Making some friends and a short trek to Laguna 69

I´ve made some friends since getting back to Huaraz, and my experience here has improved markedly as a result, not that it was ever anything less than absolutely pleasant. Dennis is a bearded Australian of diminutive stature that can talk movies, music and books until your ears fall off, which is just fine by me. Paul is a lanky Englishman with a ginger goatee who enjoys drum n´bass, skateboarding and talking. Again, fine by me. Kevin is another Englishman and I manage to enjoy his company despite the fact that he´s a working engineer. Miracles do happen in this strange world of ours. Caroline is yet another Brit who doesn´t seem to have a negative thing to say about anyone (well, accept for a man that I´ve taken to calling Dead Dog Paul) and manages to listen to the rest of us yap and talk shit incessantly without emitting so much as a growl. A peach without a pit is what she is.

I joined these four new friends and Alexis on a short overnight hike to Laguna 69 (photos are here). Basically we hired a car to the trailhead late one afternoon, camped immediately, tried in vain to start a small fire, drank a bottle of rum, ate pasta with tuna and tomato sauce, had a slightly drunken sleep and then woke up and hike the 2-3 hours to the beautiful, aforementioned laguna. I have no idea how it got the name, but I´ve been telling people that it´s in memory of a certain European explorer´s fateful encounter with a beautiful campesino on the shore and in the shadow of the neighboring mountains. Hey, the story works for me, and anyone that I tell should be intelligent enough that I´m completely full of shit in this instance. Anyway, Laguna 69 and the surrounding environs were absolutely beautiful and well worth every drop of sweat expended in reaching them.

Tomorrow I´ll be setting off into the mountains yet again, this time on a short 3 day trek to the pre-Inca ruins of Chavin de Huantar. Right now it´s up in the air as to whether Dennis and Paul will be joining me or whether I´ll be setting off solo. If the latter occurs, rest assured that the trek is easy, I´m prepared and the area is safe.

Okay, I´m off to get some errands done in preparation for the hike.