Strunas: Take A Hike!
We’ve been so busy seeing things lately we have not had time to post anything! Will try to fix that over the holiday season. From the town of Chacas in Peru we drove west, over a beautiful pass high in the Andes mountains, and then headed due south until we made a left and recrossed the Andes at another stunningly picturesque pass! If the descriptions and pictures get monotonous I can assure you that in person that never happens. We arrived late that same day at the town of Chavin, very tired and sore in the tush. Our hotel did not have a garage for our motorcycles, but they were happy to offer a large room to park the bikes in, only catch was driving the heavy bikes over the sidewalk and on to the slippery tile floor! While in Chavin we visited a large archaeological site that dates back to 2500 BC and included many underground chambers that we were allowed to explore (like junior archaeologists – only we’re not as cool). We also got to share the site with a roaming llama whose real interest seemed to be in the current flora at the site and consuming as much as possible :). The last great thing about Chavin was meeting up with our friends Jim and Carol again – which is always a refreshing and delicious encounter.
After finishing our explorations of the Chavin area we headed back over the Andes to the city of Huaraz (10,000 ft) a popular tourist spot for hiking in the nearby mountains. We spent over a week here to acclimatize ourselves to high altitude hiking for the 8 day Huayhuash Trek! Our first hike in this area was to Lake Wilcacocha. And although the views during the hike were spectacular to behold the lake itself was pretty disappointing (large pond would be generous:). What made this hike really special was that a small village located on the hiking route was celebrating the birthday of their patron saint (Santa Cruz) and we were privileged to be able to see some of the amazing ceremony and pageantry. The large crosses inside the small church are composed entirely of fresh flowers (see picture)!!!
Our last acclimatization hike before Huayhuash was to Lake Churup. We saved this one to last because it is one of the hardest hikes in the area, both in elevation gain and distance. Unlike our last lake hike this one did not disappoint from start to finish. The color of the lake water was unbelievable (and so was the temperature – Brrrr!). We were exhausted by the end, but felt as prepared was possible for our big hike next week. And because we had not visited a ruin for almost a week straight (Sharon’s hands were beginning to tremble) we capped off the week by visiting TWO ruins – Willkawain and Ichik Willkawain. I used to know what the names meant, but now I don’t. They were very large stone constructions, some as high as three stories. And by large stone, I mean LARGE stone (single stones weighing more than 2,000 lbs). It pains me to think of the hernia rates in these ancient civilizations…
Next time, the epic (at least it felt epic) Huayhuash Trek.
Chris & Sharon
