New year, new perspective

Tired from traveling and celebrating, we woke up for a late breakfast on New Year's Day. To walk off all that chancho and champagne, we took off up the hill to the Mirador (Lookout) de Rataquena to get a new view of the city.

Juliana, David, Luz, Sergio and I climbed east up Huaraz´tattered streets until they became overgrown dirt roads lined with small plots of land for raising cows, chickens and growing crops. We found these three kids playing and caring for their sheep at the edge of town.

We climbed for an hour before arriving at the base of a graffittied cross at 12,000 feet (says my guidebook). From there, a pristine and panoramic view lay before us--Huaraz, the big mine across the valley and to the west (try to look for it in the photos below), el Huascaran to the north (the highest peak in Peru) and the rugged mountains directly ahead.

While us girls chatted, Sergio and David climbed higher still and took this photo:

After our adventures, we found a place to eat ceviche and then finally slept away New Year's Eve

and 24 hours of bus travel.