Mission Trip: Huaraz, Peru and the Mountain Pass

We arrived in Huaraz, Peru next. It sits at just over 10,000 feet in elevation so this was the beginning of us getting used to higher altitudes.  The city has about 120,000 people in it and it is most well known for being a backpackers stopping point for hikers and climbers in Peru who are going to tackle Mt. Huascaran (a double summit mountain that is the 2nd highest mountain in Peru).  A lot of people who are preparing to climb Mt. Everest will come climb Huascaran first and then go to Everest.

 We stayed at the Hatun Wasi (a hostel for climbers/backpackers) and it was pretty nice....minus the fact that they never seemed to have any hot water for showers!  This picture was taken from the rooftop of the hostel.  Huaraz sits in a "bowl" between the Black Mountains on one side and the White Mountains on the other side.

 From Huaraz, we headed toward the Mountain Pass to San Luis.  We stopped and had a roadside picnic before we got on the Mountain Pass and it was an unbelievable setting!

 The Mountain Pass is the 2nd deadliest road in the world and we had heard lots of stories about traveling on it from previous mission teams at our church.  This is the double glacier lakes you pass.  There is a story about two lovers and the story says these lakes were formed by their tears.  The lakes are an amazing blue color but the water is SO cold.

 The Mountain Pass itself is crazy roads.  The roads are extremely bumpy, very, very narrow and lots of switchbacks!  In fact, the roads are so small that often 2 cars can't pass and the smaller vehicle will have to back up and let the larger one pass first.  If the vehicles are about equal size, then they can pass but both drivers have to flip their rearview mirrors in so they don't hit each other. It is nuts!!  Let me say that backing up on a mountain pass where you can't even see your tire on the road can be a little uneasy.

 However, I wasn't really scared or unnerved by it all because the beautiful scenery as you travel on the road takes your mind off all the dangers.  Our bus driver did tell us that there had been several deaths on the road already the week we traveled it but we knew God was protecting us and we didn't worry about our safety.  The entire time you travel you get closer and closer to the snow capped mountains, you see the beauty and grandeur God created and it just makes you want to sing "How Great is Our God".  At one point we could even see the glaciers on the side of the mountains because we were that close to them.

 Of course, with rocky, unpaved roads comes flat tires.  We experienced a flat tire on our bus and they actually had to put rocks under the tire before they could even jack the bus up.

Due to the flat tire, we were still on the mountain pass at dark and it took us about 10 hours to travel on the mountain pass compared to the 8 it should have.  We were all super exhausted and tired when we finally arrived in San Luis that evening but very excited to begin our mission work in San Luis the next morning!

Tomorrow....Our Mission Work in San Luis & surrounding villages!