The first day is a slow and gentle ascent – tiring due mainly to the altitude and weight on our backs. A constant irritation are the squadrons of biting flies – unlike the warning drone of mosquitoes, these tiny assassins are deadly silent and by the time you feel the bite it is already too late.
Our first night´s camp is at Llamacorral, on a gentle plateau (called a pampa). It is icily windswept and like the rest of the valley extensively grazed by a hardy breed of cattle. The campsite is marked by a roughly built wooden kiosk, a toilet (less said about that the better) and a shelter containing a small family. The friendly campesino sells us a well earned beer and we set up camp in a field adjacent to some mules. As the sun sets, the wind mercifully, drops and from our sheltered campsite we watch thin tendrils of mist creep up the steep sides of the valley.
The following day is another gentle hike past two lakes, a small one and then a much larger one. Then a steep climb up to the campsite at Taullipampa (4050 m). The official campsite resembles a rubbish dump due to all the litter (I suspect the tour groups are the culprits as there is a lot of cardboard boxes and bulk tins, egg boxes etc that only mules would have carried up). We continue uphill for another few minutes and find a much better sheltered campsite. It is a stunning location, with a long view down the valley and snow capped mountains towering over us and glaciers sliding down their sides. Unfortunately, as we find out during the night, it is also regarded as nocturnal grazing for a herd of insomniac cows, who spend most of the night loudly masticating and occasionally tripping over our guy ropes with a surprised moo, threatening to bring the tent down around us.
Day three, we do a day hike up a side valley to Alpamayo base camp, from which mountaineers attempt the various summits in the area. It is a beautiful walk with stunning views from the glacier fed lake at the top.
The following morning we strike camp shortly after dawn for, what we know, will be a long and difficult climb to the top of the Punta Union pass. The trail starts off as a series of gentle-ish switchbacks, but soon the altitude starts to take its toll. Our steps get shorter; our breathing shallower; the breaks get longer and the time between them shorter. All our energy is focussed on getting to the next bend in the trail, the only sound our laboured breathing.
At the top of the pass is a panoramic 360 degree view of icy peaks, the long valley we have climbed out of and the steep descent into the Huamhuaca valley still to come. We are lucky, not a single cloud blots our view and the splendour of the view leaves us awestruck.
The descent is steep, long and hot work. On the way down we pass a couple of tour groups and their mule trains who are ascending.
In the late afternoon we pitch our tent on the banks of a glacier fed river in a small wooded area of peeling red-barked quenua trees. It is a cold night, in the morning, their is ice on our tent and more disturbing – the toothpaste has frozen!
The final day is a short but tiring walk through a village and up the other side of the Vaqueria valley to the bus stop. We are told by the locals that there are 3 buses (1pm, 2pm and 4pm). We arrive at 11AM and finally get our bus at 5:30 pm.
