It still felt surreal to be having an experience like this and of course, I did what I could to make the most of my short time in Huancayo. While there isn’t a whole lot of things to do in my area, and since Machu Picchu was way too far, we decided on this lovely spot a couple hours drive from our city. After spending some time trying to get acclimated to the high altitude, we asked our host to help us arrange a weekend excursion at Huaytapallana.
We left at 08:15 in the morning and drove up unpaved roads, mimicking that bumpy Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland. Even though it was a bit late in the morning, we were met with thick blankets of fog that hovered the roads. Every now and then we would see random animals and farms and seemingly abandoned houses. As we approached the entrance, we were met with a slight drizzle, and yes, it was extremely cold as well.
I didn’t realize it, but as high up as we were in Huancayo, we were higher up in Huaytapallana. Just a few steps on a flat road left me breathless and as you can imagine, the 1.5 hour trek up the mountain left me questioning my decision to even do the hike in the first place. Completely by ourselves, we trekked cliffs and walked alongside clouds of fog. We passed by cows grazing at the top of a resting spot and two hours into the hike, we finally got to see some snow capped mountains and the turquoise Huaytapalla lakes. Soon after that, we met the final destination, the glaciers.
We had our packed lunch of ham and cheese sandwiches, trail mix, crackers, and water as we sat gazing up at these white covered cliffs. At that moment, as difficult as it was to endure the hike up to that point, I was extremely satisfied with the views that we were met with.
I couldn’t really believe it, but I think I would still do it all over again.