This next installment from the Bolivia Gap Team takes us through their travels from Lima to Huaraz, dubbed the Andean Alps and outdoor adventure capital of Peru.

Courtesy of Fiona aka Fi Fi aka Jing Jong

Enjoy…

We arrived in Lima, excited but exhausted from the overnight bus journey. Pete gave us directions to the shopping complex by the beach in Miraflores, where we were staying. Ready for the rest of the day and night ahead, we headed towards it. However, before we reached the complex, we were lured in by the neon green and red of the casino and the Starbucks next to it. Admittedly, we had not been planning on gambling that evening, we had just mistaken the casino and the Starbucks for Pete’s idea of a grand shopping centre. Since we were there though, we decided to try and spin the twenty soles we were given for dinner each. I lost ten soles of my dinner money on a random aquarium machine Tali and Annie had picked out. Scared by the prospects of going without dinner that night, we left and decided to walk further towards the beach. To our surprise, we stumbled upon the shopping centre of our dreams. I say stumbled upon because the steps leading to it went underground, so it had been hidden from our view and was thus the explanation for our little gambling jaunt. Feeling a little out of place being back in such a technological and civilized environment, we decided to buy some cinema tickets for ‘The Great Gatsby’ and hide away in the comfortable darkness of the movie theatre. The reassuring presence of Leo/Jay Gatsby alleviated our confusion and sense of displacement at being thrown back into a world with supermarkets, beauty products (we spent a lot of time in L’Occitane) and fast food courts. After the movie we headed towards the bar area of Miraflores, also recommended by Pete. We met up with Annie’s best friend Ed and had some drinks at a couple of dodgy little Peruvian clubs, which thankfully filled up a bit later on in the night.

The next day we went to Villa Maria to visit another Quest project. Upon arrival, we were attacked by little kids who were probably more boisterous than the cats we had been working with at AA. Annie was struck down by some sort of stomach virus, probably from the block of cheese after going back to the hostel the night before, and had to sleep in Lucho’s bed whilst we went on a walk around the hood. Annie then went to hospital with Pete, a bad move as he was kicked out by the nurses every time he tried to check on her in the all-female ward. Tali, Karen and I went to Barranco and had some ceviche and pasta which was delicious.

The next day, Tali, Pete and I arrived in Huaraz where we met Pablo, our trek guide and his family. Annie and Karen met us the next day, Annie on antibiotics so feeling a little better. We then bought four crate-loads of trek food between the five of us, as we were to have donkeys helping us with the load. Bought brie and camembert all the way from Wong’s in Lima (the best supermarket in the world), which we brought on our little day trek a couple of miles outside of Huaraz and ate in front of a stunning and peaceful lake. Poor Annie sat on a little rock some distance away eating her plain crackers and oat biscuits, regretting that she had ever suggested the whole cheese festival in the first place. Definitely dined well on trek, apart from Tali, who was affected by altitude/something she ate (?) and ended up having to ride the emergency horse for the final three days of the trek as she was too weak to walk. We had a thai curry the first night, fresh pesto pasta the second night, a stir-fry with egg noodles the third night and then Pablo cooked a jamon and tomato pasta for the final night. The snow-capped mountains and bright blue lakes made beautiful scenery for the four days of our trek. We had lunch at the bluest lake I have ever seen on the penultimate day, which didn’t impress Annie enough (apparently there’s an even bluer lake in Croatia somewhere).

We returned to Huaraz and picked up some Argentinians on the way, who we went rock-climbing with the next day as well. I had some picante de cuy for lunch, the guinea pig came with all its teeth and claws still intact. Everyone else opted for chicharron which left me with food envy for most of the meal. The thermal baths afterwards were, again, less than thermal, so after some tentative toe-dipping, we returned to Huaraz, ready to catch the bus to Huanchaco for the next stage of our adventure.