Day 1: Huaraz to Paria Camp (3800m)

Finally, I'm back. Unfortunately, my memories from the Cordillera Blanca are no longer fresh in my head. But, I will make my best effort to do them justice.

Where to begin? Ok, on my second day in Peru, I began my 4-day trek in the Cordillera Blanca, called the Santa Cruz trek. We drove over the top of Portachuelo pass which was 4700m (15,420 feet) on a very sketchy, gravel road with no guard rails. Exciting.

I met my guide, Lili, and my donkey driver, Edgar. Yes, I had two donkeys to support my on my trek. They carried all my stuff. Very embarrassing, but enjoyable. We hiked for about 4 hours through a very green, lush valley with a river running through it, surrounded by huge mountains.

What amazed me was how green things were so close to huge mountains (the biggest on the planet, outside the Himalayas). Apparently the Cordillera Blanca is the highest tropical mountain range in the world. I don't know the technical significance of that, but I can tell you that there is lush green grass and trees all the way up to the glacier snow, nothing in between, which was odd to see.

During this day we saw only one other group of trekkers, and we were the only group at our camp that night. For your amusement, here is a video of camp 1:
http://soapbox.msn.com/video.aspx?vid=275ded1a-c5d4-4e2a-9f49-6bc889bb0ce9

Not much they let you do at this camp but relax, enjoy the view, and use the out-houses.

This is the view from the top of Portacuelo Pass. You can see the road we drove up.

Through the clouds you can see Huascaran, the highest mountain in Peru. 22133 ft / 6746 m. This is huge.

Lili, my fearless guide. Born and raised in the Andes, I don't think she has ever had altitude sickness in her life. Lucky :)