Day 381 – Huaraz
Hike to Laguna 69
Getting to Huascaran National Park / Laguna 69
We had booked a tour from Akilpo Hostel last night, to go to Laguna 69. It only cost us 32 PEN ($14.16 AUD) per person (p/p). Unfortunately, this meant another super early morning. Our pick up arrived at 4.20am. From here we had almost 3 hours of driving back to Huascaran National Park.
Before the national park, we stopped for breakfast at the same restaurant from the first day of the Santa Cruz trek (Day 376). After breakfast, we had to pay the tour guide our entrance fee to Huascaran National Park, which was 22 PEN ($13.28 AUD) p/p.
Huascaran National Park
Inside the park, we stopped at a different blue laguna. This was to allow people to acclimatise to the altitude. The Laguna 69 hike, is one of the most popular hikes, and not everyone has acclimatised before doing it. We relaxed for around 10 minutes before getting back into the small bus.
Then we drove up the mountain for several more minutes. Here we started the hike at 9am. The tour guide, Richard (same guide we had to Glacier Pastoruri, on Day 374) gave us some information and then let everyone go up at their own pace.
Hike to Laguna 69
It’s a 7 km hike, which is mainly uphill. The hike is full of stunning views of water sources and snow capped mountains. The mountains surrounding the area, reach over 6.000 metres above sea level.
The Laguna is located 4,600 metres above sea level. The hike was only difficult due to the altitude. Otherwise, it was on par with most of the other hikes we have done in Huaraz. It took us around 2 hours and 45 minutes to hike to the top.
At the top we were rewarded with a beautiful blue laguna, and a waterfall from the mountains. It was glorious. We spent around 45 minutes enjoying the hike. Just as we were about to leave, we asked a guy to take a photo of us. After he took the photo, we started talking and found out that he was an Aussie too, living in Huaraz for a project. We got along like a house on fire, and we chatted all the way down to the car park.
At the carpark, we had to wait an hour until the rest of the group arrived. We exchanged numbers and said goodbye to the Aussie once it was finally time to leave.
Back in Huaraz we got in touch with each other and headed out to dinner. A really random and awesome encounter to end another stunning day in Huaraz.