The bus was meant to arrive to Huaraz around 5:30am but the lights came on an hour earlier and we were told to get off the bus. Everybody begrudgingly got up from their seat and hesitantly stepped off the bus into the cold mountain air.

While we waited in the long queue for the toilet, Andy and Carlee took a taxi to their hostel. We thought we might get a coffee before trying to get into our hotel, but the cafe next door to the bus station was only offering chicken soup. In the end we took a taxi to El Jacal and hoped somebody would open the door to at least let us leave our bags.

After the second ring of the doorbell, we heard the door being unlocked and we were welcomed in by the bleary eyed owner. He pointed out to us that check-in was not until 1pm (another 7.5 hours away) and we assured him we knew that, but were hoping to just leave our bags. Kindly, he went to get his laptop to check our reservation and asked us to wait a second while he checked if there was any rooms readily available. Lucky for us, there was and we could check in to a room straightaway and do the paperwork later in the morning. No sooner were we in the room, we were fast asleep. After a couple of hours sleep, we ate the breakfast pack from the bus and tested the shower - great pressure and nice, hot water.

We went up to the hotel's roof terrace to have a look at the view....and it was stunning. The mountainous region around Hauraz, the Cordillera Blanca, has 22 ostentatious summits over 6,000m making it the highest mountain range in the world outside the Himalayas. The highest peaks were all snow capped and some even with glaciers.

Despite being just over 3,000m above sea level, it was surprisingly warm in the town. In shorts and t-shirt, we walked to Plaza de Armas and then around the surrounding streets. The tourist information gave us information about some of the walks around the area. We mulled over the options in a bakery over some tasty empanadas and a piece of chocolate cake.

Laguna 69 is maybe the area's most famous day walk and we went looking for a tour company to take us there. Huascaran Travel had good reviews and seemed professional when we spoke to them. They suggested though we should do a shorter acclimatisation walk tomorrow since we had just arrived. We were of course at just under 3,100m and walking quickly on the street or climbing the staircase had you panting like you had just run for 5km. Laguna 69 is at 4,600m so it is not to be taken too lightly as altitude sickness is quite common. We were sold and booked a walk to Wilcacocha for tomorrow for 80 Soles for two of us.

We bought some tuna fruit from an indigenous lady selling them peeled on the street corner. David had never tasted the fruit which comes from a cactus. Not too bad. All the local ladies seemed to be knitting in the street, whether they were actually selling knitted goods or not. Even the lady selling ice cream from a tri-cycle was knitting between making cones.

We had arranged to meet Andy and Carlee at Chili Heaven, an English-run restaurant with amazing reviews. A German couple they had met in Ecuador happened to walk in and they joined our table as well. The food was incredible, every dish was really fragrant and had a good kick to it. They even sold some very nice local craft beer, Sierra Andina.

Afterwards we went to a bar, Extreme, owned by the hostel owner where Andy and Carlee were staying in hope of some further information on possible walks. We agreed to go on a glacier hike together on Saturday, to Laguna Llaca at 4,500m. Since we were getting up early for our walk tomorrow, we left them to sort out the taxi/ride for the four of us.