Santa Cruz Trek

Preparation began in Huaraz, buying supplies, improving Hannah´s backpack (which is really not intended for hiking (to be fair mine´s pretty rubbish, it weighs 3kg empty)) by sewing on some foam, and going for a short hike to some ruins which we diddn´t pay to go in as we´re all ruined out. Oh, and have found a $1.25 set menu, soup, main, and juice drink dessert.

Day 1 starts with a 1hr collectivo (vw camper van packed with 20 people and numerous items on the roof) followed by a 1hr taxi journey (with the driver picking up all his mates and apparently his uncle along the way) dropping us at the trail head.
The views are stunning everywhere in the area so to us the trail begins as a steep climb up a valley along side a crystal clear river.

Apparently this is one of the most popular treks in SA (South America), after the Inca trail and Torres del Paine in southern Patagonia, so we weren´t surprised to have counted 20 gringos in the first hour alone. But most of them having never walked further than a hundred yards from their cars had a guide to stop them getting lost, and donkeys to carry their stuff.

As we were carrying everyting we breaked/snacked for 15mins every hour and took an hour lunch and this assisted in reducing the weight of:
1 kilo of chocolate
0.5kg raisins
Brazil nuts and dried apricots
Porridge
Bananas
Honey
Bread
Crackers
0.5kg Cheese
6 hard boiled eggs
2 tins of sardines (one had a spicy sauce)
3 packs of biscuits
4 packs of soup (MSG is not an optional extra in SA)
0.5kg of Angel Hair spaghetti (uberthin and therefore quick cooking)
2 packs of noodles
Carrots and spring onions to liven up the packet soup
Tea
Iodine (to purify the gringo poisoned water)

Campsite 1 was a nice spot with snow covered peaks far off down the valley giving us an indication of what was to come.

Day 2 and the sun rises just in time to lift the chill and dry our tent. Whilst we are packing our stuff the other gringos have set off after having breakfast in their dining tents, having a wee in their toilet tent and leaving the packing to the horsemen.

Pretty easy days walk with more and more snow capped peaks coming into view along the way, our lunch break includes dipping feet into ice cold water and a crazily big bug landing on my leg. N.B: The insect that bit my ankle on Day 1 caused a big swollen welt making it uncomfortable to walk.
Even more stunning campsite , with us making a precarious water crossing to be away from the groups and viewing of Condors.

Being so close to the snow made it bloody freezing and waking up at 2am with ice in the tent we decided to head out for a piss and go a quick jog to warm up. My sleeping bag has a comfort rating of about 7 degrees C and Hannah´s is only marginally better, so after a failed attempt of both of sleeping in one sleeping bag with the other sleeping bag over the top, we resorted to joining them together and not sleeping much more.
Nice starry sky and full moon though.

Day 3 and having survived the night I added more honey and even some banana to the porridge in celebration. Once packed we found that the precarious river crossing had become even more precarious thanks to the stepping rocks being covered in ice, but having thrown her backpack to me Indihannah made the jump from bank to bank with an inch to spare.
Then we were off and up to Punta Union and having enjoyed the view back to where we had come.

We continued onwards and in to the next valley below with a new and equally stunning backdrop.

Today we were expecting a long day and maybe even an arrival after dark, but were pleasantly surprised to find that we had made the campsite in 4.5 hours of walking, and set camp after once again crossing a river to escape the crowd.

Day 4 we headed off early to ensure we could catch the one collectivo which would pass the end of the trek. And after passing through some small communities, witnessing rural life, and fending off the local kids, we made the last final climb to the dirt road out. We luckily made it in time to catch the collectivo, only to find out that he was going the wrong way to find more people and stop for lunch (nice little town though) . An hour and a half later we end up back at the end of the trek and have just enough space to pick up some more gringos one of whom was unfortunate enough to get the worst seat on the bus. 3 more bumpy hairpin corned hours followed, then a change of vehicle and another hour but on a proper road.

Recovery was assisted by eating the hottest Thai food in my life, getting smashed on caphriñas and waking up with a bumpy but warm head.

Today we are sorting out the Galapagos and booking our bus tickets to the beach, see you there...

Tx