We took advantage of a long weekend to visit the central Andean region of Huaraz. Beautiful mountains, rain (haven't seen that in forever), snow and the prettiest colored lagoon water I have ever seen. We hiked up to a very impressive lagoon at approx. 15,000 feet with all the accompanying high altitude side effects. All told it was a great trip, but a bit more acclimatization would have been nice. One other occurance of note would be the family that jumped out of a combi (van type taxi) with their very own sheep. You don't see that everyday. I highly recommend this trek.