Santa Cruz 4-day trek

After the warm-up trip to Lake 69 we are in for the big haul. A four day trek in the Andean wilderness.

Amazing peak

Tents are set up already - that's handy

We set off with our day-packs and leave the tents and sleeping bags to be carried by mules. The first day we climb to our camping site. Jaime camp. Umberto the guy who leads the mules and also takes care of the other details is already there for an hour. He's had time to set up a make-shift toilet and now is busy peeling the potatoes and washing the rice that we'll eat tonight. With no electricity we want to make sure everything is ready before night fall, at around 6.30pm. I put my drink in the ice cold stream running by our camp to refrigerate it. It should do the trick in half an hour or so. Everything would be perfect would it not be for the mosquitos. They are eating us alive even through our long sleeves and pants. Desperate times call for desperate measures : we encourage Hannes, our Austrian companion to smoke his cigarettes inside the tent to fend off these little creatures … and it works! 

Exhausted but relieved

The next morning we set off early, right after breakfast. We have to climb 900m and go through the infamous pass of Punta Union at 4800m. During the first hour the gradient is moderate and we fare reasonably well. Then the steep rocks start to appear. We cannot see the actual pass as it is concealed by clouds.  The more we climb, the more the air grows thinner, the more the temperature drops and every step we take is more and more difficult ... And it starts to snow ! I'm wearing gloves but my hands are cold. Roxana who is ahead of me does not have her gloves on, she must be freezing!

We arrive at the new camp site that day cold and exhausted. Umberto as usual has been there for a couple of hours and offers us hot maté (Wikipedia Mate). It's a Godsend ! As we come back to some sort of "normality" we can start to appreciate the scenery. It is simply breathtaking. We are amidst some of the highest mountains in the world, in a green valley set at 4100m above sea lever. There are waterfalls and wild horses grazing peacefully on the other side of the stream.     

The stream is freezing

Roxana winning against Ben and Greg

That night we have rice, potatoes and lamb for dinner. It hits the spot. After dinner we play some whist with Ben, Greg, Hannes and Emma. Angel who does not want to play lies down for a bit on the tent floor. I play a terrible round and blame it on bad cards and bad luck! Or maybe it's the altitude sickness. Roxana actually makes a perfect run not losing once! Then I decide to teach the group "Gare aux Coeurs" and that goes better. They all play it well but I finish with a score of -47. Honour is saved.

Lake and snow at the top

That night it rains so hard that water drips through our light tents and wets our sleeping bags. The temperature falls in the negatives and even though we are wearing all the clothes we brought, our nose tip and ears are freeeeeeeeeezing. But we make it to the morning!

The gate to the valley

That's Umberto

The whole group decides to cut the trek one day short by putting two days of trekking back to back. It should be fine, it's all downhill. We get to the village we're supposed to early afternoon and wait for a minibus to bring us back to the main road. Instead we have to settle for a car - the problem is that we are 8 + equipment including tents, foldable table and chairs and a cooking gas cylinder.

The driver insists it's fine (of course it is we're in South America). He tells us of that one time he brought 12 people down to the main road. But he says they did not have much luggage! We all get in except for Umberto who travels the 1 hour winding down mountain roads in the boot! Then it's only a matter of catching a "colectivo", shared mini bus ("Taxi marron" pour les connaisseurs) if you will. It gets us to Huaraz in 2 hours. We made it! The same night we leave for Lima.

For more pics : Santa Cruz Trek