Touching ice and the biggest Bromeliads in the world.

Huaraz, Peru
5-7 April 2010

Huaraz is all about mountian climbing and serious trekking. So I limped around town on my sore foot and booked a tour to see the Puya Raimondi (or Queen of the Andes) plants. (For those who don't know, I am very interested in plants).
   The plants take 100 years to grown before they shoot up a massive flower spike, giving them a height of 10-15metres, and then they flower and slowly die. Each plant will have more than 3000 flowers, but unfortunately the guide said they had flowered last September and so now many were in the process of dying. It is the largest known Bromeliad and the largest Puya (which is something new to me).
   You couldn't just go see the plants without paying a lot of money, so I was also obliged to keep going up the mountain to touch a glacier. I liked this glacier... more than others I had seen it was easy to comprend the slow moving mass of ice. And it is mighty impressive to think that within 100kms of the coast of Peru, mountains reach a height of 6000m! I went to 5000m, and at the glacier, to save my foot, I hired a horse.

One of the vistas on the tour.

A Puya Raimondi (or Queen of the Andes) plant and me.

A Puya Raimondi up close.

Postouri Glacier

My horse (for a little while), take note of the rope work. Old, but lovely.

Those mounds that looks a bit like haystacks are actually houses. About 2m across at most.

Notes:
Huarmey to Pativilca by collectivo taxi. S/10
Pativilca to Huaraz by bus S/20 (Collective Taxi option S/30)
Accomodation: Hostal Condores, S/30, private bath, cable (BBCNews!) *** (it lacked character)
Day tour S/25