Huaraz: 3091m (10,141ft)

So we learned as much about where not to stay as we did about where to stay in Huaraz. Where not to stay: Hotel Copa on Av. Simon Bolivar (some rooms were more like caves, and one of the cleaning boys was unsuccesful in his bid to steal a camera), and Hotel Piramide across the plaza from Casa de Guias (our bag locks were tampered with when we returned from Pisco). Where to stay: Hostal Quintana- cost less than half as much as either of the other places (S/15 per person), safe place to store luggage, and the family who ran the place bent over backwards to help us.

We had better luck finding good food- there are many great places to eat in Huaraz. Our favorite was Siam de Los Andes, a Thai restaraunt at the corner of Gamarra and Julian de Morales. The food is outstanding, and the owner Naresuan is a really great guy. For breakfast (and good dinners as well) try Bistro de Los Andes. El Querubin was our favorite place for a late lunch of Tamales and Avacado salad, and Creperie Patrick was a good breakfast spot as well. For your evening coffie or tea and a good book to read, try Cafe Andino- assuming the owner isn't out climbing, that is. You can buy all of the food you need for a climb or trek (with the exception of peanut butter, chocolate and power bars) at the main Market which is on De la Cruz Romero just south of Raymondi.

Catch the colectivos for your ride up to the hills at the bridge over Rio Quilcay on Av. Fiztcarrald and also nearby on Caraz 1/2 block east of Fiztcarrald. We paid S/3 to get to Yungay, then S/8 more to Pisco trailhead, and a total of S/10 to return to Huaraz. For our Alpamayo climb we paid S/3.5 to Caraz, S/3 to Cashapampa in the back of a truck, and S/10 for our return to Huaraz.

We arainged our Santa Cruz trek with JM Expeditions, which we initially thought to be the Casa de Guias in a case of confused directions (their office is near Casa de Guias). The total cost for 9 people for 5 days was $595, and included: the services the cook, his helper, an arriero and six mules for six days, a cook tent and necessary cook equipment, a sleeping tent for the arriero, transportation from Huaraz to Cashapampa and transportation from Vaqueria to Huaraz. We paid an additional S/1000 for the food. All totaled it came to right around $100 per person for the trip. The one part of the trip which I thought was over priced was the transportation- we paid $65 each way for a private van, which came out to $14 per person, about twice what we would have paid taking colectivos.

This ticket from OLVA Courier was about the most beutiful thing I have seen in my life when we returned from our Santa Cruz trek. In our rush to leave Cusco I had left one of my bags at Hostal Loreto with my climbing boots, helmet and axes in it. The next day after running around all day prepairing for our trek, I returned to Hotel Copa to find an urgent message: "Llame' su mama!!"- Call Mom! Mom had spent most of the day trying to figure out how to get my bag from Cusco to Huaraz. By the time I called, she had hooked up with Miluska, who had shown her to the local office for the OLVA courier service. So I told her the address of Hotel Copa where I was staying and left for our Santa Cruz trek. When I returned, the clerk had this ticket for me, and informed me that my bag had been put in storage with our others- and so it was! Yay!

This is the entrance ticket to Parque Nacional Huascaran, which we purchased at the Llanganuco entrance. The S/65 fee is good for three months. When entering or leaving the park, have this ticket and a copy of your passport handy, as you will need to sign your life away each time you enter or leave. In addition to this fee, we also had to pay S/2 at Cashapampa when we entered there.

Our climbing guide on Alpamayo was Rolfe Oostra, of Austrailia. We first heard about Rolfe and his partner Dave Clinton from a South African couple that we met at Bistro de los Andes the night we arrived in Huaraz. Rolfe and Dave run a guiding business in the Cordillera Blanca during the climbing season from May through August. Both are known to the local guiding comunity and to some of the international guides who work in the CB. Rolfe was a strong and talented climber, and I would recomend his services. His rate was $30/person/day. You can contact Rolfe via e-mail at rolfemarni@hotmail.com or Dave at dave_clinton@hotmail.com