Salmon River

We've made it back to Montana after a brief stay in Colorado to finish up the ski season. The river company I worked for last summer gave me a free spot for their training trip on the Main Salmon river. Maggie also went due the fact that the price is unbeatable early season. The early season weather wasn't great until the last two days of the float though. This trip was a bit more wild than the last. I neglected to bring my camera after spending the day before we left tracking down a free memory card and batteries. The photo of Salmon Falls posted was taken last year during my trip. In other news we found a place to live in Missoula so we will be staying here for the remainder of the summer. Depending on our job situation we may plan some June or July trips back to Colorado and the Lake Tahoe area.

Hangin´ in Huaraz

Upon return from the Ishinka Valley we got a chance to spend more time in Huaraz. The city has beautiful surroundings, when not enveloped in clouds. Mountains close the town in on all sides and there is a muddy river that borders the south side of the city center. The night we came back into town we were greeted by the dedication ceremony of the new town plaza. Much of the town was damaged and the cathedral destroyed in the early 1970´s by a massive earthquake. Although we were too tired to stay up for the firworks, we watched one of the earlier bands as long as we could tolerate the crowd. This group consisted of fog machine, female singer and male synchronized dancers. The next day Henk and Issy, our Australian friends, invited us to go down to the market. Being Saturday, the market was apparently larger than usual. Sprawling over several blocks there was a wider variety of items than I´ve ever seen together in a market. Along next to the familiar domesticated animals we found mesh bags full of live guinea pigs and in the fish stalls a shark. Peru also seems to have produce like no where else with vegetables and fruits in unnatural sizes, shapes and colors. Henk also found a maker of the recycled tire tread sandals that are commonly worn in all of the small villages. One entertaining surprise came in the form of a couple monkeys that would pick your fortune out of a box for a nominal fee. We didn´t see the pet dealer that soled Henk and Issy their iguana though. I half promised to Maggie we would see the Peruvian hairless dog also, but so far it hasn´t been delivered. In addition to the ugly black-skinned canine she missed a brief sighting of the variety of miniature deer that lives in the national park. Maybe next time. We are scheduled to return to Lima tonight and back home within the next 48 hours.

Valle Ishinka

The weather of the Cordillera Blanca has fallen into a very predictable pattern. Rain every day. The Oregonian is happy here. Our last adventure was in the Ishinka valley, a large drainage about an hour from Huaraz. We joined a new Australian friend of ours, Henk, after meeting him and his fiance Issy briefly during the Santa Cruz trek. We had decided that some company would be appreciated for our next hike and in addition he already picked out a guide. This included transportation, food, and burros to carry our packs. It was an appreciated luxury not having to carry our heavy backpacks, and it turned into a relaxed hike to the base of 6,000 ft Tocallaraju. During spring in the Cordillera Blanca the only mountains that one can climb are limited to a few peaks around 5,500 meters. After shopping for guides ourselves we found that Ishinka and Uros were probably the only cheap and safe hikes to do before we leave Peru. Arriving with us at the base camp was the perpetual rain. Fortunately for us, there was a cave large enough to cook in and during the next 72 hours almost all of our food was consumed there. Our guide Allan was worth his price, at least in the food he made. Lomo Saltado, sauteed beef with rice and french fries, greeted us the first night and it seemed that the stove generated enough hot food to put the cold wet weather at bay. The actual hiking was not so hospitable however. Waking up at 1:30 am Ishinka was our first peak. After the previous week´s precipitation, there was enough powdery snow to make Allan frustrated. We prevailed and were rewarded with a fleeting couple hours of sunlight and a spectacular view at the top. The next day didn´t yeild the same results though. Maggie declined the chance to wake up even earlier the next morning, which turned out to be a wise decision. After several hours of grueling hiking straight up to Uros, it was decided that the snow made it too dangerous to cross the boulder field. The climbing was over before daylight and we were back in camp by dawn. Although slightly miserable, the experience was still rewarding. From this trip we are taking away something very special, a new recipe for oatmeal. Tons of water, milk, lots of sugar, and only a bit of the actual oats. It turns out like a creamy gooey slop!