Glaciar Pastoruri

There are loads of treks, hikes and other exhausting adventures available around Huaraz, we chose one which we'd been reliably informed was the easiest. Glad we didn't try the 'challenging' ones.
We jumped on a minibus with about a dozen others in the morning and started the journey to the Pastoruri glacier. Our guide stopped us at a little restaurant for some coca tea, which was surprisingly nice, in preparation for our ascent to 5200 metres.
Once inside the national park we stopped off a few times. First we saw a mysterious little pond, amazingly blue and very deep, called The Puma's Footprint. Then a funny shaped cactus and a huge rock overhanging the road with old paintings on. Vera befriended a baby alpaca and then it was time to start the last part of the journey on foot up to the glacier.
The change in temperature was massive as we got closer, as was the difficulty in breathing as the air got thinner. We couldn't even light a fag because our lighter didn't work with so little oxygen! The glacier was definitely worth it though. It wasn't something we'd expected to see on this trip but it was a great thing to do. The place is really eerie and this huge white mass of ice makes for a very weird feeling.Read more