Before heading out of Caraz this morning we had a challenging and somewhat unusual chore to perform. Nina receives a pension from her time as a teacher in Australia. Every year the pension organization requires proof that she is still alive (I know it sounds like the Russell Crowe movie Proof of Life). She must fill in a form and get it witnessed. So this morning we set off to find a notario, the Latin equivalent of a US notary or Australian JP. That accomplished, with lots of laughs, we went to a post office to send the letter certificardo. It's amazing what a few words of Spanish, lots of miming, and some intelligent locals can accomplish.

From Caraz we headed south to the town of Yungay. This town is the site of one of the worst natural disasters ever recorded. In 1970 a landslide engulfed the entire town killing almost all of the towns 18,000 inhabitants. Following the disaster the town was rebuilt on a new site and the original site, now largely abandoned, hosts a large statue of Christ as a monument to the dead.

From Yungay we took a side road into Huascaran National Park to visit two lakes and drive through a famous gorge. From 7000 ft at Yungay the reasonable quality dirt road wound up the side of the valley through many farms to 11,000 ft at the park entrance. From the entrance the gorge is visible with sheer granite walls 1000 m tall. After paying our 5 sols per person the road continued to climb through the gorge to the first of the two lakes. From there the road was more level as it progressed past the second lake to a large clearing and camping area. We spent some time in the clearing and then returned to Yungay and the main road south. However the road past the lakes continues east to the town of Yanama and along the way reaches an altitude of 15,000 ft. Moreover this road is a regular bus route.

We travelled south through a heavy rain storm to Huaraz, the major town in the area. We spent a couple of hours looking for Joe's Hostel, which could not accommodate us, the Hotel Andino which also could not accommodate us, before finally arriving at Hotel Hauscaran. On the way to the Andino I ran over a grate covering a drain and within moments had a flat front left tire. I could not believe it after all the rough and tire torturing roads we have been on we got a flat on a city street.