Willcahuin archeological site hike

Jan on hike to Wilcahuin

Our second full day in Huaraz started with brilliant sunshine and a lovely breakfast at the top floor of the Albergue Churup again. That means we have a stunning 180 degree view of the mountains. Yesterday, we learned that that amazing morning sun is followed by increasing clouds and some rain mid-afternoon (early rainy season). Exploring in town we did not worry much about that.

But today, we were eager to apply our learning and brought our rain gear just in case. We planned a hike to Willcahuin (or Wilcawain) about 6 km from town. We got a hand-drawn map from our hosts, some brief instructions and off we went.

The hike took an unpaved road and led through many small villages along the way. Most people here are living in small spaces and off the land; a way of life that might be described as traditional. Certainly their dress was traditional. To me it looked like a hard way to live: from tilling a field with a single plow and cows to spinning wool by hand to doing laundry on rocks; it is a manual lifestyle that is slow and demanding.

Along the way, it was clear that hikers were not an unusual sight. Everyone greeted us and we them. Since arriving here we have quickly adapted to the polite and friendly ways of Peruvians where greetings are just part of being human. It's also a habit that seems to survive better in rural areas rather than cities anywhere.

It took us only 2 hours from El Pinar to get there. Pinar is a gated community that belongs to a mining company where they house their staff (foreign, usually) at the outskirts of Huaraz. And the rain held off until our return to Huaraz mid-afternoon. My altimeter (what a perfect gift for my 40th bday last year) pegged it at about 3,400 m, making it perfect for a first hike up.


La casa de nietos on the right,
the information centre on the left

Willcahuin is an archeological site dating to the Wari culture of about 600 to 800 AD, i.e. pre-incan. The site itself has some well preserved buildings, especially this large 3 story stone building called La casa de nietos. There's also an exhibit where we learned more about the period and saw some artifacts.

The good news is that the hiking felt easy, I only got sunburned where I mis-applied the sunscreen (the sun is powerful at this altitude) and we enjoyed the ride in the Collectivo on the way down from the front seat. Let's just say, we got to see every nook and cranny in this unpaved road as we seemingly flew downhill it.  All in all a fine day. And, importantly, I haven't had a headache since yesterday morning. (Jan never had one at all!)

We are in Huaraz!

After a day and a half of flying 6,400km, sleeping for a few hours and then bussing it about 300km, we have arrived in the gateway to the Cordillera Blanca in the Peruvian Andes. Albergue Churup will be our base for the next few days while we acclimatize. We are very pleased with our room and the ambience here.

The bus ride today took us from sea level in Lima to 3,000m (9,850 feet) along some amazingly arid desert right beside the Pacific ocean. Tomorrow we will explore Huaraz and plan our first hike in some mountains.

The vastness of 13 weeks

It's Monday. Shortly, we will leave home for the airport and a plane to Peru! Lima tonight and toward Huaraz the day after.

We've got an itinerary; it's kind of loose and kind of awesome. We've seen the Andes before, but spending 3 months along the spine of South America feels like a grand, crazy idea just now.

Life without deadlines is about to start.

House party wrap

Jan and I early on in the evening

What a great night! Jan got to celebrate her 50th in style with friends, family, colleagues and neighbours. 

We feel lucky to have such lovely and interesting people in our lives.

Tulips and maple-catered hors d'oeuvres, platters and desserts were fantastic.

...and there was dancing, too.

We are now 5 days from Peru: Busy with wrapping up work, my last Spanish class and getting the house ready for our friend who will be living here while we are travelling.

Then we'll do the final packing and make sure all is in place.

By the way, been loving getting to know the Iridium 9555 satellite phone. Easy to learn and easy to use. It's really amazing technology. Have started uploading some important phone numbers "in case of emergency."

House party

Tonight is house party time! It's Jan's 50th birthday and "we've-talked-about-it-long-enough-now-we-are-really-going-on-this-trip" going-away-party. The RSVPs are in, the house is set up, the catering is picked up, the DJ will be here at 7:30 pm, even have thought up a casual party game, and a couple of friends will help us with hosting. There's hoping it'll be a memorable evening.

And in 9 days we are on the plane to Lima! I'm stoked.

Happy birthday, Jan!

Learning continues: Spanish and Iridium 9555

It's two weeks before we're on a plane to Lima, and the learning continues. Got my last few private Spanish lessons underway to finish up Basic level 3 and keep my brain in Spanish mode.

Been reading the Iridium 9555 manual to figure out how the phone works (pretty straightforward in terms of calls and will try out the SMS function) and what we need to do for power while off the grid (solar vs battery pack charger).

The 9555 is pretty amazing technology: Compact, handy and rugged. It looks like a slightly bulky cellphone from a few years ago. Not like the huge box it used to be in the movies (remember that scene from Under Siege?).

I  am about to go for a walk, point the antenna toward the sky and call Jan at home to try it out live.

Iridium 9555 Satellite phone has arrived

Thrilled to have received the 9555. Thanks to Iridium for making that possible!

Now we have a few days to learn how it works. Of course, when I got it home I promptly turned it on and got no reception. Took me a minute or two to realize why it couldn't locate a network ... I was inside my house, ie no sky. First lesson learned!

Fine strokes

We rely on the web for much travel research, user reviews, client testimonials and so forth. Lonely Planet guidebooks are good too: we'll cut out the pages we'll need for the 4 countries we'll visit; these guidebooks will be working hard for us :)

And despite all the tips and tricks and destination knowledge we have gathered, it's the little things that puzzle me: like where are the day time buses from Lima to Huaraz? I mean they are there before we need one but not when we want it! What's up with that? Peru looks to have a very solid bus network, and we're intending to use it a bunch, too. But it'd be great if the supposed day time departures were on your website, Movil Tours and Cruz del Sur!

We need to finalize the big Cordillera Real traverse (near La Paz in Bolivia) which will take 12 or 13 days and may even include a summit above 6,000 along the way (!) I think we've found a guide company I like and they are great with email now, since their not so useful UK rep is out of the picture.

Today, we had brunch at a friend's house and got the lowdown from a health expert on travelling; everything from food safety to water purification to vaccines. We learned that we appear to have done a fine job preparing :)

Our friend  who will live at our house while we're gone has been moving a few things in and getting to know how the house - and most important the cats - work. Jan's finishing the list of our lives, you know: banking info, passport numbers etc, to leave behind just in case.

Onto doing laundry and deciding which 4 T-shirts I'll be bringing along.

3 weeks to lift-off.

Four weeks to the Andes

Ottawa 45 degree North.
Ushuaia 54 degrees South.

Today marks the 4-week countdown: we will be on our way to Parque Nacional de Huascarán  via Lima. It will be the first stop along an epic adventure that will see us travel great distances (from 45 N to 54 S) to explore some of South America's stunning landscapes.

We've spent most of 2010 preparing: backcountry camping, weight-bearing hiking, equipment buying and evaluating, vaccinations, reading guidebooks and online about possible destinations, getting advice from people we know, studying Spanish, finding someone to live at our house for 3 months (thanks Carolyn!). By itself, an uncommon focus.

We will trek in the tropical parts of the Andes (Huascarán lies at latitude: 9 degrees South) at the very beginning of the rainy season and experience the subpolar oceanic climate of Ushuaia where temperatures average 1°C in the coldest month, and 9°C in the warmest month. We will walk through arable mountains and the highest mountain ranges in the tropics, visit Colca canyon which at 4,160m (!) is twice as deep as Grand Canyon and meander around the driest place on earth. Most of these 3 months we expect to be at altitude.

Naturally, we also follow the news from our chosen destinations: from the major flooding during the last rainy season destroying access to Machu Picchu, to the devastating magnitude 8.8 earthquake in Chile, to the joyful news of gay marriage becoming legal in Argentina, to the unexpected discovery of 33 miners alive after being trapped underground and now awaiting a lengthy rescue. There is such a sense of resiliency and tenacity.

With the final preparations underway for our departure, I am feeling excitement mixing with a sense of almost dread. That pit of the stomach feeling in the end is exhilarating: with this journey we are embarking on an entirely different way of being. An adventure.

Final camping tune up done!

We spent another back country camping weekend in the Adirondack High Peaks.

Jan playing with the wind on
Marcy - cold, fast and fun

Earl brought lots of rain so we now know for sure that our tent stays dry and I earned my "cooking in the rain" badge.

We also got in some great hiking. We tackled Mount Marcy with super light day packs making this 16 km hike seem easy. Once we entered the alpine arctic zone, which starts at the tree line, we put on our softshell jackets (what a great invention!); the wind blew with 30 to 50 km/h gusting to 70 km/h. Cold but great for that flying feeling!

As for blisters: I didn't get any on the hike in or when we hiked Marcy. On the hike out on our last day however, both my heels lost some skin (I don't actually get blisters, it's more like the skin gets chewed up and torn off). All that to say, that's progress, but still not ideal or reliable for long trekking excursions. I think a big issue was the added warmth stemming from waterproof hiking boots and gore-tex gaitors. It'll work out fine as long as I can keep my feet drier and cooler as well as liberally using the appropriate first aid materials. (aka time to buy stock in moleskin/second skin manufacturers)