Downtown Huaraz
Part of downtown Huaraz, as seen from the rooftop terrace of my hostel, Olaza's.
Olaza's
The rooftop terrace of Olaza's, looking westward towards the Cordillera Negra.
Downtown Huaraz II
Nevado Huascarán
A brief glimpse of Nevado Huascarán Sur from Huaraz. It was unusual for the mountain to not be surrounded by clouds.
Huaraz from Above
A view of Huaraz from the road leading to the Rataquena overlook.
Rataquena
The panaramic view from Rataquena toward the Cordillera Blanca.
Cordillera Blanca
A clear view of glacial valleys in the Cordillera Blanca.
Sunset
Sunset over the Cordillera Negra as seen from Huaraz.
Mercato Central
Lots of meat for sale here...
Mercato Central II
And practically anything else you might want to buy.
Mercato Central III
More meat
Stray
There were many stray/feral dogs in Huaraz. Some, like this one, were friendlier than others.
Laguna Churup
The sign at the start of the trail to Laguna Churup
The view from one of the shelters along the trail to Laguna Churup. This one was less than 1km from the start, but I was already feeling the effects of the high altitude.
Into the Clouds
The weather on this hike changed pretty rapidly. Shortly after I took this photo, the clouds thickened and I could barely see 100 meters in front of me.
Here the trail to Laguna Churup climbs up from the bottom left of the frame to the top of the waterfall seen here. I attempted to finish the hike, but turned around part way up because I did not feel confident ascending the fixed cables by myself while dizzy and nauseated from altitude sickness.
Andean Valley
Taken from the bus from Chiquián to Pocpa.
Pocpa
The small farming village of Pocpa along the Rio Llamac was were I started my hike.
Cuartelhuain
The campsite at Cuartelhuain is approximately 12km from Pocpa. It took me almost six hours to reach the campsite due to altitude sickness and another illness (either bad water or a bad meal I had the night before).
Rio Llamac
The campsite at Cuartelhuain looks scenic, but in reality it is not a very nice location. The river is not safe to drink (feces, dead animals, trash in the water), the site itself is full of litter and manure, and the composting toilets are not maintained or cleaned.
Runtuy
Runtuy (5970m) barely visible through the clouds from Cuartelhuain.
Departure
After spending several days recuperating and not quite recovering I decided to abandon my hike and return to Llamac to take the bus back to Huaraz. I was still too weak to attempt the serious mountain passes ahead of me; I could hardly walk down this road, let alone scramble up mountains.
The entrance to a mining facility along the trail.
I could barely carry my pack up a slightly-graded mining road. I can't imagine carrying the harvest up and down these slopes.
It didn't seem to matter that there is not much land available at the bottom of valleys: locals simply cultivated fields hundreds of feet up the mountain sides on unbelievable slopes.
In some places, the "valley" felt more like a deep ravine or gorge.
Aqueduct
This aqueduct ran for several miles to Pocpa where the water is used.
Sluice Gate
Chiquián Restaurant
Don't get the tortillas de verduras!
¡No es bueno!
Cordillera Huayhuash
This was my best look at the mountain range I was supposed to circumambulate with Chiquián in the foreground. The mountains were perpetually shrouded in clouds while I was hiking.
The region of Peru between Chiquián in the south and Huaraz to the north was mostly empty plains between various subranges of the Andes.