Arequipa Part 2 - Colca Canyon

After we said goodbye to Rick, the three of us booked into a 3 day mountain biking tour of the Colca Canyon, apparently the world's second deepest canyon, which is only pipped by another canyon just next door.

They advertised that there'd be lots of singletrack, but unfortunately it was mostly just dirt road. Fun though, and lots and lots of fast downhill. The bikes were disappointing given that the website advertised Shimano XT groupsets on all the bikes and other such crap, but in the end they were just slightly better-than-average hire bikes.

On the road out to Colca Canyon.

The trip was plagued with car troubles. In what was the newest looking car we'd seen in South America for a long time, the Toyota Land Cruiser was dodgy as hell. It did mean we got to see more condors, as we were stuck at the condor viewing point for almost 4 hours waiting for the car to be fixed, and since the first 3 and a half hours only gave us 1 condor in the first 5 minutes and then nothing else, it was worth the wait when 4 condors came back to their nests about 15 minutes before the 4WD came to pick us up.

The Canyon itself was pretty cool, but perhaps a bit over-rated. On the last day we had a lot of fun riding about 20km downhill, and ended it with a nice 2 hour walk to a little guest house that had some hot springs we could jump into and relax in.

Chilling out in the hot springs.

On the last day we did a bit more riding, all downhill, fast, and fun, and jumped into the car for the long drive back to Arequipa. Unfortunately the radiator in the 4WD had developed a crack, and after going back to the village and filling up with 40L of water, we drove very slowly back the 100km on slow 4WD track back to the main road. We stopped every 8-10 minutes to pour more water into the radiator. It was epic really.

One of the many radiator refills on the long road back to Arequipa.

The tour company felt bad, and luckily for us they had pizza and drinks waiting for us when we arrived. We got back around 9pm, and had a 10pm bus to catch out of Arequipa so we hurriedly packed our things and ate the pizza while we were waiting for the bus. It was comfortable overnight bus that brought us to Ica, which is about 4 hours south of Lima. We were headed to Huaraz, about 8 hours north of Lima, where we were going to meet up with Rik again and hopefully do some trekking.

In Ica we went sand-boarding and dune-buggying and also wine tasting. It was a nice little interlude that broke up the long journey from Arequipa to Huaraz. Unfortunately Peruvian wines aren't really all that much chop. But we nodded politely and said they tasted nice anyway. Dune buggying was heaps of fun; kinda like a free-style roller coaster. We'd never been to a desert like this before, with huge sand dunes as far as the eye could see. Sandboarding was fun too, but unfortunately we only got to slide down the dunes a handful of times.

Kath on the dune buggy.

After Ica, we jumped on board a bus for 4 hours which took us to Lima, and from there we went straight to another bus station and booked an overnight bus to Huaraz.

Arequipa Part 1 - Misti

Ok, sorry we´ve been slack. I don´t know why. We´ve had plenty of time to do blog, but sometimes, you know, you just can´t be bothered.

After we finished the Ausangate circuit, we said goodbye to Leece and Em (who were flying north into Columbia and then on to Equador) and hello to Kath White, a good friend from Cairns who we worked with and hung out with lots. She was only in South America for 5 weeks (her annual leave), arriving in Cusco the day we left for the Ausangate circuit. She´d been accimatising and checking out Machu Picchu whilst we were gone.

So the three of us caught an overnight bus to Arequipa, where there´s meant to be lots of stuff to do, like mountain biking and climbing volcanoes and stuff. We stayed at this awesome hotel called Posada Misti House. It was small, clean, extremely cheap, and the staff were super super friendly. That afternoon we met up with Rik Lane, another doc who we´d worked with in Cairns.

The first thing we did was head off for a day´s rock climbing. Unfortunately Jen had the shits so she missed out. So Rik, Kath and I, plus 2 other lasses from the UK headed out with our guides Ivan and this other dude who I can´t remember what his name was.

The climbing area was a small, shitty pile of choss. Our guides were dodgy. Their top-rope anchors constituted of one rusty bolt at the top plus a single quickdraw hanging from it. Disgusting really. I had to ask them to back it up, and luckily they did (albeit reluctantly). They had the bright idea of using a screwgate at the top (how novel) but of course forgot to screw it up. Oh and they failed to tie us in properly on at least 2 occasions. Go you good things.

The next day we headed out to climb Volcano Misti, a 5825m high pile of ash that overlooks Arequipa. We were going with the same company, with Ivan "Guy Smiley" guiding us again.

It was a couple of hours drive which was delayed by a police check point who deemed our 4WD unsafe. They weren´t going to let us go on, and in hindsight, we probably should have listened to them. I think an exchange of currency took place and we were on our way.

It was a 3 hour hike to the first camp. It was pretty hot in the blazing sun, and steep, and the fine volcanic ash made the going slippery and tough. Dinner was at around 4pm and we were in bed by 7pm.

View from of the Arequipa lights from camp.

It was a horrendous 1am wakeup call for a 2am start. Ugh. We managed to get going by 2:30am I think. Everyone was feeling ill due to lack of sleep; Rik and Kath´s tent wasn´t set up properly and was in effect a cyclone simulator. I think they go about 30mins sleep between them. Jen didn´t get much sleep either. I slept like a log as usual and was the only one feeling vaguely refreshed. It was a long, slogging sufferfest.

Rik and Kath´s cyclone simulator

To cut a long story short, Rik began vomiting at around 5500m, and had a shocking headache. Ivan "Guy Smiley's" response was: "Vomiting is nothing!" and blamed his vomiting on Rik's refusal to put on a warm jacket when Ivan asked him to. We got to the edge of the crater and Rik couldn't go on any more.

Rik's headache was unbearable at this stage, the rim of the crater. The top is the right peak in view, about 15 minutes more away.

Then I overtook Ivan near the top (I was sick of crawling along at a snail's pace) and the girls went "up" the "down" path for about 15 metres. From the top onwards, Guy Smiley was no longer talking to us. We're not sure as to why he chucked this hissy-fit, but chuck it he did.

After askin Guy Smiley 3 times to take our photo, he begrudgingly said yes. So here's us at the top.

The way down was fun. We got to run down the black volcanic ash slope, kinda like a huge big black sand dune. What took us 6 hours to climb was smashed in 45 minutes on the way down.

We got back to camp, and Guy Smiley told us he "had to keep going" and left us at the campsite with our porter. What a dickhead. The porter was cool though. We packed up our things, and headed back to the carpark which took about 2 hours, again surfing a lot of ash downhill. It was about midday when we got back to the carpark, and it was hot and cloudless. Of course, Guy Smiley had probaby taken the 4WD back with him, as there was no-one waiting for us in the carpark. I think we fried in the sun for about 2-3 hours before the 4WD came back for us.

Suffice to say we cancelled our next trip with that dodgy fucker Ivan. So for those who are heading to Arequipa, please avoid an adventure company called "Quechua" something. Dodgy, dangerous, and childlike.

The next day was a rest day, and we organised to go for a cruise down the local grade II-III-IV river, the Chile River, which started at the same place we went rock climbing the other day. Jen and I were in kayaks, and Rik and Kath in a raft. It was a beautiful river trip, with lots of fun grade III creeking. We portaged one grade IV and had a crack the other one; obviously Jen cruised it and I managed to get pinned on a rock and swam. But it was fun anyway, and luckily the sun was shining and the water was warm.

After that we said goodbye to Rik and the remaining three of us headed off to the Colca Canyon, for 3 days of mountain biking.

Slackers

Egads, we're in Bariloche now, which is in Argentina.

Since we last wrote we've done a whole heap of stuff. Have a look at our FB albums for an idea of where we're at. I'll write more soon.

Oh and Jen added some more photos too just then:

Volume 34 - Around Pucon and Volcano Villarrica

New Photos!

We've put some more photos up on Facebook. The links are on the right hand side, or you can click them here:

Volume 32 - Arequipa

Volume 33 - Huaraz

Ausangate Circuit

So after Salkantay we headed back to Cusco, and spent a couple of days recovering. We originally planned 2 days off between hikes, but Em and then Leece got the Ds and Vs one after the other, so we postponed it for a day. It meant we could celebrate Jen's 28th birthday at the Real McCoy and we had a delicious sunday roast with a cool chocolate fondue for dessert. Yum.

The first day of the trek was a 3 hour drive in a minibus to the little town of Tinqui/Tinke. The road was paved, but very windy, and the driver was a wannabe Formula 1 driver who pushed the little van to its limits around every corner... it was a little on the scarey side, tell you wot.

When we arrived in Tinqui 2 and a half hours later, it was pissing down with rain. No views, and we were squashed into a tiny room with 2 single beds for the 4 of us. That night, poor Leece was up and about with the shits and spews again, and got very little sleep. So she decided to call it quits and head back to Cusco. There was a strike on that day, so she had to pay 130 Soles for a private car to take her back to Cusco. We waved goodbye to her as she left, and crossed our fingers she would make it safely back to Cusco. We didn't find out till after we got back that she'd had an epic of epic proportions getting back. Suffice to say the 3 hour journey ended up taking 7 hours... more about that later.

So Day 1 of hiking was only 3 and a half hours long, and brought us to the alpaca farming community of Upis. I think we counted 3 buildings in total. The weather cleared up enough for Jen to snap this nice shot near our campsite:

Campsite day 1... couldn't see much else.

Day 2 was still just as bleak, and it was long and involved 2 passes. We left at about 8am and got to the campsite by 1pm. Actually, every day we did all of our walking before lunch, never taking more than about 5 hours of walking per day. The second pass was characterised by horizontal hail. Urghhh.

Luckily the weather cleared soon after we set up camp, and I jumped for joy.

Camp, day 2, near a beautiful glacier and glacial lake.

Day 3 dawned and we found everything covered in snow, including our gear tent, which had collapsed under the weight of the light snowfall. Lucky for us our sleeping tent stood up to the light winds and pattering of snow. Man, if Leece had been with us, 2 of us would've been in the shitty collapsed tent. Dodgy as hell. See our FB album for a photo of the collapsed gear tent.

So the goal of today was to get over the highest pass, at 5200m. It took us an hour and a half or so in bleak weather to get up to the top. It was cool.

The grim weather cleared enough for Jen to snap this photo of Em and I heading up the pass.

Jumping for joy at the top. It was the highest Em'd ever been.

After descending for a few hours, the weather cleared, and we could get great views of the foothills and some peaks further away. We cranked it along a flat section for a few hours, and the weather kept getting better. We hit camp by around 1pm and were rewarded by sweet views of some nearby snowcapped peaks.

Campsite, day 3, where the weather finally cleared enough for us to see the tops of some peaks.

Alpaca, near the campsite, day 3.

Nice ridge and peak, taken from camp on day 3. Beat that for location.

Day 4 was another longish day, involving another 5,000m pass. The weather was brilliant today and we got great views of the mountain range to our right as we went over the pass (though we still hadn't seen the actual peak of Ausangate, which we were circumnavigating).

Top of the pass! Views!

After the pass was a bit of a downhill slog to a cool village with hot springs! So we had lunch, set up camp, and then jumped into the springs. Then the lightning started. And the thunder. And then the hail came. It was awesome!

Ahhh, hot springs.

Day 5 was a short day, and it dawned perfectly clear. Finally we got to see Mt Ausangate, the peak we'd been circumnavigating for the past 4 days. It's a pretty cool peak, made cooler by the beautifully clear blue skies above it.

Finally, we get to see Ausangate. Mansana (left) and Vasillio load the horses before we set off.

2 and a half hours later we were back in Tinqui, and then on the bus back to Cusco. Brilliant.

Salkantay Trek to Machu Picchu

The coolest thing about being in Cusco was the fact that Em Willcox and Leece Clarke were there at the same time! We caught up with them a few times while we were on our Spanish course, and found out they'd booked an organised trek around the Salkantay circuit, which ends up in Machu Picchu. It's an alternative to the classic Inca Trail which is usually booked ahead months in advance.

So the day after we finished our Spanish course we were up at 4am for a 4:30am pickup outside Em and Leece's hotel. It was a 3 hour drive, and then quite a long hot walk of about 7 hours on the first day. The campsite was beautiful; you could see Salkantay mountain clearly that evening and also its neighbour which I'm not sure of its name.

Dinner was great, and the night was cold but luckily we had good sleeping bags with us. Unfortunately for our other Aussie mate Piffo, who had a very light 2-season bag and was sleeping in a tent by himself, the night proved very very cold and uncomfortable and he didn't sleep much at all, the poor fella.

Day 2 began and we had to be up for a 5:30am breakfast, ready to leave camp by 6:30am. Crazy stuff, but we had a big pass ahead of us (4600m) to head up, with 9 hours of walking in total planned.

Nice views of Mt Salkantay, on the morning of Day 2

We got going by about 7am, and it took us 3 hours to get to the top. Apparently, according to our awesome guide Edwin, it was a record time as it usually takes 4.5-5 hours to get up. Our group was super cool and most people were pretty fit. It was an unusualy mix of professions... of the 16 people, there were 8(!) doctors, a final year medical student, a an actor that played a doctor in a medical drama, 2 physios, an economist who worked for a drug company, an IT guy, an interior designer, and an ex-law clerk. Unfortunately, Ursula, one of the doctors, pulled out after day 1 citing "lack of fitness"... but she met us for Machu Picchu a couple of days later.

At the top of the pass, 4600m.

Top row, L-R: Heather (USA, ex-Law clerk), Brooke (USA, interior designer), Lauren (Holland, the economist), Albert (Holland, physio), Leece, Jen, Me, Em
Middle: Thomas (Czech, O&G registrar), Esme (Holland, a fellow in Paediatric Metabolic Diseases), Alesh (Czech, IT guy)
Front: Marketa (Czech, final year med student), Leo (Holland, who I can't remember what he does), Petra (Czech, a physio), Piffo (the fake doctor), Jenny (UK, GP who does cool work in Nepal and on the Amazon.).

After the pass, we headed downhill for 5 hours or so... hard work on the legs. During the descent we walked through a variety of beautiful and very different terrain - from bare rocky alpine valleys to the "cloud forest" to rainforest. Beautiful.

Day 3 was mostly following a river downstream, and was a long and hot slog. The river itself was a sweet, steep creek that Jen and I kept looking at (me in fear, Jen drooling) which looked grade 4-5 at the start, and eased to grade 3 towards the end (phew). It'd make a good river trip for sure. At the end, there were some hot springs! Much needed, and boy was it good fun to get clean, and to hop between the hot hot hot pools and the c-c-c-cold pools. Beers were had afterwards.

Soaking it up in the hot springs. L-R: Jen, Em, Brooke, Heather, Me, Albert (arms waving), Leo, Alesh, Petra (with hands on face).

Day 4 was another steaming hot day, and was mostly along dirt road following a river upstream. The views got better the closer we got to Aguas Calientes (the town at the foot of Machu Picchu), with steep mountains and limestone and granite cliffs dominating the scenery.

We reached the halfway mark where the railway began, and had lunch there. Esme, UK Jenny, Brooke, Heather, Jen and I decided to be slack (some for better reasons than others) and caught the train the rest of the way to Aguas Calientes; the others hiked the 3 hours to Aguas Calientes which in hindsight we should've done, as the scenery was just spectacular... beautiful jungle and towering cliffs on both sides, and a sweet river was followed all the way. We were craning our necks to try and see the sights from the train windows.

We stayed in a hostel that night (the hot showers were very welcome) and the next day we met the group at 4:30am and by 4:45am began hiking up to Machu Picchu. It was meant to take an hour or so to hike up the stairs to the top, but Jen was on a mission and I had to stick with her (of course) so we got up there in 32 minutes... Heather, Brooke, and Leo were next a few minutes behind, and the rest of our group managed it in under 50 minutes (except for a few poor souls who were hit with Ds and Vs overnight - they did well just to make it up!).

Machu Picchu is an amazing place. The stonework is, in some parts, incredibly neat and well constructed, and the atmosphere was unbelievable. We hiked to the top of Waynapicchu, which is the mountain you can see in the background of the picture below. We intended to do some more climbs, but it was just too bloody hot and we really couldn't be bothered. After Waynapicchu we sat down and ate some food whilst attempting to avoid the sandflies (luckily for us, tasty Leece was their favourite meal which meant less bites for us), and then headed up to the other end of the ruins for some of the classic views.

The view of the Machu Picchu ruins from near the top of Waynapicchu. It's meant to look like a condor, but I think it looks more like a puppy dog.

The classic shot of Machu Picchu from the guardhouse.

Team Australia: Me, Jen, Em, Leece, and Piffo.

We hiked back down the stairs and went for beer and pizza in Aguas Calientes. It was a long journey back, with a 2 hour train ride and then another 3 hours on the bus back to Cusco. Phew!

From Bolivia to Peru

After our successful crack at Huayn Potosi and the fallout from The Big Question, the four of us went out for a celebration dinner at The Flavour of India, a dodgy curry house in La Paz. We´d heard from this Scottsman called Johnnie whom we´d met in our first week that if you finish their notoriously hot vindaloo you get a T-shirt for your efforts.

So off to the restaurant we went, and because we needed more clothes, Jen and I ordered a vindaloo each (chicken and beef). The waitress looked at us as if we were crazy, but we assured her we could stomach it.

At the Flavour of India, La Paz. From left: Dave, Tim, and Jen

So the curries came out, and after the first few mouthfuls we thought it´d be ok, but then the heat really started to kick in. Looking back on it, it was probably one of the more forgettable moments in my short life so far. It was f$%k'n hot. The hottest thing I´d ever had in my life. If you looked at the curry, it was probably at least 30% chilli seeds. Ridiculous really. Jen almost threw up, and I was feeling pretty ill myself. We decided to concentrate our efforts on finishing one bowl between us, which we only just managed.

For the next 2 hours I wanted to vomit, and even tried to put my fingers down my throat to stop the pain, but to no avail. Then for the next 4 hours I had lava in my stomach. Indigestion sux. Needless to say a good curry always burns twice, and that is what happened the next morning.

The curry was hot enough to make us want to vomit.

Tim and Dave left for the jungles of Peru the next day, and we thought we´d go for a couple of days of fun mountain biking. So the first thing we did was catch up with B-side adventures who we´d gone with before, and booked 2 trips with them.

The first was called ¨Downhill Delirium¨ which is an alternative to the standard Death Road ride. Basically you skip the boring asphalt downhill and instead go on the old road which is rocky, loose, fun and spectacular. Then when you get to the end of that, the van picks you up and drives you up to the top of the classic Death Road, and you fang down that too. I think you head down like 3500m or more. It´s awesome, and we would definitley recommend anyone who visits La Paz to have a go. The scenery is spectacular! Here´s one of the classic shots:

Apparently it´s only a 300m drop below us. Not too far really. I mean, what´s the difference between 30m and 300m? You´re dead anyway.

After having fun on the easy Downhill Delirium-Death Road combination, we thought we´d challenge ourselves a bit more and have a crack at the Andean Freeride Singletrack thingy they were offering. This time we were in full body armour, with full face helmets, like we were on the Andean Balcony ride a few weeks earlier. They took us out to the styx, nice and high up, and we just spent the day heading downhill on tricky singletrack. Then when we´d finish a section they´d drive us back to the top again, so we could have another go. This was a great aspect as it meant we could go faster and with more confidence the second time around. The day was expensive, like around $150 aussie bucks each, but it was bloody worth it.

Jen heads down some fun rock garden.

After those 2 fun days of mountain biking, it was time to leave Bolivia and head to Peru. Our plan was to get to Cusco somehow, which was either a fun 12-hour bus ride, or a 2 day, 2 night trip involving some stopovers at Lake Titicaca. We chose the latter option, and it broke up the trip pretty nicely.

So the first thing you do is catch a bus for 3-4 hours and you arrive in a town called Copocabana, which sits on Lake Titicaca. Lake Titicaca is apparently the world´s highest navigable lake, at around 3,600m altitude I think. We had lunch in Copocabana, and then we caught a ferry to the Isla del Sol, or Island of the Sun, which is meant to be the birthplace of the Inca civilisation.

We stayed at a lovely hotel overlooking the lake, and got fine views of the sunset. Our guide, Gladys, was lovely, and took us to see the Temple of the Sun which is where the first Incan king was meant to have lived. She told us that the Incan people used to live ¨in¨ lake Titicaca, and I suppose when the water levels rose they had to hike to higher ground. So there´s assumed to be a lost city of the Incas somewhere under the water in Lake Titicaca made of gold! Some divers last year trawled the area near Isla del Sol and found some golden statuettes, but no city of gold. Oh well. They plan to do some more diving and exploring in a few years. That totally brought back memories of that cool cartoon series, ¨The Mysterious Cities of Gold¨. Ah, what a show that was.

Catching the afternoon sun at our hotel, on the Isla del Sol.

One of the ferries from the mainland to the Isla del Sol. Nice view of the mountains too.

We caught a ferry back to Copacabana the next morning, and had lunch there again. Then we said goodbye to Gladys and jumped on a bus to Puno, which is on the Peruvian side of Lake Titicaca. It was about a 3 hour bus trip. After we arrived in Puno we were taken on a tour of the Uros Islands, or Floating Islands, which are these cool islands made of reeds. About 2,000 people live there even now. We got to watch a magical sunset whilst on the islands, and we were then ferried back to Puno where we had dinner at the bus station and then caught a night bus all the way to Cusco.

The Uros Islands (floating islands).

We arrived in Cusco at around 4 in the morning, and fortunately for us we´d booked some accommodation already and crashed in our hotel till about 10am. Then we went for an explore. We headed straight for the Plaza del Armas, the main square, and had a lovely lunch at a restaurant overlooking the square. Here´s a view from the balcony where we ate our lunch:

View of the main cathedral, Plaza del Armas, Cusco

Unfortunately there was no champagne for us (we were trying to celebrate our engagement, but ended up with a nice glass on white wine (for Jen) and a Corona beer for me). The food was absolutely delicious though, and there was free WiFi, so we kinda just chilled for the afternoon.

The rest of the week was spent doing a Spanish course with Cusco Spanish School. It consisted of 4 hours of lessons a day; 2 hours of grammar, and 2 hours of conversation. It did our heads in a bit, but it was fun. We stayed with a lovely Spanish speaking family who provided us with all our meals and more practice at spoken Spanish. Thanks Eliana and Vignart for letting us stay with you, and for being so accommodating and friendly!

Eliana, our host mum. She was so cool.

Mountaineering in Bolivia - Part 2

After getting back to La Paz we had a cruisy rest day where we said goodbye to poor old Steve, who´d run out of holidays and had to fly back to LA. Unfortunately for him there were quite a few protests around the country that turned into riots, with the occasional fatality, and the USA were being held partially accountable by allegedly helping the people in the lowlands fight the communist government based in La Paz. So because of that, American Airlines weren´t flying into Bolivia anymore, so Steve had to leg it out via Peru.

We then headed to Huayna Potosi, a 6,088m peak that is meant to be one of the easier 6,000m peaks you can do. Our plan was to spend 4 days there, 2 doing some training on the good glacier at the foot of the mountain, a day hiking up to high camp, and then the last day would be the attempt on the summit.

Huayna Potosi. The summit is actually the second highest bump I think.

Training day on the glacier. Here´s me attempting to lead up the glacier.

So on the first training day we headed onto the glacier and did some crampon skills, with some techniques we hadn´t encountered before like front-pointing, and the French, Canadian and American techniques of walking up steep ice. After we´d spent a while mucking around on some steep ice and adding these techniques to our arsenal, we went for a hike around the glacier looking for a big crevasse to throw ourselves down. When we found one we did some crevasse rescue stuff, refreshing in our minds how to set up a z-drag (something I haven´t done for years).

We got Dave up our Z-drag. Phew.

Day 2 of training consisted of learning how to place ice screws and other bits of protection as you cruise up a glacier. We went for some walkies and took turns leading the party and placing pro. It was kinda fun but good to learn. Then we headed down the bottom end of the glacier where there were some nice steep ice walls to climb on. We had our first crack at ice climbing! I managed to shred my brand new goretex overpants but stitched them up that night.

Jen doing some ice climbing.

Day 3 we packed up our stuff and hiked up to high camp, at around 5200m. It took about an hour to get up there, and we spent the rest of the day chilling out. We got to bed pretty early as we were getting up at 2:30am for a 3:30am start to the day.

Summit day! And it was a struggle to get going by 3:30am, but we managed it, and boy was it worth it. It took about 6 hours of hard slog to get to the summit, and the views were spectacular on the way up. For the "one of the easiest 6,000m peaks you can do" we thought it was bloody hard work. There were a few steep sections where we were glad we had our crampon experience, and very glad of Tim and Dave, our guides who did all the leading.

Summit day: one of the steeper sections.

The views were pretty cool on the way up.

Very close to the summit... perhaps 50m from the top? It clouded over just as we neared the summit which was a bit of a bugger.

Well I´d just popped the question to Jen, and she said yes, and then we looked kinda sheepish.

Mountaineering in Bolivia - Part 1

So we signed onto this 3 week mountaineering course while we were still in Hobart, through this company called Sierra Wilderness Seminars based in California, USA.

We arrived in La Paz on the 28th of August, and spent the first few days acclimatising to the 3600m altitude. On one of the days we went mountain biking with a company called "B-Side" which were kinda on the expensive side of the biking companies, but they had sweet Iron Horse freeride bikes so we couldn´t say no really.

They took us up to 4800m, the same start as the more famous "Death Road" ride, but instead of doing the Death Road we headed back into La Paz via some sweet downhill dirt roads known as the "Andean Balcony." It was fast, fun, and the views were spectacular. Here´s a photo:

Jen cruising down some fun dirt.

We got home from the Andean Balcony ride just in time to have a shower and then jump on a tour to the "Cholitas Wrestling" which was bloody hilarious. Unfortunately we forgot to bring our cameras (bloody idiots), but check out this link or this link for an idea. It was thoroughly entertaining, very much like WWF, or if you´ve seen that atrocious Jack Black film "Nacho Libre" it´s kinda like that. Very acrobatic, and very staged. They even splashed members of the crowd with coke and smashed a particularly loud-mouthed American on the head with a metal tray. He loved it.

The next day we met with our guides, Tim and Dave, and also the other punter on the course, Steve. They were all pretty cool blokes. The itinerary for the next few days was just to stay in La Paz and acclimatise. This was kinda frustrating for us, as we´d already been acclimatising for 3 days, but oh well. On one of the days we visited some ruins near La Paz called Tiwanaku, which were pretty cool. There´s a couple of photos on Facebook, at the end of Volume 26.

Then we headed into the Cordillera Real range, which involved a few hours of driving and then a 2 or 3 hour hike to base camp. Luckily we had donkeys to take our stuff, so all we had to carry were day packs.

Base Camp, Cordillera Real range. This was the snow that fell on us after our first night. Luckily the weather fined up after that.

The altitude of Base Camp was about 4300m I think, so we spent the first couple of days just doing nothing but breathing and acclimatising. On days 3 and 4 we spent doing glacier skills, which involved different crampon techniques (i.e. not slashing your pants or gaiters), rope skills, ice axe skills, crevasse rescue, and self arrest, amongst many others.

Day 5 was a rest day, and as luck would have it, the night before I decided to be sick and was going at it from both ends all night. It´s nice when vomit comes out your nose.

Day 6 I felt much better, and Jen and I hiked up Mt Austria, at 5300m. It took 2 hours up and an hour down, and since it wasn´t snow-covered, we could do it in our sneakers. A good way to spend a day. Unfortunately for our mate Steve, he had developed worsening shortness of breath, especially when lying down at night - the poor bugger had pulmonary oedema and had to bail. So he and Tim had to hike back down and catch a bus back to La Paz.

Jen on the saddle, near the summit of Mt Austria. Behind her is the beautiful Condoriri Peak (pointy mountain on the right).

With only 2 days left, we decided that on Day 7 we´d attempt to summit our first alpine peak, called Pequeño Alpamayo, at an elevation of 5370m. Jen was feeling a little crook after our Day 6 hike to Mt Austria, and that night she started vomiting her guts out. Poor bugger. As Dave and I were about to leave at 5am, she hurled 5 times... there was no way she was going to be able to try for the summit. Bitterly disappointed, she went back to bed.

The hike to the summit took about 4-5 hours, and was hard work. The scenery was stunning though.

Dave belaying me up one of the more technical sections of Pequeño Alpamayo.

The summit of Pequeño Alpamayo. We ascended the obvious ridge starting from the lower left hand side.

We got back to camp around 1pm, and spent the rest of the day relaxing. The next day, Day 8, we hiked back out and were back in La Paz for a nice hot shower.

Bolivia

Hi everyone,

we're in La Paz now... just did a week's mountaineering course and that was cool; now we're off for another 4 days of glacier training and we'll hopefully summit Huayana Potosi (>6000m) on the last day.

Will add photos and stuff after that if we've got time. We'll see how we go, political instability in Bolivia and all...

Later,
m+j

Colorado, USA

12-28th August, 2008

Colorado! What a beautiful part of the world. I could write about this place, and in particular, some of its very friendly residents, for pages and pages. But I won't, not because it's boring, but because I don't have the hours and hours and hours I'd need to do it justice.

So let's start at the beginning. The year was 2001, and the Tas Uni Climbing Club was cruising along. That was until this little upstart from Colorado named Dayna Hochevar came along, and started traditions like massage conga-lines and dessert pizza that changed the face of the club.

Dayna and I have kept in touch for the last 7 years, would you believe, and man it was good to see her again. She picked us up from Denver International Airport, which is 2 hours drive from her house in Pueblo. And that was straight after she sat an exam to get into Physician's Assistant School. So she was all tired and stuff, but still she drove all that way for us. That's how cool she is.

We stayed with her in her share house, living with her sister Tracey and their landlord (and friend) Daneya. Both were super-cool and almost as untidy as us, which made all of us feel completely at home.

So what did we get up to? Well, lots of hiking, driving around, and even some climbing. It was super cool.

The first place Dayna took us was to the Garden of the Gods, which is an amazing place with an alien sandstone and conglomerate landscape. Here's a photo.

The Garden of the Gods

Reygan, Dayna's niece, top, and Dayna at the Garden of the Gods.

We did some cool bouldering in the Garden of the Gods, and also found a little garden snake which Reygan promptly picked up and started stuffing down the backs of our shirts. What fun!

Dayna's parents, John and Dianne, lived about 10 minutes drive from Dayna's. They were really nice to us and we spent many evenings there eating delicious food, playing pool, using their internet, watching the Olympics, and planning hikes. They were our adopted parents for the time we were in Colorado, and we'll love them forever. Thanks guys!

We visited this place called Bishop's Castle, which was built single-handedly by this slightly bizarre old fella, Mr Bishop. He's been working on the castle for over 40 years. It's a litigator's nightmare, with rickety steel stairwells, a dragon's head, teetering towers, and anything you could imagine that would make parents' wills crumble as they watch their 8 year-old kids tear around the place. Entry is by donation, and you also have to sign a legal waiver before you go in. What made it more dramatic was the fact that it was misty, raining, and we were 30-40m up in the air surrounded by steel, with a thunderstorm approaching.

Atop the tower of Bishop's Castle. Scary stuff.
Clockwise from left: John (Dayna's brother), Dayna, Jen, Reygan (under stairs), my feet.

Em Willcox, a fellow medlet from Utas joined us a week after we got to Colorado. Together, the three of us went for a hike up Greenhorn Peak whilst our poor hosts were all at work. It was a 2 hour drive to the start of the hike, and when we got there, we realised we'd left all the food for the day on the bench at Dayna's place. Oops. At least we had water, and I happened to have a single muesli bar in my pocket. So it was a third of a muesli bar each for lunch in our 5 hour hike. Good work team!

Me and Em on top of Greenhorn Peak. Hungry.

One morning Dayna's father John got us out of bed at 3am so we could drive 3 hours to the foot of La Plata, one of Colorado's "Fourteeners" (i.e. peaks greater than 14,000ft). This turned out to be a fantastic hike; it took us about 5 hours to get up to the top, and 3 hours back down. Here are some photos:

Contemplating my navel on a very square boulder, on the way up to La Plata.

Jen took this great photo of these two marmots. They're cute. Very cute.

John, Dayna, Em, and Jen very happy to be at the top of La Plata.

We also did other cool things like hike up Pike's Peak (another Fourteener, and then caught the cog railway down), went to Water World (how cool!), the Colorado State Fair where we saw our first Rodeo, spent many many days lost in REI (Recreational Equipment Inc - a huge outdoor store where we spent many thousands of dollars on mountaineering and climbing gear for our mountaineering course we were about to embark upon in Bolivia), oh, and we musn't forget Walmart where you can buy everything from your groceries to potting mix, drugs, bikes, and fridges.

Thanks so much to the Dayna and the Hochevar family for letting us use and abuse you, and to Daneya and Tracey for putting up with our slobishness. It was definitely one of the highlights of our trip!