Day 2 was the mosting exhausting day but the most rewarding day.
After breakfast, especially the tea of hoja de coca which could help alleviate the problem of high altitude sickness. We were ready to set off.
Quiet morning in our camp site.
Our group had seven people, one Australis, one UK, two Nea Zealand, two Isaral, one Japanese and one HK. As the speed of every individuals in our group was so varied (some trekked super fast, some trekked slowly), so most of the time, I spent time trekking with the other group (as we were all on the same route) and had a fun time together. They also had seven people, four from the States, one from Sweden, one from Germany and one from Swiss.
Our hardworking and lovely donkeys.
The super scenic view along the route.
The little white and yellow flower is called manzanilla is one of my favourite tea in Peru.
After a few hours of uphill trekking, we took a snack break with a backdrop of these incredible snow mountains.
The trekking guide of the other group with the snow mountains.
The scenery was occacionally dotted by beautiful lakes.
After about 4 hours of trekking uphill, we finally made it to the higest pass, Punta Union(4750m). And we had a wonderful 360 degree of all the snow mountains embracing us.
Maybe I have already trained up by all the trekking in Ecuador, so the trek was not as exhausting as I thought orginally.
The jewel-like mineral lake appeared once we had crossed the highest pass.
Thanks for the supreme weather, I had my most fantastic lunch here. Although they were just dry bread with cheese and apple.
After the pass, we suddenly heard a thundering sound behind the snow mountains. And we knew later it was the sliding down of some huge glaciers. Amid the nature, espcially in front of such an enormous landscape, I always feel human beings are just like dusta which no one will even bother to pay attention on.
In the afternoon, the weather started to turn cloudy. Luckily, we had walked fast enough to catch the wonderful scenery of the peaks. Then, we continued our path downhill and after about 3 more hours of trekking, we arrived the camp site.
Huaraz, situates between Trujillo and Lima, and also embraced by the uncountable snow mountains of the Cordillera Blanca, it just like the Andean version of Nepal. Each year, it attracts lots of trekkers who are willing to enjoy its beauty by sweating, breathing in the thin air and camping under the low temperatue.
But no pain no gain! So I joined the Santa Cruz trekking tour for 4 days, and it turned out to be my highlight in Peru.
On day one, we took the bus from Huaraz to Yungay, then the bus started to climb all the way, the highest pass is 4767m. Luckily, I experienced the best weather I ever had in Huaraz and we had a wonderful view of the crystal blue and green lake, Llanganuco and the snow mountains surrounding her.
Laguna Llanganuco is just like an elegant lady sparkling with her beauty.
Then we arrived at Colcabamba(3300m)at around 2pm, from there we started to trek to our first camp site. As the path on day one mainly go downhill, so it was quite easy to handle and the scenery was fantastic.
Our backpacks were being trasfered from the bus to the hardworking donkeys
Before we started, there was chaos. As two trekking groups(and different travel agencies combined the group together) shared the same bus, and the trekking guides didn't have the name lists of us, so it took a long time for them to seperate us into two groups.
Anyway, as long as we could get our own tents and sleeping bags from them, we didn't care which group we were in.
Although in the morning the sky was super clear, it started to get more cloudier in the afternoon. Luckily we were still able to view the wonderful snow mountains, green grassland and feel the lives of the locals.
First encounter of The peak.
Getting closer.
Small village along the route.
The first sunset I encountered.
Besides the beautiful Plaza in Trujillo and beach in Huanchaco, there are some ruins worth visiting in the Trujillo region. The first one I really recommended is Huaca de la Luna, I will describe it as a ruin which is still alive.
Just about 45mins away from Trujillo, lies the nearly desert like area and a few spectecular rocky mountains. Nearby, there are two historical ruins Huaca del Sol and Huaca de la Luna(which mean Temple of the Sun and Temple of the Moon), both represent the Mochica culture which was blooming around the era of 200-1100AD (Inca was developed around the age of 1200-1532AD).
One of the spectecular rocky mountains, the White mountain.
As the two sites was just discovered in the 1990s, archeologists are still working on reveiling the complete truth of the ruins. Because only Huaca de la Luna has been received donations from big enterprise for the archeological works, but not Huaca del Sol, so the latter is not open to the public. But we could still see this fascinating pyramids standing amid the desert.
The beautiful Huaca del Sol.
Why I said Huaca de la Luna was still alive? As the archeological works are still going on in the ruin, lots of mysteries are still unsolved. And I was so excited to hear from the guide that more and more parts of the mysteries were discoved every day, month or year.
Just like the American tourist said, she had been here 7years ago, but when she came here again this time, she found the site has been changed completely and she would expect more changes to come.
Archeological works are still carring on here. You can see the tools besides the ruin.
The front door of Huaca de la Luna.
The colourful and fascinating paintings inside the ruin. I was surprised by how vivid the colour is.
How cute are the stones!
The guide explained that there should be 5 or 6 layers of temples, each represents different era. The ancient people would just build a bigger temple outside the original temple, so the whole temple would just become bigger and bigger.
You can see inside the outer layer, there is another level of pyramid.
The newest layer of the temple complex. The upper block is motifs of "felines" holding decapitated heads of warriors. The lower block is motifs of "fishermen" holding fish.
Just about 12km west of Trujillo, lies the famous surfing little village, Huanchaco.
As it was the Mid-Autumn Festival in Hong Kong and China (on this day, the moon is the brighest and most rounded in a year), and it is my or Hong Kong traditon to go to the beach to celebrate the Mid-Autumn, so I decided to go to the small fishing village(in the past), Huanchaco, to enjoy my first Chinese festival abroad.
Thanks for all the greetings from my friends in Hong Kong and the "mooncake" in fotos. Luckily, I was also able to "make" my own mooncake and found the traditional festival fruit, star fruits in the fresh market in Peru.
Besides enjoying my first day time Mid-Autumn Festival picnic, Huanchaco was charming enough for me to spend the whole afternoon and relax under the sun and sea breeze.
The traditional reed boat rowing across the sea.
Although Huanchao is flooded with tourist, it is still keeping its traditional side.
Little girl is enjoying the sea breeze.
It is hard to believe here is Peru, right?
Lots of Peruvians holiday makers are enoying the big waves and beautiful sunset in Huanchao.
Do you think the moon in South America is more rounded?
