Lima & Huaraz, Peru

Having been thoroughly spoilt in Vegas, Harry was determined that we could not stay in any old grotty hostel in Lima; so we booked a double room, in a lovely hostel, in a nice part of town. To make things even better Jade and Paul were sharing the same hostel and Scott and Georgie were just down the road which meant we could enjoy a night out with the jungle massive once again. I had previously been expecting glorious beaches and sunshine from Lima but what we were actually faced with was a constant smog hanging over the city that gave it a cold and dirty feel. Thoroughly knackered after 5 days of heavy drinking, however, we were all too happy to spend our time chilling!

We enjoyed a beautiful three course lunch at a traditional Peruvian restaurant where we finally got to sample Peru's most famous dish, cerviche. Having discussed the fact that we'd managed to spend 3 weeks in Peru without trying this speciality, I naturally assumed Harry knew what it was. I realised this was not the case, however, when a plate of raw fish landed in front of him. His face was a picture but he ploughed through and enjoyed every last morsel.

Before catching an overnight bus to Huaraz, a few of us made a quick visit to Lima's 'Magic Water Circuit', a beautiful park with 14 amazing water fountains. The main event was a nightly laser/ light show on the largest fountain which displayed everything from a dancing ballerina to a soaring eagle on the spray. We walked through a tunnel of water and some of us (ok not me, it was freezing!) dared to take on the challenge of reaching the middle of a fountain through a completely random sequence of squirting water.

A restless overnight bus later, we arrived in Huaraz and oh what a shock it was. Although our hostel was lovely, the town itself was just awful! Barely any of the buildings were finished, there were piles of rubbish lining every street and the markets of fly ridden meat were enough to turn any meat lover vegetarian! You may be wondering why we were in this town at all and the answer is...for the trekking, which is meant to be some of the best in South America.

We had decided to do a couple of day treks without the help of the local tour companies, choosing instead to use local transport, 'collectivos'. These are basically Scooby vans that act as local buses. They barely slow down to let you jump aboard the 12 seater vehicle that is crammed with about 22 locals and half their farmland produce! Harry had a tiny old man practically sitting on his lap and, at one point, a lady got so close to his face I thought she was going to kiss him! The complex route to access the treks would not have been possible without a basic understanding of Spanish and would have scared us senseless had we come across it in our first few weeks of travelling!

Our first trek to Laguna 69, with the rest of the jungle crew, turned out to be one of the toughest yet. Although not the longest, it was the highest altitude trek we'd done and we could certainly feel the lack of oxygen! The reward at the end, however, made us forget all the pain! Set between snowy mountains sat the most vivid blue lagoon we've ever seen! It looked as if it had been photoshopped to stand out amongst the mountains, it was absolutely stunning.

Since everyone else had been struck down by some violent sickness bug, Harry and I attempted the second trek on our own. We had previously read some comments stating that parts of the trek were very steep and that there was some basic rock climbing involved. This was a gross understatement. Having walked uphill for 2 and a half hours we found ourselves looking at a huge jut in the mountain face with a swinging cable to, supposedly, aid our ascent. With a sheer drop below, a waterfall at our side and ice covering much of the rock we were naturally sceptical about moving forward (I was on the verge of having a panic attack). On Harry's first attempt at pulling himself up, his feet, unsurprisingly, slipped and if it weren't for his tight grip on the cable he would have plummeted off the mountain. I went into full hysteria at this point and when he suggested trying again I had no choice but to pull out the girl card, balling my eyes out, to ensure that no such thing happened. With Harry sporting a smashed arm and myself being sufficiently scared to death, we wanted to get off the mountain as quickly as possible.

Since we returned to our pickup point far earlier than expected we decided to walk into the next town to catch our driver. The 12km walk turned out to be quite enjoyable as we passed through the most rural farmland, chatting with the locals as we went. A thoroughly exhausting day, both mentally and physically, ended with another overnight bus to Trujillo where we look forward to spending some time on the coast!

Nicola & Harry

Copa Del Sh*thead Scoreboard: NH 125 - 142 HF