The bus arrives in Huaraz early, around 7am. Its raining as the bus manouvres through the streets. At first glance Huaraz doesn t look the most attractive of towns but it is a dark, wet overcast morning. Leaving the bus depot I m greeted by the now usual choir of taxi men singing "Taxi, taxi, taxi....." I stand in the middle of a bunch of short peruvian tenors and smile as they serenade. I spot a taxi approaching in the street. I go over to him and he whisks me away as the taxi singers, huddled together, click their fingers and complete a soulful chorus. "........and darlin, Da-rlin stand.....by me......" drifts in to the background as we turn a corner. Two minutes later we arrive at Alojamiento Soledad, a family run guesthouse/hostel. I get a room for 35 Soles and heads to bed. I sleep for the next 6 hrs.
I get up at lunchtime and go out for a look around town. Its still overcast and wet. Huaraz is a decent sized city up beside Cordilleras Blancas. It sits in a valley at around 3,000m. Its a busy market town for the mountain region with plenty of smaller towns scattered around the area. There s a population of around 40,000. The air is a lot cooler and fresher here after the congestion of Lima. I get a breakfast in an american owned cafe and have a look in the centre. The town is compact it only takes a few minutes to reach the main centre around its plaza. Its busy with christmas shoppers. I find out about a ruined temple at a town called Chavin 120km away across the mountains and sign up for a tour tomorrow morning. The guy I talk to outlines mountain treks that are run from here. Loads of companies run them but its off season now with it being the rainy season. Im not really interested in a 4-day trek. Not with being dosed with the flu and also I don t fancy the kind of weather we seem to be having at the moment. As I wander around plenty of reps come up offereing treks and tours. Non Gracias.
I buy some tablets for the flu in a pharmacy. The girl behind the counter offers me ant-hystamines which I refused. I had explained the symptoms correctly so eventhough I accepted the second batch of tablets from her I m not holding out much hope for them. Town was busy with the Christmas rush. There s not a whole lot to see in Huaraz so I didn t have to spend too long wandering around. It was interesting to see the mix of people milling about. Some in traditional dress others very modern, people sitting beside there wares under colonnaded walkways on either side of the main street. Amidst all this on the street taxis and cars whizzed up and down beeping, swerving to avoid each other and pedestrans. On one street corner an old guy was selling young pups, some of the cutest I ve seen and a large crowd had congregated as a mother haggled for a price and a child tried to decide which pup to take home for Christmas.
As darkness fell on a damp evening I d seen enough. I bought some groceries, brought them back to the hostel and ate. I went to bed hoping the flu would lift for tomorrow.
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