Last weekend we decided to get the van out of the parking lot where it’s been for the past few weeks and go try to find lake Rajucolta, which was recommended to me by my mountain biking guide. We found the road on Pocket Earth (the app we use for navigation) and headed in.

We drove up a very pretty valley, past farms, a couple of villages, and lots of pigs on ropes. At one point as I was trying to maneuver around a campesino (peasant farmer) and his flock of sheep, the right side of the van slipped into a ditch.

This is where four wheel drive is really handy. With two wheel drive we’d have been stuck waiting for help to get us out. I locked the hubs and with Jen directing me we managed to back out of the ditch. Unfortunately these are the times when you’re too worried about getting out of the situation to think about taking pictures. But you always wish you had later!

Van not in a ditch.

The map showed that the road turned into a footpath at a town, but it actually continued on, and we kept driving until we finally hit a washed-out bridge and could go no further. After hunting around for a way across the river (on foot) for a half-hour we decided it was time for lunch, and then it started to rain. So the end of our hike turned out to be about 200 yards from the van. Oh well, we had a good time anyway.

The end of the road.

Quinn had a good time playing in the streams and on the rocks after lunch. He said we’d hiked far enough.

Two days later Jen sent me out to hike to Laguna 69. I booked a bus tour and awoke early for a five AM departure. There’s something we don’t do much of! We started hiking at about 830, and it was obvious that this was going to be a hike to remember.

Laguna Orconcocho

We were surrounded by high peaks throughout the hike.

The creeks were swollen with the runoff from the rains.

Looking up the valley. The hike started out pretty flat, but it didn’t stay that way.

There were waterfalls everywhere you looked.

The lake, at 15,200 feet, was an amazing glacial blue. It reminded me of Lake Louise in Canada but without the hordes of people.

It even had a waterfall splashing into it, just to complete the picture.

Back in Huaraz, we only had a few short days before it would be time to pack up and move along. We awoke Thursday, our last full day, to clear skies.

Huascarán from our rooftop deck.

There are several snow capped peaks surrounding the valley where Huaraz is located.

Time to clean out the fridge. Spinach omelets, fried potatoes, and sausage anyone? No wonder I don’t get to work until 10AM!

When we first move into an apartment a month always seems like such a long time. Well, here we are more than halfway through our stay here. We’ll be moving out and moving on to Arequipa a week from Friday!

One thing the limited time does, though, is to force us to get out and see the local sights – because who knows when or if we’ll be back? So on that note, here’s what we’ve been up to.

This is the city of Huaraz seen from the mountains East of town.

I went for a hike to laguna Apuac which is just outside of town. The taxi dropped me off at about 12,000 feet and the lake is at 15,000 feet. I felt the lack of air!

On the way down I summoned the energy to explore the Wilcahuain ruins before getting a collectivo back to town.

One sunny Sunday we took a taxi up to a lookout for the view.

Putting the finishing touches on another yummy blueberry crisp.

Last Friday we took a guided tour to the ruins of Chavín on the other side of the mountains. We stopped to see this alpine lake on the way.

The ruins themselves were pretty impressive. Construction started around 1200 BC making them some of the oldest ruins in Peru.

There were lots of cool tunnels to explore.

The town of Chavín

The next day our landlords invited us to a party at their house. We had a good time chatting with some of the local expats. There were lots of kids for Quinn to play with too.

We saw a sign advertising kids workshops at the local community center, and Q decided that he wanted to try Karate.

Last night, in a fit of 80s nostalgia, Jen and I watched the original Karate Kid. I thought it would seem campy and dated (like most 80s movies) but it was just as good as I remember it.

On Sunday I went on a guided mountain bike ride. It being the low season, it was just me and the guide. He’s been riding here for 20 years and knows lots of great trails. The altitude is tough, but it was a great day.

Overdue for a period of work, we left the Llanganuco Mountain Lodge and headed for the town of Huaraz where we intended to stay for a month to work. We arrived on a Thursday and spent the next few days apartment hunting. We always go back and forth on whether to book a place ahead of time using Airbnb or to just show up and see what we can find. The big downside with Airbnb is that you’re guaranteed to always pay gringo prices.

In this case we decided to show up and shop in person since it’s the middle of the rainy season. Huaraz is a trekking and climbing town with numerous tour operators catering to adventurous visitors. With Huascarán National Park and it’s 6000 meter peaks on its doorstep, Huaraz has long been a haven for mountain climbers. Today the park’s highest peak is a popular training ground for those wishing to summit Everest.

In the rainy season though the town is fairly devoid of tourists and we thought we’d have little problem securing a place for the month. After a couple of days of searching we ended out in a small apartment owned by an American who runs a restaurant in town. It’s clean, modern, and inexpensive and we’re looking forward to spending a month here.

We spotted a Ford with a ‘fro on the way up to the Cordillera.

We visited a museum in town in between apartment visits.

Surprisingly we found it difficult to find a place to park the van for the month we’ll be in town. Usually there is no shortage of paid parking lots advertised, but in Huaraz there are few. We ended out walking around the neighborhood near our apartment asking shop owners until we finally found a parking lot. It had no sign out front, so the parking business in Huaraz must be good.

The parking lot we found features a litter of newborn puppies. Too cute.

Our friends Melanie and Justin are continuing on, so we had a farewell dinner together in our new apartment. We enjoyed our time with them very much and will miss them. They are planning to ship Westy to Europe this (northern hemisphere) summer. While waiting for their vehicle to arrive, they’re going to rent what’s called a narrow boat in the UK. With one of these “RVs on the water” you can slowly travel the network of canals that formerly were used to transport cargo. Sounds like fun, and we can’t wait to hear the stories!

We moved into our new digs and enjoyed the view of the evening light on Huascarán from our rooftop patio.

There’s a lady downtown who sells blueberries on the street. This gave Witt an idea, and Jen turned it into a reality: Blueberry crisp! Mmmm. There will be more of these.

We enjoyed three days of blissful, bountiful blueberries for dessert.

We often return to the van to retrieve stuff we forgot, and we’re always greeted by the puppies who are ever eager to play.

The Sparksmobile was in need of an oil change, and we got that taken care of this week.

Before they got around to working on the van, the shop employees broke for lunch, so I figured I’d get something to eat as well. I ended up in a restaurant about a half-block from the shop that turned out to be the lunch spot for the local police. There must have been at least a dozen police officers eating there and soon I was not only the only gringo, but the only person not in uniform. I had the “menu of the day” which featured soup followed by oven baked fish with some kind of spicy marinade and rice. It was good, especially for the price of 5 soles (about $1.80).

One of the benefits of having an apartment is that we can spread out all of Quinn’s toys and art supplies.

After leaving Cajamarca we headed for the coast, where we had planned to rent an apartment in Huanchaco so I could get some work done. We found a nice campsite a block from the beach and spent two days relaxing and visiting local sights, as well as starting to look for a place to live for awhile.

The drive down to Trujillo led us from the lush green highlands to a desert coastline. Here rice paddies fed from a river contrast with giant dunes.

Our campground featured a pool as well as pet turtles.

The beach at Huanchaco was busy on the weekend when we were there.

We visited the pre-Incan ruins of Chan-Chan. The Chimor people who constructed the city worshiped the moon and believed the sun to be evil. After an hour of strolling around the site we tended to agree.

Melanie made yummy stuffed peppers for dinner one evening.

After a couple of days we decided that we didn’t feel the love for Huanchaco, and proving once again that we’re more mountain people than beach people, we decided to head southwest into the Cordillera Blanca for our work stint. So we packed up and headed for the hills with our friends and travel companions, Melanie and Justin.

The first part of our drive took us south along the coastal Pan-Americana. The landscape and the towns were dry and dusty.

Soon we turned off the highway and headed inland. After an hour the road turned to a bone-jarring corrugated dust machine.

After a couple of hours creeping along at 15mph we stopped for the night. The temperature was pleasant, and we grilled and ate outside.

The next day, after a stop to wash our cars, we arrived at the Llanganuco Mountain Lodge, which borders on Huascarán National Park.

Two conventional adults and one conventional child, please.

We enjoyed a beautiful hike in the park the next day.

The trees in the park have very strange bark that comes off in thin sheets and feels like plastic shopping bags.

After exploring the muddy caves near Lamúd, we headed for what is billed as Peru’s second most important archeological site after Machu Picchu. Kuélap is a large hilltop city, similar to its far more famous cousin farther south. There are currently two ways to get to the site. The first is via a trail that leads 3 hours and 1300 meters almost straight up from the main road. We chose instead to drive the 30km dirt road, which also took 3 hours.

I found Kuélap almost as impressive as Machu Picchu, but without the crowds. Peru is working to develop the site and is putting in a gondola that will make access much easier.

Kuélap was first built in the 6th century AD and was occupied until the early colonial period. The circular structures are houses which originally had thatched roofs, like the reconstructed one you can see on the left side of this picture.

Every Peruvian ruin needs a llama wandering around in it to add authenticity.

The Sparks with Justin and Melanie exploring the ruins.

When we got to Kuélap we realized with dismay that we had left our backpack containing Quinn’s allergy medicine at a restaurant were we had eaten breakfast in Lamúd. That was a 5 or 6 hour drive back from where we were along some very slow roads. We called Roxana, the tourist guide we had met in Lamúd. Fortunately she speaks excellent English and knows everyone in town. She found our backpack and agreed to meet us in Chachapoyas the next afternoon.

We said temporary goodbyes to Justin and Melanie the next morning (after spending the night in the Kuélap visitor’s center parking lot) and headed back to Chachapoyas. We spent the afternoon catching up on email and shopping, and took Roxana and her 6-year-old nephew out to dinner to thank her for rescuing our backpack.

The next morning we were back on the road. We stopped at a small but excellent museum outside the town of Leymebamba. The museum was constructed in 1999 to house discoveries of pre-Incan mummies in tombs near Laguna Condor. Farm workers discovered the tombs in 1997 and reported them to archaeologists who found them in excellent condition and moved the mummies to the museum.

Our next stop was to be Cajamarca, where we planned to re-unite with Justin and Melanie. We expected that trip to take 12 hours, so after a quick lunch we drove for another few hours before camping in a quarry on Calla Calla pass at nearly 4000 meters elevation.

One of the many hundreds of mummies preserved at the museum.

Draft animals are still used extensively in rural Peru. It’s amazing to see farmers using techniques that were abandoned nearly 100 years ago elsewhere.

Our campsite on the pass.

Quinn spent some quality Lego time…

… Before heading out to play on the piles of sand.

We enjoyed a nice sunset before snuggling into our sleeping bags for a chilly night.

The next day’s drive was amazing. It took us all day to cover a distance of not much more than 100 miles to Cajamarca on one-lane roads that snaked up, over, down and through the Andes. I’ve never felt as though the horn was a critical piece of safety equipment on a car, but on this road it was, serving to announce us around every blind one-lane corner.

Traversing a crumbling section of road.

The best way to get a sense of the road is to watch the video in our last post.

We arrived in Cajamarca and were happy to see our friends at the hacienda where we had agreed to meet. We spent the next day relaxing and doing minor cleaning and maintenance on our cars before heading toward the coast.

Campsite at the hacienda.

Quinn repairs the reverse light on the van which has been out for who knows how long. I supervise.