Peru: Into thin air – trekking in the Andes

Peru is home to some of the highest mountains in the world. In the Huascaran National park there are over 50 peaks over 5700 meters and some 88 glaciers. Uli and I decided to brave the altitude and the cold and hike the Santa Cruz trail which reaches an altitude of 4750m at the Union Pass. This was to be our own personal „Mount Everest“!

Camping on the Santa Cruz trail

The trail takes 4 days and 3 nights and you must bring all of your food and tent along with you as there are no opportunities to buy food or guesthouses.

Cashapampa village is the start of the trail where we met our donkey driver and his 4 burros. They were interested in the trash can!

We booked a tour with an organization called „Active Peru“ in Huaraz, the primary criteria being tents that do not leak! TripAdvisor is an absolute dream when it comes to booking something like this.  You could clearly see which organizations were providing good guides and/or equipment based on their reviews. Our group was small. There were only Uli and I along with the Guide (Gui) and the donkey driver. Of course, there were also 4 donkeys in the group. So our camps in the evening were cozy.

Uli was oncerned because the donkeys were trying to eat the tent.

The first day we traveled by taxi to the start of the trail in Cashapampa along with our guide and an immense amount of gear. It turns out that the tour includes cooked meals every night and we had everything but the kitchen sink along. Good thing we did not have to carry it all ourselves. We had the donkeys and a very nice donkey driver named Clemente who unfortunately did not speak any English.

Clemente and the burros crossing the river, they just run free and he runs after them.

The first day we hiked around 6 hours through a semi – arid valley with cacti and rivers flowing down them. At the end of the valley the snow covered peaks tantalized us by peeking in and out of the clouds.

After about 6 hours of hiking we broke camp at 3800 m above sea level along with another group of German and Swiss hikers. Unfortunately, there was no chance to chat with the other tourists as it was very cold at night and after dinner we crawled into our sleeping bags to keep warm.

Nice and warm after putting on the clothes we had with us.

Clemente always reached camp first and put up our yellow tent, the blue kitchen tent and the infamous „bano tent“. Do you know what that is for?

Quite a small hole to aim for.

Every evening, our guide Elesious and Clemente made a 3 course meal in the kitchen tent and we ate together by candle light as it got dark at 6 pm. 

Clemente chopped up hot chilis and onions every night and we ate spicey

This does not look like camping food.

The food which Eliosas cooked was fantastic. One night we had fried trout, the second night a traditional chicken dish and on the third night Loma Saltado which is a sort of beef stir fry.
Camp at day 2 was at the highest altitude we had ever slept at but with a lot of coca tea and aspirin we managed to sleep without any trouble. If you have altitude sickness you suffer headaches, vomiting as well as shortness of breath. Uli and I were confident we would make the pass the next day at 4750 meters – the Punto Union.

Day 2 camp at Tuallapampa 4250 m above sea leve

Day 3 we had a long walk ahead of us of about 10 hours! 3 hours up to the pass and then a descent of about 1100 m plus a long flat walk through the valley until we reached our last campsite at the Refugio. Truthfully, I was scared that I would not make it to the top of the pass as I was having a hard time hiking at that altitude.

At the top of the pass there was a horses skull. Very spooky.

Horses are used to rescue people while trekking. There are no helicopters nor mobile service. If someone gets into trouble because of the altitude he/she is strapped to a horse and walked out. This can take days. 

Too bad it was cloudy and we could not see all of snow and glacier covered peaks when we reached the summit of the pass. Maybe next time?

As we walked through the valley out to Vacaria we tramped through a lot of mud. The donkeys and horses really churn up the trail and make for slippery hiking. At the end of the day we were covered in mud. 

We set up camp at a typical refugio which had a real bathroom and kitchen available! This was luxury pure.

If I look like a giant it is because the peruvians are not very big!

We could even buy beer from the locals who walked up to the refugio from the village. One beer was left the next morning and I gave it to Clemente thinking he would drink it in the evening as he walked back through the mountains to Cashapampa. Nothing doing. The gents at the refugio wanted the glass bottle back so he drank the whole liter for breakfast and for the very first time in 4 days I heard him say „I am tired“ – Yo soy consado. Yes sirree, a liter of beer for breakfast and a 3 hour hike uphill will do that to you.

Clemente opening his breakfast beer with his teeth. Tough guy.

At the end of the trail in Vacaria, we had a celebratory coke together! Coke is very popular in Peru.

The most exciting and scary part of this trip however was to come. We had a 6 hour drive over a dirt road and two mountain passes to get back to Huaraz.

To make matters worse, Theo’s car was acting up. It would not go into first gear, was overheating and I saw him secretely turning the ignition on and off while we were going down the pass. 

So, all in all, I would say the most dangerous activity we did in Peru was driving!

Hasta la Vista!