We are still alive!! 4 days ago we embarked on the Santa Cruz trek- 4 days of trekking and three nights of camping in the beautiful cordillera blanca mountain range in central Peru. Equipped with our waterproof, mosquitoproof, sunproof and most importantly coldproof equipment, we set off on the first day only to discover that our route had changed and what was supposed to be an easy three hour trek had turned into a gruelling uphill climb in the sun. The altitude and the sun affected both of us and by the end of the first day we were already pretty exhausted.

Day 2 was a little easier, although the rain made certain parts of the trek tough but sleeping that night was the toughest. Our camp sight was at 4250m and the altitude made it almost impossible for us to sleep and both Monika and I experienced some weird hallucinations during the night. I got hit by altitude sickness on day three and if anyone has experienced this before you will know it is not a pleasant thing. A splitting headache and worst of all the struggle to breathe, not to mention the nausea made it a really difficult climb to the top but with a little encouragement from my new friends it made the climb even more rewarding when we reached the 4750m peak.

Day four was a relatively easy trek through the mountain villages where we got bombarded by adorable looking kids and I had to once again fight the urge to steal one to take home with me.

Must not forget to mention our whole team- our guide Edwin, our cook Roosevelt (yes apparently it is a Peruvian name), our donkey driver (very important because the donkeys carry all the tent equipment directly to the next camp) and our wonderful multicultural team of fellow trekkers made the experience extra fun!!

Now we are southbound towards the desert to dry off and warm up 🙂