24-March Making plans

My goals for today are:
1.) switch hostels
2.) to meet my guide (a friend of a friend)
3.) to see the city
4) decide where to go next.  Huaraz or not

I found a new hostel called Los Andes Bed and Breakfast that is a stone´s throw from the plaza and is therefore safer.  It is large and soleless, but clean and chock full of amenities such as wifi, free computers, roof top terrace, and cable Tvs.  I am paying $28 soles ($10 USD) for a private room sans bath.

I met with the guia, Julver, briefly at 11:00 am.  He suggested climbing Chachani (6975 m at 19,993 feet) see the graphic below that I found on the web.  It will cost me $140 USD for transport (Julver is confident we can find others to share the cost) and $50 per day for guia which is muy barato (cheap).  He is going to find me boots, crampons, and 1 trekking pole.  It will be an interesting experience for me because I have never been that high before.  It is largely non technical, so it will be a good way to see how my body responds to altitude.  It will be a 2 day trip only, so there really wont be an acclimatization period. 

Julver suggested that I not go to Huaraz because it is too early in the season and the weather is crappy.  Done!  Decision made!  I was waffling over because I really want to see the area.  It is one of those magical places that all mountaineers aspire to visit.  The problem for me is that it is a 2 day trip each way through Lima unless I fly from here to Lima and take the bus to Huaraz.  There are no flights to Huaraz and the bus to Lima from Arequipa takes 17 hours.  Lima has a bad rep for being unsafe and Huaraz has its share of muggins too.  I´m happy to have a concrete reason to not go, like the weather, rather than feel like I have to miss it because I dont have much time before Brett and Val´s wedding.  With bad weather or even just clouds, the mountains will not be visible and Huaraz will not have the same majesty.

Now I need to start making other plans.  Plan B is directly to Cuzco.  I will need to find another guia there to take me trekking and climbing towards Machu Picchu.  There is also a good Spanish school in Cuzco that is worth considering.