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Well James and I have had a fantastic week since our last blog! We started off by visiting a tourist agency called "Alberth Bolivia" and somehow ended up booking a guide to take us up Huayna Potosi, a 6,088m mountain (although it is supposed to be the easiest 6,000m peak in the world!) in just 3 days time! We also booked a tour for the next day up Chacaltaya, a 5,395m which is a very easy mountain to climb as you are driven up to 5,200m leaving only 200m to climb. Despite leaving very late due to a broken down minibus James and I found the 200m climb surprisingly easy (which at that altitude is something of an achievement) although it probably had something to do with the fact that we had been at over 4,000m altitude for about 2 weeks now. James' dad had climbed the same mountain 38 years ago but apprently found it very hard!!

High Altitude Mountaineering

James and Anne Walkington
2006-08-08 16:53:24

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Well James and I have had a fantastic week since our last blog! We started off by visiting a tourist agency called "Alberth Bolivia" and somehow ended up booking a guide to take us up Huayna Potosi, a 6,088m mountain (although it is supposed to be the easiest 6,000m peak in the world!) in just 3 days time! We also booked a tour for the next day up Chacaltaya, a 5,395m which is a very easy mountain to climb as you are driven up to 5,200m leaving only 200m to climb. Despite leaving very late due to a broken down minibus James and I found the 200m climb surprisingly easy (which at that altitude is something of an achievement) although it probably had something to do with the fact that we had been at over 4,000m altitude for about 2 weeks now. James' dad had climbed the same mountain 38 years ago but apprently found it very hard!! After Chacaltaya we went to Valle de la Luna (the third moon valley of our trip!) which is a very weird place made up of lots of pinnacles of mud! Apparently it is very different from when James last visited it 10 years Over 180 different faces each supposed to represent a different emotion. Located in an subterranian temple.
ago. Bolivia is definitely experiencing a tourist boom!

The following day was spent organising equipment for our trip (e.g. long johns and spare torch batteries) before visiting the Coca museum. For those of you who don´t know coca is pretty much a way of life here and drinking coca tea is just like drinking normal tea in England. Many manual workers (particularly miners) chew coca which has a more potent effect - although still far removed from the effects of taking cocaine! The museum was really interesting and I learnt lots of interesting facts, e.g. Coca Cola is still flavoured with coca - although they extract all cocaine related chemicals first!! In the Bolivian jungle around 9000 small coca plants exist in which illegal coca is processed into cocaine and ...

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