Jess and Craig:

7-24 Huaraz to Paria Camp

We woke up early, stashed our extra stuff at our hotel (didn´t bring the dive computers backpacking this time), and headed up to a bridge on the north end of town where we heard that we might be able to get a bus to Vaqueria, where our trail was to begin. We hadn´t quite arrived at the bridge when a guy in a big green van pulled up and asked if we were going to Cochabamba. We said no, that we were going to Vaqueria. He said "hop in...I´ll take you to Caraz." After verifying that this was indeed the town where our mountain road departed the highway, we did, without asking any more questions. In case you thought we were suspicious, cautious travellers... After an hour or so we arrived and hopped out of the van only to hop into another one which was going up to Vaqueria, this one full of tourists on an organized trek. They were confused how two new members had entered their group, but gave us people to talk to over the next few hours up and then down the steep gravel road into the heart of the mountains. The road wound behind Huascaran, the tallest peak in Peru, and went over 15,500 ft pass before descnding down to our 10,000ft trailhead. We hit the trail and had a beautiful hike up to our camp at Paria. Toward the end of the hike, Jess was hurting a little due to the altitude (we camped at 12,500, an altitude to which Jess had been many times before without trouble, but such is the nature of AMS). We had a great campsite on a little island in the river, and Jess slept for about 13 hours straight. I cooked probably the worst camp meal ever of half over and half under-cooked spaghetti, trying to conserve fuel in case we had to stay an extra day to acclimatize Jess.

7-25

We went to bed so early that I was awake well before sunrise, but cold and the desire to let Jess sleep kept us in the tent until after 8 AM, which is late for a camp morning. Jess had a slight headache still, and I advocated sticking around for an extra day, but wanted to get going and thought she could handle it. The day was one of steady climbing, first up the valley, then up the slope over a pass at 15,700 ft in a saddle between two peaks. The scenery was dramatic and beautiful, much like some parts of our trek in Nepal. The weather was a bit of a drag, alternating between hot sun and rain and snow and back again, necessitating many wardrobe changes. It was worth it though, as every time the clouds would part we would be treated to another stunning alpine view. But Jess was hurting. At one point, she stopped to rest while I ferried my bag 10 minutes up the slope so that she could walk without a pack while I carried hers. But by the time we reached my pack, she was feeling even more crumby and I ended up carrying them both (don´t ask how...it was in no way comfortable). We continued to climb, and so strong was Jess´ desire to not backtrack (which some may remember from our bike trip) that she kept going after throwing up spectacularly on the side of the trail. I was getting increasingly worried as we neared the top (which got steeper and looked increasingly like Cirith Ungol) because Jess entered whispering mode, and would not speak except to say that she thought she could make it. But eventually she did. The pass was gorgeous, with snow-capped peaks outstretching one another right above our heads. We headed down into the ever-thickening air and slowly but surely Jess started to improve. By the time we got down to camp at 14,000 feet, Jess was herself again, smiling and snacking and helping with camp chores, in way better shape than she was the previous evening. We laughed the rest of the night about our relief at her recovery, and at our various worst-case-scenario thoughts that thankfully did not come true. We had another great campsite (though, as it was in a nice green meadow near the river, the donkeys loved it too and left alot of landmines for us to dodge). I took a cold bath in the glacier-fed river and proceeded to put on all my clothes and crawl in my sleeping bag to shiver for 20 minutes until I recovered. Other than the fact that we went to bed at 8.00 and so were up at odd hours of the night, it was a great end to a dodgy day.

7-26

We woke up late again, but didn´t really care, as it was all downhill for us. The trail descended through a narrowing valley which opened into a couple of spectacular lakes. The weather was once again finicky, and we missed our chance to see Alpamayo, "The Most Beautiful Mountain in the World", which was shrouded in clouds as we passed beneath it. Jess was 100% for the whole day, which was great. To make sure there was some drama to our day, she did take a great wipè-out with her pack on and needed help to get up, which I could hardly provide due to laughter. Our last campsite was the best, a flat green patch right next to the river and secluded by huge boulders on the other 3 sides. We made ourselves stay up until 9:30, playing cards in the tent while the quarter moon rose and lit up our little meadow.

7-27

Our last day on the trail was steep downhill all the way. We actually got an early start, as we wanted the best chance at hitching a ride once we got out of the mountains, and headed down the trail as the first group of the day. The valley got narrower and steeper as we descended, and waterfalls cascaded down from hanging glaciers on both sides of the trail. Things also got greener, and there were beautiful flowers in blooms of every color. We popped out of the canyon in a little village and easily found a ride with a guy who had just driven up from Huaraz with a couple of gringos who were starting the trail going the opposite way as we had. Along the way, we also picked up a crazy lady who read peoples luck with coca tea leaves and had all kinds of charms and rattles that she kept whipping out of her bag to show us. We made it back to Huaraz without a hitch, though the sight of the snowy peaks along the way made me ache to be back in the mountains.

We have one more day to kill in Huaraz, and then we head back to Lima on the night bus to then catch our plane to Cuzco and start getting ready for the main event, the wedding of Chris and Shelby followed shortly by the arrival of Grant and Caitlin. Everyone take care and keep in touch.