Sarah thought it would be fun to take some pictures of the unusual manikins around La Paz:
James likes 2nd row left, Sarah likes 3rd row right! :)
We are now in Sucre after a night bus from La Paz. We've just met up with all our Huayna Potosi mountain climb crew so we are hopefully going to do Uyuni Salt flats tour with them in the next few days!
Internet is dog crap here so next post will be from Chile!!! Our final South American destination.
We set off early in a taxi on wednesday morning at 5.30am.We needed to get to the airport 1 hour in advance for our 7.30am flight so we left plenty of time, or so we thought! The journey went very smoothly until we realised the taxi driver had taken us to the wrong airport! Despite telling him we needed to go to the Military airport for TAM we went to the International one. So off we went again. We arrived at the military base at the bewilderment of the driver and checked in with the armed military man, we both starred at each other in disbelief! What were we getting ourselves into? At least we were there.....
So next thing we know the taxi driver is lost in the military airport, and he's stopping to ask the soldiers where we should go. They point us in one direction and the taxi driver literally follows their direction and heads off down the landing taxi strip to the main runway with everyone looking at him in disbelief and with us having kittens in the back seat! We have never wanted a taxi driver to drive as fast, we were absolutely flabbergasted! We just couldn't believe what he was doing!!
Anyway, we whizzed round into the airline loading bay and hopped out before we would get shot at by the soldiers! We arrive with 1 hour to spare in the freezing cold. Close one...
We took off in a tiny 20 seat propeller plane and were forward to getting to Rurenabaque to a) get out the plane safely and b) to warm up after being frozen to the core in La Paz!
Well we successfully met both a and b above! The landing at Rurenabaque was partly into a field which was surprisingly smooth and it is very hot! We then herded onto the back of 2 motorcycles which were our 'taxis' into town (apparently the only form of transport there)... eeek!!! We were so exhausted from fear of death when we got to the hostel we fell asleep in our hostel for 4 hours and awoke to jungle thunderstorms!
Day 2
Thursday would see us head off into the Pampa's to explore the rivers, go searching for Anacondas, swim with pink dolphines and crocs plus hunt Piranhas! All very exciting. We met our group too who were all English! Leanne and Simon, Cat and Michael and Annie and Gina. We all loaded up on bug spray and prepared outrselves for 3 hours in a jeep followed by 3 hours in a large canoe to get to the lodge.
Black Cayman
The jeep journey was uneventful apart from the chat with our new found friends!
The best bit was getting into the canoe and spotting hundreds of crocs, alligators, caymans, monkeys, birds (over 1200 species including kingfishers, herons, parrots, eagles, vultures, falcons, plus many more) and Capybaras.
Later on we tucked into dinner and fell into the hammocks before the bugs came out to play!
Our Lodge
Day 3
Friday was Anaconda searching day! We left at 8am before the heat really set in. The walk was an hour out to the 'snake' spot. We trudged through swamp up to our knees and found two of the beasts beneath our feet! Unfortunately we both had holes in our wellies so our feet were soaking wet with swamp water- a very unpleasant feeling. We trudged back in the blazing heat through fields of grasses which were as high as our shoulders. We were all very aware of the ticks and bugs that could latch onto us!
Hunting Anaconda's!
Country Casuals...
We got back to the lodge exhausted from the heat and all had cold showers before lunch and falling asleep in the hammocks for 2 hours. In the afternoon we set out to go Piranha hunting!!
James was skilled (lucky more like) and got 1 which we put back. After all our bait had been used (and the boredom set in) we went to a sunset bar to have a drink, play with the animals and hang around in hammocks for night fall. At this point Sarah was freaking out at all the bugs and wanted to go back to the safety of the mosquito nets at the lodge, but we were going out Cayman spotting in the dark with the torches. So we had to man up and face the bites...
Sunset in a hammock...bliss!
Day 4
Saturday- We set out to swim with the crocs and pink dolphins before we headed back to the town of Rurenabaque. We were really fortunate enough to see several dolphins and James risked his neck to swim with them by getting into the water with all the Caymans, alligators and cros around him. CRAZY!!..and he survived!!
The long jeep journey back was exhausting and Sarah's back was suffering alot from the lack of suspension. We thought the black trombone (aka the civic) was bad....We fell out the car, collected our things that were in the safe at the office and we all checked back into our hotel for a long shower before drinks and dinner.
We headed off to the local gringo bar 'Mosiquito' for a few cocktails with our new found friends and played pool before heading back to bed. Our flight was at 9am the next morning so we couldn't be too late.
Day 5- Back to La Paz and the cold!
After spending 5 days in the jungle and hot climate we were looking forward to the cold again. We hopped back on our motorised taxis to the airport (which looks like a house) and landed safely in La Paz.. Fffewwww...
By the time we checked into the hostel it was past lunchtime so we needed to grab some food. But unfortunately we couldn't find our money. We had over 400 bolivianos (over £40) stolen out of our moneybelts without us even knowing!! BAD TIMES. We couldn't believe it!! This is the first time anything like this has happened to us before so we were REALLY pissed off and down. We couldn't quite believe it!!
So this is where we sit now, grumpy and cold. We had arranged to speak with lots of friends and family but have been totally distracted by the whole situation. Bolivia- this is not cool!!
We had decided long ago (or James had) that he wanted to climb a 6000 m peak while in the Andes having done 5600 m, and 5700 m these were not high enough anymore! So having done a little research we knew we could climb Huayna Potosi, which is very close to La Paz for a very small amount.
To be able to do this we were going to have to acclimatize ourselves very well, spending time at sea level had put us back to square one!
A good acclimitization package was a 3 day trek around the Condirri valley between 4400m and 4750m, this would leave us at the Huayna Potosi base camp ready for a summit attempt.
So out of all the companys in La Paz we chose one and excitidly prepared to leave!
Day 1 - Wednesday
Our pickup from La Paz had to be 6 am to avoid the inevitable road blocks and protests that were going on that Wednesday morning. Its a normal occurence for people to litter the roads with rocks so cars cannot pass in or out of the city...
We had a 2 hour drive from La Paz to the smalll village of Tuni where the trek began, on route our guide Marcelo stopped to buy our food for the trek from a small street/road market.
Tuni was the smallest village, with only 20 families living there, bear in mind Bolivian families may have 7 or so siblings! but there were only about 20 buildings!
Our days walk began with the Huayna Potosi mountain looming over the small village, we got a scarry realisation of the scale of this peak.
We left Tuni walking for 4 hours in to the Condirri valley, so named for the famous Condirrri mountain that looks like a Condor bird, it is very beautiful but you require imagination. Our camp site for the first night was a beautiful glacial lake surrounded by towering white peaks, bliss! As a side trip for the day we decided to try to climb Pico Austria at 5200m, we didn't want to push it that day so agreed to get to around 5000m then return to our camp at 4650m.
At this camp we were lucky enough to have a refugio where we could eat meals in the warm, we were cooked a meal of vegetable soup followed by rice with a bolognaise type sauce, which was not that appetising....
By 7 pm it was time to retire to the tent for one of those long freezing snow covered nights waiting for the sun to rise again! We decided that night we would start taking our altitude drugs Diamox to increase our chances of reaching the 6000m summit a few days later. We were so excited and hyped!
Around 10 pm after a few hours sleep Sarah turned to me and said she felt really sick, I told her it was probably the Diamox playing us up a bit and to got to sleep as I felt it too.....20 minutes later she was sick out of the tent doors into a plastic bag.....20 minutes later I ran out and was sick as well........FOOD POISIONING from the dodgy street meat!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We spent the next 10 hours vomiting, running in and out of the tent into the snow and ERRHMMM in the freezing temperatures, combined with running a high temperature going from hot to cold, made it a great start to our trip.
Day 2 - Thursday
It truly was one of the worst experiences of our lives, we were at despair, especially when we ran out of water in the middle of the night and James had 'projectiled' our last remaining Powerade.
In the morning we told the guide we were both sick and he retorted it must be altitude sickness. We explained surely 2 people getting sick at exactly the same time with the same symptoms, plus the fact that we had been much higher (5700m) that at 4600m this really was not the issue. We had a tough decision: To stay or return to La Paz??
James felt so bad that the only option was to go back to La Paz, but he had not really stopped being sick at this point and was so dehydrated that he thought he may need a drip or something. The guide called the office and said as we had altitude sickness and if we returned to La Paz this would be the end of the trip : NO REFUNDS.......
Regardless of this we had made up our minds and could not continue and could certainly not climb a 6000m mountain in 2 days anyway!!! So we sadly agreed to leave in an hour.
Soon after this a friendly face of Steve in the tent next door poked his head bravely into our sick tent and asked what was going on, admitting he had heard most of the nights dramas unfold live!!! He said it was a bad idea for us to try the 4 hour walk back to Tuni in our condition and to be honest we could only get up to be sick. There was no way we could trek for 4 hours!! So we told the guide we would wait until the morning and see how we were.
So if you have ever had food poisoning, you may know you get this feeling when you know its over and gone, whatever had hold of you has left your body and you get a little appetite back, you want a drink (can hold it down) and very quickly you re build your energy levels.
It was thursday afternoon when Sarah recalled seeing a bag of mince meat hanging from the back of the guides bag in the glaring Andean sun all day on wednesday! Rotting flesh in the sun is never a good meal....
Day 3 - Friday
By the morning we were feeling pretty good (comparatively) and asked the guide if we could continue. This would push the summit attempt back a day giving us 1 more day to get back fighting fit, he would try to ring the office and sort it out for us (at an extra cost).
We were lucky that two other girls called Lea and Lindsay travelling with the comapny were doing the same route, so we formed a larger group to walk together. A big thanks goes out to them for supplying us re hydration powders and stomach medicine, thank you girls!!!
Fridays walk was not easy (esp on empty) it was a 7 hour walk, crossing a 5000m pass. This gave us our first real up close view of Huayna Potosi Mountain, it was beautiful and covered in snow from top to bottom it seemed!
We walked slowly and purposefully, and ate as much as we could. We were even lucky enough this day to see the famous Andean Condor circiling high up in the sky.
It was agreed with the agency we would have an extra day added to our itinerary at our cost, we were not happy as they were treating it as altitude sickness, but decided we could fight this out on our return to La Paz,. Sarah fortunately had a chat with the company owner and explained our side of the story and the manager seemed surprised to hear the dodgy meat story, so we started to wonder what had been said to the office!
Our second (or 3rd campsite) at 4750m was at the foot of Huayna Potosi, a formidable sight to see when your looking out of your tent. After the days walk we felt good and had a good vegetarian meal of white rice!
An interesting topic of conversation between all campers were the make shift long drops. If you mix a wall that is made of mud and 3 ft high, with a 3m x 3m pit covered with rickety wooden slats with a hole- hey presto!!
Day 4 - Saturday
The final day of the walk was 4 hours to the low base camp and saw us climb another 5000 m pass, we had awe inspiring views of the ranges that we had walked from and were walking too.
We arrived at the Refugio where we would spend the night and were greeted with real matresses and even a toilet seat! A treat! We had a rice meal and relaxed for the afternoon playing cards to try to build ourselves back up.
We were given all our kit here: Helmets, ice axes, crampons, snow boots, snow trousers, gaiters, harnesses and gloves. As Sarah's back was giving her major problems, James had to pack and carry all the kit for both of us, which with water and a few other bits added like sleeping bags made roughly 20 kg! James would have to carry this to the high base camp 500m higher the next day.
Here we met Caleb an American guy who had been travelling for 15 months! so he joined our merry band!
Day 5 - Sunday
This was to be a leaisurly day, an 8am breakfast to leave by 8.30 for the 2 - 3 hour wak to high base camp at 5130m. It needed to be leisurely as we were going to wake up at 12am for the summit!
We started very slowly again, mainly to save energy but also to save Sarah's back for the night summit attempt. What we didn't realise was that we were being assessed on this this performance and were given time slots based on speed and therefore how long it was going to take them to summit the mountain! Doh!
We reached the refugio last in 1 hr 55, under the time they had advised it would take. James had a massive bag and we were still recovering from food poisoning!
We ate and slept at the refugio as the weather appeared to get worse and worse, clouds rolled in and the snow started to thickly lay, not good for climbing conditions.
After dinner we had a chat with our guides and they explained what was going to happen and when we were going to leave. We were scheduled to be the first to leave at 1 am, which gave us 5 hrs 10 mins to get to the summit at sun rise. Now, we met a crazy athletic couple on the way up who did it in 4 hr 30 and we did not feel we were far off them. Yes we did have food poisoning 3 days earlier, but we are not sure the guides really thought about this. Oh well we thought we will just take it easy.
Next was bed for us at 6pm for one of those sleeps where you need to wake up at 12 am. The wind was howling over the mountain and you could almost hear everyone saying why the hell are we doing this!!! Plus the Diamox makes you need the toilet so we were constantly popping outside to make yellow snow!
Day 6 -Monday
The alarm started buzzing at 11.50 pm and everyone was awoken by the sound of Lady Ga Ga 'Poker Face' to Sarah's delight! We rustled around and sorted our selves out with all our kit......
Thermal base layer, long sleeve t shirt, t shirt, fleece, waterproof jacket,
Inner gloves, mittens, ice axe
wool hat, helmet
Day pack, water, snacks, sun cream, sunglasses
Wow, ok we had everything!
We ate our breakfast of stale bread and Jam, well Sarah didn't and all prepared to leave at our allotted time.
As it approached 12.45 our guide shouted for us to leave, it was bitterly cold outside, we ventured to the glacier base that was 1 minute from the refugio, here we put on our crampons and we were ready to go.
We were the first out on the mountain that night so the path was covered in snow, every step was into think powder snow, the guide had said we were going to start with a really sow rhythm and see how that went.
The first half hour or so was not too steep and as we were walking so slowly we had no real problems. It was now we began to see a trail of fire fly lights below us following us up.
After about an hour Sarah's torch with brand new batteries went dim, yes the torch had lasted a whole 1 hr 30, great! So for the next 4 hours until sun rise she had to rely on the guide ahead leading the way and James torch pointing at her heels!
As we trudged on in places when you stepped off the trail you fell in snow as deep as your thigh, it was now around 2.30 that clouds rolled in and we were plunged in to a white world where all we could see was our small group and the next 10 meters.
Our next challenge was the only real technical piece of the trail, a 10 meter 45 degree wall that had to be climbed, in all honesty from our previous experience this was very easy and caused little trouble.
We had now reached a height of about 5650m and were approaching Sarah's record height and we were also there in very good time! It appeared we were walking far faster than our guides expectations and at this pace we guessed we would be at the summit by 5.30am, well before sun rise! At this point he advised we were going to drop the pace and walk more rhythmically.
Around 4.15am we reached 5800m, as high as either of us had been, it was at this point James began to feel slightly nauseous. He put it down to lack of sugar and ate 4 Oreo cookies, bad move, they were insistent on not staying down. The next 1hr 30 to the summit was going to prove a struggle for James now.
The next section of the climb was along a series of ledges with small crevase crossings everywhere, our guide would give them a gentle stamp (to check they wouldn't cave in) then hop over and give us the all clear. Sometimes when doing these things its better to not see what's around you! At one point all anyone must have been able to hear was Sarah screaming "James stay close to the rock" with his fear of heights this had James in all kinds of problems wondering what he was about to plunge down.
At the end of this section we had reached 6000m and found ourselves perched on a ridge, you could straddle a leg either side...It just so happened one side had a near vertical drop of approximately one thousand meters, again not great for James's vertigo! You could hear him swearing under his breath with his breathing becoming more and more erratic.
The guide stepped out first testing the ice all the way until he sat 10m or so higher than us, he shouted down "Follow up moving very slowly one foot at a time, and be careful its very dangerous". Great we thought, we can't print what James actually said as its not suitable for a blog of this nature.
Slowly we crept up one step at a time, bearing in mind your roped together so have to move in synch really.
When we reached him after completing the ledge, he made sure we were set securely and moved on, this section was about 5 m, flat but the path was as wide as your two feet, no room for error.
Again the guide shouted "PELIGROSO" "PELIGROSO" translated as dangerous. James was now in shreds, this for him was his worst nightmare but a good test.
We crept across, Sarah walking slowly and meaningfully, whilst James was on all fours whimpering obscenities, but we did cross it and we didn't fall, a huge bonus.
Now all we had to do was the last 60 or so meters to the top, it was a thin path again with the steep drop but a large snow bank to protect us.
At 5.45 am we reached the summit 6088m, the sun had still not risen but there was a glow all around the sky, we could see the 'Ciudad De Alto' La Paz, Illimani (mountain) towering over it, the route we had spent 4 days walking and if not for the clouds Lake Titicaca, also and Australian guy vomiting due to the altitude!
6088m, yeay!!
Not only had we made the summit but we were first there!! After everything that had happened in the previous week it was amazing. You could feel a real buzz of energy there everyone was hugging and congratulating each other this was going to be a day in each persons lives they would never forget. Sarah even did the MC Hammer 'can't touch this' dance!
You can almost see the curvature of the earth from 6088m!
Sarah at the top-freezing!
Being at the summit felt again like being on top of the world, above the clouds we so often look up to and wonder what's beyond....? Well it would seem people mad enough to par take in this extreme sport.
With no sun and buzzing wind we could not spend time at the top, we were freezing! We had enough time for a few photos then the descent.
The world was now bathed in the first light of the day and we could finally see what we had climbed and also the drops we had narrowly walked along.
Looking back at the ridge to the top
A narrow ledge that we had no clue about!
Back at the pass we met Lea and Caleb who were on their way to the summit we passed smiles and hurried past to allow them their moment.
As we scrambled down the ledges again, the sun began to finally rise and warm the world in light and heat once more.
Watching the sun rise
The colours were amazing!
The descent was to take two and a half hours, but by this point we were starting to run low on energy and fluids so we decided to stock up with several mini breaks. The problem was that all the water was mostly frozen and the snacks almost frozen!
Anyone for a slushy?
Coming down a mountain is always more beautiful than coming up as you can see the ice formations and crevasses properly.
Again looking back at the path- Great ski conditions!
Arriving back at the refugio we had hit the wall and Sarah was pale as a ghost. We had a chance to relax and eat before our final onslaught of the 2 hour walk back to low base camp.
Sarah slumped in a corner!
Once again James packed up his 20 kg back pack and prepared for the slow walk down. We arrived at the lower base camp and set up camp for a 1hr 30min wait where we had a very amusing game of 'Would you rather', we all agreed that if we had the choice between doing Huayan Potosi immediately again or giving up sex for a year we would do the later!!
So again another amazing experience had come to an end, we have met some amazing people who we have met again today as we are writing (1 day later) and we are hoping to do some tours with them in southern Bolivia in a few weeks. We have learnt that despite anything that happens we can still achieve great things and push ourselves to the limit and beyond. I (James) think Sarah should be a poster candidate for anyone who has severe back injuries and say that should not stop you doing anything!
By the morning we were feeling pretty good (comparatively) and asked the guide if we could continue. This would push the summit attempt back a day giving us 1 more day to get back fighting fit, he would try to ring the office and sort it out for us (at an extra cost).
