Laguna 69 - despite its uncharacteristic and ridiculous name, is one of the most amazing places! I had high hopes of doing some trekking and adventure in Huaraz, but seemed to catch it at a slow time. The wonderful woman at my hostel (Liz) made some phone calls and found a combi headed to the trailhead at 6am with two Israeli guys. A bit nervous that they wouldn't speak English and would be less than excited to be joined by an American girl, they turned out to be hilarious and very welcoming. Both recently finished with the mandatory Army in Israel were on their typical trip before starting school. Ido, the more wild of the two told amazing stories of his past 6 months hitchiking through South America for the entire 3 hour drive to the trailhead. His stories put mine to shame... he honestly should publish his life story at the ripe age of 23.
The start of the hike was gorgeous... a brisk morning we arrived at the trailhead followed by another combi with a girl Ido knew (Eden) and several of her friends. Within minutes I realized I had removed the SD chip from my camera the previous night and forgotten to replace. IDIOT! The boys took pictures for me along the way and hopefully I will have them soon to post. Within the first 10 minutes we lost everyone and Areil and I ended up hiking it together. We ran into a local in the middle of nowhere ... in broken Spanish we asked have you seen our friends? He asked have you seen my donkey? No amigos, no burros, no nada. And on we go. It was a chilly, windy day and poor Ariel was in a T-shirt with no jacket. Brrrr.
It took close to 3 hours to hike, plateau, climb, plateau, climb....the lake is close to 5000 meters.. thats almost 1600 ft! I began to get dizzy about 20 minutes from the top. Five steps and you have to stop for a few breaths, five more steps, a few more breaths. Another Israeli guy passed me in the last 100 feet and waived me on with encouragement. Despite being able to see the end of the climb where presumably the lake sat, I could not force myself to take more than a few steps at a time. Ten feet left and I could see the lake peak between the valley at the top. OH MY GOD! was it AMAZING. Milky blue like you can only imagine. When I finally made it to the top there was Ido standing butt naked with only a cowboy hat covering himself and sign that read in Hebrew "1big pen and paper in Huaraz 10 soles, 1 taxi ride to Laguna 69 trail 35 soles, telling all your friends you miss them from 5000 meters PRICELESS".
It must have been Israeli day because there were a total of about 10 people at the lake that day 9 of them Israeli. They could not have been a more friendly cheery bunch. They pulled out their stoves and heated up Israeli coffee and passed it around. It tasted of tobacco to me which apparently is a spice in the coffee. Nonetheless the warm drink was welcomed as it started to snow! Poor poor COLD Ariel. We had a lunch feast with everyone passing around what they had to share. Everyone was laughing and singing and soaking in the few rays of sun that would peak through for a few minutes. I had already decided I liked Eden, she was sweet and carefree, one of those people you get the feeling loves everything about life, but when she asked me if I had the soundtrack to "Into the Wild" on my ipod I about fell over! A girl straight to my heart! We listened to Eddie Vedder and if I was not already happy enough with view I slipped into a state of delirious happiness. It may have been the altitude, but I could not have felt closer to heaven.
We began the hike down... Ido, Ariel and Eden singing the whole way. Eden throwing in cabaret dance moves every few steps. Their knowledge of American lyrics was amazing. I returned to the hostel, spoke to Liz about the next day's plans and promptly passed out from exhaustion.
Yaca Glacier Ice Climbing
The next day I booked a trip with Galaxia Expeditions to go Ice Climbing in the Cordillera
Blanca. That which I had been staring at for days out my hostel window. My climbing companions, Anat and Yariv, informed me that the previous day had not been Israeli day, but Huaraz was in fact the Israeli town. :) Anat and Yariv a really sweet married Israeli couple my age. Anat struggled with the altitude but kindly referred to by her husband as a goat, she was the adventurous one dragging him along for the ride.Our guide, Dario, was studying to get his national
guide certification. And I later found it was his first day with the company. Sadly, as many have heard an American skier had fallen off a cliff in the Cordillera Blanca the previous day and died. Galaxia, one of the better expedition companies in Huaraz were organizing the recovery mission. I believe this maybe the reason for the lack of trips leaving as many of the best guides were part of the recovery.Another 3 hours bumpy car ride took us to the trail head. This time only a quick 30 minute hike to the glacier.
So now I can add Ice climbing to my list! Ice climbing is NOT easy. Jamming your toes into the ice and standing at 90 degrees with nothing under you takes a lot of faith. The axes are heavy for my little arms and the altitude is just another challenge to make it all that much harder. Somehow we all managed to make it to the top. What a feeling!
I have conquered!
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