Huascaran N & S (6655m & 6768m) in the Cordillera Blanca

Huacaran North towers above old Yungay

Today is the Fall Equinox.  I departed Amery 6 months ago on the Spring Equinox.  We cycled up a valley between the Cordillera Blanca and Cordillera Negra; Peru’s trekking center.  We stopped for a couple hours at the memorial over the town of old Yungay, buried by a landslide in 1970.  An earthquake loosened granite and ice from the tallest mountain in Peru, Huascaran (6655m)  and the resulting aluvión reached a speed of 300 kph as it dropped over three vertical kilometers on its way to Yungay (2537m), 14 km away.  The town and almost all its 18,000 inhabitants were buried.

We also took a break in the town of Carhuaz, and considered staying there to watch a bullfight.  On the way to Hauraz, we met a Swiss couple on bikes finishing a nine month tour of South America.

The landslide smashed in crypts on one side of the cemetery

Only the cemetery, on a hill, survived the landslide.

A crumpled bus rose to the top of the debris.

Swiss cyclists Sylvan & Emmanuela

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