Day in Huaraz

Day in Huaraz

Huaraz, Peru, South America

I arrived in Huaraz this morning at about 5am, and I couldn’t believe we were already here. The bus ride didn’t seem to take long at all, so I must have been sleeping for most of it. The bus was really comfortable, again with the footrests and big leather seats. I could get used to this. I got a taxi from the bus terminal over to my hostel and wasn’t sure I was even going to be allowed in at 5am. Not only did they let me in, but they gave me my room at 5am so I could go in and take a nap! I like this place already!

Hostel Universal Huaraz is a new hostel, and it looks really nice. I have my own bathroom, big flat screen tv, and it includes free breakfast (even today when I wasn’t supposed to be here!). Not a bad deal for $16 a night. I met a couple of girls at breakfast and got some tips on what hikes I should check out while I’m here, so I went out searching for tour companies today.

The girls had recommended a company called Quechaundes and they seemed to be really good. I talked to a few different operators, but the woman at Quechaundes was the only one I actually trusted, so I ended up booking two hikes with them. Since I came from sea level just last night, I don’t really want to do the more difficult Laguna 69 trek tomorrow, so I am going to check out a glacier tomorrow, and then do Laguna 69 on Tuesday instead. I think that’s a sensible plan.

I also checked out my itinerary and it looks like I have plenty of time to spend an day here, so I might as well take in the scenery while I can. This will all be good practice for the Machu Picchu trek too, so it’s good.

Huaraz seems like a nice little town, but there’s not a lot here. Because it’s Sunday there were all kinds of markets on, so I checked those out for most of the day. I am looking for a fleece jacket to keep me a bit warmer on these treks, but I am having a problem finding a Peruvian shop that carries anything that will fit me. I’m about twice the size of most Peruvian men, so to find a large or extra large fleece jacket is proving to be very difficult. I guess I’ll just have to layer up and hope for the best. I’m looking forward to getting out into the outdoors tomorrow and seeing some beautiful sights.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *