Pit Stop in Costa Rica

We'd decided to finish our time in Latin America with a stop in Costa Rica as a bit of a “vacation” from our sometimes hectic and strenuous South America backpacking. On April 21st, almost six months after arriving in Santiago Chile, we hopped on a flight from Lima Peru to San Jose Costa Rica.

We had a rental car waiting for us at the airport, and quickly headed southwest to Dominical on the Pacific coast. About 18 months earlier we had visited Dominical and purchased a small piece of property. It was just an empty lot and would be for some time, but we were looking forward to getting back and visiting what would someday be our getaway from the long Yukon winters.

Sunset over the Pacific near Dominical.

Peru - Ausangate Trek

The final big trek of our year off was the one that had been on our wish list the longest – Ausangate. The trek winds around the mountain of the same name. Ausangate is the highest mountain in southern Peru at  20,945’ and is a sacred mountain or Apu, in Incan mythology.  When we visited Peru back in 2008 we heard about the hike just southeast of Cusco, but didn’t have the time to do it. We brought home a topo map though, and finally made it there in 2015.

We were rapidly running out of time, so we caught a flight from Huaraz to Lima, then another onto Cusco. We spent a day in Cusco buying food for the hike, then were up early the next morning to catch the 6:15 bus to the small town of Tinki, just over three hours away. This was the lowest point on the trek at 12,437’.

As the dirt road gently climbed out of Tinki, the houses thinned out and the rain started. A black dog hanging around the back of a house spotted us and began following us, then shortly after that, another dog joined us. Despite out best attempts to shoo them both away, we remained a foursome for the rest of the day.

We enjoyed a bit of sun in the afternoon, and managed to get our tent set up and cook dinner near the tiny village of Upis before the rain and darkness arrived. We completely ignored the two dogs’ hungry looks and figured the lack of food combined with the cold rain would discourage them from sticking around. We were half right.

The little village of Upis, with Nevado Ausangate in the distance.

Peru - Alpamayo Trek

 After completing the Santa Cruz trek we took a few days to clean up and relax before heading out again. It was also an opportunity to plan our last three weeks in Peru. Losing ten days to illness meant we wouldn’t be able to fit in everything we hoped to do, and in the end we decided to focus on trekking. This meant cutting out a second visit to Machu Picchu (we were there in 2008) as well as several other destinations. But given we were already fully acclimatized to the high elevation and in good hiking shape, and the undeniable fact that we weren’t getting any younger, this seemed like a good time to knock off two very difficult hikes we’d been talking about for years.

First up was the Alpamayo Base Camp trek. This is actually just north of the Santa Cruz trek we’d just completed, and is sometimes done in combination with it. We left Huaraz on the 7:00 AM bus and after an eight hour death defying ride back over to the east side of the Cordillera Blanca, we arrived in Pomabamba where we found a hostel and a good roast chicken dinner. The next morning we were up early again for a 6:00 AM collectivo ride up to the tiny village of Jancapampa where we started our hike. Just like the Santa Cruz trek, the Alpamayo runs west across the width of the Cordillera Blanca to Hualcayan, just north of the Santa Cruz endpoint of Cashapampa. It’s a much more difficult hike though.

Almost twice as long at about 90 kms, Alpamayo also includes five passes over 14,700’. Our starting point in Jancapampa was 11,500’ and this would be the lowest we’d be until we approached Hualcayan at the other end. From Jancapampa we wandered up the valley of the same name for a couple of hours until we reached the start of the serious climbing towards the Yanacon Pass at just over 15,000’. We stopped a couple of hours short of the pass as the inevitable afternoon rains came. We’d scheduled six days of hiking and an off day to cover the 90 kms, and our decision to finish the day shy of the pass meant we’d have to do two passes in one of our remaining days, or sacrifice our off day.

Looking up the Jancapampa valley.

Peru - Santa Cruz Trek

After our visit to the Ecuadorian cloud forest, the next item on our itinerary was way down in Huaraz Peru, reputedly the home of the best trekking in the world outside of the Himalayas. We had plans to meet our friend Ron in Huaraz and do some hiking together. We'd already spent a fair bit of time travelling north through Ecuador up to Quito, so we decided to head south as quickly as possible to maximize our trekking time in Peru. This did not end well.

First we caught a bus from Quito all the way down to Trujillo Peru. We left Quito at 6:00 PM on March 12th, and finally arrived in Trujillo at 2:00 AM on March 14th - thirty two hours later. After five hours sleep, we hung around Trujillo for the day before catching the first available bus to Huaraz leaving at 10:00 PM and arriving at 5:30 AM the next morning. A couple of hours later we were sharing coffee and breakfast with Ron with amazing views of the Cordillera Blanca, the world's highest tropical mountain range. This was the high point of our first ten days in Huaraz.

All that time on buses with very little sleep caught up to us. By that evening, I had a very sore throat. The next day a painful cough, fever and intermittent chills kicked in. The first three days were the worst, by which time Cyd began experiencing the same symptoms. We spent ten days in Huaraz before we both felt good enough to actually start hiking. With the patience of Buddha, Ron hung around the hostel day after day and ventured out for a meal with whoever felt up to it. He enquired about our health regularly, and never once checked the date on his watch while doing so. With only six weeks for his entire visit to Peru, Ron finally gave up after a full week of waiting, and miraculously made it out of town without catching our bug.

When we finally felt up to it, Cyd and I started by doing the Santa Cruz trek. It's the most popular trek in the area and being only a four day hike, was a relatively easy start after being sick. On the bright side, we were well prepared for the high elevations after acclimatising for ten days before starting to hike. The Santa Cruz trek is in the Parque Nacional Huascaran, about 50 kms long, with only one major pass to climb.

We caught two collectivos (minivans that in Canada would hold twelve passengers, but in South America hold an unlimited number), first to Yungay, then over the mountains to Vaqueria. By 10:30 AM, we were on the trail heading back in the direction we came. While parks in Peru prohibit industrial development, they continue to allow local residents to use the land. Every area we hiked in Peru was populated by horses, cows, and alpacas grazing in the alpine meadows.

After a short standoff, Cyd decided to take a detour off the trail.

Ecuador - Quito and the Santa Lucia Cloud Forest

Quito is the highest official capital city in the world at 2,800 metres and it's historic centre was one of the first two World Cultural Heritage Sites designated by UNESCO in 1978. It’s full of cobblestone streets, beautiful old churches, and historic squares that are still the social centres of the city. Due to our slightly convoluted itinerary, we ended up in Quito three different times - before and after our Galapagos trip, and then after our visit to the Ecuadorian cloud forest north of the city.

We stayed close to the historic centre each time, allowing us to hang out among the beautiful old buildings that make up what UNESCO considers the "largest, least-altered, and best-preserved historic center in the Americas." Many Latin American cities have beautiful colonial centres, but Quito's really tops the rest.

The Basilica del Vota Nacional.
460' long, 150' wide, and 377' high.

Ecuador - The Galapagos Islands

After a brief stopover in Quito, we caught a flight to Guayaquil, the largest city in Ecuador, then another to the Galapagos Islands, 1000 kilometres off the coast of Ecuador in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Many people chose to travel between the islands on small but expensive cruise boats as this is the most efficient way to see all the sites. We had only booked one night's stay in the largest town of Puerto Ayora - population 18,000 - to maintain our flexibility.

 Galapagos sea lions catching some rays.

Ecuador - Cuenca and the Quilotoa Loop

After Lake Titicaca in Bolivia, we wanted to skip over Peru and head to Ecuador. We have plans to do some big hikes in Peru, but wanted to leave them until later after the worst of the rainy season. In-country flights in South America are relatively cheap, but as soon as you start crossing borders the price rises quickly. So to save some money, we bussed just across the border to Juliaca Peru, caught a flight to Lima, then another flight the next morning to Tumbes in northern Peru before walking across the border into Ecuador. We then jumped on two more busses to make our way to Cuenca Ecuador. We had lunch in Copacabana Bolivia and three bus trips, three taxi rides, two flights, two border crossings and thirty six hours later we had a late night drink in Cuenca.

We had signed up for another week of Spanish lessons in Cuenca. Unfortunately, unlike our teacher in Chile, our Cuenca instructor left a lot to be desired, and the lessons were a waste of time and money. On the other hand, we had a great homestay arranged through the language school and really enjoyed staying with Elena in her lovely home overlooking the city. She pampered us during our time there and was very good at engaging us in conversations in clear and slowly spoken Spanish.

View over Cuenca from our homestay at Elena's.

Bolivia - Lake Titicaca and Isla del Sol

Our last destination in Bolivia was Lake Titicaca. When we went to Peru for a two week escape from the Yukon winter back in 2008, we didn't have time to visit. This made the lake, which lies between Peru and Bolivia, a must see destination this trip. At over 3,800 metres above sea level, and over 8400 square kilometres, Lake Titicaca is the largest high altitude lake in the world. It is also considered the birthplace of the Incan civilisation.

We bussed from La Paz to Copacabana, the most popular spot to visit on the Bolivian side of the lake. Copa has about 50,000 inhabitants and lots of accommodations and other services for tourists. It's quite a pleasant place to visit. We did well to book a suite at Las Olas Hostel up on the hill on the edge of town with fantastic views over the lake and the city.

The view of the Copacabana harbour from our hostel.

Northern Argentina and Bolivia

We originally bought tickets from Iguazu to Mendoza in Argentina with plans to bus north to Salta and then into northern Chile. After travelling all the way to Puerto Williams and spending 23 days backpacking in our first 2 months in South America, we were starting to feel pressed for time. So we changed our flights to take us directly to Salta, and decided to leave northern Chile for another trip. Many of the high elevation places we'd wanted to visit were in the middle of the rainy season when roads can become impassable, so it wasn't much of a loss.

We used Salta as a base for some multi day trips in the surrounding area. First we took a 4 hour bus trip west to the small town of Cachi for a couple of nights. The steep road switchbacked over the Cuesta del Obispo pass then ran through the Parque National Los Cardones. Los Cardones are the candelabra cactus, and they are the only substantive plants in the area. Outside the park, the large cactus are harvested and milled for lumber to make doors, window frames, furniture and even rafters. While in Cachi we did a 20 km day hike along back roads that ran through several smaller villages and ended with a tasting at one of the local wineries.

Next up was a few days in Cafayate, the second most important wine area in Argentina after Mendoza. Since we'd skipped Mendoza, it only seemed right to spend a bit of time in Cafayate and sample the local products. It was also just a half day bus trip from Salta through colourful canyons and rock formations. It's a beautiful little town with just the right amount of tourism infrastructure. Lots of places to stay, decent restaurants, and numerous wineries in the region sprinkled among the cactus and rocks.

After returning to Salta we headed a few hours north to the Quebrada de Humahuaca. The UNESCO listed Quebrada is a narrow and very dry valley with amazingly colourful mountains and small indigenous towns. We settled into Tilcara for three nights and explored the area.

The hills south of Tilcara.

Buenos Aires and Iguazu Falls

After bussing and boating well over 4000 kms south through Chile and Argentina we decided to splurge and fly back up north. First we took a rough zodiac ride across the Beagle Channel to Ushuaia, Argentina. From there we caught a flight to Buenos Aires via Trelew for a few days, then on to one of the most astounding places we have ever seen - Iguazu Falls.

We always try to avoid large cities or at least get through as quickly as possible, but everyone we talked to told us that Buenos Aires (known as BA) was worth a visit. We had to pass through on our way to Iguazu Falls, so we decided to stay for a bit and decide for ourselves.

Since we only had three days, we tried to fit all the "must do" BA activities into our short visit. We stayed in the historic San Telmo area of BA with its colonial architecture and narrow, cobblestone streets. We wandered along Avenida 9 de Julio - the widest street in the world at fourteen lanes, plus two parallel streets of two lanes each for a grand total of eighteen lanes. We even managed to cross it twice, although it took us two green lights to make it all the way across. 

Commemorating the 400th anniversary of the founding
of Buenos Aires in 1936, the Obelisco de Buenos Aires
is in the middle of Avenida 9 de Julio.

Patagonia - The Dientes de Navarino

We didn't go all the way to Puerto Williams and Isla de Navarino just so we could brag about visiting the southernmost town in the world. We also went to do the Dientes (Teeth) de Navarino hike just south of Puerto Williams. Although Scott and Amundsen would probably disagree, the Dientes is (of course) billed as the southernmost trek in the world. So we've got that to brag about as well.

The raw numbers don't really capture the essence of the hike. If you include the walks from Puerto Williams to the trailhead and from the end of the trail back to Puerto Williams, it's around 45 kilometres in length. The highest point is Paso Virginia at only 3,280', although the hike does start pretty much at sea level. We were only on the trail for 4 days, and only actually hiked 3 of those days. Despite the easy numbers,  sometime late in our second day of hiking, Cyd decided that the Dientes was the hardest hike we'd ever done. And that was before the last and hardest day.

The hike was easy enough at the start. After walking about 4 kms along the gravel road from town to the trailhead, we followed the popular day hike trail to the top of Cerro Bandero. To this point, the trail is well marked and maintained. As you continue past the huge Chilean flag waving at the top of Cerro Bandero, not so much.

Looking west down the Beagle Channel from the top
of Cerro Bandero. Argentina in the distance.