We needed a lazy morning after all the early wake ups of the past few days so we didn't bother with the alarm. We slept late and just managed breakfast at the hostel before they closed. Afterwards, we packed our bags and left out some stuff for mailing home like our snorkeling gear. We got a large box from the nearby supermarket and with a pair of scissors and a few metres of duct tape, it was fashioned into a more reasonable sized parcel. We went to Californ...

We thought yesterday was an early start, today our pick up was at 5.30am with a private car who took us to meet the minivan waiting at Albergue Benkawasi, where Andy ad Carlee were staying. With 15 people on board, we headed 60km north on main highway, passing slowly through a really busy market village, to Yungay. It wasn't long before the sun was rising, lighting the snowy peaks on our right and warming the colours of the Cordillera Negra range on our left. ...

It was a very early start to the day, we even had to miss our breakfast for the agreed 6am pickup. As it turned out, it was a bit late because the taxi driver had to change a tyre. It was a shared ride with Carlee and Andy, and for a total of s/150 we were driven to the track start and the driver would wait as long as needed before driving us back - a bargain. The 1,5 hour drive up to the track start was a crazy journey in itself, our driver took his bog standa...

We were up early for breakfast as soon as they started serving - it was quite nice having fresh orange juice for a change along with bakery bread, eggs and coffee. The Huascaran Tour agency, where we were to meet up with the guide at 8am, was just a couple of blocks away. Two other couples from our hostel were there plus a German couple we met in the hostel in Trujillo. Instead of taking a colectivo taxi as originally told, we were driven up to the start of the...

The bus was meant to arrive to Huaraz around 5:30am but the lights came on an hour earlier and we were told to get off the bus. Everybody begrudgingly got up from their seat and hesitantly stepped off the bus into the cold mountain air. While we waited in the long queue for the toilet, Andy and Carlee took a taxi to their hostel. We thought we might get a coffee before trying to get into our hotel, but the cafe next door to the bus station was only offering chi...