Road trip

Lucia and I took advantage of the long weekend and traveled to Huaraz, Peru. Huaraz is a city high in the Andean Mountains with many different touring activities. We took about $100, some crackers, and a couple bottles of Gatorade on an 8 hour bus ride to our destination - Hostal Alfredo in the heart of Huaraz.

The place was a lot better than the sign leads you to believe. It even had a mascot - a two year old yellow lab named Gringa. Gringa is in a state of crisis right now... she just gave birth to three really cute puppies, and she got run-over by a car a few days ago. Not exactly the kind of thing that should happen to a new mother. She has a broken leg and a huge bowl over her head to prevent her from scratching the stitches on her skull. To her credit, she still wags her tail when she sees potential Hostal Alfredo visitors. Oh, another added benefit... she walks the halls at night and you can hear her banging into things with that huge plastic bowl around her neck.

Anyway, while in Huaraz we took a tour to see a few things. We first visited the town of Yungay, which, in 1970 was completely wiped out by a mudslide. 50,000 people were killed in the disaster. They have a few monuments in memory of the victims.



From Yungay we took an hour bus ride up the Huascaran mountain. Our destination - Lake Llanganuco. The lake is at 12,600 feet above sea level, and the peak is about 22,000 feet. The following pictures are of Lucia and I near the lake.





I really can't describe the views of the mountain range and the lake. They were incredible (okay, I guess I can describe them). After taking in the sheer awesomeness of the views around the lake we headed to another town near the mountain, named Caraz. There we had a late lunch, consisting of chicken noodle soup and Cuy. Cuy is a traditional Peruvian dish that many Peruvians eat in the Andean Mountains. Many people have cuy farms and even small cuy cages to keep them fresh (alive until dinner time). In English, Cuy is translated to Guinea Pig. Little, furry, innocent, guinea pigs. It was one of those things that I just had to try once. And I'm happy to say that will be the first and last time I try guinea pig. Especially considering a plate of guinea pig consists of the whole animal... with a few hairs that didn't get singed off during the cooking process. The picture below is looking into the mouth of the beast. Or at least half of the head. I ordered the 1/4 Picante Cuy, served on top of cut potatos. And for all you hamster and guinea pig lovers out there... turn away... now!



Here I am sampling the lovely dish... I won't go into the details of how it tasted. Just imagine eating your pet hamster - those were the feelings I had while eating this meal.


Overall, the views, the lake, the mountain, the rodents, the hostal... it was a great experience and highly recommended for any travelers out there. If you get a chance to go, please give me an update on Gringa the dog. Hopefully her leg heals nicely and she gets that damn plastic bowl off of her head.

- Back to work -

-Brian