Ive spent the best part of two weeks next to the pointy Cordillera Blanca, in a place called Huaraz. Tonight I am heading to the beaches of northern Peru for a week or so before I jump on a 30+ hour bus ride to Quito to start work at a hostel. Although I have tended to stay put everywhere I visit, its been good to get to know a place and once you do its too hard to leave.... I could stay in Huaraz much much longer!Huaraz has definatley been one of the highlights of my trip, the mountains surrounding Huaraz are incredible. Waking up every morning to breakfast on the rooftop with the beautiful peaks bathed in sunshine is the best way to start the day. There are something like 30 peaks over 5700m in the Cordillera Blanca, and because we are so close to the equator that you can hike up to 5000m before u get to the snow line. The movie Touching the Void is from here too, you might know it. Watching that put me off any mountaineering or snow climbing!
There are a lot of rock climbers / boulderers at the hostel I am staying at, so I have been getting into bouldering a lot. The crew from Carolines Hostel have found a bouldering oasis amongst the gumtrees, that is only a short walk out of town. Its been fun and its pretty much free, but my complete lack of upper body strength means most of my time is spent lazing around in the sun reading and writing, watching the others attempt the near impossible climb we have dubbed The Bitch. We have also been doing alot of day hikes up to the lakes and glaciers, but the mountains are so huge you can walk for hours and hours and still not seem to get any closer!
Last week I did the Santa Cruz trek with a great bunch of people I had met at the hostel. 50km through enourmous U-shaped glacial valleys and high mountain passes. Thomas and I managed to get lost on a route that we had been told was impossible to get lost on, but we managed to find our way back to the track after being spotted from a few hundred meters above. The walk made me want to do more, and I wish I had enough time to trek the Cordillera Huayhuash just south of here...have to do it next time i guess.
I just cant explain how amazing it has been travelling alone, and it sounds funny writing that because you are never alone, in fact you feel like you have more friends! I have met so many great people in the last month, and when I look back over my time in this continent, its the people and the experiences I have had with my travelling companions that are the most memorable, not the places I have seen. I know when i planned this trip I said I would only be away for 3 or 4 months, but I cant imagine coming home yet... i´m missing big weekend breakfasts on Bridge Road, but not much else ;)
