¨Rolling¨ through the Cordillera

As I mentioned in my last post, Ben, Libby and I went on a 3-day hiking and camping trip in the Cordillera Blanca. They had set up the hike with Ryan, another Peace Corps volunteer working outisde of Huaraz. Several other Peace Corps volunteers and their friends joined us to form a group of 8 hikers. We began the hike in Hankopampa, Ryan´s Peace Corps site and a small rural town an hour outside of Huaraz. Ben and Libby, professional outdoorspeople, gave me endless grief about my rolling suitcase which doubles as a backpack.

As I also mentioned in my last post, the Cordillera Blanca is a compact set of majestic peaks within the Andes. The Cordillera has a staggering 20 mountains over 18,000 feet. (Note: the tallest peak in the lower 48 states is Mt. Whitney at 14,500 feet.)
We spent the first day hiking to a 12,000 foot high pampa, a flat wide-open space, where we camped for the night. I am wearing a hat and gloves in these pictures for a reason. Nighttime temperatures dropped to freezing and we saw sleet several times over the three days. Although the weather was iffy, we all had a fantastic time. I think the Peace Corps volunteers, Ben and Libby incuded, benefitted from leaving their sites and spending the Semana Santa (Holy Week) holidays in the great outdoors.

The second day was spent hiking up to a glacial lake. Like most other glaciers, this one was receding at an alarming pace. Several times during that day and night, large pieces of the glacier broke away, scaring the hell out of all of us. I don´t have time right now to post all my pictures from the hike, but stay tuned in the coming days. Ciao for now.