Nestled breathlessly high in the Andes, the town of Huaraz is the home base for most people before they venture out into the Cordillera Blanca. Haven’t heard of the Cordillera Blanca? Join the club.
We were already backpacking through South America for 3 months and hadn’t heard of the Cordillera Blanca, until a chance conversation in our Cusco hostel. The backpacker in question told us all about a tiny mountain town and a hike to a crystal clear lake, with none of the crowds of Machu Picchu. After a quick search we were in.
The Cordillera Blanca is a mountain range that is part of the larger Andes running through Peru. There are plenty of treks available in the area, ranging anywhere from half a day to two weeks. The majority of people who head to Huaraz are there to visit Laguna 69 or to embark on the Huayhuash or Santa Cruz trek.
We headed to Huaraz specifically to visit Laguna 69, an eerily blue lake 4600 metres above sea level. The glacier fed lake is one of the more than 400 lakes that form part of the Huascarán National Park, a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve and World Heritage Site.
The town of Huaraz itself is a mix of authentic Peru and touristic. That can probably be said for a lot of towns in Peru though. The main hub for the numerous small towns and villages in the mountains, Huaraz is bustling with locals making their way in from the surrounding areas to visit the markets and meet up with friends. With the tourists rolling through for the treks, Huaraz gets fairly poppin’. There are the usual tourist town western restaurants offering everything from pizza and pasta to steak and seafood, but you can still find Peruvian food if you look hard enough.
Depending on how altitude affects you and your level of fitness, the Laguna 69 hike can be difficult, (or extremely difficult). The altitude wasn’t an issue for me in Bolivia or elsewhere in Peru. But, I was short of breath in Huaraz, and even more so on the hike to Laguna 69. Makes sense, seeing as Huaraz is 3000m above sea level. Most people arriving in Huaraz are coming from Lima with a measly 200 metres of elevation, so it makes sense that you need to take some time to acclimatize before rushing off into the mountains for a trek.
We gave ourselves a day in Huaraz to acclimatize from Lima before we set out for Laguna 69, but it definitely wasn’t enough. I struggled on the hike, and if I was to do it again I would spend an extra day in Huaraz before heading out on any treks. The altitude headache/nausea is realllll.
From Huaraz there are a couple different options to reach the starting point of the hike. It’s a 2-2 1/2 hour drive from town, so it’s a VERY early morning start no matter how you decide to get there.
Collectivos (those fancy white vans you see putting about) leave Simon Bolivar for Yungay, the first stop on your Laguna 69 adventure, with the first run leaving around 5:30 am. The pickup location is about a block from the long distance buses (ask a local, they’ll point it out to you). If you’re hoping to do public transit to Laguna 69 and back, you’ll need to get the first collectivo leaving Huaraz.
From Yungay you either need to get another collectivo or take a taxi to the Laguna 69 entrance. It should be about 20 sol from Yungay to the Laguna 69 drop off.
Here’s where the not so fun part of the Laguna 69 public transit route comes in. The last collectivo back into Yungay goes past the drop off around 3. So to make the last collectivo, you would really have to hustle up and down, and it doesn’t leave a whole lot of time to actually check out Laguna 69. Also, with public transit leaving around the same time as the first tours, and it ends up being about the same price.
If you miss the last public collectivo leaving Laguna 69, there’s the option of hopping on one of the waiting tour buses. It’s obviously not a guaranteed thing that there will be spots available on the buses though. However, if it’s any help, on our way back down the mountain from Laguna 69 we were offered seats on a bus back to Huaraz by three different guides.
Group tours leave from Huaraz between 5-6 in the morning, and make two stops, one for breakfast and one at another lake, before you reach the starting point. The tours are between 35-45 sols, and the transport ranges from mini vans to large tour buses, with as many as 30 people to a group.
Since we had met back up with Jen and Brandon, our travel friend-mance from Rio, our transport options were a bit more open. We tossed around the idea of getting a collectivo in the morning and hopping on one of the tour buses to get back into town.
However after reading a few accounts online of people waiting hours for the rest of their group to return to the vans before they could leave, we decided to scrap having to get a group bus altogether. (These accounts are definitely legitimate, we passed people when we were basically back at the bottom, who were part of the tour groups that were already at the top).
We ultimately decided to get a cab to Laguna 69, and prayed he would wait for us and bring us back into town. We had arranged a pick up with a taxi driver the evening before for 150 sols return, but he either showed up way after our agreed on 4:30 am pickup or didn’t show up at all, the morning of. We waited around for him for about 45 minutes while the tour buses all pulled up and pulled out, but nadda.
Luckily, there are lots of cabs driving around at 5 in the morning. We flagged down one and negotiated for 180 sols, which was a bit more expensive than the van would have been, but, totally worth it when we were able to head back into Huaraz immediately after finishing the hike versus having to wait for the others in the van.
The taxi we got into actually broke down before we managed to make it out of the city, but thankfully he called someone else to come pick us up from the outskirts of town. Third time’s the charm, right?
When we reached the entrance to Laguna 69 we paid our 30 sol entrance fee and scurried off, hoping to beat the tour group crowds.
The Laguna 69 hike begins in the most picturesque setting possible, walking along a small river through the waterfall strewn valley, surrounded by rolling hills of green with the Andes looming above. We quickly made our way through the lush fields after a quick visit with the locals (look at those cute calves) and towards the base of the climb.
It’s a 12 km round trip hike to Laguna 69, with an 800 metre elevation gain. The 800 metre gain itself wouldn’t be the worst, if you weren’t already 3800m above sea level to begin. That’s only 1500m below Mount Everest base camp. That’s crazy. This is REALLY why you should spend at least a day (or two), in Huaraz acclimatizing before you head out. Your head and stomach will thank you.
In the beginning the Laguna 69 hike wasn’t overly difficult. It starts with a gradual uphill stroll, and we were all prematurely patting ourselves on the backs for being such great hikers. HA. Once we hit the first switchbacks things got uncomfortable. It got to the point where we were stopping at each corner and resting for a few minutes to try to catch our breath.
After 45 minutes of this and with absolutely pounding heads, we made it to the top. Not before being lapped by a couple of braggarts in sandals, who were actually running the last few switchbacks to get to the lake and spent the entire time at the lake screaming. But anyways, won’t get into that…
Laguna 69 itself was breathtaking. I always assume that places aren’t going to live up to their photos, the rose coloured glasses traveller bloggers look through tend to be EXTREMELY rosy. But, Laguna 69 ended up being just as stunningly beautiful in person as it was in photos. I mean, look at that water, that shade of blue is absolutely ridiculous. Our hike up had been fairly grey with a smattering of rain, but we lucked up and the skies entirely cleared off and the sun finally came out, just as we made it to the lake. We spent about an hour at the top taking photos and a well deserved breathing break before we headed back down.
We took the night bus from Lima. We went with Movil Tours, a company that we used a few times in Peru. The overnight bus from Lima to Huaraz was around 7 hours. There’s a couple different companies that go to Huaraz, however different companies have different stations. Do a bit of research online first, most of the companies have their schedules listed.
From Huaraz it was about 8 hours on the overnight bus to Trujillo, the closest centre to Huanchacho. The overnight buses do fill up, so we booked ours the night before we were leaving. From the Trujillo bus station it’s a short 10 minute cab that’s about 25 sols.
Photo Credit – Akilpo Hostel
A large hostel conveniently located directly across the road from the market. There’s a huge common room attached to the kitchen that everyone congregates in, making it easy to meet people if you want some friends to hike with. Akilpo has a very well equipped kitchen, however since there was so many people staying there, it got extremely busy in the evenings.
There’s another kitchen off of the main common area, which seemed to be a grey area as to whether it was off limits or not. While we were there they were in the process of building another floor of rooms, so the second kitchen would definitely come in handy. Also, the gas is shut off until 7 am, which is unfortunate if you’re fiending for a coffee before that 5 am hiking departure.
We stayed at Akilpo because of the kitchen facilities and the market being a stones throw away. We made dinner the two nights we were staying in Huaraz, so I don’t have a whole lot of info to give on restaurants in Huaraz. Here’s the few places we sampled though!
Small shake/juice cafe. We got juice and some banana bread to go while we were exploring the town.
An organic market that seems to stick out a little in it’s surroundings, but it was the best find in Huaraz. We stocked up on some nut butters, and they had everything we needed to make up some trail mix for our hike.
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