We reached Peru on 14 June 2024 on a night bus from Cuenca in Ecuador. It was the last leg of our trip through Latin America that we still travelled as a pair. A few days earlier almost all of our electronics had been stolen on a night bus (there is a separate post about it: Robbed on a night bus in Ecuador), and after that I decided to fly back to Poland earlier. So out of the whole of Peru we managed to see just one place together – Laguna 69 in Huascarán National Park. On the way we also set our altitude record: 4604 m above sea level.
The previous stage, Baños and Cuenca, is described in the post Baños, Pailón del Diablo and Cuenca. Here: two days on the road from Ecuador to Huaraz, the trail to Laguna 69 and a farewell in Lima.
Table of contents
- From Cuenca to Huaraz – two days on buses
- A 4 a.m. wake-up and the lagoons of the Llanganuco Valley
- The trail to Laguna 69 – cows, waterfalls and Laguna Consuelo
- Laguna 69 (4604 m) – a new altitude record
- The way back and a farewell in Lima
- Practical information
From Cuenca to Huaraz – two days on buses
We left Cuenca on a night bus. The queue at the Ecuador–Peru border was short and everything went smoothly, yet we still lost quite a lot of time there. Instead of the planned 12 hours, the ride took more than 14.
For the first hours in Peru we saw almost nothing but desert through the window, with a not very pretty town every now and then. It soon became clear that we would not make it to Huaraz, our destination, the same day, so we spent the night in Trujillo.
The next day, 15 June, was also spent on the road. The closer we got to Huaraz, the more mountains there were – dry slopes covered in cacti and green valleys with fields. Finally we arrived and that same evening booked a tour to Laguna 69 for the following day.
Long-distance buses in Peru are comfortable and fairly cheap. The bus stations are the nightmare: a town often has several of them, and to travel on you first have to get from one to the other.
A 4 a.m. wake-up and the lagoons of the Llanganuco Valley
Laguna 69 lies in Huascarán National Park in the Cordillera Blanca. The park is named after Peru’s highest mountain – Huascarán (6768 m). The trail to the lagoon is very popular and you can get there on your own, but organising it yourself is not really cheaper and certainly takes more time. So we chose a tour from Huaraz: we paid 50 soles (about €12) each for the tour and 30 soles (about €7.50) each for the park entrance.
On Sunday, 16 June, we got up at 4:00. We left our luggage in the hostel’s storage room and set off for the mountains. Even before the trail, at dawn, the first snow-capped peaks appeared.
On the way we passed several lagoons. The first one – the turquoise Chinancocha in the Llanganuco Valley (about 3850 m), surrounded by steep rock walls – we saw before we even started walking.
The trail to Laguna 69 – cows, waterfalls and Laguna Consuelo
The trail starts in the valley at a place called Cebollapampa (about 3900 m). The return hike to the lagoon is more than 14 km long, with more than 800 m of elevation gain. Most of the time there were clouds above us, but it did not rain.
The first section runs through a flat, green valley along a river. Cows graze here, completely unbothered by hikers, nibbling grass right next to the path.
Further on, the path starts to climb, and waterfalls run down the rock walls of the valley.
Higher up, the trail passes smaller lagoons. One of them is Laguna Consuelo – at 4297 m, according to the sign.
The last section follows a rocky path, and with every step the view of the valley below gets wider.
Laguna 69 (4604 m) – a new altitude record
At the end of the trail lies Laguna 69 – a turquoise lake at the foot of rock walls and glaciers. The sign on the shore gives the altitude as 4604 m above sea level. It was our new record – we had set the previous one a few months earlier on Tajumulco (4220 m) in Guatemala.
It was 8°C at the lagoon, and at night the temperature here drops below zero. The water near the shore is so clear that you can see every stone on the bottom.
The way back and a farewell in Lima
We returned from the lagoon the same way, once again passing the smaller lagoons beneath the snowy peaks.
After the tour we picked up our luggage from the hostel and travelled on to Lima. In the Peruvian capital we said goodbye on 17 June: Patrycja headed towards Arequipa and kept travelling around Peru and Bolivia until the end of July, while I stayed in Lima for two more days. I did not go out after dark. On 19 June I flew from Lima via Madrid to Berlin, and on 21 June I was back in Poland.
Laguna 69 is pretty much the only place in Peru that we visited together. Peru was the country I cared about most on the whole trip, so I decided right then that I would come back within a few years and finish what I had started.
Practical information
The key information in a nutshell (as of June 2024):
- From Ecuador to Huaraz: the night bus from Cuenca to Peru took more than 14 hours instead of the planned 12 – the border crossing went smoothly, but slowly. You cannot reach Huaraz the same day, so we stayed overnight in Trujillo. The whole journey took us two days.
- Buses in Peru: comfortable and reasonably priced on long routes. Many towns have several bus stations, and changing buses means getting from one station to another.
- Laguna 69 tour: 50 soles (about €12) per person, plus the Huascarán National Park entrance fee – 30 soles (about €7.50). We booked the tour in Huaraz the day before; the wake-up was at 4:00. Going on your own is not cheaper and takes more time.
- Luggage: we left it in the hostel’s storage room and picked it up after the tour.
- The trail: more than 14 km return and more than 800 m of elevation gain, from Cebollapampa (about 3900 m) to Laguna 69 (4604 m). On the way you pass several smaller lagoons, including Laguna Consuelo (4297 m).
- Weather in June: clouds for most of the day, but no rain. It was 8°C at the lagoon, and nights can drop below zero.
- Money: in June 2024, 1 Peruvian sol was worth about US$0.27 (about €0.25).
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