Lima and an impromptu Coffee Date at Café Verde!

Lima- 25th-27th August 2011.

We’ve spent the last couple of days in Lima, in a lovely, but not mind boggling suburb called Miraflores. We wanted to see a little of Lima, despite it’s dull reputation, so we thought we would stay in the nice area and dip our feet into the central region as and when we felt like it.

We arrived at 5.30am Thursday morning, shattered after the Pisco climb the day before and from a bumpy night bus from Huaraz . We managed to find a taxi that wasn’t going to rip us off and found/checked into ‘Enjoy Hostels’ in an 8 bed dorm for $10 a night each. “Oh yes” we cried unenthusiastically- “back to the big dorm rooms again”. We needed to try and recoup money from the expensive Pisco climb…To our surprise we had the room to ourselves and even got a few much needed hours sleep before we headed out to explore!

Miraflores offers the typical Gringo experience of shopping and dinning, so we went to the Inca Market and the large department stores to Sarah’s delight! We even got ourselves a top each at a whopping £12 each- and that’s expensive!! But remember our rule- 1 in 1 out! Something out of our daily worn 4 month old clothes must go in our bags- “wohoo”..

On Friday we headed into central Lima to book bus tickets and took a tour round the monestry of San Fransisco which was fascinating with all the catacombs of dead monks beneath the church. We could see however why people don’t like central dodgy Lima. After having ‘gringo’ shouted at us on several occasions and pick-pockets eying us up, we decided to head back to the safe Miraflores region.

Café Verde

We headed down to the Pacific Ocean, where all the gorgeous hotels and fancy plaza’s are. We gazed up in ore, this was far far from our 8 bed dorm hostel, at least we can cook in ours!. Anyway, we stumbled on a coffee stall, and to our delight, it was giving away free great home roasted Peruvian coffee. We got talking to the owner KC (an American) and his Peruvian wife who run an export coffee bean business and coffee shop in Miraflores. They kindly invited us to roast coffee beans with them the next day and learn more about coffee. As you all know I am a bit of a coffee fiend so how could I refuse!

We headed out early the next morning and set off along the sea front in Miraflores to find Café Verde on Santa Cruz (1305). We found it not through sight, but via smell- we arrived to the most amazing coffee aroma and a bustling little coffee shop.

KC and his wife had set up the roasters and took us through the whole process, it was fascinating. What we didn’t quite realise was the importance of your own personal taste and the impact it has on how hot and how long the beans should be roasted for. We love dark bitter chocolate so this was our objective.

We were fortunate enough to be there to open bean samples from different farmers and found out about coffee growing processes; imports/exports; insect damage; bad beans and instant coffee (dare we mention it). We also learned about shelling the beans and most importantly how to roast. It was one of the best days I’ve had in South America, and has changed my coffee ritual for life. I think the UK is quite fortunate to receive such good quality beans, as good coffee in Peru is a rare commodity (believe it or not) as it’s all exported to us and the States.

At the end of our coffee roasting experience, the proof was in the tasting! We ground our beans and tasted the bitter dark chocolate we wanted. It was the best cup of coffee I have ever had!! KC also kindly gave us a fresh bag of beans so we could look forward to having them over the next week. Thank you KC and Café Verde for a very memorable experience!  

My new coffee policy:

1-     To buy whole beans and grind them in a hand grinder. You loose the majority of the aromas 15minutes after grinding, even with freshly ground supermarket coffee. (Now I obviously can’t transport a hand grinder around with me, so this won’t happen until I have a kitchen. Fresh pre ground coffee will have to do!!)

2-     No need for fancy machines!

3-     To use my new portable coffee filter- an amazing tool even for use on the road. Gone are the days of Nescafe!

4-     No need for sugar as good coffee should have it’ own sweetness.

http://www.cafeverdeperu.com/sp/

Off to Cuzco now!

The Mount Pisco roller coaster - Huaraz

UPDATE 06/09/2011 : VIDEO ADDED


(James Ley: 21st August 2011)

I had been thinking of climbing mount Pisco for a month, Vallunaraju had been a great experience but when I had finished it I knew something was missing. It had not satisfied my desire for a challenge that pushed me further physically and mentally than I have ever been pushed.

Sarah and I were planning our next destination so I had to throw the idea out there…..”why don’t we stay and climb Pisco??”..We had agreed previously it was Vallunaraju or Pisco, we could not afford both. The answer to my surprise was “ok, wohoo!!!”. I was so happy!

We had returned from The Way Inn lodge on the Saturday morning and we were going out for dinner as we had nothing in the hostel…. when it happened, Sarah stepped off a curb and fell. From her cries of pain it was pretty evident that the damage was going to be quite bad, it turned out to be what seemed to be a twist, we controlled the swelling by icing it in the restaurant and hoped for the best. We were so annoyed at the situation that we didn’t really speak to each other in the restaurant. So much for a romantic evening.

The day of the trip arrived, Sarah was being stubborn and said her foot was fine. We had to take the dreaded 2 ½ hour bus ride to Cebollapampa, the start point for the Laguna 69 trek and the 3 hour walk to our base camp.

The walking at altitude (4000m) was harder than I remembered, but 2 hours in to the walk we got our first glimpses of Pisco, all the emotions and the build-up started to stir; excitement, anticipation, fear of failure. Shit- this was a big one I though. Sarah and I starred at each other in ore. We also had 2 other guys on the tour with us, Vlad (originally from Russia, but living in Canada) and Jorge (from Spain) who also looked shocked at the looming climb.

Mount Pisco 5752 m

So at 7pm we all had a hearty dinner expertly cooked by our porter and then settled in our tents to try and get a few hours sleep until our alarms went off at 12 am. I lay in the tent staring at the canvas trying to imagine how I would feel when I got to the top assuming I made it….The next thing I knew I was awaking to the sound of Sarah’s alarm ‘Lady Gaga’, just what I wanted, it was time.

The walk from the base camp to the glacier would take between 2 – 3 hours, ascending from 4600 meters to 5100 meters, all by torch light. It was tough. We had to cross an old glacier field where moraine boulders the size of cars were scattered like pebbles for km’s and km’s.

The walk was very tiring, especially with back packs containing ice boots, crampons, ice axes, food and water. I started to wonder “if this part is this hard, am I going to manage the summit” and what about Sarah’s swollen ankle?

It was 20 minutes from the glacier when Sarah began to complain of her ankle hurting her, I coldly advised this journey was mind over matter and she just needed to have the right frame of mind. As the minutes past and she crawled over the boulders crying out in pain I realised there was no way she was going to make it to the summit. I saw the dream of reaching the summit slipping away, I knew Sarah was in physical pain with her ankle, however, I was aching inside that I would not achieve what I had dreamed of every day looking at the mountains.

As we reached the glacier I advised one of our guides that Sarah was in a bad way and would not make the glacier. At this point he advised I go ahead with the Vlad and Jorge  and leave Sarah with him. I was stuck between a rock and a hard place now, I didn’t want to leave Sarah but equally was so driven to achieve the goal that I knew it was an option. To my relief and gratitude Sarah was adamant that I should go on and she would be right behind just a little slower.

We roped up and prepared for the 700 meter ice ascent, I said goodbye to Sarah and deep down knew she wouldn’t be right behind me, I knew she would have to turn back and return to base camp alone. I pushed that to the back of my mind and selfishly tried to convince myself it would be ok, another part of my consciousness understood that I should return with her to help her…

As we stepped on to the glacier within 15 minutes the head lamps behind us (that had been Sarah) disappeared, we didn’t see them again for the entire trip. I kept turning around and looking to try to desperately see the lights, but they were never there. It turned out that she had stubbornly put on the crampons and had attempted to walk the glacier, but jarring the crampons into the ice where doing her ankle no good and she had to admit defeat. I was going to have to achieve this alone.

The walk was long and slow, after 2 hours we reached the most technical section of the climb, we needed to cross a crevasse and climb a fairly steep Ice wall. , I didn’t seem to have the same fear I felt the previous time. I felt stronger and more in control.

The final hour of the climb was going to be my biggest test, after 30 minutes of continual climbing I started to doubt in my mind why I was here, what was the point if Sarah was not here to share it with me…Every step began to burn my lungs, a feeling of nausea and dizziness began to overwhelm me. Every 10 steps I had to stop, sometimes I would kneel in the snow unable to look up. The thought that I had come so close, within 80 meters, but I may actually fail became very real.

I think it was these thoughts and these alone that kept me going. I was aching all over but knew it was mental. At 6.50 am, 3 hrs and 50 minutes after stepping onto the glacier we reached the summit.

As I looked up and realised I had done it I felt tears roll down my cheeks. I was not upset or unhappy or happy, I was just exhausted and overwhelmed by the whole situation. I think this may be the first time I have set myself such a goal and achieved it. There was also pain behind it however-Sarah was not there, I wished she was there to share this with me, but I knew she was looking up at me from the valley below.

The views out across the Cordillera Blanca were amazing, every way you looked were 6000 meter snow covered peaks, ironically we were the lowest mountain in sight! The Pisco summit sits 5752 meters above sea level, we had ascended 1100 meters in just 6 hours. This however was only half the story, we now had to descend 1100 meters back to base camp.

The thought started to run through my mind how exhausted I was, and that we had so far to go. Crevasses to cross, Ice walls to descend, and all in the day light when you can see the darkness that fills these caves. This time I would not have Sarah to help and talk me through it.

I started to eat as much as I could. I knew I was seriously low on energy, the climb had taken so much out of me: I was about ready to sleep. The descent was actually ok, we arrived off the glacier within 2 ½ hours. Ahead of us was another 2 hour walk across the moraine, but I knew at the end of that was Sarah, a big hug, a cup of tea and a place to finally rest.

The ice wall

We walked back in to camp at 11.15am, the climb had lasted 10 ½ hours. Anyone who competes in a sport or treks in the mountains knows how hard this amount of activity is and I was exhausted. All I could do for the next 5 hours was sleep and eat. I now know how mountaineers feel after a big summit attempt.

This trip had been a real journey for me. The fact I ended up doing it alone actually makes me more focused that I was able to achieve this in my own mind with no other influence.

I remember saying to myself “never again” in those last 30 minutes of ascent, but never say never hey!

The Way Inn Eco Lodge - Huaraz

So after our first achievement of mountaineering we decided that a few rest days in the national park at an eco lodge retreat were in order.

The eco lodge sits out near a very small village half and hour by taxi from Huararz called Pitec. The lodge is situated at 3700 meters and isolated on the side of the mountain, there is no permanent electricity or internet, and no escape.......

The lodge is owned by an English guy and his mother, he set the lodge up 10 years ago and it is doing very well. They provide 3 course meals in the evenings from a great chef and the food was amazing, some real authentic English home cooking!!!

We decided that we would stay in the dormitory to try to save a little money, at 35 Soles the dorm beds are around £8 each which includes a good breakfast. The dormitory itself is called the cave!! It's made part from a large boulder and part built which gives the effect of a cave, its amazing! You get big warm down duvets that keep you toasty warm all night.

From the lodge you can complete several day hikes around the area (when I said rest days I meant not multi day treks......day hikes don't count....)

On our first day we decided to walk up the Coujp valley, a glacial valley littered with giant boulders that the glacier has left in its wake.

Can you see James on top of the rock????

In the evenings at the lodge we were treated to spectacular light shows in the sky, again these sunset shots are not doctored or use any filters it was amazing!

Our second day at the lodge saw us re-trace our steps to the valley that was our base camp for the summit trip. The walk is an all day walk of some 10 hours. With it being winter there are not really 10 hours of day light, so once you have breakfast and leave by around 9 its hard going, So we left knowing that we may not make it all the way to the glacial lake.

In the end we didnt make it to the glacial lake, however walking along the river from the lake was equally beautiful.

We had a 3 hour walk back to 'The Way Inn' from this valley, and looking at the sky we felt for the first time in almost two weeks we were going to see rain......

Yes we were right; hail and rain poured down on us as we ran the last 10 minutes back to the lodge. Thank goodness we turned round when we did!!

We were lucky enough to meet some great people in the lodge, it seems to be the type of place that similar people go to stay, so finding people you get on with is natural.

We met a couple from Norway, Ingunn and Anders who were at the end of a 8 month trip and on their way back to Norway.

Beth a girl from Colchester who had been in Central and South America for 9 months.

A Canadian couple who had been travelling South America for 10 months in search of a new home. They had so much useful information for us it was unbelievable!

Last but not least a couple called Simon and Katlin, Simon from London and Katlin from the USA.

We decided that on our final day at the lodge that we, along with Simon and Katlin would walk to Lake Churrup. It's 'another' glacial lake at 4450 meters (we never get bored of them). The walk should take between 4 - 6 hours with an 800 meter ascent.

The start of the walk to the Lake- it's over the top of this 'hill' at 4450m.

We set off early to beat the strong Andean sun, the walk is almost all incline to the lake with very little flat. Towards the end of the walk is a very steep rock section that sees some fairly easy put precarious climbing with wires.

Once at the top you are delivered views of Lake Churrup and Mount Churrup.

We stopped here for a spot of lunch and the customary photos!

The way back down the mounatin includes abseiling your self back down the wires which was actually quite fun!!

On the return journey views out over the Cordillera Negra are your vista.

Just before returning to the lodge one last look to see where we came from.

This more or less wrapped up our time in the lodge, however we are hoping to meet up with several of the people we met here in Southern Peru and Bolivia.

The Andes really are a special place and anyone who visits South America without spending time in this place is missing out. I have never seen beauty and grandeur on this scale anywhere else in the world. We have spent over 2 weeks here in Huaraz and its not barely been enough to scratch the surface! This place holds a special place in our hearts.

We headed back to Huaraz on the 4 th day with 2 days "real" rest (well we did go to the gym??) until our next summit expedition, YES our next summit expedition! We have decided that once was not enough so we have booked on to summit another mountain. 

Mount Pisco stands at 5756 meters above sea level so a new record and new challenge!! 

As I said Onwards and Upwards!!!

Vallunaraju 5690 meters Huaraz Peru

August 14th 2011
We had been trying to scale a summit since Cotopaxi in Ecuador which had not happened, I was starting to think we were not going to summit a real peak in the Andes.

But finally we booked it....

Vallunaranju sits just north of the Peruvian town of Huaraz, its summit sits at 5690 meters above sea level or 18,600 feet, a real Andean peak.

The highest we had been so far on the trip was 4750 meters on the Santa Cruz trek the previous week, so this added almost another 1000 meters to the record book!

The trip would begin with another of those long car journeys along bumpy peruvian roads up to the Huascaran National Park.

The taxi dropped us off at the start of the walk to our summit base camp, the road sits at 4200 meters and base camp was 4900 meters so a climb of 700 meters. Again we were weighed down with heavy bags which probably weighed around 12 kg. We had to carry our Ice boots, crampons, ice axes, sleeping bags, harnesses, waterproof trousers, gaiters... the list went on. However, our bags were no-where near the size of the guide and porters bags, whose bags were bigger than both our bags combined!!

The walk ran up through a valley with beautiful views of the mountain range we would be getting up close and personal with very soon.

The walk from the road to our base camp took 2 hours, the base camp sits at 4900 meters, this was higher than we had been to date and sleeping there was going to be hard work, and very cold!!

We setup camp and felt pretty good, with no signs of altitude sickness. The porter/cook cooked us a couple of good meals before the sun started to set and with it the drop in temperature!

'Base camp 4900m' if you can read what it says on my hand.

Our super tent with no holes in!!

After dinner we started to feel the effects of the altitude despite many cups of Coca tea! We took a few paracetamol and tried to get our heads down, as we had to be up at 1 am for the start of the summit expedition!

Several hours later.....

When we opened the zipper on the tent we were greeted by a thin layer of ice and our breath in the air..

After a quick breakfast at 1.30am we got in to our gear and headed off for the glacier.

It was a 20 minute walk to the glacier, but the full moon meant we could walk without torches in the moon light. The rock faces we 'free climbed' (with ski-like boots on) to get to glacier were crazy, I would not normally climb this sort of stuff but it felt ok on this night, normal for some reason...

We got to the glacier for about 2.30 and it was time to all get roped together, get the crampons on, and of cause get our ice axes!!!

It was then time to start our ascent, so we waited for our instruction from the guide on what to do and how to use our equipment.... however unfortunately he just ran up the first very steep part of the glacier and shouted "Vamos" (Lets go in Spanish). The start of the walk was difficult and we struggled a bit with the technique, but there is not really a lot to it and we were ok after 10 or 15 minutes.

The walk to the summit was to take 4-5 hours and we should arrive for sun rise. Walking on the ice and inclines was very hard, and the higher and higher we got, the less and less oxygen there was in the air. Each step began to feel like you had someone on your back. The walk was spectacular with the moon illuminating the glacier for us to follow and the distant lights of little towns. We could not get many pictures on the way up as the camera could not deal with the light conditions. 

The journey up the mountain was like a roller coaster of emotions one minute you felt on top of the world and the grin from ear to ear could not be shaken, then 10 minutes later you felt like you could not breathe and wanted it to stop, in your mind wondering if this was the start of altitude that would stop our ascent...

The last push for the summit saw us have to climb a 10 meter high 45 degree wall of ice, this required full body effort for a non technical beginner. Every step required you to kick in to the ice with your crampon then dig your ice axe in to the wall and repeat the process, at this point we were sitting around 5600 meters so it was an ordeal.

After this climb we were sat on a ridge that we needed to climb, either side of the ridge was a drop that would cause us a serious problem, the guide told us we had to be careful "great!" I thought.

Now, I (James) really don't like heights so this was a real mental challenge. As those who have issues with heights know your legs go to jelly first, so each step I would dig my axe in to the ice two or three times to make sure it gripped properly before I moved my feet. It felt like life or death- ensuring the crampon bit in to the ice. If anyone has seen the movie "Touching the Void" this is all that was going through my mind for 15 minutes!

However, after what seemed like a life time we got to flatter ice and the final push for the summit.

Sarah in the distance

We finally reached the summit at almost precisely 6 am for sun rise, we were the first there out of 5 teams, which was pretty impressive for two beginners.

Frio Sarah???

We only had five or ten minutes at the summit as it was about -10 degrees, the water in our bottles was frozen and so were we. The view across the Cordillera Blanca was amazing and so peaceful and beautiful at this time of the morning.

However now this meant only one thing....we had to tackle the ridge and ice wall again!! Not something I was looking forward to at all.

The wall of death

Coming down the ice wall backwards was hard and I was first followed by Sarah, with some words of encouragement we got down with little problem. It was at this point we started encountering the other teams heading to the summit, and started to see the beautiful glacial formations in the day light.

The ridge

The remainder of the descent was quick apart from photo stops which were regular.

We finally stepped off the glacier and back on to firm ground at 9 am, 6 hours after our adventure began.

Looking back up at our first glimpse of the glacier

The glacier here is retreating by 1 - 5 meters per year. It has a long time left yet, but its sad to think one day people wont be able to enjoy this magical place.

I (James) came off the glacier exhausted and not sure that this extreme form of mountaineering was for me, but since I have looked at our pics and thought a little more about it I think it may be a new sport of choice. Sarah is fully converted too!

I have heard of a mountain in Bolivia that's 6088 meters :-) and suitable for beginners....onwards and upwards I suppose.