TL #8 30 September l98l Wednesday

Upper Quebrada Huaripampa, Peru

Hi !! We've pitched our tent, and Robert's running around with his cameras (one movie and 2 stills ­ one for black and white and one for slides) plus 4 lenses. The setting is magnificient... At 4,300 meters (14,300 feet)... high snow­capped peaks all around us (the highest we see is slightly higher than Mt McKinley 6100 meters)... Our tent is amongst some huge boulders, one hanging over us. At this altitude the sun is warm and powerful; but the second it goes behind a cloud the temperature drops dramatically. In fact, it gets quite uncomfortable, and we're both scrambling to put on our heavy clothes. Finally we're using all this gear we've been carrying for so long... and glad we have it. It's going to be a cold night; but we've still got quite a climb in the morning to get over the pass (total 4,750 meters or 15,800 feet). We've both slept higher and hiked higher in Nepal. but it's reminiscent of the altitude we felt then. We tire very quickly. Robert's stronger than I, but he's carrying a much heavier load. So we both walk slowly up the path and stop not too infrequently to catch our breaths. I do think we're both stronger than we were in Nepal... we're carrying quite a lot more. We've been over 10,000 feet for about a week and half, and that helps.

This is the fourth day of this trek. The first day, we rode on a truck to about 3,900 meters (13,000 feet)... to Lagunas Llanganucho, with magnificient views of Huascar'an, the highest mountain in Peru (6,768 meters ­ 22,205 feet). We the hiked into Quebrada (means canyon) Yanapaccha and to a beautiful turquoise blue glacier lake above the far end. We hiked about 19 km that day and climbed 650 meters up and back down again. Views were some the best I've ever seen. I think my # 1 was a beautiful waterfall... as we approached it, passed it, and climbed to overlook it, a range of lovely mountains grew in sight above the falls. Very fine.

The next day we started up to Portchuelo Pass... 4,800 meters.

3 October '81 (Saturday)

Back in Huaraz now ­ showered, resting, washing clothes. It was a great hike. You're going to get so tired of looking at pictures of mountains! But they're so magnificient! The light changes, the clouds shift, our vantage point has moved... and we take another picture. Two hikes ­ one 2­day and one 6­day ­ 6 rolls of slides, 3 black and white's, and 4 movies (14 minutes). We're trying to control ourselves, but it isn't easy. I know Anne will enjoy them anyway... beautiful rugged Andes. Different mountain ranges and even mountains truly have their own individual characters. These are so towering, streaked with snow and granite walls, so 3­dimensional! And the Andes are well­known, deservedly, for the turquoise lagunas below glaciers. So lovely... yet so deadly. They're occansionally broken thru their walls and roared down the mountainside, wiping out cities and thousands of people.

I've been curious at the great number of Swiss people here; but perhaps it's this different character of the mountains in the Alps or the Andes that brings them.

I'm going to take a break and go wash some more clothes ­ and let Robert take over for a while. I think he can better tell you about our trekking. When I try, I'm always bothering him for details and data and conversions, anyway.

(Robert)

Surain says we are in Huaraz... it's our "home" in the "Callejo'n de Huaylas", which is a high valley running north to south. On the west side lies Cordillera Negra (=Black Mountains, so called since they don't reach the permanent snow level, 16,500 feet), and on the east side Cordillera Blanca (White Mountains), where we've been hiking. Cordillera Blanca is but a tiny part of the world's longest mountain chain, but it is the part that is most famous for trekking and climbing... they say something else in Chile and Argentina, where the Andes rise even higher... anyway, it's easily the highest and most glaciated mountains in the tropics. There are 27 peaks above 6,000 meters (20,000 feet).

For a city of about 50,000 people, Huaraz could hardly have a better location. At 3,091 meters (10,300 feet) no less than 23 snow­capped peaks can be seen from downtown, with giant Huascara'n totally dominating to the north.

We had expected a change, arriving at Indian­dominated Huaraz from the dusty, arid Spanish­dominated, northern coasts. One evening we got on a modern, comfortable bus in (our opinion) unpleasant Trujillo, where we had even witnessed an (unsuccessful) attempt of robbery. At 6 a.m. the next morning we were in Huaraz. It was cold, probably close to freezing. A woman met us at the bus, asking if we wanted rooms... she had already been recommended to us by some French tourists, so we accompanied her to her private house, where she rented 5 rooms, mostly to gringos. It was very clean, hot water 24 hours... which is very far from normal. There was only one big central rom, which both guests and owners used (the couple had two small girls). We enjoyed the family, but wondered how their private life was ­ there were always foreigners around. The front door was always locked, so we felt absolutely safe for our belongings. But the best thing... the sheets. They were not just immaculately cleand and white... but they smelled nice and were even ironed... we didn't think that existed in Latin America!

Having stayed there for a couple of days, we got brave and asked for permision to use her oven. Then we got flour, salt, and yeast... and I baked some bread. The bread you can buy here is not at all like the bread I make, so I got all kinds of suggestions how to "improve" the bread. But the other travellers at the "hotel" ate with good appetite, so I made a second batch, which also disappeared quickly. One evening we made a big batch of guacamole and invited 4 other travellers. We shared a bottle of Peruvian wine (all I can say is that it was a big improvement over the wines from Guatemala and Ecuador) and had a very nice evening. We have to do it again!

And now to trekking: We had spent two days in Huaraz to acclimatize ourselves to the altitude... it's not much, but we had spent a week fairly high in Ecuador, so we hoped it would be enough. We had selected a trek in a trekking book for a 2­days "test hike". We started 7:30 a.m. at 3,200 meters (10,650 feet) and worked our way up in a "quebrada" (valley). There were lots of people along the trail. Especially the kids took an interest in us, begging for money. Naturally we weren't especially interested in parting with that, but we offered them balloons instead. It turned out to be an immediate success... in fact we had problems getting rid of them. But we found a much more rewarding way to use the balloons... along the trail there were many Indian women in their characteristic hats and beautiful clothes. Not wanting to irritatet them, we always asked for permission to take photos (i.e. if they were aware of us). At the same time we offered them balloons for the favour. It worked most of the times, so we hope we got some good shots.

We had lunch at 12,000 feet, both because we were hungry and because my head was a little heavy due to the elevation. Then we worked our way slowly up, and had no major problems. We found a beautiful camp site along a river in a high meadow... yes, there were cows and horses grazing at 4,150 meters (13,700 feet)!! Huantsa'n (6,395 m., 21,300 ft.) dominated totally to the east, marking the end of Quebrada Rajucolta. The sunset was beautiful... gold, yellow, pink on the giant mountain.

Next morning we hiked the rest of the 3 miles to the end of the valley. An indescribably beautiful sight welcomed us: Above three sides of a deep blue lake towered a 2,100 m. (7,000 ft.) wall of snow and ice. Some of the glaciers of Huantsa'n went all the way down to the lake. ­ It was a long way back, and we almost regretted not having made it to a 3­days hike instead. 16 km. (10 miles) one day and 23 (14.5) the other day with an elevation gain of 1,100 m. (3,700 ft.) at this altitude tired us completely.

I have to comment on our day hike into Quebrada Yanapaccha, which Surain has already mentioned. At the end of the quebrada steep mountain walls rose high around. A narrow, steep, treacherous trail had been constructed along the walls. We puffed and panted up this trail to finally reach a high meadow, 4,300 m. (14,300 ft.)... sure enough, there were lots of grazing cows! Our previous conception of cows as lowland animals on big farms has had to be thoroughly revised. Here you find them anywhere, on the steepes slopes and highest meadows, peacefully grazing as always. The beautiful lake at 4,550 m. (15,000 ft.) has been lowered 10 meters (33 feet) to reduce for it to break through and cause another avalanche catastrophe. Maybe it doesn't seem much, but consider the altitude and the fact that all "machinery" has to be carried up on this treacherous trail... we saw all the work that had been done. Obviously it must have been done by Indians... they are fully acclimatized to these elevations and are equipped with bigger hearts than we, so they can better endure cold weather and thin air.

(Surain)

Hmmm... It seems Robert has a mind of his own. I "suggested" to him that he finish describing our 6­day hike... and he didn't even touch on it. But he did give a good impression of the area and that speaks well for the hiking, eh? I also asked him to mention to you that he's finally noticed I'm getting skinnier, and I notice he skirted that subject. Food in South America certainly surpasses the extremely boring diet of a piece of meat, rice and beans that we consistently had in Central America. This is the best eating we've done since Mexico. For instance, tonight I ate chicken, all de­boned, stuffed with asparagus and other good who­knows­what, rolled and fried, smothered with a delicious sweet and sour sauce... for about G1.10. Another favorite is avocado (huge) stuffed with vegetables or with shrimp or a selection of other good things... also for a price of G1.00 or a little more. And we have a favorite beverage made from dark red "corn"... called "chicha", which we drink all we can... about 20c/ a glass (big glass!).

But yes, I am losing weight... first time I ever have while travelling. I think it's because Robert drags me over all these mountains... and could also be due in part to the "Inca 2­step" that's been harassing me for several days. Such affliction occasionally hits one or both of us, not bad and always short­lived.

We visited a friend today, who's just been layed up with hepatitis. Poor guy. He'd planned to travel for maybe another year or so. This most likely will send him home right away. Understand hepatitis has a 2­3­week incubation. He reminded us that we were travelling together 3 weeks ago in the Gala'pagos. But both of us are healthy! Don't worry. We intend to stay so. Monday morning we're both renewing our gamma globulin inoculations.

And Monday evening we plant to leave for Lima, arriving Tuesday morning. Both are most anxious to get to the post office! We'd planned to go to the ruins at Chavi'n, but have decided to skip them. Think we need at least 4 days in Lima for "taking care of business".

We did visit some other pre­Inca ruins in Peru already. Cue'lap, in northern Peru, took us a 22­hour bus ride, a 2­hour truck ride, and a 4­hour climb up 1200 meters... and we were the only tourists. Terrific ruins ­ not excavated ­ overgrown with trees and bromeliads and vines... even squash growing ­ but still you could see so much. Really enjoyed that.

And we visited the ancient city of Chan­Chan on the coast also... the largest adobe city of ruins... or some such distinction. So different from the high massive stone walls at Cue'lap, Chan­Chan has simple geometric designs in relief on the adobe walls. Some can be seen quite clearly... preserved when the tops of the walls caved in. But now these walls are being excavated and exposed. It's sad, but the adobe cannot survive another decade or so. You'd think something could be done... and it probably would in another country, but Peru doesn't have the money.

We'd heard so often that Peru was so extremely poor. We do see poverty, but it doesn't seem any worse here than what we've seen in the other countries of this trip. We both feel that Mexico seems to suffer the greatest poverty.

Robert found himself in a political debate on a bus once. A Peruvian man who strongly disliked the U.S. loudly discussed his opinions, and Robert enjoyed this challenge it seems. Somehow then Sweden was mentioned and the man seemed so shocked... ah, "Sweden, is one of the best countries!" So it went on for some time. I didn't understand much, but there was enough laughing that everyone stayed relatively conmfortable. Especially funny, I think, when the man pointed out that the Peruvians' noses are fatter than the gringos'. You could see all the people on the bus turning to look at these noses... Sure enough! Perhaps an Indian characteristic, but the nostrils are wide...

Today the young girl in this family where we stay was "helping" me wash my clothes. She finds my freckles interesting... asked why I have them... that Peruvians don't... What do you say? Robert suggested I tell her it's a sign of intelligence.

Well... from Lima, we take the famous 4,782­meter high train ride to Huancayo for the Sunday market. After that to Nazca to see the famous "lines" that are so big and can only be seen well from the sky... so mysterious how an ancient civilization could have made them. Then to Arequipa, Cuzco, Machu­Picchu, Puno, Lake Titicaca... Should be to La Paz, Bolivia, about November 1­5 or so... Stay in that area about a week­10 days and on to Chile. Our address then will be Lista de Correos ­ Santiago, Chile for the rest of our trip. Hoping to find "cheap" flights from there... each to our respective parents about December 15­20 or so. Six months is really too short for all this!

Our love ­ Surain and Robert

[Letter 8]