Ready to return to the less humid mountains, we had an overnight layover in Lima to get to Huaraz, which is home to some of the tallest mountains in Peru. We explored the town’s Easter festivities and hiked to see a glacier with our host. Finally, we headed back to Lima one last time where we explored a little before flying home.
Huaraz
The airport near Huaraz is about 45 minutes north of the town, and we had to book a transfer. Our flight landed early but since it’s such a small airport they needed everyone to leave the premises, so a local officer was waiting with us and tried to call our transfer to hurry them along.
We were staying at a cute hotel owned by a family. They had a nice breakfast for us each morning with a bowl of fruit, yogurt, eggs however we’d like them, bread, cheese, and jam. It was quite the spread, and reminded me a bit of Egypt with all the different dishes served for breakfast!
We were staying over Easter weekend and one of the days we walked all the way into town to check out a cafe, it was Good Friday and they were painting some of the road with murals! After our lunch, we headed back towards the main square and there was a parade with several bands, women dressed in veils with incense, and hand carried floats with different saints or other figures.
Our host offered several hikes so we decided to do a hike to see a glacier in the Llaca valley, part of Huascarán National Park. He drove us up the mountain to where we needed to pay the entrance fee at a tiny little shack, but with some amazing views looking down the valley.
We parked at a refuge building which was originally built for a climbing school, and was where our guide first learned how to climb. Now it is used for those that are doing longer hikes or trying to summit one of the 20,000ft mountains nearby, such as Ranrapalca.
We made our way starting a bit off trail, following our host. We didn’t ask for a guided hike but our host wanted to look for a particular flower.
He had some sort of gardening or horticulture group staying with him in a few days, who were coming to that part of Peru to see that particular flower in bloom.
Once we found the flower and he noted the location, we started heading up to this ridge where we’d have an excellent view of the lake, glacier, and mountains!
Little did we know our guide had been taking pictures of us when we weren’t noticing while we were soaking up the views and smelling the flowers. Once he did ask us to do a little video so he could use for marketing for his tour options.
Now you know how Mr. Wander captures these awesome flower or bird pictures!
Next we headed down the edge of this ridge to the dam to get another view, closer to the lake level, before we made our way back to the car and to the hotel.
Lima
Despite having transited through and actually stayed in Lima twice, we were finally getting outside the vicinity of the airport! We stayed close to the mall in the Miraflores region of Lima but just for one night. This mall is built into the side of the cliff and had great views of people surfing, listening to the waves crashing on the rocks, and soaking up the sunset.
We found a delicious place to have some brunch at a restaurant, and spent the day just walking around and finding delicious things to eat.
We had a flight at 1am back to Miami, and then back to Minnesota to celebrate my birthday with family and friends before starting the next adventure!
Next Time
After making it back home, we head north to my parents so I can quick swap bags from the backpacking pack we had been using, and back to our smaller carry-on size packs. I had just 4 short days at home before leaving Mr. Wander behind on another adventure: a cruise in Northern Europe with my sister and several others from our hometown! Until then, Ciao!
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