Slept well and long, much longer than I'd been sleeping in Indiana under the early dawns. Watched the sunlight peak in under the high clouds at the head of the valley from the comfort of my tent and sleeping bag. A few patches of blue sky helped welcome the day.

Instant coffee, scrambled eggs and bread for breakfast with some more coca tea to go. Without the weight of full backpacks, we caught several groups who had headed out of camp ahead of us, even some of the other burro-supported trekkers. Talked with one group of Israelis, including another Unix geek, who all meet on the plane or bus and decided to do this trek. Also meet a few groups headed up to Alpamayo base camp today who were going to attempt that mountain. We too were headed up to the base camp, but just as a side trip before continuing on with our Santa Cruz trek.

Passed Laguna Chica and the larger Laguna Grande. I found walking much easier today, the soil was harder packed and not like the sandy path we'd encountered at the entrance to the valley. Walked and chatted with a Peruvian guide named Irma who was leading a French group who wouldn't or couldn't talk in English or Spanish. So she seemed starved for conversation and Cheryl and I enjoyed chatting with her all through lunch.

After lunch we headed up hill on our way to the Alpamayo base camp. Nestled in a little valley, it was certainly the nicest base camp I'd ever seen. A lively river flowed right through, lined with quenual trees and their papery bark, and the whole area was incredibly green and welcoming, even as it was tucked right against the moraine leading up Alpamayo. Unfortunately, the clouds had built up, and we had no views of the famous Alpamayo.

After relaxing for a while, we headed back down, and contoured around the valley walls to come directly into our night's camp almost at the same elevation as Alpamayo base camp. After rejoining the regular trail we meet up with two couples who had been our bus to Huaraz and two of them lived just a few blocks away from Cheryl.

We meet up with Benito who had erected the dinning tent beneath a few moraines. The intermittent rain kept us in the dinning tent sipping Coca tea and working on our Spanish. Irma stopped by for a talk and described some of the other guided trips she leads.

We learned today was Martin's daughter's birthday. Was also our longest day yet, only 6 hours with breaks, but all of it over 11,000 ft.