I really wanted to go to Punta Olimpica (highest tunnel in the world) since I got here in Huaraz, but renting a car in Huaraz is a difficult mission, I made a friend who put me in contact with a taxi driver who rented me his Taxi for 24h, just the car, no driver!
So I have a car! Let’s do this, the plan was to drive to Chacas from Huaraz, going through Huascarán National Park. Punta Olimpica is the highest point on that road.
When you get in the park you are greeted with this amazing valley
Here you can see the road going up to Punta Olimpica on the west side of the tunnel
The entrace of the tunnel on the west side at 4736 meters
Once you pass the tunnel you continue for 2-3 minutes and you can park your car and walk up to Cabaña de laguna Cancaragá where you can get an amazing view of the road on the east side of the tunnel.
On the other side of the Cabana you have the Lagna Cancaragá
I then proceeded back to the west side of the tunnel for sunset, many mountains I don’t know the name of
After sunset it started raining, so I went back to Chacas and got a room at an hotel around the plaza. The next day I woke up early for sunrise and went back to Laguna Cancaragá
And then it was time to go back to Huaraz, stopped for some more mountain pictures on the way
The ride
The valley from the mountains
If you are in the region, I highly recommend to try and get there to drive that route, it’s probably the best route I have done when it comes to driving in the mountains.