Peru travel blog by Mark Berman -
August 2011
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Trekking, trekking, trekking, this is the principal reason to visit Huaraz, the Callejon de Huaylas has the highest snow-capped mountain peaks in Peru.
The city of Huaraz itself is at an altitude of 3100m, the peaks of the Callejon de Huaylas are over 6000m above sea level. You need to take it slowly
over a period of days to get used to these altitudes, do not arrive in Huaraz from sea level and go hiking the next day! Trekking Tour Companies
Huaraz has many tour companies
along the main street, treks can be organised to peaks such as Quitaraju (6036m), Chacraraju W (6112m) and Artescuraju (6025m). Some tour companies run
tours that last several days and cost several hundred US dollars, you camp out in the wilderness in tents, these places include Huascaran National Park,
Olleros mountain bike trail, Alpamayo peak, Huatzan peak, Huayhuash mountain range, Churup Lake and the Cedros Alpamayo circuit. I didn't do a trek in Huaraz
this time. I will in the future though, yeah right...
How to Get Here
From
Lima, Huaraz is
around 8hrs by bus. I came here from
Yungay, an hour north.
City Tour
This time I made my own
city tour and was lucky to see a street festival with dancers in costume. Huaraz is not exactly what I would call a beautiful city, a shame considering
its surroundings. On a walk around the city I first came across a monument to Pedro Pablo Atusparia, he was a peasant leader who led the revolution of
the natives of Huaraz in 1885. The Plaza de Armas is not terribly mind-blowing, there's a gold monument and a church. Later in the day I explored the city
some more. I found Plaza Belen which is I think nicer than the Plaza de Armas with more trees and gardens. A fountain and a little yellow church beside it.
Nearby I found another park with a red church that I had seen from the lookout tower the day before, a bunch of monuments around here include the Minister
of Marine - Guillermo Tirado, Military Leader - Jose de la Mar (1778-1830) and in Parque Bombero one of a fireman with a child in recognition to the volunteer
firemen of Huaraz.
The River
Down beside the river, there's a nice little park with many white statues and a fountain. On the other
side of the river is a lot of slum housing, the people throw their rubbish into the river, this is not very intelligent - the water should be clean, it's
not attractive to tourists. At the top of this park and walkway is the mirador lookout tower where you can climb the stairway to the top for fantastic views
of the rubbish in the river below and peoples washing hanging out at the slum houses over the other side, you can see a few snow-capped mountains also of course.
I found the side streets around the markets far more interesting.
Street Festival With Dancing
On the next day beside the plaza there
was a mini-festival with many performers in colorful traditional clothing dancing and putting on a show. I am not sure what the occasion was but it was very
entertaining.
Distances to Elsewhere
Distances from Huaraz to other cities / places in Peru, Recuay 25kms, Carhuaz 35kms, Yungay
58kms, Caraz 69kms, Huari 150kms, Chimbote 210kms, Casma 160kms, Huarmey 297kms, Lake Paron 98kms (4200m), Pastoruri Glacier 70kms (5000m), Chavin 109kms,
Lima 400kms, Trujillo 315kms, Chiclayo 546kms, Piura 767kms, Ica 710kms. After a couple of nights in Huaraz I made my only deviation to the coast on my
journey from north to south Peru in the highlands. I travelled 7hrs to Santa Rosa which is 1hr north of Lima and spent the night, next day I travelled down to
Lima and onto
Huancayo which took 8hrs.
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