Woke up, left our extra luggage in the luggage storage at the hostel, and headed out on our first “combi” (public bus/van) that would take us to Yungay, arriving there just before 7am. From there, we got seats on the second combi which took us through a beautiful valley and over a pass before it dropped us off in Vaqueria just before 10am, from where we finally started our trek.
The initial part was going down a valley and passing some small towns. Eventually we got to the next valley where the ascent started… We also soon left the small towns behind, entered the national park, and all the good views began.
This part was actually fairly flat so we made some pretty good time and stopped for lunch. There were a bunch of cows grazing everywhere and a few of them kept wanting to encroach on our lunch spot!
From here, the ascent got a bit tougher. Initially, we had a certain camping spot in mind for the day, but we got there too early (about 1:30pm) so opted to go further. It was brutal! But when we finally arrived at our destination for the night, the uphill struggle was completely worth it.
We quickly made our camp, laid out or sleeping bags and mats, and started cooking dinner. Soon after dinner the sun set so it was time for lounging in our sleeping bags, reading for a bit, then sleep! We were exhausted from the tough climb up and tomorrow we head through Punta Union, aka “the pass”.
Travel Fun With Cassie and Alejandro 