A little bit of excitement last night

We are at the beginning of the rainy season here at the base of Huascarán National Park. Prime hiking months are apparently June, July, and August when you get mostly clear blue skies. So while we do get some sunshine through the day, it is mostly cloudy and there is a good chance of a shower every day as well.

We are getting our bodies used to the fact that we are at 10,000 ft altitude. Most of the good hiking is upwards of 12,000 ft, so it is good to take a couple of days to get used to the thinner air.

Yesterday, we walked around town. We didn't keep track, but we probably did 10 kms (6 miles) overall, but most of it was fairly flat. Besides just seeing the layout of the city, we had to buy some supplies for our one week stay here. Can't be eating in restaurants all the time!

The view out our dining room window.

We did get some blue sky.

Anybody want to be a Peruvian electrician?

The city of Huaraz is about 100,000 people, but it has more of a large town feel to it. We are on the outskirts of the main part of the downtown area, and in fact we can find hiking trails not far from where we are. We can also easily walk about 15 minutes to the central area.

We were headed to the main market to do some grocery shopping. I didn't bring the big camera, so the following photos are all taken with the phone.

Garden made with old tires.

There are a lot of these little three wheeled taxis.

Statues in the park. Notice the big snow capped mountain in the background.

Lots of water running through town.

They've tried to pretty things up a bit.

The main drag.

Made it to the market!

Ruth, buying some veggies.

We bought some strawberries from this lady.

Cost for the 1/2 kilo bag all cut and cleaned was 1 sol (40 cents CAD, 30 cents USD)

I asked her if I could take her picture, and she smiled and said yes, but then she wouldn't look at the camera! Notice her hat. Many of the local indigenous women wear this type of hat. Some of them are really tall.

Speaking of tall, I think I am the tallest person in town. In fact, I think I would have no problem making the Peruvian basketball team. 

We dropped off our purchases at home, then we had a late lunch out again.

This time, it was 6 soles ($2.40 CAD, $1.80 USD) each for a tossed salad, a plate of rice, french fries, and a chunk of beef ribs. We can't make lunch ourselves for that price, so we will likely eat lunches out all the time!

We walked back downtown taking a different route. The plan was to go to an ATM and get some more cash, but we got there and realized that neither one of us had our bank cards with us! Ruth had her Visa card and ID (they always ask for ID when you use a credit card around here) with her though, so we went and bought some booze and a jug of water.

Beer is reasonable here, and so is wine, but it's not dirt cheap. Liquor is dirt cheap though! I bought a bottle of VAT 69 Scotch for 22 soles ($8.65 CAD, $6.60 USD). 

A new cathedral is being built, but it looked like there was no actual work going on for quite a while

Fancy copper entrance doors to the new Cathedral.

Ruth, with a dressed up alpaca.

Even Ruth is tall here!

This was in the central plaza, and we gave the lady 1 sol (40 cents CAD, 30 cents US) for the photo op.

We had had enough for the day, so made it back home by 4:00pm or so. I had a nap for an hour. No headache this morning, so if that was altitude related, I guess it's better. We'll go out and do some more altitude today and see how we do.

Opened the dining room curtains this morning to this view...

Those mountains weren't there yesterday! Well, of course they were... but they were in clouds and we couldn't see them. This photo was taken from my chair only a few minutes ago!

That peak is at 20,300 feet!

The Peruvian Andes are magnificent. Looking forward to showing you more of this mountain range over the next few days.

A little bit of excitement last night. As in Mexico, they set off these loud noise making fireworks every now and again. So we've heard a few of those. But we heard something different... four or five bangs in a row, followed by some screaming and shouting. This was not fireworks! We peeked out the window (we are on the 3rd floor of a very secure building) to see four police officers on foot (no vehicles) and a crowd of about a dozen people. Didn't see anybody on the ground, so hopefully the shots didn't hit anybody. There was some scuffling and arguing going on, and most of the crowd began running away. Other bystanders were also scattering. It took about 20 minutes before three police vehicles arrived with sirens blaring. We do not go out at night, although our host has assured us that we are fine during the day.

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Laser Temperature Gun. Battery Included. Already cheap, the price has dropped a couple more dollars.

And in Canada...

Wireless Bluetooth Earbuds