^21st May, 2003.

Where to start from the last time……? Well I think I mentioned that we had signed up for an ice hike. We went into an agency and said that we had no experience whatsoever and that we were looking for a 2 day trip as we had to be in Lima to meet up with Catharine. So they tell us there is one we can do within that time which was easy so we were all set.

We went to the agency the morning of the hike and got kitted out in all the gear, snow trousers, crampons, ice axe, special gloves and glasses and a few other bits and pieces, we then met our guide Pepe, the tallest Peruvian I have ever seen, in fact the reason he is tall is that neither of his parents are from Peru!! That explained it!! We hopped in the transport vehicle and headed for the hills. After a 2 hour drive we got out and gathered all the bags, I had asked that we not have to carry a lot as I am not used to hiking with a bag but somewhere along the way the message got muddled and I found myself carrying about 20 kgs worth of gear, including part of a tent and all the snow gear!! Within 5 minutes we were climbing horizontally up a very steep mountain with the bags on our back!! The altitude around Huaraz in Peru is all over 3050 metres, and within 2 hours we were over 4,000 metres, it was difficult to breath and I thought I was going to have a heart attack!! We climbed that first day for over 3 hours and it was one of the most difficult things I have ever done, however you could not exactly turn back so I had to keep it going. At one state we were mountain climbing, at another abseiling down a waterfall hanging from a rope held by Pepe. We were lucky Pepe was strong as your average Peruvian would never have held Evan!

We reached our base camp which was at about 4,700 metres, I have always wanted to say that, "base camp", I am getting carried away, its not Everest that we climbed (in our minds it was the closest we will probably ever get).

We set up tent and my god it was so cold, we had all our clothes on, about 6 layers each and we were still cold. After an awful dinner of cold spaghetti and tomato puree (Pepe was not much of a cook despite his Italian blood) we went to bed at 5pm, there’s not much else to do at the side of a mountain and it was so cold we were better off in the tent. We were told the plans for the next day, up at 2am, rock climb for over an hour, then climb the glacier and head for the summit!! I was not sure whether to be nervous or excited. We did not get much sleep that night as we kept waking out of breath with the altitude, and probably the nerves, what had we gotten ourselves in to? We only wanted a simple 2 day hike and it was turning into an expedition! We were delighted when 2 o’clock came and we could eventually get out of the tent.

The first hour was grand, it was a full moon and it was amazing hiking in the dark with the moon illuminating everything. After an hour we reached the base of the glacier and put on the ice gear. It was then an upward climb from about 4am to 8am when we reached the summit. It is one of the hardest but most amazing things either of us have ever done and makes a good story .We did not have the experience to do something that daring and if I was told before hand what it involved we would have probably backed out!! Now we are mountaineering heroes!! Not quite! We climbed to 5,700 metres which is the highest we have ever been at but that is nothing compared to the real climbers that hang around this part of Peru, that is a baby slope to them!! Anyway we were delighted to come down safely, we were wrecked but happy.

We went to Lima that night and picked Catharine up at the airport, now we were 3. We spent the following day wondering around Lima, visited some churches, one with a great set of catacombs with lots of skulls and bones!! A bit eerie.

We then got the night bus back to Huaraz as we had convinced Catharine to do a 4 day trek in the Cordillera Blanca region……we had not learnt our lesson. To get Catharine acclimatised we did a one-day bus tour where we visited Potososouri National Park. We got to see amazing plants called Raimondi which are the biggest plants in the world and are a member of the pineapple family. When they bloom (but nobody can predict when) they have over ten thousand flowers and cause an explosion in the hummingbird population for a short period. We had a quick walk on a glacier but they promised ice caves but the pictures that advertised them were lies! It seems that due to global warming the ice caves and indeed much of the glacier that was here only a few years ago are now gone, receeding hundreds of meters up the valley. It was an enjoyable day which did not involve too much hard work!!

The famous 4 day trek is called the Santa Cruz loop and is suppose to be one of the most beautiful treks in the world so we had to try it out. We packed our bags and headed off to the treking company on Friday morning. We then had one of the worst moments of our trip so far, in fact it was the worst moment so far, Catharine had her bag stolen, it was her day pack and contained cash, cameras, and lots of other things. We were all so upset especially as it was only Catharines 3rd day with us. The thieves here are so clever and it was gone without us hardly noticing. It immediately changes your perspective of things and in fact at that one time we all wanted to go home, however you have to get on with it. There was cards to be cancelled, travellers cheques to be reported stolen and police reports to be filed. We were not sure whether to go on the trek but once all the business had been sorted out we headed off. There was one other guy on the trek called Derek from Australia and what a way to be introduced to us as we were all running around trying to get things sorted out for Catharine. Even now as I write this 4 days later I am mad that it happened and feel awful for Catharine.

Anyway we were miserable on the first day of the trek and our hearts were not in it but the magnificent country side was a good soother and by the second morning we were really enjoying it. We had a guide and a donkey driver who led the donkeys with all our luggage so we were only carrying a day pack each, well Catharine wasnt. We walked about 8km on the first day then set up camp for the night and the guide cooked us a good healthy dinner. Next day it was up at 7am, had a good porridge breakie then set off for the highlight of the walk which is crossing the Punta Union Pass, at 4,750 metres. The walk was amazing, the scenery spectacular and the guide really nice. We walked for about 8 hours on the second day, covering about 25km. We reached camp after 4pm, had dinner and were in bed early.

Day 3 was a doddle in comparison to day 2 and we only walked about 6 hours at a nice pace. Catharine was going to kill us on day 2 as it was quite difficult but I think she has forgiven us as the mountains were amazing and it was a good sense of achievement to have completed it. We heard a story on the third day that a Japanese climber died of altitude sickness on one of the slopes just a few days ago so you have to be careful, that put the spooks up us!!!

Day 4 involved a 3 hour walk at a really quick pace, then a bus back into Huaraz which is where I am now. Catharine is still trying to sort stuff out and I am catching up on e-mails.

If anyone ever comes to Peru I would highly recommend this walk, for waterfalls, rivers, snow capped mountains, amazing lakes. The weather for the most part was good although it rained a lot on the second day. We had a good laugh with the Ozzie guy. Evan went to sleep every night singing that Christmas song "Little Donkey"!

We have booked a night bus to Lima and in one sense wont be sad to leave Huaraz but on the other hand it is a fantastic place, you just have to be careful. We are only passing thorough Lima this time and head onto a fishing village called Pisco about 4 hours from Lima where we will visit a sea lion colony and hopefully see other wild life on an island off Pisco called Ballestas!

That’s all for now, its been a mixed few days but hopefully everything will be sorted out shortly. .

Slan,

E&S