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Published: October 26th 2004
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At the top of Huyuana Potosi, 6100mAnd so after my little whistlestop Peru side trip, back to Bolivia. After another uncomfortable overnight bus journey, this time back to La Paz, I embarked on a whirlwind of activities and tours with the idea of getting as much out of Bolivia in the shortest possible time...
So with Rachael doing some charideee work in Cochabamba, and then visiting Sucre; I have been busy with climbing Bolivias 3rd highest mountain, Huyana Potosi. This is advertised in the backpacker agencies as a "non technical, easy 2 day hike to a 6000m peak". Well, this aint so..
climbing it was one of the hardest things I've ever done.
Our hike on day 1 to 5200m was hard work, but straight forward and uneventful. My guide and I had dinner at 5pm, then retired to bed for a midnight start. I didnt sleep a wink due to altitude headache, the howling gale outside and the snoring of the guide.
So up at midnight, and away by 1am. The gale had died, so we had a cold, clear night, a full moon, and hard snow and ice - perfect conditions.
The first 2 hours were very hard work, but ok.. a few
very steep bits and some nifty ice climbing required in places, but nothing too bad. Then around 5800m, higher than I´d been in Pakistan, I really started to struggle.. my trip to Peru didnt take me anywhere near high enough to acclimatise me, and I was soon having to take a breath stop every third step, getting light headed, and at one stage falling asleep during a break for tea. But the final nail in my coffin was a sheer face of ice, 270 meters high, at an impossible 80% slope leading up to the summit. No steps cut in, no fixed ropes.. just me, my axe, and my crampons. A tough climb at the best of times, but at 5am, and 6000m above sea level, I could have cried and almost turned back there and then. I tried counting out sets of 20 swings of my axe, but I kept losing count or getting muddled, such is the lack of oxygen up there.. anyway, after what seemed an eternity, I reached the top, at 6100m, and was rewarded with amazing dawn views of La Paz, Lake Titikaka and Peru, as well as a mild case of frostbitten fingers.
Getting down was a real drag. Not only were the slopes steep enough to require several abseils and belays, but my legs were wobbly, my feet kept tripping over each other, and my head pounding with the altitude headache.. I felt like a drunk stumbling home... It was a very long, painful journey down..
But driving away, and the headache receeding, I was well chuffed in having got to the top.. any ascent over 20,000 feet high is a decent achievement.
The next day, with no time to waste, I was on the move again, this time down south to Uyuni. This is the gateway to one of Bolivia´s main tourist attractions, The Salar de Uyuni, or the Salt Plains. This is an eretheral landscape of endless plains, coloured lakes and amazing salt pillars carved by the wind.
I had a 2 day tour booked, but due to my lack of time, and Bolivias rather fragile transport infrastructure, my 20 hour journey from La Paz via the dead end town of Oruro, was to end by dropping me in Uyuni at 6am, with my 2 day tour due to start at 9am. This, after a long, uncomfortable bus journey
The long steep snowslope to the top... over unpaved roads, and with no mod cons such as heating, air con, a toilet, or fellow passengers with acceptable levels of body odour; meant that the start of my tour wasnt greeted with the best of moods.
But the Salt Plains really are amazing. They were so surreal, it was like something out of a Star Wars movie.. you expected AT-ATs to come marching accross the white wilderness. Ancient coral islands rising out of the salt appeared to float above the surface, with the effect of the merciless sun. One of these islands, Isla de Pescado, was particularly scenic, with some huge cacti on it, some dating over a 1000 years old.
We (my tour group was me, and 4 middle aged germans) then proceeded to check out some coral caves, and then the Cueva de Diablo, an ancient Indian burial cave. Finally, we arrived at our hotel, which was made entirely out of salt. Including beds, tables, chairs etc... It was pretty comfortable, though, and that night, we saw a lunar eclipse of the full moon over the reflective salt. Very spectacular.
The next day, we would have normally gone and visited the coloured lakes,
The surreal Salar de Uyunibut instead we went to the first ever Salar de Uyuni Festival. Basically a huge festival of dancing, music, dressing up, activities and hot air ballooning out on the salt flats.
Troupes of dancers had come from all over Bolivia, and made a really colourful carnival walk past. There were loads of other things going on, and it was a really cool day. Especially when I got to shake the hand of the Bolivian president, who was lending his support to the event. I thought this was pretty impressive, but at the same time my brother was meeting the Queen AND the Pope within 24 hours, so that rather pissed on my fire. Despite his new found global fame, Miss Bolivia hadnt heard of Josh Lewsey, and unfortunately declined my invitation for a drink back at my hotel.
This may have something to do with the nasty sunburn I got. Our driver actually took my bag (with sunscreen) back to the hotel in town, so despite my sunhat and glasses, the sun reflecting up off the salt was enough (especially as we are at 3700m high) to burn my face to a crisp. I gave lots of people a real
Extinct Volcano, salt plainslaugh with my panda impression that evening. Still, despite Miss Bolivia rejecting my advances, I had the lame consolation of being given a free sample of Boric Acid, by the enthusiastic man on the Boliivan Industrial Mining stand.
The next day, following the standard 2 hour delay, and 7 hour bumpy bus journey, I arrived in Potosi. This is apparently the highest city in the world, at over 4000m, and during medieval times, was actually the richest city in south america, and bigger than Paris, Madrid and Rome. The reason for this prominence is Silver - the rich mines in the Cerro Rico mountain overlooking the city have been churning out loads of the stuff for hundreds of years. This single extinct volcano basically bankrolled the Spanish Empire for 300 years, a quite staggering amount of silver being extracted. As a result, the mountain has been reduced by 200m in height over the last 500 years!The mines are still working, and given my Welsh mining heritage, I thought I´d brave a quick visit down there...
Well, it was quite an experience. The conditions were quite appaling, and safety isnt a primary concern. The miners themselves are all buzzing
Flamingoes on the Salton cocaine derived from chewing coca leaves, that helps shut out the fatigue, hunger and cold etc.. When the Spanish arrived, they tried to ban the coca leaves, but upon realising it´s importance to the miners, they relented.. On average, miners die within 10 years of entering the mines - it´s estimated that 8 million died between the 1545 and 1825, mostly African or Amerindian slaves, as a resut of the conditions. It´s a fairly shocking place, but it's interesting to see the miners grafting away.. I helped carry out a 40kilo bag of minerals, which was backbreaking enough, without having to repeat it several hundred times a day.
After the mine, we went to a more relaxing hot spring in the mountains, swum about for a while, then boarded a bus for a tortuous 46 hour journey into Argentina, and East, to the Iguazu Falls....
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Adventure Girl
Machelle D
Congrates!
Congrates on your summit. I hope to do a 6000m someday. Great pixs! Thanks for sharing. ~Ciao Machelle