Huarez: Day 1

With Abby on spring break from school, we're taking some time and getting out of Lima for a few days! We hopped on a Cruz Del Sur bus late last night and woke up in the Huarez region. Well, more accurately we woke up many times between the two but overall the bus was a good way to get here and we were both surprised at how much sleep we did actually get.

As soon as we got off the bus in Huarez there were guys looking to sell us tours. We probably made a mistake by going this route but we did get a 5am tour to Lagunda 69 which by all accounts is a beautiful but challenging hike. So the tour guys shuffled is into a cab, promising us a ride to Lazy Dog Inn, our hotel for the next few night but first they brought us to a hostel and tried to upsell us on everything tour related. 3 day tour, 4 day tour, bus tickets back to Lima for the end of our stay? We declined all but the one day tour and they grudgingly took our money. But that's how we met the grumpy cab driver.

The first cab driver that had a nice, new, clean car. He explained that he was calling his "friend" to bring us to Lazy Dog Inn because his friend knew the area better. Of course when the friend showed up he totally balked at the price the original guy had quoted. And his car was in no way clean. And about half the size of the first car we had hired. Total bait and switch. But we followed through, agreed on a compromised rate and were on our way. Kinda.

The second cab driver was not happy. He was grumpy that he had to drive so far, and that we didn't want to pay what he was asking. But we bumped along in his rickety car. Until we got to a hill he couldn't maneuver so he instructed us to get out and push. We did. We bumped along a little further. And got stuck again, but Mr. Grumpy was much more upbeat and told us the Inn was just across a field. So we grabbed our gear and headed off into the field... The distance was very much underestimated. But after about 30 minutes of trudging through fields, saying hello to local people as we plodded through their backyards and avoiding the upset dogs, we finally found the Lazy Dog Inn!

After all that fun and the interrupted sleep we happily jumped into the waiting beds for a couple hours of better sleep. Not ones to miss the whole day, we eventually resurrected ourselves to enjoy some tea, books and exploring the internet to make sure I won't be too disconnected from my work project next week.

We also got a nice walk to watch the sun set against the mountains and catch some good photos.

More to come as our adventure unfolds!