Peru - Lonely Planet Publications [348]
To reach the Lagunas Llanganuco, you can take a tour from Huaraz or use buses or taxis from Yungay. During the June to August high season, frequent minibuses leave from Yungay’s Plaza de Armas (S15), allowing about two hours in the lake area. A national-park admission fee of S5 is charged. During the rest of the year, minibuses do the trip if there’s enough demand. Colectivo taxis are available for S15 per person each way. Go in the early morning for the clearest views.
CARAZ
043 / pop 13,100 / elev 2270m
With an extra helping of superb panoramas of the surrounding mountains and a more kick-back attitude than its rambunctious brother Huaraz, Caraz makes for an excellent alternate base of operations. Trekking and hiking trails meander in all directions – some of the short, day-trip variety, some much longer sojourns. One of the few places in the valley spared total destruction by earthquake or aluvión, the town still has a gentle whiff of colonial air. Its lazy Plaza de Armas wouldn’t be out of place in a much smaller pueblo.
Caraz is both the end point of the time-honored Llanganuco–Santa Cruz trek (which can also be done in reverse, starting here) and the point of departure for rugged treks into the remote northern parts of the Cordillera Blanca. The north side of Alpamayo (5947m), once enthusiastically labeled the most beautiful mountain in the world for its knife-edged, perfectly pyramidal northern silhouette, is easily accessible from here.
Information
The Cámara de Turismo (San Martín 1129; 8am-noon & 3-7 Mon-Fri), on the Plaza de Armas, has irregular hours and limited tourist information.
BCP (39-1010; cnr Daniel Villar & San Martín) changes cash and traveler’s checks but lacks an ATM. Pony Expeditions (Click here) can change US cash and euros and arrange Visa advances. The post office (San Martín 909; 8am-8pm Mon-Fri) is north of the cathedral.
Sights & Activities
The partially excavated Chavín ruins of Tumshukaiko are about 2km on a dirt road north of Caraz. There is no sign or fee. The extensive walls (now in poor condition) and buried underground chambers indicate this was once an important Chavín site. A mototaxi to get here costs S3, while a taxi is S5.
The pastel-blue Laguna Parón (4200m), 25km east of Caraz, is surrounded by spectacular snow-covered peaks, of which Pirámide de Garcilaso (5885m), at the end of the lake, looks particularly brilliant. The challenging rock-climbing wall of Torre de Parón, known as the Sphinx, is also found here. The road to the lake goes through a canyon with 1000m-high granite walls – this drive is as spectacular as the better-known Llanganuco trip. Fit and acclimatized hikers can trek to the lake in one long day, but it’s easier to catch local transport to Pueblo Parón and hike the remaining four hours.
If you continue north from Caraz along the Callejón de Huaylas, you will wind your way through the outstanding Cañón del Pato. It’s here that the Cordillera Blanca and the Cordillera Negra come to within kissing distance for a battle of bedrock wills, separated in parts by only 15m and plummeting to vertigo-inducing depths of up to 1000m. The road snakes along a path hewn out of sheer rock, over a precipitous gorge and passes through 35 tunnels, hand-cut through solid stone. Gargantuan, crude walls tower above the road on all sides, and as the valley’s hydroelectric plant comes into sight you realize that it’s dramatic enough to house the secret lair of a James Bond arch-villain. Sit so you’re looking out of the right-hand side of the bus (as you face the driver) for the best views along the way.
Punta Winchus, a remote 4157m pass in the Cordillera Negra 45km west of Caraz and reached by tour vehicles, is the center of a huge stand of 5000 rare Puya raimondii plants. This is the biggest-known stand of these 10m-tall members of the pineapple family, which take 100 years to mature and in full bloom