July 23-25 - Huaraz and Chavin de Huantar, Peru

Layla, Sam and Stacy on the way to Chavin

After a long night bus to a city called Casma, and another 3 hour collectivo ride we arrived in Huaraz. The city is situated 3000m above sea level in the mountains between the parallel Cordillera Blanca and Cordillera Negro mountain chains of the Andes. To get there we had to come over a pass of the smaller Cordillera Negro to an amazing view of the underlying city with the snow peaked mountains of the Cordillera Blanca looming in the background. It was breathtaking and I was surprised to be happy about seeing snow again.
We found a really basic hostel to stay in that ended up being a little frustrating but was okay. We had naps and then woke up to go get dinner. Layla had decided to come with us, and when we went out for dinner was able to explain what a few of the dishes were since she had spent the last 3 months in Peru. We ordered a common dish of cow heart on a skewer that was delicious. After dinner we found a place to book a tour to a pre-Inca archaeological site called Chavin de Huantar the next morning.

Chavin de Huantar

We left for the site at 9am by shuttle. On the way we stopped at a lake for some pictures before driving through a tunnel to the east side of the Cordillera Blanca. After driving down a steep switchback road down the valley, we finally arrived at the site. It was a site that I had studied while in university and had written a paper comparing it to another site in Peru so I knew a lot about the history of the site and the layout. It was really neat to actually see it in person. The tour guide was also really good and told us a lot about the site. After about 2 hours at the site, we stopped for lunch, passed quickly through the local museum and then headed back to Huaraz. 

The next day was a holiday in Huaraz as it celebrated the anniversary of the creation of the province. There was a huge parade and tons of people in the streets. There was lots of awesome street food, people dressed in traditional garb and music and dancing. We spent the day taking in the festivities, perusing the market and trying a few of the local restaurants in the area. That night Layla had to catch a bus back to Trujillo, while Stacy, Sam and I caught a later night bus to Lima. The Chavin site has always been something that I've wanted to see ever since I've learned about it and it was worth the trip to Huaraz just to see it. To add to that, the festival was really cool and the scenery with the mountains was amazing. It was definitely worth seeing.

Parade in Huaraz