Back to Huaraz... I needed a break from the big city so I decided to come back to Huaraz with two guys I became great friends with at the hostel in Lima. Ben and Leon are two crazy Brits that came to Lima for a day and ended up staying for 10 ... thanks to me and my co-worker Boris showing them such a good time. Huaraz is also the city that I lost all my photos of thanks to a clever pickpocket in Lima. So I am here to retake some of those pics and just relax and do some hiking.... but first, we had to acclimatize. Wow did the altitude kick our butts at first. I forgot what it's like to go from sea level to 10,000 feet in under 8 hours ... Ben and Leon had no idea what was awaiting them as it was their first time. We are all quite fit but were left gasping for air just climbing the flight of stairs to our room. We kept looking at each other like "what the hell is wrong with us?"

The best hike by far was into the heart of the Cordillera Blanca(White Corridor) where dozens of 22,000 foot snowcapped mountains run about 80 miles to the north. The scenery is absolutely spectacular and since I was here about a month ago, we didn't need to hire a guide to show us the way... I've already done this. Obviously, the pictures are nothing like the real thing but I posted a lot of them so hopefully you get a sense of how amazing a place this is.

Of course, when your with the British, no matter how much you want to chill out and relax, a night out of drinking and partying will be had. Saturday night led us to the 13 Owls Bar and we played a life size version of Jenga while sucking down pitchers of beer and the bartender, who I know well from my last visit, kept feeding us free shots of Pisco(the local firewater) that had coca leaves soaking in it for a year... that gives it a little extra kick! So that was my little four day vacation from Lima... for me it's back to Lima to work in the hostel. For Ben and Leon, they're off to do the four day Santa Cruz trek and then head to the beach. We'll see each other again in Cuzco for New Years.