The people and peaks of Huaraz

June 25th, 2010: Huaraz…is just what I thought Peru would be. Many beautiful blinding white broken mountains making shapes that I have never seen. I want to visit every peak and completly explore this region and participate in some of the activities they have here like going on a trek, a rock climbing trip, take some ice climbing classes, a horseback ride and the most exciting would be a summit climb up to one of the mountains. Perhaps not enough oxygen is hitting my brain here at 10,013 feet (3,052 meters) because I must remember I need to get up to some of these places by myself – yes, I can hire some donkeys for my gear which I will definitely do that to help out with the local economy.

Things here in Huaraz seem a bit off key. For example: when ordering a café con leche (coffee with milk) I don’t get what I would get in most countries…a cup of coffee with some or a lot of milk mixed together or even with a little cup of milk on the side. Here, for the second time today, I was served a large hot frothy glass of milk and a tiny creamer size dispenser as if it was from a child’s Ms. Homemaker play set with coffee in it to pour into the milk.

As for the women here…a lot of them seem to be into men’s fashion supporting a nice ill fitted hat, 5 sizes too small for their head. I have seen this style before in other South American regions but these hats seem to be different. The height of these hats is what sets them apart. I would say that some are higher that a woman’s neck line to the top of their head. Is this something that they do to compensate for their lack of height, such as women in the US will wear high heeled shoes - or just date shorter men?