Lares Valley Trekking - Day 3 - Huilloc

Harry Potter 7 Part 2 opens today at home!

We woke up at 6 again to some nice warm tea, as with the last couple of days. Persie slept right through it...after a breakfast of tortillas (eggs with peppers and potatoes...very yummy!) and bread and jams, we headed off on our biggest hiking day of the four on this trip.

We started climbing immediately, hiking along the side of a ridge and then right into a high valley. We noticed as we were walking by the town that there were a number of other groups camped in different spots. One of them was leaving at just about the same time as us...they were either Australian or New Zealanders, but we couldn't tell from their accents. As it turned out we passed each other a number of times during the hike...it made for some fun back and forth, particularly since one was wearing a Yankees hat and one a Red Sox hat! We made it to a first relatively flat spot after a bit and enjoyed great views as we rested and hiked. Alex was really struggling with a sore throat so we stopped regularly to get him some additional rest. We kept climbing through the valley and the views just kept getting better. Eventually Alex tired out enough that he got on a horse, and soon thereafter so did Persie. Before we knew it, we were looking at the last climb to the pass which was at an altitude of 4600 m (15092 ft)! We completed that bit and had a spectacular views in both directions, but particularly towards Mt. Veronica, which was in the clear for a few minutes after we got there.

We rested and enjoyed the views and took some pictures, the headed down to our lunch spot, which took us about 40 minutes to reach. This was an enjoyable hike that went gradually down over grassy fields. Lunch was chicken soup and then chicken with gravy and rice...Alex the chef did it again!

After lunch we continued our hike down the valley. We walked along the edge of the mountains for a good two hours and finally ended up at our campsite for the night on the other side of a pretty little town at the end of the next valley (just past Pantacancha). Dylan had a continuous spewing of words from his mouth for the whole afternoon hike and kept his brother and sister well entertained...thanks D!

After a good nap, we played another game of May I, which Dylan won AGAIN, then dinner (spaghetti, which was enjoyed by all...especially the kids). It was early to bed again to get ready for the hike out to Ollantaytambo in the morning.