Overnighting - Laguna Shallap and Laguna 69

Finally, we were ready to put all the gear we had been carrying round for two months into use!  The plan was to do an easy overnighter up one of the close quebradas (valleys), camp up by Laguna Shallap and then back down the same way the next day.

Steep sided walls curve around to reveal the mountains

Tough little cattle were quite intereted in where we were going

Made it!

We camped back down the valley a little way, in the shelter of a giant boulder.  It blocked the breeze, but then it was pretty nippy in the morning as the sun took a while to make it over the boulder.  We weren't just being soft; there was patches of ice around the stream in the morning.

The next overnighter trip was to Laguna 69, one of the most popular hikes near Huaraz. 2.5hrs on a bumpy bus did have it's rewards with some spectacular scenery.

Looking back down the quebrada, bumpy road on the right hand side

Setting off up the trail, past grazing donkeys and horses, used to carry climbers and hikers gear
into the mountains

Lupins and waterfalls on one of the easier sections of the trail

A lot of huffing and puffing later we caught our first glimpse of the laguna

The colour was incredible

As we scouted out the perfect campsite we had lots of help from the locals

Perfect campsite up and ready.  Once the sun goes down it gets cold really fast

Time for a quick appreciation of the scenery before dinner

Stars sleeting down over the mountains

It was cool night, but not too bad as the clouds kept in a little more warmth.  Ben woke me at 2am to let me know that it was snowing . . .

More snow flurries as we had breakfast and packed up, but it didn't settle.  By the time we had descended to the valley it had turned to sleet, with more and more sun breaking through.

Back on the road, wondering how we would get back to Huaraz. 

Luckily a climber from Basque negotiated a sharp rate down to Yungay with the taxi driver so off we went.  Then a collectivo back to Huaraz, made far more interesting by the crazy American lady who kept telling everyone what to do, asked for the radio to be changed to music instead of boring talking (a football match!) and then argued with the bus assistant about how much it cost.  She was not deterred by the price being clearly displayed, but was convinced she was being ripped off  . . . Highly entertaining, especially when we found out from Eric, a climber staying at Jo's place, that he'd also bumped into her and had a crazy conversation about soup . . .