TRAVELING TO THE MOUTAINS...DAY 1

Back in May, my fiance, Daniel, and I went to the city of Huaraz (wha-RAS) which is in the Ancash (AHN-kahsh) department. We were originally planning on going to Cuzco to see Machu Picchu and all that other good stuff but traveling there is much more expensive when you're a foreigner and if you haven't paid a lot of money to book a tour, then trying to save money by reserving things on your own can be hell. Enough digressing...

Ancash is a "state" north of Lima situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Marañon River. Its capital is Huaraz which is 3,090 meters above sea level (10,138 ft). Huaraz is found in the Callejón de Huaylas,(kah-yeh-HONE deh WHY-las) which I guess could be translated to Huaylas Valley. This valley is situated between the Cordillera Blanca and Cordillera Negra, (kor-dee-YEH-rah BLAHN-kah/NEH-grah) which means the white mountain range, as this side has snow covered peaks and the black mountain range, no snow at all. The Cordillera Negra is closest to the Ocean and therefore protects the Cordillera Blanca from any possible winds that might threaten to melt the mountain peaks. Tourism isn't extremely popular here when compared to Cuzco, but tourists still go and are captivated by the beautiful landscapes the Peruvian mountains have to offer. 

My grandmother is from Ancash. She's from a city called Caraz (kah-RAS) just 66 km (41 miles) north of Huaraz. She's always talked to me about Ancash and since my plans to go to Cuzco had been ruined, I decided to get to know the place she came from. In addition to that, I just wanted to go anywhere outside of Lima where I could see blue skies and breathe fresh air. 

HOW TO GET THERE.

There are two forms of transportation to Huaraz. By bus and by plane. My boss told me about LC Busre airlines. I believe it's the only airline that goes to Huaraz. The tickets are a little expensive because to fly within Peru the tickets are usually less than $90 for a round-trip flight, tax included for a Peruvian citizen or resident. The cheapest LC Busre tickets are $130-170 with tax and the flight takes an hour as opposed to an almost 10 hour bus ride. I don't mind traveling by bus because you can see the scenery during the day but I wanted to save time. 


Our flight was scheduled to leave at 810 a.m. so we got up at 5 a.m. because we wanted to be there a least 90 minutes before the flight left. We've had plenty of trouble with airlines not letting us on because we showed up at check-in 50 minutes before the flight left. Where I live, it's a little difficult to get a taxi from the street really early in the morning because the main avenue is a few blocks away so make sure when you travel early in the morning, you either call a taxi service the night before or have plenty of time to walk over to the main streets where you can find a taxi. Since there was no traffic, we managed to get there in exactly 30 minutes. We checked in and went upstairs to go through security. At Jorge Chavez Airport, both national and international outgoing flights go to the same area upstairs to go through security and take their flights. The line was somewhat long but it moved pretty quickly. According to my fiance, Peru's great at getting you through security when you're leaving because it's how he manages to catch his flight just in the nick of time since he's almost always running late. What can I say? No one likes leaving me :P If you have a navel ring, I suggest you take it off as well when you go through the metal detector because they'll make you take your sandals off the second time you go through. 

A bus came over to our gate to take us to the plane. It was a jet plane and since there were a few empty seats, we sat where we wanted. Each seat had a small snack box which contained a juice box, some saltine crackers, a chocolate bar and ear plugs. Within less than 10 minutes we were off on our journey. When we were about 15 minutes away from landing, the Cordillera Blanca became visible. The mountain range was beautiful but I honestly think it must have looked much more beautiful in the past when there was more snow. 

Anta Airport. Looks like a small house from here.

The airport was really small and it didn't take long for us to get our things. There are big, clean bathrooms and a small "café." I hadn't planned anything besides the flight so when we walked out of the airport, we didn't know where to go. The plane actually lands in Anta, a small village in the Carhuaz (kar-WHAS) Province. There were a few taxis outside but we had no idea how much they charged and they kind of ignored us since we didn't look like "gringos." I asked an airport employee how I could get to Huaraz and he told me to walk over to the street and cross the road, which is where I took this picture from, so I could take a bus. He told me the bus fare was S/2.50 each and that the bus ride took about 30 minutes. We followed his directions and a slightly bigger micro bus came within a few minutes. On the bus there were a lot of provincianos (proh-veen-SEEAH-nohs), people from provinces that are usually dressed in traditional clothing. 

When we finally got to our stop, we weren't sure of where we were. I asked a couple of people before we got off just to make sure. We were at a bus stop and everything around us looked dirty. I had thought it wasn't going to be hard to find a hotel in Huaraz. Most places with a lot of tourism have streets filled with hotels and hostels. I asked a woman where I could find a cheap hostal (oh-STAHL: hostel) and she pointed to an area that didn't give me a good vibe. Luckily, I had internet on my phone so I decided to look up something on the internet. We walked around looking for a locutorio (low-koo-TOR-eeoh: a phone booth shop) to call the hostels I had found on the internet. I'm terrible at understanding directions over the phone when I don't know an area and somehow we ended up taking a mototaxi (moh-toh-taxi) to one of the places. Danny, being the bright apple that he is, wanted to put our bags in the back of the taxi. I swear, you would have thought he would have learned how to be careful by now as many times as he's been here. I wanted to smack him. Mototaxis are really tiny but we had no other choice but to carry our bags with us in the taxi because someone could have easily stolen our bags. Just because you're in the country doesn't mean you're safe. We took the taxi to a church and started looking for the hostels we had called when we got out. A man saw us standing around and approached us, asking us if we were looking for somewhere to stay. We asked him for directions and he told us that the hostels were just around the corner but that they were probably full and he had a hostel close by we could stay at, at a good price. I wanted to check out the other hostels before I went with him to compare our options. We ended up taking a taxi over to his hostel because one hostel was packed and the other was S/70 a night and it wasn't all that nice. He offered us the room for 30 sols a night even though on the wall it said S/40. We went upstairs to see our room on the fourth floor and it had a wonderful view of the Cordillera Blanca. The room wasn't bad. It had a dresser, a nice bathroom, tv, and a decent bed. We figured it was good enough for at least that one night because we didn't feel like carrying our bags around anymore. We went back downstairs to finish checking in and he ended up talking to us about the different tours we could take since he also worked with a tour company. He wanted to charge us 120 sols each for three tours. Almost everything is negotiable in Peru, so he ended up giving us the three tours for S/110 each. We were scheduled to go to Laguna Llanganuco (lah-GOO-nah yeeahn-gaah-NOOH-koh: Llanganuco Lagoon), the Chavin de Huantar Ruins (chaah-VEEN deh WAHN-tar), Nevado Pastoruri (neh-VAH-doh pahs-tor-RU-ree: Pastoruri Glacier). We headed up to our room to get settled. Anytime you go to a place that has a much higher altitude than what you're used to, it's important to take it easy the first day you're there so you acclimate.

View of the Cordillera Blanca. It looks better in person.

Once we put our stuff away, we passed out as soon as we laid on the bed. We hadn't got much sleep the night before. Late in the afternoon when we finally woke up, we walked around a little to explore the city. We didn't want to stray too far from the hostel because we weren't exactly sure where we were. It took about two days to realize that we were only 3 or 4 blocks away from the main square and the main street in Huaraz, Av. Toribio de Luzuriaga (loose-oo-REEAH-gaah). It's Av. Luzuriaga for short. Our receptionist had told us at check-in, to be ready by 8 a.m. the next day for our first tour, Laguna Llanganuco. So we went to sleep before midnight.

ARRIVING IN LIMA....HOW TO GET AROUND

For first time travelers in Lima, it can turn out to be the experience of a lifetime or one you'll somewhat regret because of complications during your trip.

You'll first arrive at Jorge Chavez Airport in El Callao (pronounced kah-YAOW). It's a bit overwhelming because once you go through customs and walk out of the door, you'll see a large crowd of people waiting for their loved ones and  there will  be many people in the front holding up name cards of people they're there to pick up. I remember when I first arrived I was so confused. I couldn't see my family but I just kept walking like I knew where I was going :P You can exchange your money at a small exchange desk that's directly in front of the door from which you come out of. I'm not sure how many feet away it is but just keep walking straight and you should get to it in about a minute. It's close to the escalator you see in the picture. If you have no one waiting for you, then as soon as you walk out of the door, you can walk to the exit doors directly to your right so you avoid the crowd.


NEED TRANSPORTATION FROM THE AIRPORT? YOU HAVE A FEW OPTIONS:

• Take a taxi directly from the airport. Those guys are right outside the airport exit doors and they have prices posted on a board that tell you the fares for each district. It's also much safer to go with them. However, they tend to charge you 10 or more sols (that's the currency here) than a taxi driver from the street would. 

• If you're trying to save some money, then you can walk out of the airport and walk towards the street. Just turn to the right and follow the sidewalk until you get to the airport entrance.You can use the luggage cart thing most of the way but you can't take it out of airport property which means you will have to carry your bags for about less than two minutes to the bus stop that's on your right. If you're confused now, don't worry because as soon as you pick your bags up to start walking, some men are probably going to walk towards you or they may even already be there asking you "taxi? taxi?" They'll also help you carry your bags. 

• If you're a backpacker and you're REALLY trying to save as much as possible, then you can always take a bus from outside the airport entrance as well. Most tourists stay in Miraflores. There's this one combi (KOHM-bee), a small bus, I know of that you can take. It's mostly white and red with some black. If you have any doubts about where the bus is going, just ask the cobrador (koh-brah-DORE) the person charging you the bus fare, and he'll tell you. The last time I went, the fare was S/2.50 to Miraflores. These buses are tiny so it may be a little uncomfortable but they get you to Miraflores in about less than 30 minutes early in the morning. I've never taken one at night.

*NOTE: You can always negotiate the price of the taxi fare with the street taxi drivers. The fee they tell you initially is usually slightly higher because if you're willing to pay it, then it's better for them but if not then you can always get him to bring it down to the normal fare. Taxi fares are a little more expensive during rush hour times. To have an idea of what the normal fare is, ask a few taxis before you decide to get into one. You can even ask the airport employees that are at the airport entrance preventing you from taking the luggage carts before you go to the taxi/bus stop area. Whatever taxi you take, make sure to put any valuable bags/purses that you take with you in the front, on the floor as a precaution. Some people will break windows to steal your things. I'm not saying it always happens but it's better to be safe than sorry.

Once you begin taking street taxis it's EXTREMELY important that you ALWAYS ask how much the fare for a taxi is going to be before you get in it. Foreigners usually get charged much more because they are thought to have lots of money. I can not stress how important it is to have a general idea of what the normal fare is. I went on vacation two months ago to the mountains and two tourists got charged 60 soles to be taken to the airport when the original fare was only 20. Also make sure you give them some sort of reference to a main street and tell them which block it's on or close to. If you don't know or you forgot to ask the receptionist from the hotel or hostel you're going to be staying at, then look up the address here. Even if you DO know the address, it's always nice to have an idea of where you're going.

To get a map for an address in Lima, just follow these simple steps.

1. Select the name of the district you're going to in "Buscar en."

2. Type in the street name where it says "Calle." Don't forget to include whether it's an Av (Avenida), Jr (Jiron), Ca (Calle), Psje (Pasaje).

3. Type in the block number where it says "Cuadra."

4. Click on "Buscar" and you should have a list of addresses appear underneath.

5. Click on the one that best applies to you. A map will appear on the right.

So just to be clear. If you need to get to Av. Arequipa 4736, then type in the following information like so. I can now tell my taxi driver that I need to get to the 47th block of Arequipa and that it's close to Av. Angamos.

Street taxis can be a little dangerous in Lima, so if you don't feel comfortable just getting into any taxi then you can call a taxi company for one. Two common companies are Taxi Seguro and Taxi Satelital. I believe both of those taxi companies have small vehicles enough for two people with three or four suitcases depending on the size. If you need a bigger vehicle then please look at the previous link. They usually charge 60 soles or more depending on how many people they need to pick up.

Most tourists choose to stay in safer districts such as Miraflores and San Isidro. In some cases, Barranco, San Borja and Surco are also potential options. San Borja is about 30 minutes from the airport without traffic. With traffic, it can be more than an hour. The cheapest taxi fare from the airport to San Borja is 25 soles.
I assume going to San Isidro is between 25-30 soles and to Miraflores it should be between 25-35 depending on where you want to go. I'm sure you can find it even cheaper though. Taxi drivers tend to charge a little more for Miraflores and San Isidro because "rich" people live there or stay there.








USEFUL PHRASES:

IN THE TAXI.

Buenos dias/buenas tardes/buenas noches ¿Cuánto me cobra a la cuadra (20) de (Arequipa)?
Good morning/afternoon/evening. How much will you charge me to block 20 of Arequipa? 

Está cerca de....
It's close to...

Nada menos?
Nothing less?

______________________________________________________________________________________
ON THE BUS.

¿Va a ....(Miraflores)?
Do you go to...(Miraflores)?


Me avisas por favor
Let me know when we're there please.

¿A (San Borja) cuánto?
How much is it to San Borja? 


¿A que parte de..... (Angamos/San Isidro)?
Where exactly on (Angamos)?
Where exactly in (San Isidro)? 

______________________________________________________________________________________
IN THE STREET.

Disculpa, usted sabe cuánto es de aqui hasta (el centro de Lima) en carro/taxi?
Excuse me, do you know how much it is from here to (Downtown Lima) by bus/taxi?


Una consulta, usted sabe que carro tengo que tomar para ir a .....(Barranco)?
Quick question, do you know which bus I have to take to get to....(Barranco)?