Fog, fog, fog!

Trip Start Feb 10, 2006

Trip End Feb 01, 2007

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Flag of Bolivia Cordillera Apolobamba, Bolivia
Friday, August 18, 2006

A trek! At last! We were all fired up for this one in one of the more remote areas of the Bolivian Andes and had our cameras at the ready but it was not to be...Another horrible long dusty road up to a little village called Charazani (but zani means daft in English doesn�t it? Should have taken this as a warning). Found a cheap hotel to stay in - no running water and plenty of fleas in the bed to get me itching again. Each villager seemed to have a different idea of when the bus to the next village (and the start of the trek) arrived and how long it took to get there - turns out they were all wrong and it arrived very late and took a very long time so we had to squeeze into the only �hotel� in town as it was too dark and wet to find somewhere to camp. The dodgy old man that ran the place managed to squeeze seven of us into four single (and VERY dirty) beds, quite an achievement - only wish he�d put as much effort into at least hanging a sheet up as a door to the toilet which sat under the stairs and left you to a very public viewing

A. Road into Charazani

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The village was like a ghost town, all locked doors and only a single child playing silently with an old hoop. This is the head village for the Kallawaya medicine men, famed throughout South America for their amazing healing powers. They travel the length and breadth of the continent so maybe this was why the town was so quiet.

The next day dawned wet and misty and continued this way with only a few hours of sunshine somewhere about lunch time. Our Footprint guidebook gave specific instructions to follow the river for an hour, cut up the valley on the left, cross the river at the cultivated fields and camp by a little stream at the next flat area, which we did, only to find that we should be in the next valley where the layout is identical - great! Spent the next day trying to retrace our steps - should be easy enough when you�re following a river but the fog was twice as thick and left us with only a few meters visibility. Wandered about for hours getting increasingly grumpy and wet. Really regretted not leaving some stuff in La Paz (we planned to cut the corner and avoid going back on our way to Peru) - my bag felt more like 30 kilos than 15. Took us most of the day to cover a few kilometres so we decided to quit. Treks are only fun if you can see where you�re going! Made it back to Charazani where our flea-filled hotel room had suddenly gone up! �It�s been cleaned� she said to my complete bafflement. Told her not to be daft and we�d pay only what it should be. Man alive.