Sorata and up to Laguna Glacier
Trip Start
Jan 26, 2000
1
17
30
Trip End
Jun 14, 2000
Sorata,
Bolivia
Sunday, April 23, 2000
Despite the fact Louise didn't look like much of a hiker I could see from her bubbly personality and good looks exactly why Francois had invited her along, and I certainly wasn't going to complain. Francois had left me the day before so I was given the honour of escorting her on the bus journey. When she arrived at the terminal her pack was so small I doubted she even had enough room for a spare t-shirt in there. It looked like it was going to be an interesting hike.
The overnight bus journey started in daylight, but before long Louise was throwing up out of the window with yours truly there giving moral support, it looked like it was going to be a long night. She made a quick recovery and soon we were chatting, things had started to pick up, or so I thought, the next thing I knew she had fallen asleep on me just as I was telling her one of my exciting travel stories, come on I can't be that boring can I! We arrived in La Paz next morning and jumped straight on an local bus to Sorata, where at 1pm we were met by Francois. As it was Easter all the hotels were booked up, eventually we managed to find one down some back street set a way back from the main square where we had to pay the extortionate rate of $6 per night, but what choice did we have (I'm not looking forward to seeing the prices in a western country again!). We did a short hike that afternoon, Louise was looking pretty hot, but her pack was so minute she shouldn't have any problems on our 3 day hike which was going to begin next day.
The trek started on what was a beautiful morning and we hiked the first 3 miles along a major through fare which was used a lot by locals to get from Sorata to other surrounding villages. We has met a number of people both the previous night and also this morning who looked at us incredulously when we told them we were going without a guide, come on how hard could it be, we had made it this far without problem. The further from civilization we got, the more difficult it got, the path became less and less distinct and each fork we came to in the road became a guessing game as to which way to go. We ended up hiking up a near vertical hill, this was all too much for Louise and just before lunch her legs packed in. Francois ended up carrying her pack up the last part of the trail, while I was assigned my now familiar job of giving the moral support. We took a long lunch to give us plenty of time to recover and set off again, this time the trail was mainly flat and by some miracle of god we managed to arrive at a small village which was on our map and about two thirds of the way to our camp. Some local guys working in a field close by must have noticed how confused we looked and how often we were looking at our book and when one of them ambled over to offer his services as a guide it didn't take long for us to make a yes decision. I think Louise was particularly happy, for some reason I don't think she trusted our route finding abilities, so much for trust, we had got us this far hadn't we! The first thing he did was head upwards and away from the trail up what must have been the steepest route possible. It was 4pm and he assured us that we needed to take this route to get there by nightfall, he also picked up the pace, we all realised later we'd have never made it at the speed we were walking. Needless to say this new route and speed wasn't looking good for Louise and Francois and I ended up splitting the contents of her pack. At 4000m in altitude the last thing we wanted was an extra 5kg of weight, but how could we resist that smiling Danish face.
We got to Laguna Chillata (4200M) it was 6pm and we were absolutely knackered and started to set up camp. By the time we started cooking it was dark. Louise was not looking good and she was shivering. We ended up lending her some of our clothing, my sleeping mat (it was going to be an uncomfortable night for me) and tucking her up in bed, I really was a bit worried about her. Once the food was cooked I took her a plate of my finest camping food, it even got the thumbs up from the Frenchman, to which her response was quick get it out the smell is going to make me sick, after which she duly proceeded to throw up inside the tent.
Day 2 and we decided to leave our tents as they were and do a day hike to Laguna Glacier. Louise was having dizzy spells and was feeling a bit under the weather so she decided to stay at base camp. It was another spectacular morning as we trekked in and out of the clouds and they kept rising up from the valley far below us. During our clear moments we had views of Lake Titicaca in the distance with the huge peaks of Cerro Llampu(6368m) and Cerro Ancohuma(6427) looking over us. We reached Laguna Glacier (5000m) after a tough climb, it really was hard to breath with the altitude, just in time for lunch. Immediately after we finished our food the clouds rolled in for the day and it started to rain. I couldn't believe it, the only time I hadn't brought my rain jacket on a hike and it had looked so perfect in the morning. We returned to camp cold and wet, but it was nothing that a few cups of Mate (a local tea made from coca leaves) wouldn't resolve.
Day 3 and we had a nice leisurely walk back to Sorata arriving just in time for a huge four course lunch and a big beer.
Following lunch I returned to my original hotel (we had decided to change hotels) to pick up some gear I'd left there only to find the door padlocked shut. What was I going to do? I kept returning to the hotel during the day with no joy, I was starting to get a bit concerned, I didn't want to lose all my belongings. You'll be glad to know everything ended happily and after asking around town I found out where the woman who owned the hotel lived. She said she'd closed the hotel because she wasn't busy enough - bloody hell what about all my things - lucky I'm so fluent in Spanish I was able to track her down.
