Caraz

Caraz is the last big town in the Callejon de Huaylas 72 km up North from Huaraz. It is situated lower than Huaraz and has a pleasant much warmer climate all year round.
Caraz is frequently visitedby mountaineers and people who start their Santa Cruz trek from the Caraz side (recommended!). If you have time, stay some time in relaxed Caraz which has numerous good hotels and restaurants andprofessional agencies where you can get trekking or biking gear. The nearby Cañon del Pato is famous in Peru for it's many tunnels and is quite spectacular to bike through.

CARAZ DULZURA (Sweet Caraz)it is also called. If you try some of the sweet cakes or the manjar blanco, on sale everywhere, you know that they take their reputation seriously. It seems that the icecream cone is a standardattribute for the Caracino. Some say that the famous explorer Antonio Raymondi gave the sweet nickname because he received a sweet breakfast, still common in Caraz. Others say it is because of the sugarcane fields that used to be around Caraz.
Caraz was much less affected by the 1970 earthquake than other cities in the Callejon and you will find impressive antique buildings all over town. The ClubUnion has a beautiful wallpainting of nearby lake Paron.-

This year we visited Caraz during the Fiestas Patrias (National Celebration) of July 28. There are various marches in the lovely Plaza deArmas ( my favorite plaza in the Callejon), mostly of highschool students but also of military and even shoe polishers. People dress up nicely and the event is taken very seriously. You shouldn't disturba Caracino who is watching the Fiestas Patrias marches in Lima life on tv!
Make sure you make a hotel reservation this time of the year because the town fills up fast with mostly people from Lima.On a Sunday you may want to check out "la Catedral", the sober but impressive church overlooking the Plaza de Armas. The Plaza gets a lot of it's character by it's iron fountain and by numerous...