HUARAZ - Incredible Lagoons and the Paramount Pictures Mountain

Accommodation

Without internet, without an address. That was the situation when we wanted to go from the MovilBus terminal to the accommodation. First booked via Airbnb and not confirmed, we could not find out the address of the "Hostel Climbing Point“. Our host told us that we can stay one day less in the accommodation than planned, and therefore, he couldn't confirm us. During our search on Booking.com, we then found the same advert (but more expensive, three nights for 38 euros). We were immediately confirmed and were able to go by taxi to the address. On site, we were told once again that it is only available for two nights. Oh well, okay, there were no other alternatives for the same price. We stayed in the basement, ice cold and clammy. After dinner, the two of us cuddled up in bed to keep warm. The towels didn't dry and the air didn't smell fresh. Now let's move on to breakfast. According to the pictures on the internet and the board in the house, the following items were served:

• Jam and Butter
• Eggs (fried, boiled)
• Avocado (palta) Extra:
• fruit salad (S/.5) - meanwhile, however, the price has apparently increased, and it was also not available So, now one must decide between jam and butter or egg. Plus, the lady on our first breakfast day actually had the day off and had to (despite the fact that she had booked a tour herself) prepare our breakfast. There was also bland coca tea. But the view from the rooftop terrace was really okay :) On the second day, our tour started quite early and they "tried" to offer us breakfast. We got up extra early and were at the agreed time in the breakfast room, but there was no sign of others. Nina then looked for someone in the house, and we were told that there is "unfortunately" no breakfast for us. It’s MEGA HARD indeed to lay rolls from the previous day and an avocado in the kitchen with a little note saying that it is intended for us. In the end, we paid about 70 Soles for the two nights. The water in the shared bathroom was lukewarm to warm and reasonably clean. Now onto the big advantage of the accommodation: They arrange tours. Unfortunately, due to Semana Santa (Easter week) and the increased demand, the tour prices have drastically increased. We got the first tour at the normal price; the second cost significantly more. The third one was arranged by our guide from the second day, but it cost more than usual and was probably illegal (We should not register on the list - very dubious…).
• Lake 69: 45 Soles or 75 Soles during Semana Santa
• Pastoruri Glaciar: 40 Soles or 70 Soles during Semana Santa
• Lake Llanganuco: 40 Soles or 70 Soles during Semana Santa
• Chavin Ruins: 45 Soles or 70 Soles during Semana Santa
• Lake Parón: 65 Soles or 90 Soles during Semana Santa
• Rock Climbing for 2 people (equipment included): 200 Soles

More about our tours below:)

We spent our last night at the "Hotel Los Pajonales". We paid more than 30 euros for one night, but we were still very satisfied. Clean room, warm shower, and a breakfast care package: sweet coffee, orange juice, two rolls, and a wonderful view from the rooftop terrace. Our receptionist and her son (the other receptionist) were incredibly friendly and Nina's mood rose exponentially.

SIM Card

Here we also tried for the first time to top up the SIM card online by using a credit card. With mediocre success but better offers. Finally, it somehow worked with the help of a nice lady from a Claro recharge shop. For 10 Soles we received 3.1 GB (10 days). Eyes on the offers! Sometimes the days are wrong for which your data volume is valid and the actual number of days is hidden in the fine print!

Attractions

According to our research (according to Lonely Planet and the internet), you should do the attractions around Huaraz in this order:

• Laguna Wilkacocha (3745 m; self-organized, no tour available)
• Lagunas Llanganuco (3850 m and 4402 m; with tour, two lagoons)
• Laguna Parón (4185 m; with tour, respects to be the bluest lagoon)
• Laguna Churup (4450 m; with tour, includes climbing sections)
• Laguna 69 (4600 m; with tour, but is said to be super strenuous)
• Glaciar Pastoruri (5050 m; with tour, is said it will be melting in the next years) Due to time and height reasons, we unfortunately missed a lot :( What we found incredibly annoying: the inserted breakfast times. If the tour just took place later, we could have taken the free breakfast in our accommodation.

Laguna Chinancocha

This is a rather easy route to start getting used to the altitude. On our way we saw the Guitarrero Caves and heard a lot of information from our friendly guide (he was our favourite among the three). First we went to Carhuaz, where we could eat delicious ice cream, but we skipped it since we had recently had breakfast. We saw the "Plaza de Armas" and the neighboring church, "Iglesia Nuestra Señora dé las Mercedes". Then it was off to Yungay, where we admired the highest mountain, "Huascarán". We also visited the "Cementerio de Yungay" with the Christ statute and the "Campo santo Yungay" with "la ultima palmera", the "bus sepultado" and the obelisk. A large number of people lost their lives in the holy field due to an avalanche. Afterwards, we continued to the lagoon, where we went for a walk and ate "Choclo con Queso". All a bit rushed, we would have liked a bit more time. You could also go boating. Then we were back in the transport and had lunch at "Sabor Turístico" in Humacchuco: vegetarian salad with avocado, corn, yucca, tomato, broccoli etc. Then we went to a viewpoint where you could try ice cream, Dulce de Leche with different flavours, and go ziplining. This tour cost us 70 Soles instead of the actual 65 Soles. But still better than 90 Soles, which was the price for a day later (the prices kept on increasing as Easter Sunday approached). On the eve, a nice Dutch woman spontaneously decided to join us and we could brush up on our English again :D We started super early, hence we could not have our breakfast. And what was our first stop? Breakfast at the "Recreo Campestre El Mirador". We chose:

• Mate de Coca (3 Soles) - for Nina against the altitude
• Avena (4 Soles) - a super delicious oatmeal drink that I will definitely drink (or rather eat?) more often!
• Pan con Queso (4 Soles) - we shared

Laguna Chinancocha

Furthermore, we had to choose our lunch in advance. As a vegetarian plate with fries, rice, and vegetables would have cost only 2 Soles less than the "Trucha frita" with the same side dishes, I decided to eat the fried trout and leave most of the side dishes to Nina. It worked out great and cost 25 Soles. For starters, we had these delicious corn kernels that the restaurant had roasted and salted itself. Then the last piece went up the mountain and the associated serpentines with the van. We were shaken quite a bit. Our tour provider was the only one who had permission to drive on the lagoon. Otherwise, no agencies are allowed to drive the lagoon run by an indigenous community, it seems. Speaking of agency: Apparently three people dropped out right at the beginning and the first half an hour our guide desperately searched for replacement participants. Two people then actually got on board in a small village and the van was almost full. Now to our ascent to the lagoon. First of all, we had to scramble over a river and after less than ten minutes the lagoon became visible. Our guide did not let us linger and drove us up the mountain. Nina had quite severe height problems, with me luckily only very strong palpitations and headaches were to record. Davitze was fortunately due to their strong Dutch high tablets no problems (although it was their first day with a tour!). After all, our coke candies and coca leaves just can't keep up ;) When we were then all the way up top (at least we thought so), we had an ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL view of the lagoon. Incredibly beautiful and incredibly blue. Then our guide said: "No no, there's more to it! From up there the view will be much better!" Nina had had enough and I went up the last bit on my own. Great view :) The Paramount Pictures Mountain "Artesonraju" was also visible. After a few pictures (one of our fellow travellers was terrifyingly close to the edge in her photoshoot and caused the rest of the group to have palpitations) I went back to the waiting Nini. Fortunately, she was feeling a bit better and we took one or two more pictures together. Completely unnecessary for our guide to have made such stress with the ascent. At the top, we had enough time for pictures and views. Then it was down the mountain again and we could have gone boating. We decided against it and preferred to watch the others. In retrospect, it would not have been that great. Even from below, you had a great view of the lake and the surrounding mountains - so the high scrambling was only moderately necessary 😂. Then it was back down to the restaurant for lunch. I was also allowed to try a little of Davitzes dish "Bisteck a lo pobre". The best thing about the restaurant was definitely the hummingbird we could observe. Our first in the wild! ❤️ Then it was back down and we arrived in Huaraz in the afternoon. There we looked at the "Plaza de Armas", got money from the machine and bought sweaters for Nina, Mama and Papa. Then we had to get our backpacks from the old accommodation and pay. With the (price negotiated down) taxi it was then to the new accommodation, where Nina immediately burst out in cries of joy. Own bathroom! And so clean! And the people are so nice! The only thing that bothered me was that we had to pay more than stated in the Booking app. In the evening I then cleared up with our guide the tour for the next day, we went showering and ate pineapple and cookies for dinner.

Laguna Rocotuyoc and Laguna Congelada

Actually, the Pastoruri Glacier was planned for this day (we discarded Laguna 69 after we found out it was supposed to be butt-hard). Due to our altitude problems, we discarded the plan and decided on the unknown to us Laguna Rocotuyoc. We had neither seen a lot of information about it in the travel guide nor on the internet nor at the travel agencies' set up in town, but both the first and second guides were quite enthusiastic about this relatively "new" excursion destination. We paid 90 Soles and were half dissuaded from the tour due to the rather high Easter price. We didn't care too much, we only had one more day available and wanted to use it optimally. Our guide from the second day picked up half the price at the hotel the evening before; we were supposed to pay the second half in the bus the next day. But the third guide didn't know anything about it and we weren't really supposed to sign in to the list in the bus, which is why I assume we paid the 90 Soles as a "tip" to the two guides. No matter. The day was still great. Our day started with the breakfast care package that we got from our hotel. We enjoyed the sunrise on the terrace and set off shortly before 7:00 am, after all, we're being picked up. 40 minutes after the agreed time, our transport showed up and we first went to the restaurant "Tarwa Wasi" for breakfast. So unnecessary! We could have had breakfast relaxed at the hotel 😡. We chose something from the breakfast menu for lunch and otherwise ordered nothing. Furnished with plant height capsules, Coca candies (Caramelzitos and Toffees in different flavors for 50 cents each) and Coca leaves, we went up the serpentine roads. The ascent to the "frozen lagoon" was mostly flat, but sometimes a bit steeper and/or narrow as part of a rather relaxed mass hike. We were rather early on with our group and only quite a few people came towards us, who were already on their way back. Then our group caught up with us again and we made our way to the car. A particularly clever couple yet got some food, seemingly didn't tolerate it, and then vomited into the bus. Fortunately, I slept through the whole thing; Nina didn't have so much fun and sat right next to it. Live and in color, she witnessed everything. The lady then apparently also had problems with her lungs and had trouble breathing. At a short stop at a waterfall, we took a few more photos and quickly returned to the car. The majority of the group didn't feel like it and waited for us. Then we returned to the rather impersonal restaurant and ate our ordered sweet potato roll and a roll with an omelet. Back in Huaraz, we found that there was probably a big Good Friday church service. In search of it, we passed many street stalls with whole suckling pigs. In addition, you could buy children's toys, balloons, and other stuff at the main square. We got Churros and a very sweet drink called Ponche. After that we were then also first time satiated and ran with an intermediate stop at the "market" (clothes, fruits, vegetables, ...) back to the hotel, where we chatted with the receptionists and killed the time. Finally, we walked to the terminal accompanied by the receptionist and made our way towards Trujillo.

Transportation

On foot and by taxi.

Food and Drink

In Huaraz we ate very delicious at "El Rinconcito Minero." I would have preferred the somewhat shabbier variant with a 6-Soles-menu on the main street, but Nina was afraid of it and we decided on the higher-priced and far prettier restaurant, which the Lonely Planet travel guide also recommended. According to the waitress, the restaurant did not have vegetarian offerings with vegetables in the range; spaghetti with pesto and sandwich with tomato and mozzarella were then available somehow ;) We actually wanted to try the restaurants "Trivio Resto Bar" and "Manka Fusión Artesanal", but we lacked the time and actually also the hunger for this. On the last day we ate at the Easter market: Churros and a super sweet drink called "Ponche". Also, we ate a lot of cookies, the two Easter breads, apple strudel, pineapple, and of course also on the go during tours. More on that under the tab "Sights".

Cafes and Restaurants

• Sabor Turístico (Laguna Chinancocha)
• Recreo Campestre El Mirador (Laguna Parón)
• Tarwa Wasi (Laguna Rocotuyoc)
• El Rinconcito Minero (Huaraz)

Plants and Animals

There were so many incredible plants and the vegetation changed as we went higher. Unfortunately, at the time of writing this article, I haven't run everything through the app "Flora incognita", so there isn't much here yet. Besides, we saw a ghost grasshopper on the way to "Laguna Parón" (Thanks to Peter for your help to identify!). Maybe it was a Proscopiidae, a horse-headed grasshopper? Here are some pictures of the wonderful vegetation :) hoenisch.eu/photo/mo/sharing/FLpTyNCBJ

Number of Germans in the City

Zero observed cases.

Contact with locals

Actually only with the employees from both accommodations and our three guides Felipe, Arturo and Alejandro.

People met

At Laguna Parón, Davitze from the Netherlands joined us. We had a great day and nice conversations with her!

Expenditure

We bought sweaters! For Nini, Mama and Papa. Whether it's llama, we're not quite sure. According to the saleswoman yes, but she can tell us anything. At least it says "Llama" on Papa's sweater and the prices were so high that it could be real. What is unlikely, though, is alpaca or baby alpaca. For that, it wasn't expensive enough. The Marco Polo travel guide says the following: "Llama wool, on the other hand, is harder; from it the cheap, rustic Andean sweaters are knitted. They are a must at every souvenir stand." We also bought a giant avocado for 2.50 Soles and two typical Easter breads in llama and woman shape (2 Soles each). There were also all kinds of cookies (3 Soles) and a sweet chocolate foam mouse from cake dough (2.50 Pesos) Lastly, we treated ourselves to Coca-Caramelzitos (25 cents) and 10 natural altitude capsules with green coffee and other extracts (22 Soles). Really needed! We felt a lot better with the capsules.

Standard sales offer

Sweaters, ugly "Huaraz hats", quinoa and other hot drinks, super sweet quinoa balls, boiled quail eggs, and headbands.

Unsolved mysteries

Why on earth did we forget that it was Easter when planning the flights? This made everything a little more complicated than planned... And why didn't we follow the current situation in Ecuador? That's why we had to get the stupid management certificates including apostille and Spanish translation :( And why are breakfasts included with tours? We don't even want that 😂

Bus to Huanchaco

We were accompanied part of the way by our friendly receptionist, as the way to the terminal is not very safe. Strangely enough, she didn't come to the end with us. No matter, she got a tip anyway. The night bus to Trujillo left on time and arrived much earlier than expected. We left at 22:20 and paid 60 Soles per person with Semi-Cama. Unfortunately, we weren't sitting side by side, but one behind the other, but well. There are worse things :) When we arrived in Trujillo, we had to take a taxi to Huanchaco for an incredibly expensive 30 Soles. Completely overpriced, but we were still really tired (time: 5:30 am) and didn't know which of the online taxi apps work here. When we arrived at our Airbnb in Huanchaco, we sat in front of the locked front door and had breakfast. Also, we used the time and phoned with Mama. Our host from the Chacana-Hostel thankfully opened the front door for us around 7:30 am and we could go into the room a bit earlier and sleep a little :)

Post Scriptum

If you want to see more pictures, you can find them at https://hoenisch.eu/photo/mo/sharing/fCe9SmUxQ