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harbor curative properties. The rustic Chancos hot springs are popular with weekending locals and tend to be crowded then. At some great ‘steam baths’ here in natural vapor caves (S5 for 15 minutes) you can buy herbs to aromatize and medicate your sauna experience. The smaller caves tend to be hotter so check out a few. The pools, on the other hand, are rather tepid; private pools cost S2 and the public pool S1 for as long as you like. There’s a popular, prebolted climbing wall just before the hot pools.

Buses occasionally continue another 4km to Vicos, beyond which the Quebrada Honda trail (for hikers only) continues across the Cordillera Blanca and passes the Laguna Lejíacocha. In Vicos the community-based tourism project, Cuyaquiwayi (Quechua for ‘Beautiful House’) maintains a rustic lodge with private bathrooms and a fireplace right next to a local family’s farm. The family invites guests to share in all aspects of their lives, including baking bread, farming and interacting with the local children. With prior notice they will also arrange a pachamanca. Prices start at S250 for the first day, but rapidly decrease if you are traveling with others or plan to stay multiple days; contact Respons (Click here) in Huaraz for more information.

Marcará serves as the base for a very active Italian nonprofit organization that’s been helping disenfranchised local youth for decades (see opposite). The Cooperative Artesanal Don Baso (74-3061; Los Pinos 3A) has a large workshop here where you can see adolescents busy creating superior-quality carvings, ceramics, sculptures, furniture and other crafts.

The Hostal Los Jazmines (r per person S15) on the main plaza is predictably austere and has shared bathrooms.

CARHUAZ

043 / pop 7100 / elev 2638m

Carhuaz, 35km north of Huaraz, lays claim to one of the prettiest Plazas de Armas in the valley, with a combination of rose gardens and towering palm that make lingering here a pleasure. The Sunday market is a kaleidoscopic treat as campesinos (peasants) descend from surrounding villages to sell a medley of fresh fruits, herbs and handicrafts. A road passes over the Cordillera Blanca from Carhuaz, via the beautiful Quebrada Ulta and Punta Olímpica pass, to Chacas and San Luis.

Carhuaz’s annual La Virgen de La Merced fiesta is celebrated from September 14 to 24 with processions, fireworks, dancing, bullfights and plenty of drinking – so much that the town is often referred to as Carhuaz borachera (drunk Carhuaz)!

Sleeping & Eating

A number of rudimentary, family-run hostales have simple, clean rooms with hot-water bathrooms. Hostal Río Santa (39-4128; Calle 28 de Julio; s/d S15/20) and Hostal Las Torrecitas (39-4213; Amazonas 412; s/d S20/30) provide little to differentiate between them. One of the oldest running ventures, Hotel La Merced (39-4241; Ucayali 724; s/d S20/30) has lots of windows for Cordillera adulation and plenty of religious posters for internal speculation. Rooms are clean and have hot showers. The haughtiest place to stay in town is Hostal El Abuelo (39-4456; hostalelabuelo@terra.com.pe; Calle 9 de Diciembre 257; s/d incl breakfast S90/120; ), which has immaculately neat rooms with good mattresses and hot showers in a large, older-styled house. There’s a lovely restaurant on the premises.

On the plaza, La Punta Olímpica (39-4022; meals S4-6; 8am-10pm) slaps together cheap local dishes and menús (set meals) for an appreciative local crowd. Café Heladería El Abuelo (/fax 39-4149; meals S5-15; 8am-9pm), also on the plaza, is owned by local cartographer Felipe Díaz (you probably have his map; everyone does). It serves breakfast, snacks and ice cream made from local fruits, and provides local information. Don’t miss the town’s ubiquitous treat, raspadilla, a slurpee of Cordillera Blanca glacier ice slathered in fruity syrup.

El Mirador (49-4244; meals S10-18), about 2km south of Carhuaz on the south of a hill, is a lunchtime restaurant with typical food. It delivers on its promise of great views.

Getting There & Away

The Plaza de Armas is where you can pick up passing