Hike to Laguna Wilcacocha

Great weather this morning in Huaraz. We had a slow morning. No 5 AM start but just good time for the breakfast and meeting a few of the other guests in the hostel among them a woman from Australia who'd stayed for a few days and who'd already done the hike. So she explained to us how to get there with one of the collectivos - mini busses - and what to aim for on the hike.
First stop though - bus tickets at Movil. Once done we needed some food for the hike, also done, and then the E-10 collectivo van arrived and we got front row seats. Lucky morning.
We drove through town and spotted another European looking couple also getting on the collectivo. Maybe they would do the same hike as us. It turned out they would. The driver had dropped tourists off at the trail head many times before so there was no problem finding the road leading to the top of the mountain and laguna Wilcacocha. It was easy. Adding to this Malene spoke to a local woman also heading up the mountain and she took us most of the way up, not on the road but on the small local foot paths.

The weather in the area changes every 5 minutes - literally - so we had clouds, sun, thunder and just at the top of the mountain a small drizzle of rain. Not being a glacier laguna it was more like a small pond but the views of the valleys, Huaraz and the surrounding mountains were still impressive. We could see torrential rain approaching so we headed down the mountain through another set of  foot paths passing through a couple of small villages and after some three hours we were back at the highway. Dry and sunny and a bit sweaty. Great hike. Now we just had to wait for the collectivo.
We didn't drive far on the road, maybe less than a kilometre before it turned wet from rain and when we got to the Mercado Central in Huaraz the rain was pouring down. We'd been so lucky with our hike it turned out.

Instead of running around in the rain we spent some time in the market, shopping for some sandwich ingredients for dinner tonight, and once the weather cleared we headed out to find a restaurant recommended by our hiking friends. It turned out to be closed, so in the end we headed for our hostel and had the food we bought for dinner as a dinner-lunch-combo instead. Our bus didn't leave until late in the evening, so we hung out in the living room and left with a taxi for an all night semi-cama bus to Trujillo.

Hiking instructions

Bus ticket, hiking food, collectivo...

Business class in the collectivo - next to the driver

Going up the mountain with local guide

At the laguna - with friendly dog

Not that impressive but the views of the valley were

Hiking down the other side of the mountain

Back in rainy Huaraz

They look better when they are cooked

And you wonder why your tummy gets upset once in a while

Dinner at Gilf's place

Ready for a long night on the bus to Trujillo