First Day in Huaraz
Trip Start
Jun 06, 2005
1
5
192
Trip End
Jun 05, 2006
Huaraz, Peru
Friday, June 10, 2005
Today has been mainly spent organising for our trek and our onward travel to Trujillo (which Jemma booked for the wrong day...). Food and white gas has been purchased. Maps and advice sought. We even found time to pop into a vegetarian restaurant for lovely meaty burgers.
Whilst booking our coach tickets, we met a travelling salesman from Lima. He had recently been on a coach which rolled off the road. He avoided harm by hanging onto the seat in front. He was lucky, he explained, because he has no health insurance.
Both nervous and excited by our trek tomorrow. An equipment shop asked if I wanted to hire a donkey. I'm the donkey, I explained.
The bad news today is concerning Bolivia. The foreign office advises against travel there and it's on the verge of civil war. Looks like we may have more time in Peru, Brazil and Argentina than planned. Hopefully we can change our flight from La Paz to Santiago.
After reading about altitude sickness on the internet, we deceided to postpone our trek by a day. We book a tour to Chavin for tomorrow instead.
We don't have a meal that evening. (loss of appetite is a symptom of mild altitude sickness) We go drinking instead.
There's some good bars in Huaraz and we sample two. In the second, the bar tender gives me a puzzle. I try to refuse but I guess he uses it as a ploy to keep you captive. You have to reassemble a cube from it's irregular component pieces. Flukey, I assemble it first time and put it down on the bar,within the minute. The staff are stunned. They stare at me in grudging respect. Until I go off to the toilet and try to push open a pull only door. Nice while it lasted though...
