¡Buenas!

Our next stop in Peru was Huaraz and the awesome Cordillera Blanca, the world's second tallest mountain range in the world after the Himalayas, with over thirty peaks above 5500m.There are loads of treks you can do through this national park, including a popular four-day hike called Santa Cruz; but we just opted to do a one-day trek up to a beautiful crater lake, called Laguna 69, at 4600m.This was higher than either of us had ever climbed before and, whilst the trek itself was not that strenuous, the altitude could be a real challenge at times. Climbing up a hill at over 4000m really takes your breath away, and at the top by the lake a few people were getting blue lips and various other weird symptoms.One guy was having particular trouble getting his cigarette lit (a cigarette at the top of a mountain, can you imagine?!) because his lighter refused to work in the thin air.The lake itself was stunning: a bright green-blue body of water nestled in a crater surrounded by snow-capped peaks, and fed by a beautiful waterfall cascading down the side of one of the mountains.When we first arrived there was an avalanche taking place somewhere higher up in the peaks and an extraordinary sound reverberated about the crater, which made the atmosphere all the more magical.

Whilst we decided not to do a longer trek here - our four-day hike along the Inca Trail up to Macchu Picchu was just two weeks away - we did decide to try out something a little higher when we got down to the city of Arequipa down south, where there are relatively easy 5800m and 6100m peaks to climb!

R&M

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