final days in huaraz.

i was in huaraz for about a week.

the altitude kicked my butt.

the library at california cafe was my lifesaver. especially when the hippy expat that runs it deemed the books i brought and had already read worthy enough to exchange with the 'classics' on the shelf. yay for truman capote and some weird italian author that are coming with me.

that night, after spending the day drinking mate de coca (which i assure you, does not get one high. it does help with acclimating to the altitude and is a great substitute when in a country that is incapable of making a good cup of coffee), i met a young scottish fellow by the name of niall (the gaelic spelling of neil). niall and i had a nice chifa dinner and then decided to go on a daytrek to some ancient ruins the next day. i couldnt believe my luck finding an englsih-speaking hiking partner!

after buying fruit at the market we hiked to wilcahuain, 6 km up a mountain. the local boys showed us around the rather unremarkable ruin. but afterwards niall and i sat and had a cerveza being rather 'jealous of ourselves' and our situation. 'we are in peru!' i kept exclaiming.

of course, my exclamations didnt stop there as we hiked down a footpath, used mainly by locals, that took us through villages and gave us the most picturesque view of the cordillera blanca and huaraz below. we sat for awhile, once again, being jealous of ourselves--but not so jealous of ourselves as we were of the farmer in the field below us who had the job of sitting, watching the vista whilst the animals frolicked around him.

and so that is what we did. we found a wheat field and, as unobtrusively as we could, we frolicked like heidi, or like maria, in the mountains of huaraz, peru. yea for us.

the climb down wasnt as pleasant and my two big toes, which now have two big blisters, can attest to that. we did arrive at the piscina (swimming pool) and enjoyed a quick dip in the warm and brown water. we decided we wanted to experience the healing powers of the hot baths and so we found ourselves in a soviet-style small room with a facuet to let in hot mountain spring water into a bathtub. a bit ackward, not what we expected, but we rather enjoyed it. as did our blistering feet and sunburnt shoulders.

check out the photos. they give more justice to the experience.