From Pachapaqui to Conococha

After a rather cold night in Pachapaqui (3950m) we wake up to optimistic sunshine and the view over the junction of two mining valleys. As we continue the descent, a beautiful, typical Peruvian scenery with terraced agriculture quickly appears on the other side. Maybe more than 1000m of altitude is covered by a mosaic of stone walls.

Around 3500m, we turn off uphill to anther valley, and the climate becomes much dryer, although terraces are still there. Reaching the plateau (4200m), a new set of mountains appear. Then a wide basin and the Laguna Conococha; this is the source of the Santa river, which we have followed since our September 17 "One cañon down..." episode (that seems very long ago!).

The little crossroad town of Conococha sits a good 100m above the Laguna. It feels cold and windy, especially as we end up waiting a couple of hours for the room keys :-(.

In this town we discover (one of) the origins of the gunshot noises that have surprised us on several occasions this trip. From our bedroom we hear a loud bang... and go to the window to see, in the field under us, a small group (two men, two women) working hard and exuberantly... on the butchering of a freshly gun-slaughtered pig.

Tomorrow we will begin a leg of a cycle route called the Peru Great Divide which tries to follow the high Andes north to south.Read more