caraz. I managed to do the Santa Cruz trek + the lake 69 in 3 days and 2 nights, I’m very happy of my accomplishment! In Caraz, I got my stuff back, left what I rented (a gas burner) and got on a night bus to Lima. I’ll tell you about it next time!