Laguna Queshque

Description

Laguna Queshque (or Gueshgue) lies in the remote Queshque valley near Cátac and offers a very different landscape from the Cordillera Blanca's better-known routes. The route crosses open, rugged terrain, passing several lakes where, depending on the season, you may see flamingos and other high-Andean birds.

Pongos (5,680 m) and Mururaju (5,688 m) rise above the lake. After a short walk, laguna Jarapococha appears, surrounded by one of the region's largest stands of puya Raimondii, with flamingos depending on the season. You can also continue further into the valley, where the landscape becomes wilder, for example to laguna Pamparaju (4650 m a.s.l.) (from Jarapococha add 11 km | +460 m | 3h30).

The route's main attraction is its impressive puya Raimondii plants, known as the Queens of the Andes. They are the world's largest bromeliads—belonging to the same family as the pineapple—and can reach 15 metres in height. Their most remarkable feature is their flowering: in just three months they can produce more than 8,000 flowers, but they flower only once in their lifetime and then die. Because of its limited distribution and habitat loss, the species is endangered. Seeing these enormous plants growing together makes the route particularly impressive.

Did you know?

Laguna Queshque is fed by waters from Jarapococha (4300 m a.s.l.), Pamparaju (4650 m a.s.l.) and the Queshque glacier (5622 m a.s.l.). The Queshque glacier is also one of the glaciers monitored by INAIGEM since 2013.