Christian's posts with tag: bolivia
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The Isla del Sol on Lake Titikaka is the birthplace of the first Inca, the sun, and the moon, according to the myths. A very tranquil island on which mass tourism has yet to arrive. As it has been electrified four years ago, the number of visitors, however, is steadily increasing. I happened to hook up with a very nice group of seven other travelers and we chartered a boat to the northern end of the island, where a complex of beautiful Inca ruins can be visited.
After the educational part, we went swimming in the crystal clear waters of Lake Titikaka on a gorgeous beach just below the ruins in exactly the place where the Incas must have enjoyed a little time off...
The three hour walk back along the islands hills was truly a visual treat. Great views into all directions across the lake! In hindsight I should have stayed more than just two nights.
Already the bus ride to Rurre(nabaque) along what the Bolivian tourist industry happily markets as "the worlds most dangerous road" (and which is hence very popular among us gringos to go mountain-biking downhill) is a true adventure! The road leads briefly up from La Paz to the pass La Cumbre at 4700m before then wiggling down towards Coroico at 1700m and further-on to Rurre at about 250m above sea level. The road is wedged into perpendicular rock walls, mainly only wide enough for one vehicle, very rocky. At one point it even leads straight through a few waterfalls.
I was slightly surprised when all of the numerous mobile vendors which entered the bus temporarily at La Cumbre were explicitly wishing us a safe journey and the benevolence of god... Also seing the woman in the seat in front of me sacrificing copious amounts of pure alcohol out of the window to Pacha Mama for a safe journey did not really make me feel more at ease.
Anyway, besides the danger title I thought that the road also deserved the title as the most bumpy and dusty road of the world - but I was wrong, these two titles most probably go to the track from Rurre to Santa Rosa in the pampas... I have never eaten so much dust inside a vehicle! And after the three hours this ride takes, I was very glad to get out of the car to ease the pain in my hurting bum.
So when I could finally leave the bus after the 18-hour ride to Rurre at 6 in the morning, I was quite glad to crash out for a few hours in a nice little hostel with hammocks and many tropical plants. Rurre is a great little place to laze around for a while and this is what I did for the day. It features a very pleasant tropical climate, a little market building where fresh fruit juices, empanadas, bread etc. are available for amazingly little money. The next morning I took off into the pampas, the flooded wetlands. To you folks at home: the Bolivian pampas pretty much resemble the Spreewald, except for the ubiquitous alligators and caymans, pink river dolphins, snakes, monkeys, turtles, piranhas, and the abundant bird-life.
So the first night after going up the Yakumo river in a motorized canoe made from a single tree, we set out to watch the light of our torches being reflected in the alligator eyes. Surprisingly many orange dots in the plants of the river banks... Some of the alligators were actually lying in the water only a few meters away from our camp. Further excursions by canoe from the relatively comfortable camp included a three-hour walk in gum boots through flooded marshland to find an Anaconda (without any success, only found an Anaconda skeleton), several swims with the peace- and playful pink river dolphins (one of them turning out to be "swimming with Anaconda", though), sunrise and sunset excursions, piranha fishing etc. Absolutely incredible wildlife!! Four days very well spent!
One of the highlights was actually when one guy of my group almost stepped onto a 2m long alligator being totally convinced it was made from plastic. Our guide had been joking about this before and the fact this impressive animal was lying motionlessly directly in front of an other camp on the river bank almost made this probable. The alligator only turned his head and made a hissing sound when the guy was about 20cm away, before slowly sliding into the water...
After one night in Rurre again, I set out into the jungle with the great bunch of people had met on the pampas tour. A four hour boat trip up the Beni river. In the jungle many more plants, hence much fewer animals to be seen. Much more humid climate, many more biting insects. Still very interesting, but certainly less impressive and pleasant than the pampas trip. We spent the first night in a camp in the jungle, leaving for a four hour walking tour leading well into the night, where we spotted a nocturnal monkey, came quite close to a tapir, a deer, and a group of wild pigs of several hundred animals(!). Often just waiting silently for the noises of the jungle, occasionally lightly brushed by some bats flying around.
The next day we set out a little deeper into the rain-forest to spend the night next to a little river on the ground just in our mosquito nets. On this trip we found a few fresh footprints of a jaguar (surprisingly big, I must say!) with a cub. Our very good guides explained a lot about the different uses of the enormous variety of the jungle plants during the walks. The next day back to the camp and to Rurre. In the end I was very glad to come back to Rurre and have a shower...
The flight back to La Paz was alright, only five hours of delay. I especially enjoyed the close-up views of Huayna Potosi and the whole Cordillera Royal before touching down at El Alto airport in La Paz.
You can photos of this great trip here. Have also added several pictures to older albums (Sorata, La Paz, Huayna Potosi)...
So I had thought I could just bag the odd 6000m summit.
Leaving La Paz the day before yesterday after a little odyssey getting half-way proper equipment from the agency (half the stuff was broken, they did not have plastic mountaineering boots my size, which we had to rent from an other agency in the end, etc.), we took off to the low camp at the Zongo pass at 4600m in a ramshackle mini bus. We that´s me and Trevor, my English companion on this trip, and Andrés, our Bolivian mountain guide.
After setting up camp, we went up into the glacier to familiarize us with the equipment and practice some ice-climbing which was good fun and a nice acclimatization exercise. It is surprisingly easy to walk up an almost vertical ice-wall with crampons and ice-axe!
Next day - yesterday - not much else to do than packing up camp and walking up to the high camp at 5130m, where the glacier starts. The weather was quite mixed and we waited out the snow and hail during the afternoon in the tent. I was truly fit, full of energy, and did not have any issues with the altitude. In the evening, the clouds ripped open and gave view onto the stunning mountain scenery.
Today, a very early start; we got up at midnight. And after an agonizing time putting on all the layers and the climbing harness in the extreme cold (I'd guess a good -20 degrees), we stood on our crampons on the glacier at 1am. Unfortunately I did not feel all to well, but attributed that to the awkward time to get up. A second guide had appeared the day before and so we took off stomping through the snow in two teams, me and Andrés, and Trevor and the other guide. It was a moonless night and there was hence absolutely nothing to be seen of the glacier or the landscape. Only myriads of stars above and the glitter of the snow crystals in front of my head-torch.
After a while and quite some climbing through snow and ice, the city lights of La Paz in the distance became visible. Occasionally the dark abyss of some giant crevasse showed up which would have easily swallowed a stack of five trucks or more. My boots were allright, only did I have very cold feet. I was still feeling weak. The thought of turning back crossed my mind repeatedly... Our guides were making us to walk relatively quickly, and I did have trouble keeping up the pace. But we were making very good progess. Below us, in the glacier, the flickering lights of a few other groups ascending became apparent. The first obstacle, a 40m high almost perpendicular wall of snow and ice, was still good fun to climb - jamming the ice-axe into the wall and just walking up with the crampons. The mittens I had gotten from the agency turned out be crap, not very warm and certainly not water-proof at all. So I kept walking on with numb hands and feet, having to catch my breath continuously due to the altitude.
Earlier than expected we arrived at the final 200m high ice-wall before the summit at 6088m. Here, a fierce wind made things even worse. The air temperature must have been at -25 degrees or below, the additional wind-chill was tremendous. At this stage I had already full-blown hypothermia and was quivering and shaking. No place to wait, or hide, or warm up.
Maybe this made me go berserk (literally!) - the strenuous climb up this wall seemed the only way for me to warm up somehow. So I had outbursts of quick climbs up for about five to ten meters, often catching up with my guide who was supposed to stay the full lenght of the rope ahead to secure me, and physical breakdowns on the ice-wall for a few minutes, having to catch my breath and gather energy. All that in pitch-black darkness. I was so desperately climbing, that we left the other team behind quite a way. I was amazed to watch the snot coming out of my nose as icicles straight... I was just hammering away with the ice-axe, not much caring for my numb feet and hands. Stopping on the wall was absolutely no option due to the cold.
When I finally arrived at the summit at about 5.45am after a far to long climb through the wall, my fingers and feet were frozen stiff and there still was no daylight yet. Nothing much to be seen, except the glittering sea of lights of La Paz in the distance. I was totally hypothermic and shaking bitterly. The altitude made things worse. No way even to think of taking out the camera. (You know me - this is a very bad sign!) I had the dubious honour of being the first person on the summit today, after my guide.
After only three minutes, Andrés and I started the descent. On the way down, I tried to warm up my completely numbed fingers. And all the way down to camp the only thing I could ever think of was my warm sleeping bag. After the sun had come out, the outlandishly beautiful glacier landscape and the rim of gorgeous peaks around became visible. Unfortunately, I did not have the slightest amount of energy left to appreciate the stark beauty or to take pictures.
Yes, no need to argue, I should have been more sensible and should have turned back earlier. I did have a bad day and should have realized. This trip was certainly one of the most extreme situations I have been putting myself into ever. But by now, being back in La Paz, most of the feeling has returned into my fingers and toes. And after eating, drinking and sleeping a little, I feel almost human again.
But do not get me wrong - I did enjoy the trip lots, despite the suffering!
The bus journey to Sorata already is an adventure. A good five to six hours from La Paz for about 136 km! And the first half of the road up to Achacachi even has asphalt... After that a dirt road starts, leaving the Altiplano and descending into the valleys. Most of the track consists of potholes, rocks, river crossings etc. You certainly would not like to take your car down here. And you would not get very far... Incredible the old japanese buses make it! Keep in mind that this is a "major road" in Bolivia! So when I finally arrived in Sorata, my bum was properly hurting from the bus journey.
The next morning I set out into the mountains to the Laguna Chillata (4204 m) - a steep 1500 m ascent! I was pretty much puffing after the first 800 m due to the thin air. This is where I met Dan, a nice English guy going the same route. So we went on together for a while, but soon I had to stay behind. The last few hundred meters in altitude I felt really bad, had to sit down after every 50 m distance. When I finally arrived at the Laguna Chillata, Dan had already been there for an hour. I was slightly sick, threw up once. I think now this all had to do more with a strange mandarine I had eaten for lunch. I tried to eat a carrot for dinner. After about one hour there was still half a carrot left... I really could not eat anything! So I decided to turn in. The sun was going down and it became really chilly anyway. After dozing for about an hour I woke up again, feeling really hungry! So I ate the rest of the carrot, some biscuits, and chocolate. I even managed to peel myself out of the sleeping bag and get more water from the lake. And at that time it was freezing cold outside!!
After a good night sleep - about 11 hours - I felt really fit again! So I decided to pack in everything and continue up to the Laguna Glaciar together with Dan. We were told the path would be much more difficult and the camp site up there at the lake "muy frio!". The latter was certainly true! The trail was actually not so bad, just a long, long slog up across moraine boulders and scree. The altitude made things very exhausting. But at least I did not have to sit down anymore. So when we finally arrived at the lake, we both were really glad we could stop. Gorgeous scenery! A huge glacier breaking off into the lake, ice-capped mountains to both sides...
Due to the lack of oxygen, everything took at least twice as much time as normal. Even the brain seems to work at slow motion. But time we had. After setting up our tents, we were cooking lunch, which blended into an early dinner. And shortly before sunset, the clouds opened up and we were rewarded with a fantastic sky ablaze with orange and read. The views across the valleys and even Lake Titicaca in the distance were spectacular.
After sunset it immediately became so extremely cold that we had to hurry into our respective tents and sleeping bags. This night I only slept on and off - thin air and low temperatures. My water bottle was half filled with ice in the morning giving a nice tingling and rattling sound. Breakfast in the cold, i.e. the shadow of Illampu. The sun only reaches the camp site at about 8.30 am. So lots of time to wait around and take pictures of the the sun brushing the hills in the distance (with stiff-frozen fingers).
Than a relatively easy walk back to Laguna Chillata, where I spent the night again. Dan went on all the way back to Sorata. I just did not want to rush down 2300 m in one go. So the last day was really relaxed as well. The weather was ideal; blue skies, no wind. After breakfast, I had plenty of time and could even do some Tai Chi - at 4200 m, overlooking the deep valleys and the mountains in the distance. What a treat! The 1500 m down from the Laguna Chillata, which had cost me about 6 hours during the ascent, only took a good two hours down in perfect weather. Walking down I realized how steep the trail actually was!
Arriving in the early afternoon, I could watch the whole town of Sorrata indulging in what appeared to be at least three simultaneous weddings. Lots of dancing in the streets... And so many drunken people, including a brass band of at least fourty guys!
 
What to say? I am pretty much torn between: horrible! All that noise, dirt, smog, traffic etc. - and: fascinating! So many people, small alleyways, snow-clad 6000m mountains on the horizon... Half the city appears to be a street market. And there is almost all on sale, there even is the official witch craft section. Amulets, herbs, dried animals of all kinds - especially popular llama babies, apparently. But also quite nice cafes and restaurants, all slightly more expensive, but still dirt cheap. Met many former travel companions again. Good place for socializing.
Have to keep this short as I am already in Sorata. Managed to get the one (!) computer in town for a few minutes and as the power situation is stable at the moment, the internet even works! Had to wait all afternoon for this to happen. Few other tourists... Have bought supplies and will be off into the spectacular mountains for three or four days.
Almost European again. Sucre has a distinctly civilized touch to it. Beautiful colonial architecture, nice pizza restaurants, a Dutch pub (the foreigner meeting place). But the "other" (i.e. Bolivian) side as well. The huge Central Market brims with activity, all sorts of bread, fruit, veg, meat, household goods... A section of at least 20 stalls selling freshly made fruit juices (my point of reference in the market), and the whole first floor cheap and tasty eateries, middle-aged women surrounded by many pots and pans with all sorts of basic but tempting food. And people. Very many people. And many beggars and people living in the street. Begging is actually quite intense and into your face. Takes some getting used to.
I keep meeting dozens of people I have met before in Tupiza, Uyuni, and Potosí. So this is the gringo trail between Ecuador and Boliva, I guess. But nice, no lack of company. All in all a very pleasant place to hang out for a while.
Will add a few pics later on (no time anymore, have to catch my bus to La Paz in an hour).
Potosí - once a synonym for wealth. Today still an important mining town. The main hill - Cerro Rico - contains an enormous variety of minerals. Potosí is the highest city in the world with more than 100.000 inhabitants and an altitude of 4000m.
Walking around in the city is a great pleasure, many older and a few colonial building remain. And I found many interesting little corners in town which indeed required a little time to discover. Again I enjoyed the fact I could speak to the people, e.g. the conversation with the friendly old lady I met in a tiny little market square (see the picture below). Most travelers only come to Potosí to take a tour to the silver mines in Cerro Rico, but I think the city has a lot more to offer!
I did the tour as well - yesterday. The tour to the mines is an experience. It's really intense. The working conditions are rough, to say the least. "Medieval" would apply, too. We first got a complete set of clothing; jacket, over-trousers, gum boots, helmet with lamp and battery. It was recommended we did not take anything besides our camera - the mines would partly be very narrow (and they were!). Then we went to the miners market where our guide demonstrated the proper use of coca leaves and catalysts, the different varieties of dynamite available (Bolivian - cheap and good quality = bang for the buck, the paste can be formed to need; Peruvian - cheaper but bad quality; Argentinian - more expensive, very good quality, unfortunately not anymore available on the Bolivian market), nitrate to enhance the explosion, how to put the fuse into a roll of dynamite. We were then introduced to the miners favorite drink - pure alcohol of 96 degrees. Not too bad, actually. We bought some of these items as presents for the miners later on. A complete set of dynamite including a bag of nitrate and a fuse is available for as little as 2€ - freely available for everyone, even for kids. Also frequently used as firecrackers in the streets. A little unsettling.
Then we visited a plant where the mineral is being grated and the metal extracted. It looked more like a chemical plant of the 19th century. No security for the workers whatsoever. But still a lot better working conditions than the actual mines!
Then the mines, which we visited during normal operation. Our guides assured us they would know where currently dynamite was being used and where the carbon monoxide levels were too high. I am lacking the words to properly describe what I have seen. Pictures of the tour continued flashing back in my mind and kept me awake all night. Very strong experience! We first had to wait until the mineros who push the carts had passed. No one would stop in the mines for a few tourists... The entrance tunnel already appeared to me very narrow, already here almost no spot to stand upright (for me at least). We were told not to touch any of the cables and tubes that were dangling everywhere. No order to be recognized.
After a stop in a little cave used as "museum" with a few items and explanations on the mines we went further on into the first level. Now things became really narrow and low. Occasionally crawling on hands and legs we had to fight our way through the incredible fine dust. We were now at least 200m inside the mountain and the temperature had risen to about 30 degrees. Breathing was very hard, not only due to the 4300m meters of altitude! Our guide made us climb upwards through a hole in the rock which appeared incredibly small. Well, I guess being tall is quite a bad thing under such conditions. There were some odd wooden structures to secure rocks and prevent rubble and sand from falling further down. We arrived at a tiny little cave with a wooden construction and an electric winch with which one of the workers would pull out huge leather bags with minerals from a 50m deep hole. There was barely enough room for the eight people in our group plus our guide huddled up on the rock walls and the worker. The ground we had just crossed turned out to be a hole in the floor through which the minerals were passed into some carts further below. Absolutely no security standard whatsoever. We left a bottle of fizzy drink and coca leaves with the poor soul and kept climbing and sliding through more narrow holes in the rock until we reached a part where a strong basic solution was left to seep through the soil as a method of filtration. Nowhere space even to properly sit upright. Then sliding and crawling down again through a very dusty tube into the main tunnel where we visited three guys working on other prehistoric machinery. More gifts were handed over here, and the workers started chewing their coca leaves. They work for at least 10 hours under ground - without food. The coca prevents them from noticing hunger and thirst... Some would stay 16 and even up to 36 hours in the mine without sleep if they would not encounter minerals. They all work basically freelance, most in cooperatives of a couple up to about fifty people.
Although here the air was still "relatively" good but dusty, I decided I had seen enough after about three quarters of an hour. I felt I would be better off leaving as long as I felt still well, and so I asked one of the guides to walk me out. The relatively straightforward walk/crawl back to daylight took about an other 15 minutes. And I did enjoy every minute in fresh air of the about two more hours I had to wait for the rest of the group returning. Apparently I had left at a good spot, just before they would go down to levels 2, 3, and 4 where, according to the others, things turned even more nasty. Creeping down and up through very low passages with heaps of dust, having to climb down shaky wooden ladders with many damaged and missing steps, really bad air and so on. When the others finally stumbled out of the tunnel, everyone was very glad to be back out again and truly exhausted. And everybody was thickly covered in dust and dirt.
No surprise about 40 people die annually in these mines. The estimate is that about 8 million (no typo!) people have died in total in the mines during the last 500 years. The Spaniards often would not even let the indian slaves out of the mine at all.
As a sort of final entertainment we were made to blow up a few sticks of dynamite. I was shown how to push the fuse into the dynamite paste and before I knew any better I had a stick of dynamite in my hand with a burning fuse! No joke! Some of the others had the same experience simultaneously... So there we were, looking bewildered at the dynamite in our hands. I tried to keep calm and attempted to extract an explanation out of our guides on what to do next. In place of an answer the guides would just snatch the dynamite sticks out of our hands and run a little into the hill where they let them detonate just somewhere. Totally crazy!
Hard to believe people actually work under these conditions. Hazards and chaos everywhere.
More photos here.
  
| | One of the most phantastic tours I have ever done. Totally stunning landscapes and impressions, constantly changing. After leaving Tupiza at just below 3000m altitude we were constantly between about 4200m and 5200m. Breathlesness and headache guaranteed! Some of our little group had more severe body reactions, though. |
Bolivia - now really a different world! After crossing the border at La Quiaca in only about 3 minutes (my fastest border crossing in South America so far!), I had to wait for the bus. My first impressions: everything much more chaotic, colorful, and slow. Everything is slow here, really slow! The bus starts loading about an hour before departure (you have to be there at least half an hour early), since the whole procedure takes ages. Then there are about 20 people in the aisle, standing for the whole ride. The bus ride for about 80km took a good four hours, including the change of one of the front wheels as it had a puncture. This is actually no surprise given the quality of the dirt roads.
The drive to Tupiza leads through stunning landscapes. Serrated rocks in all shades of red, different species of giant cacti, beautiful hills on the altiplano. Tupiza turns out to be a pleasant small town, today is the market day and many people from the surrounding villages come into town to buy and sell stock. Many beautiful old women in brightly colored skirts, boulder hats and the typical carrying cloth containing the vegetables, herbs, and the odd baby. Unfortunately they are not very fond of the relatively numerous gringos (well, you know every other foreigner in town within about two hours, but still, they seem to receive more than enough tourists hereabouts), and having their picture taken is something they obviously do not like at all.
Tried to chat a little with one of the old women selling all sorts of magical remedies including at least a hundred different herbs and dried parts of plants, mummified llama fetuses (apparently very popular with easter), armadillos, birds, toucan beaks and so on. She really would not like me to take any photographs. What a shame. Sat around on the street to watch people and street life, this already being totally fascinating! Just had the best pizza so far in South America - with goat cheese and sweet corn, yum! (Disculpen amigos argentinos, pero és así!)
I am very glad I have learned some Spanish in Buenos Aires! This was already a delight in Argentina, of course, but here it just allows for a completely different experience. Sorting out the necessary stuff for traveling (at times a little odd and inefficient in Bolivia!) is now a real pleasure. Being able to talk to the locals transforms the experience totally! Well, there are quite a few people who actually do not speak Spanish. But still.
So far, Bolivia is a tremendously positive surprise! The people are very friendly (at least the ones who are not so reserved), found very nice travel companions, accomodation turns out to be almost luxurious (I am sharing a double room with TV and private bath room with a nice Canadian girl I met on the bus), food is good, all fine! But slow. Had to wait about an hour for my pizza, one other customer in the restaurant... The internet is extremely sluggish, almost slower than the net in Tilcara during the rain. So no way I can upload any pictures from here. Maybe from Sucre or La Paz.
Tomorrow I will be taking off for the four day jeep tour through the altiplano to see the lagoons, volcanoes, and the salt lake of Uyuni. So it might be a little while until you hear from me again.
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