The best treks in South America – Part 1

You’d think I’d recognize a bus when I saw it, wouldn’t you. With dusk closing in, bringing with it the prospect of a chilly night alone in the Peruvian Andes, I had more or less given up on the scheduled service. Maybe I’d missed it or the route had been cut or perhaps the information I’d been given was wrong.

And so, when what looked like a dilapidated farm truck came into sight behind me, I was ready to grab hold of whatever straw the gods sent me. By the time I had taken my place beside a couple of locals perched above the cab the breeze had dropped to a penetrating cold. I was shivering and my face was turning numb. But at least I was headed in the right direction and my heart was no longer pumping to keep my legs moving.

It wasn’t until one of my new companions gestured for money that I realized I was being asked to pay a fare and that this was, in fact, the local version of a bus. So much for double deckers or coach seating. Sometimes things come in unexpected shapes and sizes.

For that matter it had been a day of surprising shapes and sizes. Up there in the gathering darkness was the snowy peak of Huascaran. At 22,140 feet, it is the country’s tallest and gives its name to the national park I’m in. From here, trekkers and their ilk have options ranging from casual walking and camping alongside turquoise lagoons to multi-day excursions requiring guides. If they’re like me, they will probably lose all track of time as they photograph the magnificent scenery hereabouts.

The bus is taking me out of the park though. I’m returning to the town of Caras, a 16-hour bus ride north of Peru’s coastal capital, Lima. Huaraz, a much bigger town about 40 miles south, is actually Peru’s main trekking and climbing center. But what Caras lacks in facilities it makes up for with its relaxed pace and proximity to major recreational areas. The town is in a valley in the Andean chain running down the spine of Peru. It is flanked by two mountain ranges, the Cordillera Blanca to the east and the Cordillera Negra. Guess which one has the snow – and the most renowned climbs.

To the south, the South American trek just about everyone has heard of is the Inca Trail, from the old Incan capital of Cusco to Machu Picchu, their last significant holdout against colonialism. While the vast majority of visitors take a parallel route by train, an adventurous few choose the hard way by slogging up mountains and through jungle for four days or so.

The mountains of Peru may be the