Huayna Potosi - Craig´s report

This is the climb from the refugio at 5300m (see bottom left tiny house) to the North peak at 6088m in the top right corner. You can see the trek crossing the ice field diagonally to the right.
We set off from the high camp at 01.30 - stepping out onto the ice wearing crampons in the pitch black was truly exciting! Little did we know what was in store for us...

The climb was the hardest physical challenge I have ever undertaken. Walking in the dark on ice, struggling for breath, ever upwards from 5300 metres to 6088 metres at the top. This is the first ice climb - from left to right through the small gap in the ice...

After 6 hours walking we (me, Jeroen and our guide Miguel) arrived at the final climb. My heart sank as I saw how steep it is - knowing that we were both close to complete exhaustion. But somehow we managed it - climbing for an hour on all fours up an icy slope of up to 75 degrees - reliant on the ice axe to keep us pegged to the mountain. Axe, left, right, rest. Axe, left, right, rest. Little by little we progressed up the mountain until finally - unbelievably - we were at the top. It was an exhilarating feeling to make it to the top and - after managing to get some oxygen into my screaming lungs - enjoy the incredible 360 degrees view of the surroundings.

Unfortunately that was not the end of things - as we still had to get down again. You can see how steep it looks from the top...

By this time the ice was getting unstable as the sun had well and truly risen by then. Slowly we inched down the mountain again - using as many points of the crampons as we could make stick in the ice. Somehow I managed to get one foot caught on the other and before I knew what was happening I was sliding down the mountain at speed. Fortunately we were tethered to Miguel for safety. And the safely rope held! Very scary!

On the way down we could see the beautiful ice sculptures that we didn´t see in the dark on the way up. After 2 hours we made it back down to high camp - to the delight and relief of everyone. After a short rest we packed up and headed down again to base camp. If was a tough walk down after the long climb and I was thoroughly exhausted by the time we finally made it, but very happy to have successfully completed my first real mountaineering experience - though I´m not sure that I will be doing it again any time soon...

Tanja: If you look closely at the picture you can see three little black dots on the left of the icefield. That is Craigo, Jeroen and Miguel coming back down to basecamp! Boy was I happy to see them! and so proud!

This is the happy couple after arriving at the base camp, still all smiles and feeling really cool and confident in our orange ice outfits!


This is the team at high camp, our last meal before the ordeal (pasta and sausage). Debby and Jeroen on the left, us two on the right. It was freezing up there!

Huayna Potosi - the 6088m adventure

Last Sunday we embarked on our yet biggest adventure to climb the majestic Huayna Potosi, a 6088m giant in the middle of the Cordillera Real, just an hour north of La Paz. Apparently, this is one of the easiest 6000 plus mountains to climb... I find that hard to believe!

From the summit you have amazing views of El Alto and the Altiplano and the peaks between Illimani 6439m and Illampu 6368m and Lake Titicaca as well. The Illimani is the mountain that overlooks La Paz - it is the highest and the southernmost peak of the Cordillera Real with 5 peaks, 3 of them are over 6000m high. A beautiful sight!

We were a great team of 4 Dutch guys and us two. Jeroen and Debby - a fun couple who studied Spanish with us in Sucre and their friends Michel and Marien as well as our three Bolivian guides - Lorenzo, Miguel and Jorge.

On the first day we arrived in the base camp at 4700m and had a technical practice session in the glacier to learn how to use our ice axes and crampons. Very tiring at this altitude but great fun. The next day we trekked all the way up to the high camp at 5300m. This only took us 3 hours but I was ready to die at the end! What a feat! So unbelievable tiring to carry a pack with polar equipment up the hill when you can barely breathe walking on the flat not carrying anything! Needless to say non of us (apart from Craig) were able to sleep at the altitude either!

The high camp was like a big tin shed and we had to lie down on the floor like sardines to be able to fit in there. Very cosy! At least we weren´t cold! At 5300m your heart beats really fast, as if you are running up a hill. No way to sleep. I think the body is too confused?

So we just lay there in the dark, listening to the wind howling outside and trying not to panic too much. The guides all snoring away, I just lay there trying not to remember all the mountain dramas I read about in the far too many mountaineering novels at home. Very exciting!

At 12.30 in the morning we had to get up, get dressed in thousands of layers of clothing, our ice boots and head lamps and get out in the cold. Minus 15C outside the refuge, and minus 25C on top of the mountain!!! Brrrr.... Quite a problem because you cannot take water with you for long and chocolate freezes as well. Even the snot in the tissue in my pocket was frozen!!! (is that too much information????)

Up and up we walk, very very slowly like walking on the moon. I could barely breathe and was so tired and exhausted after two hours of walking uphill... I had to give up. One of the guides took me back down to the refuge. Very sad. Craig however, went up with one of the other guides and managed to reach the top with Jeroen!

And this is Craig - hero of the day on the top of Huayna Potosi, the world at his feet! I cannot tell you how proud I am!!!

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

La Paz

We have arrived in La Paz this morning and it was an unbelievable sight to lay eyes on the 2 million city from the top of the hill where the main motorway comes in. Wow! Unfortunately, I was too sleepy to think of taking pictures... Our 10 hour bus journey took almost 13 hrs in the end because the bus was not feeling well and had to be repaired at about 3 am... oh well!
We got here safely which is the main thing.

After a few days in La Paz we feel really comfortable here and there is loads to see, lots of crazy street markets and interesting museums and great shopping! I have met up with Cecilia, the daughter of an old work collegue and friend of my father and we had a great girlie day together chatting and drinking lattes while Craig and a gang of other Ozzies drove down the world´s most dangerous road on mountain bikes!

Detailed report with photo evidence will follow.

Somehow Craig has persuaded me to attempt climbing the Huayna Potosi, a 6088m mountain not far from La Paz surrounded by the famous Illimani and several other 6000 giants. It is a 3 day hike with one day of getting used to the altitue at the 5200m high camp. I am terrified and worried I will either freeze or suffocate but cannot wait to give it a go! What an adventure! The last day will be getting up at midnight and walking through icefield with crampons and ice axe, climb two vertical walls (tied to the guide) and then get to the top just after sunrise! We will probably do that Monday to Wednesday!

Think of me!

Our tour of the Silver mines in Cerro Rico

After a very early start we meet our guide Efra and another 6 tourists to explore the mines in Cerro Rico. At present there are 15,000 miners working in this mountain although he barely has any silver left. They are now also mining for zinc, lead and tin.

The mine is at an altitude of almost 4,500m and I felt really weak already before we entered the mines. Efra kept telling us to chew coca leaves... DISGUSTING! Craig took it very seriously and looked like a lopsided hamster all day! I tried very hard to keep chewing... it made me feel better to an extent that I stopped worrying about altitude sickness while trying very hard not to be sick from the taste of coca leaves! However, I did feel better after a while!

After buying some presents (dynamite sticks, detonators and softdrinks - as you do) for the miners we enter the Catalina mine in a narrow tunnel. After only a few minutes it was pitch black! YUK! We were kitted out with waterproof jackets and trousers and helmets with lamps as well as rubber boots, thank goodness! I cannot remember how many times I banged my head on the low and unpredictable ceiling of those tunnels... Little Ms Clumsy was VERY grateful to have a helmet on!

And the further we climbed in and down the mountain, the hotter it got. It was unbearable! How anybody could spend a day in here is beyond me! I tried very hard to think of nice open spaces, green lawns... golden beaches... DONT PANIC!

Most miners work for 30 years on average, apart from Sundays every single day of the year!!! In the lower levels where it gets really hot they apparently work only in their boxers... still did not make me want to go there!

As the air in heavily contaminated with all sorts of gas and dust they do not eat in the mines. They just chew coca leaves on day. About 1500 leaves every day. Not my idea of fun!!!

It was great to see it and be so close to the miners (although I do not need to go back there in a hurry...). How they can cope without sunlight and incredibly hard physical work in this heat - I have no idea. Everything is manual, they are pushing the little wagons with 2 tons of rock eack, shoveling the rock into big baskets, pulling them up an endless shaft to the upper levels, onto another wagon again, then pushing it out of the tunnel where they then shovel it onto a truck!

Very intersting and quite unforgettable to learn about their hard life (all for an average salary of about 60 Euro a month). But each miners makes what he works for, it is not a state run mine. The miners organise themselves in groups of usually families and they earn whatever they find. There is of course always hope for a lucky strike!

We also got to experience the power of our dynamite sticks after the tour! Wow! VERY LOUD! Craig was happy like a little boy at Christmas to hold his first own bomb - til it went BOOM!

Potosi - Cerro Rico 4280m

After almost 3 weeks we finally managed to say "Adios" to Sucre (after I passed my intermediate Spanish exam and finished "alto"!!!) and made our way upwards to Potosi. At 4080m above sea level this lovely town is leaving us a bit breathless! But it has a beautiful center with lots of huge beautiful buildings, an amazing collection of beautifully carved front doors and lots and lots of churches. Potosi once was the biggest city in the world after the Spanish discovered the seemingly endless amount of silver ore in Cerro Rico (see picture).

Potosi did not flourish for long but you can still imagine what a grand place it must have been.

The famous Museo de la Moneda which used to be the first mint in Bolivia active until 1953 is one of the most impressive museums I have visited so far. It is freezing in there, the walls are over a meter thick! See picture. Very impressive building and unusually well restaured.

It is unbelievable how many people had to die in terrible circumstances because the Spaniards could not get enough. Apparently, nowadays Bolivianos are minted in Berlin out of all places!!!

Tomorrow morning we are going on a tour to visit the silver mines in Cerro Rico which will take us up to 4500m to the peak of the mountain and then about 450m down into the ground on ladders. Very scary! We are expected to bring explosives and coca leaves as presents for the miners. Craig is very excited about the prospect of purchasing some sticks of Dynamite! BOOM!
My dad has spent a lot of time working in Potosi on a KfW project to ensure drinkwater quality. It is really nice to imagine that he has been strolling those streets some years ago and we are meeting one of his ex-colleagues for dinner tonight (and his entire family)! About time to put our new Spanish certificado to test!

We are back at school! Learning Spanish in Sucre

Hola! We have decided to spend 3 weeks in lovely Sucre and learn some proper Spanish. We now have separate teachers. Vivi with me and Mariella with Craig - both really sweet as you can see in the pictures. We spent about 4 hours with them one to one every day. Excellent. I feel a lot more confident already after only one week. Craig spends every spare minute doing homework and rehearsing his verbos irregulares (What a swot!). I am very impressed!!

Our "landlords" are full of surprises, every day something new! Yesterday morning we were informed that our classes are cancelled and we are to help paint the house they just moved out of instead. What? I though my Spanish failed me but sure enough we spent about 9 hours painting and cleaning and tearing off wallpaper in their old home. Apparently the date they are meant to hand over the keys came around quicker than expected?!¿!?¿!?!¿?!¿?¿?

Don´t ask. It is a bit tricky to say no when you are living under somebody´s roof. I almost started crying when she brought a kettle of hot water to help STEAM OFF the wallpaper....
Did you know that in Bolivia they do not have wallpaper and hence no wallpaper glue. Instead they imported the wallpaper from Holland and used shoe glue!! Just to make sure you can tear off the entire plaster layer with the wallpaper. Oh dear me! I wish I had that day on video. Much more hilarious in retrospect though! My arm is very stiff today...

I also enjoyed having bed lice!! Thank God only lice and not chickenpox! Nothing a bit of VERY smelly spray could not sort out! And this morning the Bolivian nanny came back from her holidays and thought she would inspect all the rooms in the new house and (without knocking) pushed our window open to find two fairly undressed strangers in bed... She fancied a chat anyway! As you can see, we are having a fantastic experience.
Maybe I will continue the blog in Spanish soon!

On Sunday we went to the famous Tarabuco Market which is about 70km outside Sucre in the middle of absolutely nowhere. This is where all the locals buy their clothes and household goods. They get there on trucks and the vendors on donkeys! It was fantastic to observe a sea of colours and traditional costumes, bizarre foods, all sorts of offerings to Patchamamma (including of course Llama foetuses) and loads and loads of wonderful weavings which the Tarabuco tribe is famous for. We bought a whole pile of table cloths for a few Euros each, they are wonderful and bright, full of sunshine! About time we get another parcel ready for shipment!