And then there were 7. Our little group looked quite sad rattling around the truck. There's now only 2 of us from the original Ushuaia crew plus 5 who joined us in Santiago. Having been down at sea level for a few days (yet still couldn't keep my eyes open - think I'm still low on oxygen!), we set off uphill again on Saturday to over 4,000m towards Huaraz. The drive was boring, not only because it was long and there are now only 7 of us but the scenery was pretty crappy all the way too. This town is a bit of a dump that was totally rebuilt after being virtually wiped out in 1970 by an earthquake. It's the heart/gateway of the Cordilleras Blanca - Peru's version of the Alps. Back into glacierland. There didn't seem to be all that much to do to be honest so most of us signed up to do some ice climbing on Sunday. It was good but a bit of an anti climax. We took a 2 hour van ride on horrendous roads (there's definitely a market for chiropractice in Huaraz!) and then had to walk for an hour (through lovely scenery by the way) to the front of the glacier. This glacier is no longer growing so it's all grey and miserable at the front face which is where we were to be climbing. The wall was about 13m high and bloody hell, it's hard work! You have an ice pick in each hand and crampons on your boots and you basically have to trust that these tiny pieces of metal will hold your weight and not let you fall. Yeah right! I couldn't get the ice picks far enough into the ice (when I whacked them in I got shards of ice flying into my face!) which meant that when I then tried to balance on my crampons (slithers of metal protruding out of the front of your foot!), the picks slid down the ice and I lost my balance. There was a kind of ridge about halfway up that was a bit of a b***** to get over as it meant you had to lift your legs as high as possible (while still clinging on with these tiny picks!) and then haul your body upwards. Not easy. Anyway, I made it over that ridge (only just!) but was so exhausted by that point that I abseiled back down.I'm glad I got to try ice climbing but it's probably up there with my future horse riding career. We'll see. I may try again if I get the chance.

After being jostled all the way back down the road into town, we got back to the hotel by mid-afternoon. Anita had gone out for a wander earlier in the day (we later found out it was as early as 9am!) and then she wasn't back by 5pm, I was starting to get concerned. She's not the sort of person to go hiking on her own and she would always be back by mid-afternoon. It gets dark at around 6.30pm in Huaraz and she hadn't taken her torch and is not too hot on directions in the dark (she normally gets lost getting back to her tent when we camp!). Anyway, we all went out to grab some quick dinner with the aim of calling the police to start a hunt if she wasn't back when we got back to the hotel. Thank goodness it didn't come to that as she was safe and sound and had just lost track of time and been wandering around the town all day. Phew! I didn't really fancy our chances of success with a South American police force>

So, that was Huaraz - not all that really!