She Wears the Pants, He Looks at Plants: Mountains, Coast, Jungle

Back in the mountains again! Another overnight bus and we arrived in the trekking/alpining capital of Peru. Hauraz is surrounded by two mountain ranges, the Cordillera Blanca and the Cordillera Negra. The Cordillera Blanca is the westerns hemisphere's answer to the Himalayas with about 40 peaks over 6000 meters high. The town is not aesthetically impressive but all of the buildings seem to have terraces with breathtaking panoramas of the mountains. The trekking opportunities in the area are endless. We visited Lago 69, Lago Churup, and ice climbed on a glacier at Lago Llaca. This area is spectacularly beautiful with gigantic glacial mountains hovering over blue-green lakes in every direction. There is a neighboring town that has randomly placed boulders right in the middle of town that are great for climbing. They are pretty substantial boulders on a soft pasture. It also happens to be home to four cows (two mothers and two calves). Although its public land, we heard the owner of these cows "mad dogs" visitors and pesters them until she receives a little bit of money so we went prepared. Fortunately, the cows were there but their owner was MIA for the afternoon.

Lago 69

Lago 69 MOOOOOOO!

Lago Churup

Sunset in Hauraz

Rock Climbing in Huanchac

Ice Climbing

Lago Llaca

Ice Climbing!!

It seems many ex-pats decide to settle down here. We met a an english/Indian couple that make a delicious spicy curry! And a New England native who stayed and started micro brewery called Sierra Andina. The first we've found in Peru! Andy was in heaven....he said it was the first hops he has tasted in over 6 months. Peruvians prefer light lagers and you're hard pressed to find much else.There aren't many places in the world where you can be ice climbing on a glacier one day and surfing the next. Peru happens to be one of those places! We made it to the beach to a place called Huanchaco. It's known for it's surf and incredibly long lefts. Its actually just south of Chicama where you will find the longest left wave in the world. We hung out with and English guy who works in the mountains during the week and surfs on the weekends. Basically, Andy's hero :) Since he is a regular to the area he showed us around the town. In Haunchaco, there is always at least one bar open where everyone congregates for the night. The tricky part is finding it. According to our new friend, there are the 5 usual places and they somehow have an agreement that the bar with the most patrons will be "the bar" for the night. The other bars close and join in the festivities of the other.

Brewskis on the beach

Boards to choose from at our hostel

Before leaving and starting the long journey to the jungle, we caught the Euro Cup final right before another night bus. Twenty or so people packed into the small living room of the hostel to watch Spain beat Italy. Good vibes!

From the beach, we started our long journey via bus and boat to the jungle stopping in a place called Chachapoyas. It's in the high jungle and located on the cloud forests of the Amazon and called "the eyebrow of the Amazon". The first day we visited Kuelap, the fortress ruins that are the most well known attraction the area are much older than the Inca Empire and Machu Picchu. Inside there are 450 houses/structures decorated with the mountain spirits. The second day we hiked to a the waterfall of Gocta. The falls drop a total of 2,531 feet in two leaps. Although the falls have been known to the natives, it wasn't known to the outside world until 2005 when a German engineer hiked in the area and surveyed the waterfall. The locals did not go to the waterfall because they were fearful of it and believed you would get enchanted and die of you went there. The waterfall and the hike there are indeed enchanting. It takes you through some of the jungle where you can see toucans, cocks of the rock (a very interesting looking orange bird), and more brilliantly colored butterflies. Contrary to local legend, we made it out alive.