Huaytapallana

This will be another blog with little about Michael in it.
So here's a bonus picture of the wonderful boy who still loves whacking things with his big white stick.



Bob is getting very near the end of his time in Peru now. He has about 2 weeks until we go to Lima to put him on a plane for Europe. So we have to get some real tourism done now. We decided that going up the local hills around Huancayo wasn't enough for us and we needed more altitude and a glacier.
We booked a tour with a group and a local guide to visit Huaytapallana. This is about 20 Km from Huancayo and a lot higher up. I remember being quite ill when we arrived in Huancayo and even when I was better it was difficult to breathe here. Now I feel fine. In fact I am much fitter and more active here than I ever am in England. I have no problem running when I want to now. So I felt Bob and I were ready for going up higher.
We met the group and guide early in the morning and I bought a warm hat and we set off in the minibus for the drive up to "Virgen de las nieves" The Virgin of the Snows, a small trout restaurant and the highest you can go by vehicle.
Here's Bob looking ready for action.



Here we parked up and the guide led us up the first and steepest climb of the day. I'm sure he does this on purpose as he doesn't get to choose who goes on the tours he has to accept whoever the travel agents book fir him. By the time we got to the top of the climb we had already lost some of the group who had realised that walking at altitude is hard. They would spend all day in the restaurant waiting for us. We did still have one lady with us who had come straight from sea level in Lima and had no warm clothes and quite high heeled boots on. She decided to wait for us at the top of the first climb but go no further. Her two boys carried on with us.
At the top of the first climb is the ceremony site and our first view of the glacier and snow caps.



We were told by the guide that the site is used by three different types of people for pagan rituals. Brujos (witches) Chamanes (Shamans) and Layas (Don't know a translation for this.) The Brujos come to do magic, cast spells and things like that and there are very very few of them (Though there are thousands in Lima apparently), the Chamanes come to do healing ceremonies and try to cure the sick and the Layas are intermediaries between humans and nature and come to pay respects to nature and the mountains. He said we should not confuse the three distinct types of people but we should not disrespect anyone we found there no matter what their beliefs. We did in fact fid a group of people there doing a ceremony they included two saxophone players and a violinist. Huancayo does seem to be the centre for saxophone music for Peru. It was wonderful to hear the saxophones echoing around the mountains and the violin player was great. I did have a word with him, his name is Aurelio and he would be willing to teach me violin. I have his address and I'll try to arrange something soon.
We went on down and up and up and down and up an UP. Past beautiful mineral filled lakes



Every step getting less and less to breathe. Despite being acclimatised to Huancayo at 3270 meters 10,700 feet we were all (except the guide) struggling hard here at around 5000 meters 16,400 feet and still going up. After much pain and beautiful views we got to the foot of the glacier where we posed with the wall of ice.



and the guide set up ropes for us to scale the side and get ourselves on top.Here's Bob in perhaps his hardest moments. Not that I suffered any less



I did have a moment climbing the first rope where I reached my limits and perhaps was about to pass out. I didn't really know where I was and I was trying to call the guide for help but couldn't think of the words. I made it though and the top of the glacier is just so beautiful. We were told we were at about 5150 meters or 16,900 feet above sea level, this coincidentally is the height of Everest base camp in Tibet. A personal record for me. The peak of the mountain was still above us and it is possible to book a two day tour with mountain guide and climbing equipment to get to the very peak. You climb to the glacier one day and camp overnight (-20 centigrade perhaps -4 Fahrenheit) and get up a t 2 in the morning to climb to see sunrise from the peak. I haven't yet decided to do it.
We sat around the snowman thoughtfully made for us by someone else





and I ate the food I had been fantasising about all day. Fruit juice, avocado, spicy crisps, cheese sandwiches and chocolate. Again like on our previous climb one of the best meals of my life. We took our photos around the snowman and thought about climbing higher where the glacier tilts up onto the mountain side so we could slide down. Really there was no way I was capable at that time so we set off for the long walk down again. Everyone was tired on the way down and getting very slow. Apart that is from the bits where you could slide!



The two small boys were very tired and the guide helped them as much as he could. Bob and I were tired but both felt that it was better for us to plod on than keep stopping for rests. We went off ahead and had huge rests at the top of the climbs waiting for the others. We could hear the musicians in the ceremony still playing as we approached them again. We were going to go back to meet them again when we found the woman who had said she would wait for us. She had decided not to wait but to follow us, had wandered off the path and tried to climb the wrong mountain on her own, she had fallen "a mountain of times" as she said and was stuck. Bob valiantly went to rescue her and was left her on the path waiting for the guide to catch up. There was no way I was going to carry her off the mountain.
At the ceremony site we were just in time to catch the last notes of the music for the ceremony



and we watched the saxophone players go off down the mountain still playing. We sat and waited for all the others to arrive and then went down to the restaurant meeting a Llama on the way



In the restaurant Bob had the trout he had ordered and we met the musician again in the restaurant and sat with them to eat. I was feeling awful by this time and could barely finish my food. I was desperate to get back in the bus and get back to a normal altitude. I took my pain killers for my screeching headache and waited. Eventually we all dozed in the bus on the way back to reality.