Back from the mountains

To start this off randomly, six days in the highland has made me look like an idiot. I blame that on the strong sun, but I also feel different.

I dropped Huayna Potosi to go with some guys from the hostel, for six days of trekking in the Las Cordilleras. Unfortunatly for us, Kings Cross is supposed to be better. The trip was then delayed one day, where I bought "Marching Powder"; the incredibly interesting book about the english guy who started making the San Pedro prison into a tourist attraction.
This prison is like nowhere else in the world, and for a bribe, you could earlier get in quite easy. Nowadays, they`re cracking down, so its very hard. I settled with reading the book in the nice park outside of it.

The San Pedro prison works its own political, economical and social system, where you pay an entrance fee, for an apartment(where you can have whatever you want) in a security and wealth divided zone system. Within these zones, you`ll find families living together, restaurants, markets, shops, and in the heavyer areas: a cocain factory that produces some of the purest stuff you can get hold off. The tourist usually sniff this stuff together with the tour guide, as the police never enters this zone, where you`ll be receiving the tour.
How this prison system, where you can bribe yourself to a day off, with escort, works on money, and the rest of Bolivia, is shocklingly described in this great book. It was pretty strange to read it, looking at the place where things were still going on.

But back to the trip!
My travel companions and me made up a quite nice team. There were two Israelis, who taught me a bit of Hebrew, and a New Zealander that unfortunatly had a worsening mouth infection from Huayna Potosi. He had come to La Paz by motorcycle, too, so I could get some useful input. We were all gonna build a raft and raft the river Tuichi to Rurrenabaque, in ten days. Due to the rivers alarming strenght now in the rainy season, and the fact that I`d rather squeeze in some horseback-time in Tupiza, I had to be the chicken and bail out.
Our bolivian guide, Fernando, who we all grew very close to on this trip, has convinced us all to go to the big carneval in Oruro, and then the Amazon, as there is flooding going on. He started off as a serious tour guide, and ended up as a teasing little baby, who just loves his glacier caves.

It took us ten hours by bus to get to a deserted little town, where we spent the night in a non-isolated house with dusty and rocky floors. We then woke up to find snowcovered llamas outside, we simply thought: ooh boy...
The first trek to our camping spot lasted a few hours, and the weather kept changing(probably the most annoying part, as you have to change clothes all of the time). We passed 5000moh at the most. Always when you`re trekking in altitude, its kind of like yoga, as you have to focus a lot on your breath. I don`t like walking slow, so I always stayed in the head of the group, and waited for the rest, instead. The guide was pleased that we walked so fast. He brought delicious snacks, and I was soon to be named the cookie monster, as I constantly was covered in crumbles.
We crossed a river an hour before setting up camp by a lake. That was cold, but not as bad as the morning we were returning. We were wet and cold when we reached camp, but after changing and chilling a bit, the good mood came creeping. That disappeared in the night, when the tents were damp and freezing. Me and one of the israelis clunched together and at the worst, I promised him a sunny day. He pretty much squeeked out: really? you think so?

I was right. We had a beautiful day. I mean seriously beautiful! Fernando also got to visit his caves. He would enter each one, and urge us to follow. It was quite spectacular, and destructive for my rain pants, who were completely destroyed by the day. I looked like a poor miner. We fell asleep twice in the sun. Lovely.. But the New Zealander was struggling with altitude, and didn`t follow us, as I was dead keen on going up an intimidatingly steep mountain(5700). We had already walked all day, had no more food, and the others grinned that I just wouldn`t give up. Still we had to return before dark, and stopped 200m before. I think the old me might have quit, but I`m definatly not.. the same, as I was. I needed to prove this to myself.

We were not as lucky the next afternoon. We couldn`t go where we were supposed to, and I preferred drying my feet instead of going for a walk on the glaciers. That just isn`t worth the risk, and I was right again. Coming early back to camp, changing, listening to music and reading my book, just kickstarted a great mood, just in time for the snow to stop and stars to appear. In Fernando`s tent, the cooker made it warm enough to sit down. We called it "the sauna". The food was still good(everything is good on treks where you need your calories), and we devoured a great deal of cookies and chai tea, as well. Naturally.
The rest of the nights in the tent, hadn`t been that cold, althought its impossible to sleep deeply in that altitude.

But that last morning.. ohhh, that last morning..
I`d say it was the worst morning of my life, and I could do nothing but fight with my own mind, reminding myself of the comforts that were awaiting, and how so many people suffered worse than me.
We woke up to the tent being Deeply covered in snow, and the snow still falling. We needed to wrap up the tent, put on icy socks and shoes, not have breakfast and hope that we would`t get too wet to not survive the next day. My rainpants were already a mess. The no breakfast thing doesn`t work for me, so... well.. the top layer of yesterdays pasta, thrown onto the ground... I couldn`t Just survive on coca pills!
After one hour, we were due to cross the river, which had almost grown to hip height. The river was warmer than my shoes, so that was fine, but it cut off all bloodcirculation in my legs for the following climb. It was a rough climb, and after an hour, I had given up that my feet would stop hurting. It didn`t matter how hot I got elsewhere, and exclaimed that we had to stop before I`d loose them. (such a whimp)
After warming and drying feet and socks, I said; fine, I can live with this. Fernando however, called my feet isicles and told us to wait a bit longer, giving me extra socks that absorbed a lot of the water, so when we started going down, I could remove them and my feet would have circulation once more. Everything after that was amazing because that morning of freezing feet, losing their nerves, starving and being tired from the uphills, didn`t knock me Completely down. I wasn`t cold elsewhere, and the pain would pass. And I`m on a holiday, I thought to myself..

We were supposed to walk further, but honestly.. we were thrilled by the idea of a car lift to the hot springs. We were gonna catch a night bus to La Paz, but there wasn`t one going that night, a bus driver said. In such small villages, if a bus goes or not, depends on rain... You never know if the bus is actually gonna come, or when!
The villagers offered us beds in case it didn`t, but in the end, it showed up at the exact time I had betted, while we were sitting in a friendly mans little shabby shop, drinking tea and jabbering on.
The man was lovely, and was so keen on learning english that he had bought a grammar booklet and everything. The village itself was pretty dead, apart from alpacas trodding around in the streets, and later on, some teenagers drinking beer around a truck.
It was a wonderful sight to see the bus arrive, with seats available. It was a hell of a bumpy ride, but we got back to La Paz in the morning!
I`ve had a loong, fantastic shower, breakfast, a long nap, chilled out and ahh.. Its just so good to get out and back into your comfort zone. Especially when you can get such cheap massages and good food.
The plan is now to go to Valle de Luna with Fernando, tomorrow. Shop some necesseties and then take off for Sucre the next day. I`m catching a bus back up to Oruro and then La Paz, to fly to the Amazon, when its dryer. A ten hour bus ride costs 25kr, which wont get you 15 minutes in my hometown.