Huaraz - Santa Cruz Trekking - Day 1

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.