Balzaccom, the rules in the Huayhuash do not require you to use a guide (you are free to go it alone), but if you choose to use a guide, you must use a certified guide and pay the going wage.

This area until recently had remnants of the Sendero Luminoso. There had been a number of instances of robberies and a few deaths, including a friend of mine. The locals, got together to make the area safer (and no doubt to safeguard the small cottage industry from passing mochileros.) Some now charge entry fees to pass through, but in exchange place men on horseback at night, as sentinels. I always check the U.S. State Department reports before going abroad. Another good source of info is the South American Explorers Club. The SAE has offices in LIma, Cuzco, Quito, and a few other cities.

The reasons I will choose to use a guide/arrieiro this time are that route-finding on this trek is quite challenging; plus, having a local to talk to is always interesting (and a chance to give my Spanish a work-out); and last but not least, spreading the load out on a trip this physically challenging seems prudent.

Ppine, loved the canoe story. A number of years ago I took a friend sea kayaking. He had had a leg amputated due to cancer. I asked if he could still swim?... He responded, "I guess we'll find out!"