Huaraz and the Rajucolta Trek

The city of Huaraz itself is nothing to write home about, lacking the charm of the colonial squares and historic architecture prevalent in most other South American towns. This is in no small part due to the fact that a massive earthquake pretty much wiped out the whole area back in the 1970's...

Regardless, it is only when you look around, above the city skyline, that you realise why this isolated town attracts so much attention. Nestled in the heart of the impressive Cordillera Blanca mountain range, the city has become a hot-spot for mountaineers and trekkers from around the world...

Often referred to as the 'Himalayas of South America', the Cordillera Blanca range is home to the largest concentration of 5000 m+ mountains in the world, which means there's a ton of hiking options and all with tremendously scenic routs...We had our minds initially set on doing the very popular Santa Cruz hike which is a 4 day trek past some of the most famous mountains in the area, one of them being the peak that (apparently) inspired the logo of the motion picture studio, Paramount...yes that one...

Anyhow, we needed to rent some gear, so we went to a local trekking agency, Huascaran, where we met the very amicable owner, Paulino...

Paulino talked us through the Santa Cruz trek, how long it will take, how far we'd walk each day, how much it will cost etc, and just as we were mulling it over, he tossed us a curve ball...He said that his agency had recently started a new trek, that takes you and I quote, "much closer to nature and the mountains" with hardly any other people...Just us, the mountains...a donkey driver, who would act as a guide, and two donkeys...

Sjoe toe blink ons ogies ewe skielik! 

New, relatively uncharted 4 day trek, prestine surroundings, donkeys...This guy knew how to snare a couple of South Africans...# die groot trek...

We simply asked where we can sign up, and how quickly we can get going...he said the next morning 07:30 sharp...which was perfect!

We were able to hire the tents, mattresses and cooking gear from him as well which meant we just had to go buy the food for the 4 days which had to be packed in these wooden boxes that gets strapped onto the donkeys! Old school camping!

We managed to get most of what we needed from the local market and a pretty decent grocery store, and were satisfied that we weren't going to upset any animal rights group with the weight of our boxes! All our gear was then set aside ready to be picked up in the morning...

Ready to hit the trail!

The taxi picked us up bright and early the next morning, along with all our gear and food, and we headed about an hour and a half southwest to a small mountain pueblo (town) named Olleros where our donkey driver and two donkeys were waiting for us...We didn't have too much stuff, just our food and our tents, so it was quick work to load up the 'burros'!

Fields of gold

Our first day's walk took us from the outskirts of Olleros, up and around the grass covered hills that lay above the town, the air getting thinner with each ascent. With our final stretch we headed into a shallow valley with a breathtaking glacier topped mountain looming mightily in the center and, as is common in the area, a turquoise watered lagoon, lying at the foot...

First night's camp site - Laguna Shaqsha

This picturesque spot was where we set up our first camp! We got there quite early so we had a lot of time to set up our tents, have lunch, and walk up to the glacier...the views up there in the afternoon light were insane!

That night Joh-nell and Simon cooked up one of the best meals we've had in the last two months! A splendidly creamy Alfredo pasta with linguine, and crushed oreos mixed in cream for desert (amper nes 'n mcflurry - het so aan my klein sussie gedink!)...It was a perfect setting and a great way to start our trek!

Up at the glacier - Laguna Azulejacocha

After a very cold night we reluctantly got up in the early hours of the morning to prepare breakfast and pack up our camp site, but we were soon greeted by the first rays of sunlight and a blue sky which at least boded well for the morning's walk...We experienced our first hiccup, literally of biblical proportions, when our donkey got stuck in the mud! Shame the poor guy was quite stressed out but after unloading him and a collective shove we managed to free him from the quagmire.

We then crossed straight into another valley, again with a beautifully imposing snow-capped mountain towering over the horizon.

However while we were enjoying the awesome scenery, our donkey driver, Victor, still quite young and not that experienced, ploughed on ahead, leaving us with little more than a worn out animal trail to follow...so ja it didn't take long before we were completely lost and scaling up a mountain while he and the two burros were backtracking through the valley in search of us! After much back and forth we managed to find each other again but then it was Victor's turn to lose the trail, or at least it seemed so, since he had to stop and ask for directions a couple of times when we passed some locals. In the end it was a long day of walking, and quite a bit of climbing but with unbelievable backdrops of snow-capped mountains piercing the soft blue winter sky...

Our second night's camp was mid-way up the narrow Rajucolta valley, next to a strong flowing river. It was a bit lower than the previous night and a little bit further away from the nearest glacier so the night was not as cold as the previous one. Dinner was tomato based chorizo pasta- Suné's camping speciality!

Rajucolta Valley

For our third day of hiking, we planned to take it to the next level and traverse a nearby mountain pass, i.e go right over one of these 5000 m behemoths!

The donkeys obviously weren't able to tackle such an endeavor so we had to say goodbye to 'burro uno' and 'burro dos', and Victor. Which also meant we had pack the remaining food in our backpacks, and strap on our tents but fortunately we were joined by our specialist guide, Amino, who was leading us up the mountain and could help carry the load!

Laguna Rajucolta

The first hour and a half's walk was just a gentle meander up the valley to Laguna Rajucolta, but once we got there and looked up at the sheer mountain slopes rising into the morning sky, we knew we were going to be in for a tough one!

En jislaaik, we didn't know the half of it...half pad op toe voel ons ons kan nie meer nie, my vrou se ogies was nat van die mismoedigheid, elke asemhaal was 'n uitdaging, elke enkele voetstap 'n toets van karakter! Die pad op het net steiler en steiler geword, later aan, teen die einde, moes ons hande vier voet die berg uit klouter soos bobbejane!

Lunch spot half-way up...

It was by far the most hectic and testing experience that Kristi and I have had to endure, or maybe on par with my hellish half iron-man experience of 2015, but in the same sense probably one of the most rewarding...There's nothing like enduring a hardship to bring forth that jubilant sense of accomplishment! 

As you can imagine the views up there were spectacular, with only the snow-capped peaks of the surrounding mountains visible at that height - and it's amazing how quickly you forget about the ordeal that you had to endure to get there!

On top of the wooooorld!

After lots of photos and celebration we had to start our descent, which in many ways was probably more testing and definitely more dangerous! We had scurry down steep sections of loose rocks and gravel, Kristi took a bad tumble on the rocks and I saw my backside a couple of times on the gravel!

Skiing down a black slope

It took another two hours to get down which took our hiking time for that day to a long 10 hours, needless to say we were "uit pype" when we reached our final camp site! That night the Veenstra's cooked up another delicious pasta, and we literally just passed out in our tents afterwards!

The final morning was an easy walk down the valley to where out taxi was waiting for us, which was fortunate because I don't think the four South Africans had much left in the tank!

Tenk is leeg!

After dropping off all our gear back in Huaraz, we managed to organize a shower at the (very nice) hostel where we stayed prior to doing the trek, El Jackal, and afterwards headed to our favorite restaurant, Andino, to spoil ourselves with all the food we've dreamt about the previous few days...french fries with lots of tomato sauce for me, juicy steak + salad for Kristi...:)

That same afternoon we able to find a bus to Chimbote, where we booked an overnight bus to the northern Peruvian surfing town of Mancora! Which is where we'll be spending our last few days in Peru, primarily enjoying the sun, the beach and maybe some surf if the waves look alright!

Hola Mancora,,,Mucho gusto!