When I think about August and look back at my Google Calendar, the first word that comes to mind is “exhaustion”. The good thing is that I recognized that, and then tried to address it, which is a lot of progress from what I’m used to doing, which is pushing through and continuing to live life at a mind-blowingly fast pace. Look at me, I’m growing up. 🥲
That said, I kicked off August summiting another peak with Team Mexico – Yanapaccha – the morning of the 1st. That was one of my favorite climbs from my time in Huaraz, probably #2, and I learned a lot on it as well! It felt great to get to something a little more technical than what I had been up to lately and to spend time (the day before) brushing up on those mountain skills with my friends. I knew going into that Yanapaccha climb that it would be my last for the season in Huaraz, and hoped that I felt strong enough on it. Luckily, I sure did, and it was a total success!
I thought I would leave Huaraz shortly after July, but had a couple of things left on my Huaraz bucket list for this trip that I really wanted to do, so I prioritized the two top ones that I didn’t want to miss and pushed through, and then left as soon as I could after that for sea level. That included a climbing trip to Hatun Machay, the highest-altitude sport climbing area in the world, and a freaking amazing place. My friend and I swapped leads and worked on some easier (5+ for me) climbs. I learned a lot, got absolutely terrified on one lead climb and left with new friends too. My only complaint was that Hatun Machay was COLD – I wore all of my layers most of the time climbing, and put on my down pants the moment we returned to the refugio each day. Luckily the beds were warm and comfy and had heavy wool blankets, and I think I slept for close to 12 hours a night there!
My final big check that I wanted from Huaraz was to backpack the Huayhuash trail. I met a French guy named JM in my dorm room the day I got back to town from Hatun Machay that had just finished doing it on his own (most people seem to do it as a part of a guided group), and he was able to share a bunch of info with me as I prepared and packed for it. After two days of us hanging out, he left for Cusco at night and I left for the Huayhuash at 4am the next morning with my Hyperlite Southwest backpack weighing in at close to 18kg, with the intention of meeting him in Cusco soon afterwards.
I hitched a ride to the start of the trail with a guided group – I quickly made friends on the bus and at breakfast with a few girls who were part of the group, and as we pulled up to the start of the trek, it started to rain and the independent backpackers disembarked first to layer up in our Gore-tex and take off down the trail. There was one Spanish couple that I was excited to find at camp and make friends with, but I never saw them after I hit the trail and they met up with an arriero in front of the bus to organize mules to carry their things. The one other independent trekker from the bus was a German guy that I did not expect to make it – he waited for me to start because he didn’t know where the trail was, and after I lost him behind me about 10 minutes in, I never saw him again either. The guided group told me at a camp a few days later that he turned back early on because of a knee issue.
All of that is to say that I was very alone on this trail. I always say that solo backpacking is my favorite thing, but I think I would like to amend that and add that it is my favorite thing for 2-3 days at most. By the time I finally met some other unguided people on day 5… I immediately attached myself to them and was absolutely elated to be talking to other human beings. It felt ridiculous, but I learned that I’m too extroverted to try something like that solo again and keep my sanity. 😅
I had heard that the Huayhuash was hard. And I had heard that the Huayhuash was cold. But all of this was from people that were way less experienced than me in the mountains, so while I knew that there would be some truth to that, overall I figured I would be fine. Well. The Huayhuash was harder than expected. And colder than expected. I attribute some of this (actually, most of this) to my body’s exhaustion from being at such a high altitude for most of the last couple of months. I am still learning how my body does at altitude, what to expect when I’m up there for such a long time, etc., etc. My daily routine on the Huayhuash trail was something like: Wait in the tent for the sun (if it ever came… it took a few days for the rain/snow to clear up), cook oatmeal with M&Ms and tea for breakfast, prep and pack up, hit the trail usually around 9-9:30am, absolutely hate life until lunchtime, then stop somewhere beautiful for my delectable lunch of two tortilla wraps of cheese, ham and the local version of Fritos, then be reenergized to zoom up the pass or trail in front of me and hit camp a few hours later where I can set up camp, filter water, make dinner in my tent and go to bed by 7pm.
Looking back on it now, that routine sounds lovely and my photos from the trail are some of the most beautiful I have from any backpacking trip. But woof, I just remember how mentally hard it was for me to push myself every day, especially pre-lunch. The views are always worth it though!
I gave myself three days in Huaraz after returning from the backpacking trip to rest and make my goodbye rounds of friends, restaurants and favorite spots in the city. Most of those were done with the friends I made on Huayhuash day 5, one of which was American and had been traveling for a few years as well, so we were able to connect really well and spent a loooot of time eating and drinking our way around the city until I left! That was fun.
Huaraz is such a special place, I absolutely got emotional on my last day at the fact that I was leaving. It just felt home-y to me while I was there. I had lots of friends all over the city, became a regular at my favorite restaurant, I knew how to get around without Google Maps and had my routines and favorite spots scattered throughout. It was comfortable. I am so thankful for my time there and can’t wait to go back. Maybe next season, maybe the one after. We’ll see!
One sleepless night bus later, I arrived in Lima for five days. As badly as I wanted to jet down to Cusco for my meetup, my body needed sea level and so I gave it what I could in between set plans. Lima was a key rest time for me – I stayed in a hostel but didn’t socialize much. I didn’t feel the need to. I got things done on my laptop, slept a lot and hung out with my friend Antonella who lives there every afternoon. I last-minute took Antonella to the Sebastián Yatra concert my last night in town – I did not at all expect to still be in Peru when he came to town, but since I had stayed in Huaraz a couple of weeks longer than expected, the timing worked out PERFECTLY. 🙂 Apart from that highlight, Lima was cold and gray and I missed Huaraz terribly, but it was on the ocean and I breathed deeply every time I reminded myself of that, knowing that my body was finally recuperating at a better pace, even if just for a few days.
Finally the day came for me to board a 23-hour bus to Cusco, and I feel like I finally figured out the system and how to comfortably stay on a bus that long: Book your seat upstairs and in the front – you won’t have anybody in front of you reclining their seat, you get a full view of the drive out the windshield the entire time and you can put your legs up on it as well! I’m not incredibly keen to jump up and board another 23-hour bus again anytime soon, but I was comfortable enough for the ride that it made it worth the savings vs taking a flight.
Once I arrived in Cusco, I saw JM at the hostel and hung out with him for the next two days. We had both booked our Machu Picchu tickets in Huaraz on the same day, but without talking until after, so his was one day before mine. We were both planning to do the Salkantay trek as well, and just coming off of solo backpacking the Huayhuash and struggling with that much alone time, I asked JM if I could join him for the trek and then I’d just spend an extra day in Aguascalientes when we ended to wait for my Machu Picchu ticket day. We took light packs of just snacks and lunch food, clothes and electronics, and set off on the trail together, staying at the lodges along the way. It wasn’t amazing, but I’m still glad I did the Salkantay. I always said that if I was going to Machu Picchu, I’d walk there. So I did. Beauty-wise, it was not my favorite trek by any means, but I had a good time with JM and the friends we met along the way. The highlight was when we pushed farther on day 3 to make a detour and stay at Llactapata Lodge, which lies uphill from the main trail and serves you an amazing private view of Machu Picchu. We had the last room in the row which gave us both privacy and an unobstructed view of the ruins outside of our large windows for both sunset and sunrise. It was absolutely incredible.
For my rest day in Aguascalientes, I don’t think I left bed except to pee and eat lunch (breakfast was supplied at the hotel and I ate leftover backpacking snacks for dinner). JM and I got an Airbnb (all of the good places were booked up when we arrived to town), which ended up just being a room at a more local hotel, and I laid in bed on my phone while he went to Machu Picchu and came back to pack his things and tell me about it. I only got up for lunch and ice cream later that day after he left to return to Cusco and move south to La Paz, where I was planning to meet up with him again after a final few days touristing around Cusco for me.
I joke that I’m either going at 100mph or 0, and that has been ever more apparent this summer as I push myself on climbs and then absolutely crash for the days in between the planned adventures, just like this. Again, I’m trying to learn how to listen to my body and what it needs so I can take care of it and stay in good shape for the mountains. It’s a constant learning experience and balancing act.
Never Stop Traveling 