Bolivian Adventure: The Cordillera Real
Trip Start
May 18, 2007
1
30
43
Trip End
Jul 28, 2007
Cordillera Real,
Bolivia
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
The scenery was amazing, that morning. Nevada Ilimani just beside us proudly wore its name, as it and the fields around us were covered with a layer of snow. The sun was glistening on every surface, and we were all in a great mood as we started walking on the dirt and gravel road
01 - The Mule People: observe their footwear
. Pretty soon, we were shedding layers in the hot sun. We came across a herd of llamas, and one was gracious enough to pose for pictures for us.As had become our usual pattern, the "delinquents" - Marcus, Tully and myself - hung out at the back, once again chatting about everything and everyone, generally cracking jokes and teasing each other. This lasted a few hours, then we paused for lunch, with Pancho and Ruben once again spreading the table cloth and slicing meat and vegetables for us in the middle of nowhere. The Mule People eventually passed us, on the way to our next camp.
By mid-afternoon, we were utterly and completely bored. The scenery had not changed much since morning, other than we could no longer see Ilimani, and the terrain we were walking on had not changed at all. Think of a seven hour walk on relatively flat, unchanging ground! We started getting grumpier, especially the three of us at the back. At some point, we were joined by Kate. We asked how far it was to camp - not because we were tired, but because this was tedious and boring! We saw a couple of vehicles on the road, large trucks ("camiones") with flat beds, and motorcycles, even a tractor. We started talking about making a break for La Paz that night or the next night, if things didn't improve
02 - Glorious sunrise
! We were joking, but only to a point - I think that if a truck had passed us and offered us a ride, the three of us might have taken it...She concurred, and said she found it pretty boring too, and that we "should be getting close" to camp now. We did, eventually, get there, and found that the rest of the group as well was getting tired of walking on a flat road all day.
Over dinner that night, we discussed the plans for the next day -- our last full day of trekking in Bolivia! We had to make it good! At the same time, I had found that after the warm night at Don Hans's Cabaña in relative comfort, I was having a hard time "re-motivating" myself to camp in a cold tent, and walk all day, especially uphill. I felt that I was kind of "done" -- even though I didn't want to miss out on the scenery. Lord knows when I'll see such beautiful snowy mountains again...
So the plans for the next day -- the alternatives, depending on the weather, were to go up a steep pass, at 4850m, and emerge in a stunning valley, or, if conditions up high were thought to be too treacherous again, to stay low and keep walking on... the road.
03 - Ilimani in the morning
Hum -- we all agreed that the alternatives did make sense, and we certainly hoped that the weather would be good to go up high. I wasn't thrilled at the thought of going uphill again, but it was worth the price to see the pass, the mountains, and avoid the road! I think my reluctance to walk uphill was now due to the constant feeling that I should go faster to keep up with the guide and the faster ones at the front. I kept feeling like I should apologize to Marcus for keeping him at the back - though he reassured me that he enjoyed going slower, and certainly was not interested in taking part in the "race" at the front.
Our campsite was nice, wedged in a valley between two "folds" of the bottom flanks of Ilimani. We hit the sack around 9pm, and I finished reading my book while listening to some Reggae music (nothing like a little Jamaican beat while lying in a cold tent in Bolivia...).
I woke up an hour and half later to a very loud crack of thunder, which was immediately followed by lightening and more thunder. It was either raining or sleeting, the tent buffeted by the wind wanting to rip itself out of the ground. More lightning, with simultaneous thunder! The storm was right above us, and there was nothing to do but to stay in the tent, and..
04 - Our little friend Obidio
. try to sleep! That night, Catrina and I each had our separate tents, and I kept hoping she'd just come over and join me! At the same time, I certainly wasn't going to go out there - so why should she!?Things finally quieted down about 30 minutes later, though it sounded like snow was falling for a while. The temperature dropped significantly that night, and the cold woke me around 4am... There was no going back to deep-sleep before "bed tea", scheduled for 7am....
By the time I heard Peter coming around with the tea, I was cold, and pissed off! I greeted him with a rather acerbic "¡Hace frio!", to which he responded with a soft laugh, and said, "Yes, it's cold, and there's snow". I checked the thermometer: -2C inside the tent! A record for me...! No wonder it was cold... My sleeping bag is rated only to 0C...
Snow, and quite a bit of it, did make the scenery stunning once again. It also raised the whole issue of alternative routes again.
Tully walked into the mess tent with a bit of a problem: the sole of one of his boots had come completely undone, and efforts, the night before, to glue it back together had failed miserably
05 - Ilimani´s summit
. In fact, Pancho's and Ruben's attempts to re-glue the sole had destroyed it completely!So - Tully was minus one boot, there was a fair bit of snow on the ground, and it was a lot colder. All conditions that, by the previous day's logic, should have led us to decide to steer clear of the high pass and stick to the road.
Tully tried on Jeff's "duck shoes" - too big, wouldn't do. He decided to put on one running shoe, after wrapping his foot in an extra sock and a plastic bag to keep it dry. Not great, but it would at least allow him to walk.
We re-visited the options: all of a sudden, Piter was in favour of crossing over the pass! We all challenged the logic - reminding him and Kate that the day before, they had recommended foregoing the pass, if there was snow. They both said that it was different, this was NEW snow, not icy snow (?!?), and that it "should be safe" on the pass. Even for Tully, with a single boot and a running shoe offering no traction or purchase on slippery ground? "Yes!" said Piter.
I got very frustrated with the lack of logic applied to the situation, and Kate's and Piter's inability to give Tully clear answers as to whether he should walk over the pass, follow the road down below, or get himself on a truck to La Paz
06 - Friendly llama
. For a good 30 minutes, the rest of us sat in the mess tent, waiting to know officially if we would attempt to go over the pass, and if so, whether Tully was coming with us.Kate then walked in, and blamed the delay on "trying to sort out Tully"! What? Tully wasn't the problem -- Tully just wanted to make sure that he wasn't going to get into bad trouble if he walked up to the pass! And the rest of us wanted to confirm that the pass would be fine - since the day before, Piter and Kate had stated that we shouldn't attempt it with snow...
At 9:30am, we finally started walking: upwards, towards the pass, and Tully with us. He was behind even Marcus and me for a while, and we were concerned about him coughing a lot. We waited for him for a bit, and it turns out, he was just really annoyed with the whole thing. Understandably.
Well, as good walks in the mountains will do, we all eventually calmed down, and started enjoying the beautiful scenery and great weather. A bit cold and windy, but nice, crisp, fresh air under a sunny sky.
I decided, and told Marcus as much, that I was going to just enjoy the walk, and not give a damn about anyone else
07 - Stop! Right there... Don't move! Purrrrfect!
. And I did just that: I went slow, at my pace, and didn't care how fast the others were going up front. We reached the ruins of an old farm, where everyone had stopped to drink water and eat a snack. I didn't stop for long, and got going again very soon. Marcus and I had just started walking when behind us, I could hear Catrina, Jeff and Judy coming. Catrina passed me and said hi, but Judy was right on my heels, waiting for me to pull over. I stopped, moved out of her way, and she said, "oh, sorry..." as she sped past. Marcus and I looked at each other and rolled our eyes... Part of our daily routine!The last hour or so to the pass was really windy, and a bit steeper than our usual grounds. At more than 4800m, climbing through rocky scree, I just wanted the wind to die down, but... no big deal. We eventually all reached the top of the pass. The hike and climb had been well worth it. It was fantastic!
Pancho pointed out that if I turned around, I could even glimpse a bit of Lake Titicaca. Barely, but yes, I could. When I reached the others, I mentioned that - immediately, Jeff and Ro had to get up to go see... Kind of funny, since there wasn't that much to see, but they literally ran back up to the top of the pass.
08 - The endless road...
We started down almost right away, because of the wind, and soon found a great spot for lunch. The wind was a little quieter, but it was still cold, though my thermometer, sitting in the sun, showed 25C... It sure wasn't that warm!
We continued down through the Valley Paiso Grande (Great Pasture) after lunch, walking through great scree, spongy moss again, and other terrain, with good variety in the trail - so much more interesting than the road of the previous day!
We reached an AMAZING flat field, covered in nice firm moss and grass, in the lee of Ilimani's back side, and within great view of another snowy peak, Mururata. It was the "nicest campsite we'd ever seen". Unfortunately - it wasn't low or far enough, and we needed to continue walking down in anticipation of the next morning.
About half an hour to an hour later, we found another spot - not quite as perfect, but still very nice. This would be our last campsite...
The ceremony of putting tents up was once again a source of amusement - with Ro trying to give orders and do things her way, the Tom's placidly waiting for the camp to be set up (why get in the way...?), Jeff and Judy having already taken possession of the first tent to be put up (part of their daily routine...), and Catrina, Marcus, Tully and I waiting by the future site of the mess tent, once again watching, observing, and..
09 - Self-portrait
. making uncharitable comments (aka, "taking the piss", as the Brits would say).Watching two of the mule guys trying to put up the mess tent became an exercise in frustration bordering on torture. Marcus and Tully decided to step in, and figured out how the poles connected. Had someone marked the poles sections, colour-coded them or numbered them, putting up the mess tent would have taken about 3 minutes. Instead, it took well over 30 minutes! Catrina and I collected rocks to help keep it in place, and pretty soon, we had a mess tent! Of course, we laughed when Jeff walked over to come and inspect it...
Our last night - and once again, the tipping discussion, this time for the "Mule People". We had to consider everyone, including the gentle old man who had followed us with his saddled mule the whole time. Kate kept referring to him as Alberto, Pedro's father.
There was once again a bit of controversy around the tips - in all, the total amount we tipped was much higher than expected, and higher than the "going rates". I'm not begrudging the fact that we paid hard-working people well for their efforts, but I am critical of the fact that KE did not set the right expectations, and that Kate did not fulfill her duties very well on that front
10 - Little farm in the middle of nowhere
.In the morning, last breakfast on the trail, followed by the tipping ceremony. Kate did her little speech, and proceeded to give Pedro his tip, then Alberto, the old man. He took the money, but there was an awkward pause. Another man, standing next to Pedro, said, "The thing is, I'm Alberto. I'm Pedro's brother, and the old man is our father." Kate was a bit flustered, the rest of us were embarrassed, and in the end, I'm not sure who got what tip. All I know is the old man was not pleased: he had to give the tip he had received to his son Alberto, and then split, with the rest of the family, a smaller portion of the tips! Well done, Kate... This was unfortunate - she had had 3 days to figure this out and guide us properly in this process (it is part of the Tour Leader's job), but had not been able to do smoothly. Ok, I'm being quite critical of a small event here, but in the context of everything else, it was the cherry on top of the sundae.
Our last bit of trekking was once again on the mining road headed into the town of Tres Rios, where Don Adolfo was to meet us with the bus at 8:30am. By the time we left camp, it was already 8:15, but we just hoped that Don Adolfo would be there when we reached Tres Rios 45 minutes later. He was!
11 - The morning after the thunderstorm
We did ponder why the itinerary was such that, on the last morning, we had a 45 minute walk, down a passable road, instead of getting picked up by the bus nearer the camp, or even, in Tres Rios the night before... Instead, while the bus was there ready for us, we had to wait for all the gear to come down carried by the mules and donkeys, which took a solid hour. But - why complain? The weather was nice, and we got to breathe fresh mountain air for another hour before getting back to La Paz, with its traffic, pollution... and hot showers... :-)
The drive back was pleasant - a mere 4 hours during which most of us snoozed for a bit. We entered La Paz through a very nice neighbourhood - I didn't think I would see nice houses, modern stores and new-car dealerships in the city, but there they were!
And there it was: we were back in the "civilized world"...
