If I didn't already think it then today confirmed it - the Andes are the best mountain range in the world. The Alpes are cool for skiing and their proximity to England, yes the Himalayas are the highest. But can any mountain range brag of the diversity that the Andes offers. By this I mean things like height of mountains, volcanos, lakes, wildlife and how important it actually is to the inhabitants who depend on it and thrive as a result.
As we took the coach more into the mountains and further away from the tourist-filled city of Huaraz it was interesting to see the local farmers living in the national park at roughly 4000m above sea level and how they lived. They have just a small hut with a straw roof, normally located quite close to a river. They have many animals; sheep and cows seemed to be the most popular. These animals tended to seem to almost wander and have free range of the valleys. Due to the lack of population and the space in between each farm it's not hard to see why this isn't an issue at all.
We made a few stops off on the journey mostly to see lakes. One was especially strange due to it's colour. Thanks to the minerals that lay claim to the majority of the water from the drainwater of the glaciers and mountains, they are bright colours. This particular one was bright blue, like a blue Smartie, so blue that it looked like someone had poured gallons of food colouring into it. Other colours we saw were red and yellow (very peculiar).
We were dropped off by the coach around 2km from the edge of the glacier with a path leading up to it. Thankfully it wasn't as steep as some of our previous hikes but due to the altitude (over 5000m above sea level) this was not the walk in the park that it should have been.
It was quite shocking to see the signs posted on the walk of how far the glacier had been in certain years. It's a massively declining glacier that apparently has no chance of ever growing due to the fact that during winter, no ice or snow is added. While on the surface this could seem sad, it's quite easy to accept as the reality of nature. The more the glacier melts, the more nutrients it has held for thousands of years are now being put back into the earth.
Dinner was once again excellent. We had asked our host where was good to eat in Huaraz and he directed us to a small plaza. We have eaten their both nights at different restaurants, both equally excellent. Despite the disappointment of being told there were no beans and thus no burritos (what we were both ordering), Emma found comfort with an excellent fajita that covered our small table entirely (one of these bowls contained our second favourite guacamole, second only to Lucy's homemade guac). I made the decision to go for a dish not too far from home - a delicious and authentic chicken balti curry, however being topped off with a pisco sour was less homely.
Hopefully some of the pictures of it will do it justice. Apparently today's hike and altitude was good practice for tomorrow...
