Hyped from the amazing experience in the dunes of Huacachina we drove just a little further to the little town of Paracas. It is known for the „Reserva National de Paracas“, that includes the Islas Ballestas, also know as the „Galapagos Islands for the poor people“. Luckily we could explore the peninsula of the national park with Rosi and the majority of the streets were pretty good. The landscape is pretty impressive and we enjoyed a really good but overpriced Ceviche on the peninsula. The famous red beach was nice, but not mind-blowing. What was impressive was the pink lagoon, that is not part of the normal tours you could book for the peninsula, which also explained that the way to the lagoon got very fast very challenging and we got reminded of the ways on the laguna route in Bolivia. With a little speed and the four wheel drive we made it to the lagoon that was especially impressive because of the neighbour lagoon that had a completely different colour.
The next day we did a two hour boat tour to the islas Ballestas and the tour guides did not exaggerate when they mentioned that we were going to see thousands of birds. We saw THOUSANDS of birds. Many pelicans hovering closely over the water, penguins jumping in the water, and many Zarcillos breeding on the islands. At the same time sea lions could be seen popping their heads out of the water. It seems blasphemic but since we have seen so many sea lions on our trip so far we do not get excited too much to see them, but they are still kind of cute.
After the boat trip we directly hit the road again in the direction of Lima. We were not sure if we could make it all the way to Lima, but there were supposed to be some nice surf towns on the way there. At none of these little towns we found a secure place to stay overnight. Also many of these towns were very rich gated communities, where we were not allowed to drive until the beach. So we just continued towards Lima.
In Lima we had a special place to stay with Rosi. Pretty central there is a sports club which is called „Club Germania“. It has been founded and is run by germans and german campers are allowed to stay on the parking lot, which is secured 24/7 by a guard. The whole area has a really strong 70s vibe to it, but is in general in pretty good shape. Also there is a gym, a swimming pool, yoga classes, incredibly good hot showers and so much more (especially the „Kegelbahn“ is pretty german). We really enjoyed it there and could explore Lima perfectly from the Club Germania.
With a long list of things we needed to organise, we headed into town the next morning and started our little city exploration tour in the quarter of barranco and were immediately captured by it. Chat GPT says: „Barranco is known for its vibrant arts scene, colorful street murals, historic architecture, and lively nightlife. It features charming colonial-era buildings, the iconic Puente de los Suspiros (Bridge of Sighs), and ocean views, making it a cultural and romantic hotspot.“ And especially the colonial buildings, the street art and the cafes got us! We really enjoyed Barranco. In the crazy mall Larcomar we bought a few things we needed, but the mall itself is pretty impressive since it is built into the cliff overlooking the ocean. The next days we immersed ourself in the cafes of Lima and the quarter of Barrancas stayed our favourite quarter. When we left the safety of Club Germania with incredibly sore muscles from visitng the german gym, we drove straight to the beach and had our first surf session on this trip. The waves were tiny, but it was so much fun. It felt so so good to be on the board even though we both cut our feet on the stones of the beach. But to be in the water and see all the big buildings of Lima on the cliffs was a unique feeling.
From Lima our next big goal with the famous hiking area around Huaraz in the Andes. But to get there we had to drive a few days and had three really cool overnight spots. First was a campground that was just being renovated and we got 2kg avocados as a present there, the next was a Motel, that had an incredible strong 70s vibe. The third night was a Hotel parking lot right next to an incredible beautiful beach. From there we headed to Huaraz and had to cross the first Moutainrange of the Andes to get there. Funnily enough it is not anything special for us anymore to drive over 4200m, but what was special were the mango plantages in the mountains. There were fist-big mangos and so we stopped to buy some. They tasted so incredibly intense and sweet. I was reminded of the mangos I had eaten in South East Asia many years ago. Since it is mango High season, they cost here at the moment about 25 cents for 1kg mangos. With Rosi full of avocados and mangos we headed into Huaraz.
In Huaraz it was first really hard to find a spot at all where we could stay with Rosi. We found the little Albergue La Luna that was a little outside of the town center, but alone the street up to it was so narrow that it was only possible to pass with folded in side mirrors. Once we were on the lawn it was pretty nice, although it seemed a little abandoned because it was currently renovated and no-one else was there. On the first day we did a little hike to acclimate to the altitude again. Huaraz lies at around 3000m and we did a hike to the Laguna Wilcacocha. The lagoon was not more than a sad little pond, but the hike was nice and we could for the first time see the beautiful white mountains of the „cordillera blanca“, that are mainly over 6000m high. After the little hike and the first night we felt that we did not have any problems with the altitude and booked the 4 day 3 night Santa Cruz trek with a little agency in town. The day before the trip we went coffee shop hopping in Huaraz and were looking forward to the first multiple day trek of our trip. Now I want to split up into „what was supposed to happen / what we booked“ and „what actually happened”.
What we booked
Start at the date that we had booked.
What actually happened
At about 7PM the night before the trip, we got the message the the trip was postponed because someone lost their backpack in Lima. The next day we found out, that this was not true. We were just added with other people that had booked for a day later.
Pick up at main road next to our hostel & transfer to the starting point
Although it was agreed by the agency to pick us up and I sent our location to multiple people, they were not able to find us for 45min. Everyone seemed to be complete unable to use phone navigation
Start the hike and give the majority of the luggage to the donkey driver
When we arrived after a 5 hour drive through serpentines, we were told that there are no donkeys because the donkey driver is on a school party of his children (no joke!)
We were supposed to hike for four days and have three nights.
So we had to sleep all in one room and tiny beds or on the floor and the hike shall be shortened to 3 days and 2 nights. We all together as a group intervened and wrote the agency about our refund requests and made it possible to still do the full trip with another day of delay, which led to the fact that some others had to reschedule their busses after the trip.
The donkeys were carrying the food, tents and our luggage
The agency had booked not enough donkeys, so the load was too heavy for one donkey and he could not continue. The mountain guide had to personally pay for one more donkey.
Brand new tents, mattresses and sleeping bags from the agency
The tents were leaking, so that it got really wet inside when it was raining, the mattresses were basically cardboard and hat no effect, but the sleeping bags were pretty good, but not new.
An experienced mountain guide
Humberto was our guide. He was not very talkative at first, but he turned out to be a really funny guy that knew a lot about the area and really tried best to give us a good experience
Three daily meals
The food was actually really good. There is nothing to complain about. We got a coca tea every morning, a nice breakfast, a very small lunch package, the last two days a proper lunch during the hike and a big dinner. It was all really good!
Apart from all the fuck ups of the agency we had an incredibly cool experience, which was mainly due to the group we were hiking in. There were a lot of very young duchies, aussies and germans. After the guide I was the oldest of the group. 😀 The guide was also a reason why we enjoyed the trip so much. He openly discussed every mistake of the agency and we together as a group found solutions. Additionally the hike itself is amazing. In total we hiked 52km and the highest pass was 4750m high. The landscape was stunningly beautiful. Just one of many highlights was the paramount mountain, which is part of the paramount pictures logo. But overall the hike was very divers and although we also had some decent rain, the weather was pretty nice to us for the beginning of the rainy season. It was my second multiple day hike with Linda after the five days we did last year in the north of Spain but it was definetly not the last. From Huaraz we took the same road back to the ocean not without buying more tasty mangos again and were looking forward to the beach and waves again.
höme 
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