Cordillera Blanca: Santa Cruz circuit

Santa Cruz is one of the more popular trekking circuits in the Huascaran National Park. 

Danny and I decided to do the Santa Cruz trek during rainy season... although it is rainy (duh) the nights were warmer since it is summer in the southern hemisphere.  Even though it is rainy season, there are still plenty of people trekking, ranging from solo to guided trekkers with mule trains carrying their packs.  

Day 1: 

Our adventure began at 5am on a collectivo from Huaraz to Caraz which took an hour and a half and 2 dollars each.  When we arrived at Caraz, we took another collectivo to Cashapamapa...which was far more uncomfortable since it is a station wagon taxi crammed with 8 or so passengers for 40 minutes up the mountain on dirt road.  We started the trek at Cashapampa, Quebrada Santa Cruz and hiked for 20 KM, with an elevation increase of 1000M over 8 hours.  We ended up camping at Hatun Ocha (Big Lake), near the site of a landslide/avalanche in 2012. 

Day 2:  

Started our hike early in order to view Laguna Arhuaycocha... a glacial lake at the base of Alpamayo, where we had lunch.  The second day was tough... after the lake, we camped at the base of the Punta Union summit pass at Taullipampa which sits at 4200M.  We had hiked for 9 KM with an elevation increase of only 300M but it was exhausting. Our camp site had amazing views, we were pretty much isolated even though there was a group camping in the same vicinity.   

Day 3: 

Sucked. We started really early at 7am crawling slowly up the summit to Punta Union sitting at 4750M.  It took us 3 hours due to the intense incline, slippery rocks from the previous nights' showers and obviously the lack of oxygen at that altitude.  After reaching Punta Union, I couldn't help but hear Eye of the Tiger in my life's soundtrack... we took a few snapshots, took a few deep breaths, ate some trail mix and started our descend when it started to snowing.  Climbing down the other side, Quebrada Huaripampa, the views of the snow covered mountainside, the marshes, the lakes and the steep rocky trail down were both magnificent and scary.  We were literally climbing downward the entire way which hurt my knees and my joints.  Also in the afternoon it started raining...heavily.  As if that wasn't scary enough, there was thunder and lightning....not to mention really hardcore hailing.  that shit was cray. We finally reached camp before sundown which was part of a compound that had a church/lodge/toilets which was enclosed so the other tents were kinda close. We ended up hiking for 10 hours and 21 KM....it was insane. 

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Day 4: 

Another early and sucky day... our final hike out of the valley to Vaqueria took 2.5 hours of terrible 4.7KM of steep up hill and down hill through villages that had cuy farms... we wanted to save a guinea pig but didn't have any place to keep it.  We finally reached the end of our trek and had a celebratory bottle of cold water on a bench at a local store front.  After 30 minutes a collectivo rolled by going the opposite way towards Yamana, but we were told that they will be quickly returning the other way and to hop on now so that we have seats.  After 2 hours on a collectivo that made me super car sick, with 20 other old men and women locals crammed into a 15 seater van, we finally left Vaqueria heading towards Yungay (Yungay was covered by a landslide during an earthquake in the 70's).  Even though it was the most terrible, cramped, rocky, smelly (I feel terrible for stating this) 3.5 hour ride ever, the views of Llanganuco, Huascaran & Huandoy made it worth it.  Getting a collectivo from Yungay to Huaraz was pretty easy and walking from the collectivo stop to Rosso Nero for our pasta and milanesa with fresa frozen binge was also pretty easy.  

 

from the Great Barrier Reef to 5K up into the Andes

Danny and I have left Brisbane, Australia and the Australian experience couldn't have been complete without visiting the Great Barrier Reef.  The reef is exactly how I imagined it.  Vast amounts of colorful coral and the most sea life I have ever seen snorkeling.  We also visited Cape Tribulation, Daintree National Park and Port Douglas and saw the most amazing views of the Queensland coast.

After leaving Australia, we had a quick stop over in San Diego and Lima and  finally made it to Huaraz, Peru.  Huaraz is situated at 3050 meters and is the 2nd largest city in the Peruvian Andes.  With less than one week to acclimate to the altitude, Danny, Andrea, Nate and I decided to take on a 3 day trek beginning at the Q. Quilcuyhuanca valley.  The elevation at the entrance of the Huascaran National Park is 3600 meters.  The first day of trekking took us deep into the valley, 13km in and we camped at the bottom of the summit pass.  The campsite rested at the bottom of a glacial lake at 4200 meters.  The following day took us up  to the summit pass with an elevation gain of 1000 meters over 6km. The views throughout the hike were the most beautiful I have ever seen; the snow covered mountains, the lakes and the waterfalls, the glacier were all magnificent.  I have never seen snow so white and mountains so grandeur.

We literally had to find trails with vague trail markers, scale up a rock slide, fight off bulls from attacking us while we ate lunch, jump through spongy marshes avoiding getting our feet soaked in cold muddy water and traverse the side of a snow covered mountain.   Fear and panic set in at 5000 meters where my ears were popping, I was gasping for air every 5 steps and the idea that reaching the camp by sundown became a far off concept.  We obviously reached the summit, crawled down the mountainside, found a 'safe' campsite and 'slept' through temperatures below 0 degrees Celsius while bulls were fighting and moo-ing less than 100 feet from where our tents were pitched.  The following day's hike was pretty chillax, exiting through Cojup Valley. We were actually warm, had a nice relaxing lunch by the creek and took mini-naps while soaking up the sun.

With Nate's survivor man skills, Danny's GPS skills along with mine and Andrea's tears and prayers we made it  home safely.   Even though there were tears, panic, fear, frustration, hunger and dehydration...the beauty that we got to see at 5100 meters (approximately 16,700 feet) was well worth it.

best friends...

…know exactly what will make your night one of the most memorable. 

Jacob: planned the karaoke sesh

Teri:    made the rice, boiled eggs and fish sauce

Ada:    wanted to make out, which validated my hotness

willl sooo miss these bitches. 

So long Australia and thanks for all the prawns on the barbie!

Our time in Brisbane is approaching its end.... Australia has been good to us; the wonderful cities, the scenery, the variety of food available, the cute animals including possums & the creepy bats and the people.

I have thoroughly enjoyed working as a barista for both the cafe's where I work... I enjoyed living within walking distance to the city and riding our scooter to remote areas, sometimes being honked at by the people we are holding up. I love the different suburbs surrounding the city each with their own great qualities.  I love timtams, 'morning tea' & 'afternoon tea.'  I will miss flat whites & long macchiatos (not my favourite type of coffee drink but still).

Melbourne and Sydney are awesome and would love to someday visit both cities again.  Although vegemite is disgusting, I will miss the idea that it is easily accessible in the off chance someone has held a gun to my head forcing me to eat it in exchange for my life.  I will miss all the asians who have australian accents... they are the best.   I like using the metric system and driving on the left side of the road.  I also like when I sound fancy saying glass, bananas & tomato the australian way. I will miss the way people refer to me as 'mate' even though it makes me feel boyish. Terms like 'too easy' 'ta' 'pardon' 'having a nap' 'how are you going?' 'whereabouts?' 'eski' 'supa' 'brekky' 'cuppa' 'do you / I reckon' will be kept in a special place in my heart.  I will miss having the accent, in a land full of accented peoples.

Most of all I will miss all the friends we have made in this wonderful country... memories and friends for life.  All of the people we have met here have left an imprint in our heart and we will miss them all dearly.

Brisbane has been amazing to us... we expect the same from our next adventures in South America!

some of my favourite photos:

Fraser Island

Baby Koala at the Sanctuary

Danny chilling with a Kangaroo

Treasury Building turned Casino 

Melbourne

Sydney

Thailand

Over the past 3 months since we have arrived from Thailand, I have been contemplating what to write.  In retrospect I liked my overall experiences in Thailand... but while there, my guard was up the whole time and I believe that I was not able to experience the cities we visited to the fullest.  

Some amazing things about Thailand:  street food ranging from skewered scorpions, seafood and cocktails from a VW bus and the noodle carts... my fave, beautiful beaches, amazing temples, incredible Siamese history, learning that Siamese cats are Thai cats, cheap shopping, price haggling, huge metropolis some parts of which you can't even know where to begin to discover, night markets, buddhas of all sizes, thai iced tea, thai coffee & the temples of Ayutthaya.  

Also, pristine beaches can still be found on phi phi island, a wide variety of sea life...we encountered black banded sea snake, lion fish, clown fish, anemones, shit tons of coral, pipe fish, puffer fish & green box fishes.   We were able to experience various uncrowded beaches, peace, quiet and sleep in beautiful bungalows with crazy beautiful views of the sea, kayaking and tons of jungle hiking night & day to avoid paying exorbitant long boat fees & most important of all the incredibly nice and genuinely hospitable people.  

Some non amazing things about Thailand:  lost passports (though that is not Bangkok's fault), scams galore, overpriced tuk tuk & taxi rides, the incessant offers of ping pong shows, tours in the red light districts & getting you involved in the massive sex tourism; scams including shutting down of certain tourists spots, tuk tuk drivers charging you 300 baht to go less than 1km within the Sukhumvit district, taking you to different stops which are actually jewelry shops selling you stuff, locals putting pigeon food in your hand without your permission and charging you 100 baht for the 'experience,' and sleepless nights in Khao San road.  The worst  part: there are tourists everywhere... you really have to dig deep to find an experience that isn't diminished due to the exploitation of tourists. 

With that said... the 'amazing' outweighs the 'non amazing' even if you have to wait a few months to forget about the 'non amazing.'  It truly is a marvellous country and with many different facets.  I am glad to have had that experience...I love any type of adventure, good or bad, any day. 

Royal Palace 

Street food delicacy

Hua Lamphong Rail Station

Khao San Road

Tuk tuk Adventures:  find Penny and Danny

ancient royal pugs??

Ayutthaya

Loh Lana Bay

View from the semi top

siesta on a hammock by the beach

Maya Beach... famous and lame

Jungle hikes.