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Published: January 15th 2008
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Today Sarah and I parted ways. She is continuing on with her journey through South America for another 3 weeks. I am a bit jealous.
Today, flying solo I decided to go on a trek to the peak of Mt Chacaltaya and then at the end a quick stop off at the Valley of the Moon.
Where to begin. I discovered I would not have enough time to make it back to La Paz from Lake Titicaca right before our bus left, so after booking another night with the hostel, I asked the tour guide agency what might be good to do with my day. Turns out they had a tour leaving in 10 minutes and I got on.
I got in the mini bus (looks and pretty much is a volkswagon mini bus) and we drove around picking people up. I was fully expecting a bus full of english speaking people like have been on every tour so far, but not today. I was solo in more than one repect. I did however manage to have some interesting conversations using my broken spanish, and although we were unable to wax poetically on the finer points of western
philosophy, and its impact on the modern paradigms of scientific theory, it did the job. The guy who sat next to me was a broker from Brazil touring South America on a motorcycle. There was also a native of La Paz now living in Canada who spoke a little english and a girl from Argentina who spoke decent english, but due to the group dynamic, I chose to rely on my Spanish most of the time.
Of course hiking a 17,500 ft peak was an unplanned excursion and of course my hooded sweat shirt was still wet from the death road. I had gotten my light weight coat and long sleeve knit cotton shirt washed the day before, so I put those on over a thin "under armor" type shirt, put on a lama fur hat, and figured what the heck, I can brave it, Im from Colorado, how cold can it get?
Yes, how cold can it get? How cold can it get at almost 18,00 feet above sea level? Well I have discovered the answer....damn f***ing cold!
What was really amusing was the fact that we were driving up to the base of a trailhead
The road midway
Backing up the bus to get a running start on the ice and mud. on a muddy snowy road that I could not even imagine anything less than a 4x4 jeep on, in a fully loaded Volkswagon mini bus. Nice! At at least two points we had to get out while the guides worked the bus past snow and ice. I think this was most likely the most dangerous part of my trip. I was really not too pleased sitting in the back of this thing while the driver floored it, sliding all over the place with a nice, possibly leathel drop off right next to us. And what made things even more fun, is in many of these busses there is a cross bar that goes across the width behind the drives and passengers seat (like a roll bar) so if the thing rolls, it is not crushed like a pop can. I guess they decided not to go with all the bells and whistles here though, because we had nothing.
The less than perfect situation lasted only about 5 minutes though, because when the road got really bad, we were at the top.
When I got out I froze. The wind was sharp as a razor blade and the snow
felt like sand on my face. At the end of the road there was a small hosue that served tea and candybars. Knowing I had an hour hike in front of me, I was not sure I could make it. I mean there is cold, and than there is cold. And this was the latter. I decided that I would at least hike until my fingers and toes became numb before I turned back. Eveyone else of course had prepared a liltte better than me. But what can I say, sometimes you just gotta punt.
Then when I walked into the small casa, a God send. What entrepreneurs! They were selling knit gloves, ( thin but ok) and scarves. If only they knew what I would have paid for one of the thousands of wool or lama sweaters they sell everywhere in La Paz. The gloves and the scarf cost me about 40 bolivionos. $5 US. Best five bucks I ever spent. I was skeptical about if these small things would make much of a difference, but really the scarf made all the difference. In the bitter cold the ability o cover your neck and face makes a huge
The Beast
I think the US military should really take note when considering their next off road all terrain vehicle. Also doubles as a chick magnet. differnce. With the physical exurtion of climbing a steep trail at such high altitude, I was soon gasping for breath, but more importantly, sweating. Provided I did not stop for too long the cold really did not bother me, and the scarf shielded me from the wind.
At the top, even the guide was breathing heavier than me. He asked me if I was having any issues with the altitude, but I think my journey on the death road the day before really made this seem a walk in the park. I had already exhausted my self at altitude once already so this was not bad at all.
Unfortunatly, due to the snow and clouds, the visibility was almost zero. We were on the first peak, with the higest peak, about a 20 minute hike farther up the trail, but the guide said that it was too dangerous so we went down the the hut where we drank some tea of the coca leaf, a local remedy for altitude sickness. Really it was just leaves and hot water, but it was good to get some hot liquid down.
Afterwords we drove all the way down through the
city to the Valley of the Moon. It was really not that exciting, but the rock formations were quite amazing, this being the only place on earth with the same, or similar topographic land mass to the moon. We hiked about thirty minutes and went back into town.
Today is my last day in South Amercia. I fly back at 7am in the morning. I really wish I could stay longer. Many of the people I met were travelling for 6 months. This is the best way to travel South America in my opinion. It is less stessfull, you have more time to conenct with people, and if the bus is full on one day, waiting until the next is no big deal. Someday maybe. And if you stay in the cheaper countries, it almost feels like everything is free. At least compated to the US, and Brazil.
All in all this was a great trip and journey. I learned that I really dont need about 95% of the stuff I have. I have been living out of a backpack, taking cold showers, eating bread and jam for breakfast, sleeping on hard and thin matresses, sometimes with 8
other people in the room, and I must say I am no worse for the wear, quite the opposite actually. I think it may be strange to go home to all my stuff. I also learned alot about what people deal with in other countries. I have learned that at least in Brazil and Boliva, their economic situations are unique and different from our own and they require unique and different types of governments and problem solvers. I have also come to see many things about how people view the American attitude and why, as well as how other counties view work and life balance. I will not wax or wan on these subjects however, many things you take with you, from any journey: abroad, in work, school or life I think are simply things meant only for you.
And when I come back Im going to bring an entire pack of functional keyboards and hand them out everywhere I go.
Chao from South America.
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