Peru

Huaraz

Los Pinos – Right off the road between Caraz and Huaraz is a little bolted crag hosting 8 easy routes. Nothing to write home about, but if you’re driving by and want to clip a few bolts you can climb all 8 routes and have lunch in an hour or two. The rock goes into the shade in the afternoon which would be the time to swing by.

The little crag is behind the van by the bushes. Six ~5.9s, two 10s

Los Olivos – We walked over to the crag from Huaraz (about a 30 minute walk west of town) to take a look. “Nothing to see here… move along.”

Hatun Machay – 40km South of Huaraz you will find paradise. I wish I had known just how awesome the place was so we could have spent much, much more time there. At kilometer marker 111 you will see a little rock cairn and a dirt road, nothing more. Take the rutted dirt road up and over the hill and you will run right into the incredibly badass refugio just for climbers. It’s 20 soles to camp, 30 if you want a dorm bed. They have everything you need to be comfy at 14,200 feet: excellent solar shower, full kitchen, fireplace, and they even provide quality topos for the routes. The rock is excellent and well bolted. Bring as much skin on your tips as you can, you’re going to need it.

The refugio. Plenty of tent spots, solar shower, lodge with fireplace, kitchen, and dorm beds.

100s of routes, tons in the 5.10 - 5.12 range — 100s of routes, tons in the 5.10 – 5.12 range

Complimentary topos provided by the refugio

Cusco

Pachan

This spot is mostly for tour companies to take people out for their first time. There are about 5 or 6 bolted lines mostly 5.9. I wouldn’t bother. There is a better spot close to town that we’ll list next.

Sector Patacancha

This has some short, but fun lines on it. It’s well bolted. The crag is at about 13,000 feet. Around 4-5 5.10s and 3-4 routes in the 5.11 range. To reach this spot continue past the Quinta Lala overlander spot, hang a left on the dirt road across from the ruins and drive about 10-15 minutes till you see the formation on the top of the hill. Alternatively it’s about an hour-and-a-half walk from town.

The Cordillera Blanca

August 26, 2014February 2, 2016 Eric 2 Comments

Just a quick update from Peru. I’ll let the pics do most of the talking here with the exception of some “interesting” stats I’ve included at the end of the post.

After riding the porcelain throne through the long, muddy streets of Shitsville for nearly two weeks we had to bail on our Huayhuash Circuit plans and settled for a few rounds of antibiotics mixed with some rock climbing, camping, and alpine hiking. Actually, who am I kidding, porcelain thrones would be a treat around these parts! Huaraz is kind of a dump but the Cordillera Blancas easily make up for it! (more…)

A Solid Stool Haiku

August 21, 2014February 2, 2016 Eric 3 Comments

Unsung dark hero,
Where are you? You’re missed –
No bueno for van life…

The Mega Drive

August 16, 2014February 2, 2016 Eric Leave a comment

Adventure driving at its finest is about the only way I can describe what we’ve been up to since our last post in Ecuador. After a gorgeous sunset, a full body massage at the spa in Vilcabamba (which is its own funny story…) and a few stimulating games of giant chess, we set out into the unknown in a big way. What would follow was over 1000 kilometers of dirt, mud, landslides, water crossings, bush camping, remote border crossings, construction, fog, rain and more taking us from the Amazon to the Andes to the Peruvian desert to the Pacific Ocean. I think we truly found the middle of nowhere during this adventure and couldn’t be happier with the Craggin’ Wagon’s ability to bring us through it all. (more…)

Border: Zumba, Ecuador – Peru

We drove from Vilcabamba south to Zumba and crossed at the more remote of the Peruvian borders. It was pretty gnarly driving in the dry season, I can’t even imagine how it would go in the rainy season. Plan on 2-3 days of adventure driving in the middle of nowhere before reaching Chachapoyas.

Ecuador Side

Several buildings, each labeled, in a row on the left before bridge. First one is Aduanas, park right in front.
Need copies and originals of registration/title, license, vehicle permit. (If you don’t have a copy of vehicle permit before border there is a copy place on the Peru side.)
Aduana’s will stamp the vehicle out.
Migracion next, for our stamps. You should have an entry paper with you to hand over from the Ecuador entry.

Peru Side

Cross the bridge and park before gate on bridge.
Go to Migracion, which is the 3^rd building on the left. Fill out the form they give you, both parts. (They will want your whole name on the form, anything that is included in your passport.) There is a money amount that you are planning on spending. They did not require us to fill this part out. If they do require you to fill this out, we have heard the amount you claim can dictate the number of days you can stay.
Walk left and down a gravel road to police building to have them validate everything. He will enter stuff from passport into computer and stamp the form that they gave you.
Return to Migracion for passport stamp. Keep exit portion of paper for exit out of the Peru.
Go back to first building that you are parked in front of for Aduanas. You will need original and copy of registration/title, driver’s license, driver’s passport.
He will check plates, VIN number, and look in vehicle. Then he will type a bunch of information into the computer and give you a vehicle permit.
Fill out another sheet of information with your email address and thumbprint. They keep with a copy of your permit.

We ran into at least 15 water crossings, some mud stretches that we could not have slowed or stopped in without getting stuck, and a lot of construction clearing numerous landslides and other things. The border was very chill though. We had been given the wrong information on our paperwork by the northern Ecuadorian border. For some reason they had us exiting the same border we entered. Also you should be given an a slip of paperwork that you filled out at the northern border, they did not give us this. So the immigration office was very confused. However, everyone was very nice and worked everything out with us.

We had seen other blogs mention that insurance is mandatory, but nobody has mentioned it to us. None is offered at the border. We’ve been stopped several times and were not required to show it during paperwork checks either. According to Life Remotely, if you have a valid insurance policy in your home country, this can count as well. As a precaution I printed the law Life Remotely quoted on their site and my insurance from home an keep it with our vehicle paperwork.

Our Route

Peru Tips

Driving from Zumba to San Ignacio is a pretty long drive after a border crossing due to dirt roads and twisty mountains. We stayed in Jaen at a hostel right as we got into town. Right next to hostel Diamond. The place we stayed at only charged 25S and had secure parking.
Instead of going all the way to Chachapoyas, we should have stopped prior at the city of Gocta for the large waterfall (we had to backtrack from Chachapoyas to see it). Here there is a nice lodge and plenty of places to park. Ticket entrance for the hike is 10S per person. The rules do say you need a guide but we just started to follow people down the road and went for the very obvious hike without one as many other people did.
You could skip Chachapoyas by staying at the Gocta Falls and then driving straight to the Kuelap ruins and camping there before the long, long drive to Cajamarca.
Kuelap ruins is 70-80 km from Chachapoyas. We camped for free after paying the admission fee to the ruins. The people there directed our car to be under the lights. The bathrooms at the office are locked at night. Entrance fee was S. 15 pp.
Huanchaco is the place to go if you want to surf or be by the sea. Overlanders can get electricity and camping at a place called Haunchaco Gardens and RV park. Fee is 20S per person. You get showers, bathrooms, a great chill spot, good WIFI, and electricity is 2 extra soles. We then moved to camp in front of another excellent hostel in the same town called La Gringa owned by a gal named Julia from Kansas. You can camp on the beach or parked in front of her hostel and use services as well. It was S.15 for both of us per day. Also hit up Surf Burger for a proper US style burger. You get a burger with whatever you want on it, including bacon and eggs, french fries (that are awesome), a shot of whatever alcohol he has on hand, and a soda; all for S.15. The guy is from New York and is a biker as well, so here is a shout out for him!

Salkantay & Machu Picchu Tips

The Inka trail requires booking in advance, the Salkantay can easily be booked when you arrive.
Machu Picchu + Huayana requires booking a few weeks in advance, Machu Picchu + MP Mountain can be booked when you arrive.
The Salkantay could be done self supported a lot easier than we initially thought. Each camp is at a little town, more or less, with tiendas selling basic snacks and drinks. This would significantly reduce pack weight not needing 3-5 days worth of food up front.
To shorten the Salkantay but not miss the best parts, take transports all the way to Soraypampa, spend the night there, and hike the pass to Chaullay on day 1. From here you can take transports all the way to Hydroelectrica if you desire. Personally, I would continue hiking from Chaullay to Playa or Santa Teresa on day 2 – there’s a nice trail. From there you’re on the main road to Hydroelectrica, hike or transport.
If you do hike the entire thing, stay an extra day in Aguas Calientes and book your MP ticket for the following day – you’ll have more fun at Machu Picchu if you’re not exhausted and your legs are fresh. Plus, Aguas Calientes is a pretty unique town to see.
For details of our experience, photos, and stats, see our two part blog post: Salkantay & Machu Picchu.