Pollo al Gringo

Huaraz Back in the normal traveling routine following Huayhuash and ready to get moving! With a flight out of Leticia Colombia, a city in the Amazon Jungle which sits on the border of Brazil, Peru, and Colombia in a week time was a bit limited. Before departing Huaraz, I made sure to have a few pieces of Boudin (Peruvian bread pudding which became one of my favorite Peruvian foods discovered in Lima), roasted chicken, Sierra Andina beers (I went to the brewery for a factory tour as well) and plenty of conversation with people curious about our Huayhuash adventure. Food was on my mind after the eight days spent climbing mountains and I didn't feel bad indulging. One other exciting event in Huaraz: I saw my first South American soccer match. Soccer is ingrained into the culture and is an easy way to start conversations with locals and travelers alike. With a bit of nostalgia and the feeling of being wild in nature slowly drifting away I bought my bus ticket to Trujillo ...

This post is written as a detailed short story of my experience on the Cordillera Huayhuash trek. A light rain and darkness welcomed us back in Huaraz following Laguna 69. Both the sky and storefronts were black with a planned power outage we were unaware of. Our plans to buy groceries for the elucid Huayhuash trek hit a brick wall, I was thrilled. To not make certain readers too nervous, I didn't mention, but I badly sprained an ankle in Lima after a car/jogging incident and every extra day the Huayhuash hike was postponed was another day of rest to let the swelling dissipate and rebuild strength before starting one of the hardest hikes on the continent. “Yo what’s up guys?” said a voice as we walked into the hostel. “Are you the Americans I heard about that are taking on Huayhuash without a guide tomorrow?” Ari, a young long haired Californian rock climber/surfer welcomed us back with excitement. He wanted to join our trek and had plenty of experience including guiding in...