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Caraz is a pretty little town overlooked by the Cordillera Blanca mountain range. We stayed the night at a hotel on the Plaza de Armas. The next day, on the way up the mountain to go biking, the town of Yungay was pointed out to us, as it has a sad history. The original location of Yungay was destroyed in an earthquake and subsequent landslide in 1970, killing all the inhabitants except for some children at a circus on the edge of town. |
Duck Canyon.
The Canon del Pato is a blasted austere gorge with tumbledown rocks and bare boulders, through which flows a rushing torrential river. Still it had an eerie, bleak sort of beauty. The 8hr journey from Huanchaco to Caraz, passing through the Duck Canyon, was probably the most uncomfortable of all as the dirt road was in a state of disrepair. We passed men mining coal from the mountain right at the side of the road, and a massive hydroelectric plant and dam. |
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View from the Pass.
The dirt road clings vertiginously to the mountain side and snakes round perilous precipices. Bikes were hired from Pony Expeditions in Caraz who drove us up to the pass as well. The proprietor also owns the Cafe de Rat in Caraz which (despite the name) serves western food such as pizza, pasta and banana pancakes. We drank lots of coca tea beforehand and had glucose drinks and tablets to help acclimatise to the altitude. |
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Group Photo at 4200m.
The start. The thin air made any extensive physical effort difficult, as you have to fight for every breath. Fortunately there was little need to peddle as the exhilarating ride is mostly downhill, so headlong and steep that I spent most of the time hanging on to the brakes for dear life, trying not to ride off the brink to certain death. |
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Lake Llanganuco.
The landscape was absolutely mind-blowing. Everywhere you looked was another sublime scene of soaring mountains and icy turquoise lakes. The sun was shining, the sky was blue and the mountain air was refreshingly cool and clean if somewhat thin at 3900m. There was no where else I'd rather have been at that time. A perfect day. |
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Mountain Biking.
Noel, the group's mountain bike pro streaked ahead of everyone else; Christian ended up in a ditch at one point; and Paul nearly went off the edge. There were numerous punctures and some falls, mainly me scraping the skin of both knees and elbows, and generally oozing blood (I still have the scars today). I gave in, to my everlasting shame, after the second fall and joined Nina in the combi with two altitude-sick trekkers that the driver had taken pity on. |
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