Panorama Photo

Every visitor who travels by bus from Lima to Huaraz and the Cordillera Blanca passes through Conococha. Many of them have probably also the memory of an headache, because of the sudden altitude gain from 0 to 4200, that is, from the Panamericana along the Pacific coast to the Abra Conococha, the crossing of the Andine watershed, little outside the end of the picture on the right. When I did this on June 22, less than one month had passed since I had crossed the Thorung La, at 5400 m in Nepal (see N.26485), However, that night I felt some minor effect, which readily vanished - in the next three days i would visit Wilcahuain, cycle to Punta Callan, 4600 m (N.26074) and climb Cerro Cachijirca, 5050 m (N.26827).
What I saw that first evening from behind the glass of the bus was quite supernatural: the bus descended the bends of the Abra with the laguna already in shadow, with the last sun glowing on the far summits of Yerupajá and Jirishanca. In the vicinity of the Equator the night falls very quickly, and during the short stop at the village only shadows could be seen moving around, on the windy road, under their Quechua hats.
When, nearly 40 days later, I returned to Conococha by bicycle from Huaraz, it was already dark. I found accommodation in a room in the courtyard of a woman running a very basic restautant. The room had a bare earthy ground, and the furnishing consisted of a single bulb and of a bed. The inhabitants of a nearby space were a group of cuys, or Guinea pigs, which are the basis of a typical local dish, the picante de cuy.
The next morning, before heading towards Huayhuash, I went a little up the hill to take the present panorama, as much as the many power lines allowed - one of them is the cause of the rather unexpected ending of the panorama on the right side.