Places like Laguna Parón are exactly why I love Peru so much. No-guide-necessary trails of varying levels of difficulty entice every type of outdoor adventurer. Markets and supplies are easily accessible in the pleasant town of Caraz. The last thing I did on this dear continent will be hard to top.

 

 

Laguna Parón

The Artesonraju backdrop of the lake being the Paramount Pictures logo is more of an urban myth, but this is the most striking peak of the dozen or so surrounding the area.

It’s best to reach the parking lot by 4:30pm. About a two-hour drive from Caraz, Fritz and I were a tad late but luckily the gate was still open and we were charged five soles each.

We slept in Bob the Van, parked in the lot outside the refugio. The refugio was a basic building which hosted half a dozen trekkers, a rather drunk watchman, and three chickens trying to sleep behind the doorway.

 

 

The glacial lake extends three kilometers and can only be appreciated in full when seen from above. By 10:00 or 11:00am, the sun had maximized the blueness of the water. Half an hour of uphill scramble got us to the windy viewpoint area.

 

 

Already my fifth visit to Peru, I began to realize how scarily fast tourism is snowballing. Just two years ago, places like the Vinicunca rainbow mountain were not so ubiquitous across backpacker Instagram accounts. Digital photos have drastically changed what it’s like to visit the photogenic destinations of the world.

I bring this up because on our descent from the mirador, the tour vans arrived. Silent just minutes before, serenity was suddenly replaced with selfie sticks. People swarmed the rocks like ants.

It makes me happy that everyone is willing to hike at an elevation 4,200 meters for nature and I am well aware that not everyone had access to a van. I just prefer to not be there when it’s happening.

Another way to beat the crowds is to hike up from the trailhead down below, which takes several hours. If you time anything right, you can have a popular place for yourself.

Furthermore, from Parón there is a trail that continues to another laguna, and this trail extends to a glacier. It’s out and back for about five hours in all. I was having altitude symptoms so we decided against it.

 

 

Caraz

After a failed parking attempt resulting in an elderly man with hearing aids yelling at us with the most hostility I’d ever encountered in Peru, we left Bob safe and sound along the central plaza, at no charge.

Fritz and I walked through the market, lunched on trout for five soles, and got artisanal ice cream for two soles. The ice cream tasted like it was homemade using real fruits. Tastier than a lot of multi-dollar scoops by a long shot, lookout especially for the blueberry flavor.

Camping Guadeloupe is situated just outside Caraz, heading in the direction of Huaraz. Year-round sunshine and breeze, WiFi good enough to get your life together, and new bathrooms that made me feel like I was in Europe, can all be confirmed.

But the best two things are just by Jaime’s house: pure-bred bunnies that were too much for me to handle.