We took an overnight bus from Arequipa to Lima, arriving in the morning. Having been there before, and with no particular fondness for the city, we only hung around there during the day, and hopped on another night bus immediately northwards to the mountain town of Huaraz.

There are plenty of outdoor activities to do in Huaraz. Sonja took advantage of many of these, going rock climbing and two day hikes (Pastoruri Glacier and Laguna 69) during our time there. Jansen took a more relaxed approach, managing just the one day hike. The hiking is top notch there and reminded us a lot of Switzerland with the green landscape, dramatic mountain faces and an abundance of waterfalls. If we had more time we would have liked to have joined a multi-day hike or ice climbing trip but I guess we have to leave some things for next time.

We hung out with a group of people we met on the bus for most of our time in the area, as we were also all in the same hostel room. They were a fun group, made up mostly of other Australians, though they were more into the night time party scene, day drinking and happy herbs than we are so it was hard to find much common ground at times.