The mountain ranges, for me, have always been a natural attraction on which concentrate my fantasies so much that I still love to fantasise, invent and plan new adventures on these territories.
Sometimes I am almost worried about the enthusiasm that I put into these desires to get to know the geography of remote places, but the will to know new lands and new identities knows no boundaries and every adventure makes me feel like a young explorer.
In my travels I have gradually given more attention to the landscape in which I was moving into and to the people I would meet and that is how the imagination and the wonder have grown hand in hand in me.
The Cordillera of the Andes is the long spine of South America that I had always seen represented on the geographical atlas.
At school I had repeatedly traced on the tissue paper those seven thousand kilometres of high mountains on the edge of the Pacific Ocean, it really amazes me.
A myriad of parallel, sharp, white and icy mountain ranges, alternated with twisted, dry and barren mountains.
In some stretches in the Andes there is also space for huge volcanic cones scattered here and there, that in turn hide endless plateaux of the most evocative colours.
With such a huge variety of landscapes it was difficult to decide where to put our time and energy, because with Glorija, as usual, we wanted to become “experts” of a well-defined area without wandering randomly, catching a bit of everything.
For the new chapter of the Altripiani project, we have chosen the region of the Ancash, traveling into the Cordillera Blanca where there are fabulous hiking and mountaineering routes with majestic snowy peaks which look like sharp teeth on the northern slopes or soft giant meringues on the south facing slopes with an altitude that exceeds 6000 meters.
Every time at home I prepare a program which is almost always mixed up by the real situation that we meet on the spot.
In fact, in Peru it is important to acclimatise very well, especially in this region that develops itself at 3000 meters above sea level.
During the first days we recommend easy walks and short paths along the pampas and through the many small pueblos that appear in the flowery and lush vegetation.
When the breath becomes normal and the fatigue comes only late at night, you will be ready to go up again!
