We took a ride into another part of Cordillera Blanca to las Lagunas Llanganuco. There were 3 different lakes up there that were all this magnificent color of green. We were proud of our car for making it all the way up there in the high altitude, so we stopped for a 2005 Suzuki Aerio photo shoot. I will spare you all and only show one pic, for Dan's sake. Las Lagunas Llanganuco were at the bottom of the highest peak in the Cordillera Blanca named el Huascarán. We had to wait about 30 minutes before the clouds rolled away to see the peak. It was actually pretty amazing that we saw the peak from there, since it was overcast and raining the entire day. I am sure God answered our prayer! And thank God for keeping us safe on the way back to Lima, as Dan tried to test how fast our car could actually go.....

My dad loves these pictures of Dan and I with the little kids and the lambs. They were so cute... After we left from there you could see them gather around and count the coins that people gave them for taking their picture. Everyone works up in the mountains, no matter how young or old. Here is another little girl around 4 years old herding the family pigs. I stopped and asked her name, but she was really shy and we couldn't understand what she said. The older people still work their crops in the old fashioned way. The road is too steep to send a tractor up, plus the cost of fuel is too much for these famers to afford. Yet, whenever you drove past, they would smile BIG and lend a friendly wave. Here is a donkey that we saw walking downtown Huaraz. Nice load of alfalfa...probably for the guinea pigs raised for food!!

Our first road trip in Peru was to a small town called Huaraz situated in the Andes. The main mountain range is called the Cordillera Blanca. Then across is the Cordillera Negro. The main hwy runs in between them. The Cordillera Blanca are snowcapped, whereas the Cordillera Negro are without snow. We also took a trip to the glacier called Pastoruri. That was the highest we have ever hiked in our lives! Talk about thin air....we were higher than most single engine airplanes fly and were still touching the ground. The altitude at the bottom of the glacier was 5,400 meters which is 17,716.5 feet. On our way to Pastoruri, we came across some kids and some alpacas wanting their picture taken. The funny thing was, is that we saw pictures of these alpacas in our roadmap book and thought they were hilarious, who would have thought that they would be there on the side of the road that very trip!!!