Tuesday 4th September. Laguna Wilcacocha

Today was my first acclimatisation hike from Huaraz. I decided to choose on of the easiest ones – to Laguna Wilcacocha. This lagoon is only a 20 minute collectivo ride from downtown Huaraz, and reaches a maximum height 3800m which is only 400m higher than Huaraz itself. The hike is in the mountain ranges known as the Cordillera Negro and had amazing views over the Cordillera Blanca and the town of Huaraz. The track also passed through a nice local community where the local people were more than happy to show me the path up the hill. In addition, it was really cool to see the people working on the land. They seemed to be de-husking some kind of grain by throwing it up in the air, or by having their horses walk all over it. The entire way was really busy with people going about their daily business which was really interesting. The lake itself was a bit of an anticlimax as its not particularly large or spectacular. There were some amazing views from the top out back into Huaraz with the Cordillera Blanca framed behind it. It was a great way to start my hiking in Huaraz, but I had a terrible headache that night and a pretty bad sunburn on my neck! I´ll need to be more careful in the next few days!