Finally Some Pictures! Bolivia ¨Death Ride¨ (see below for Chile Update)

We finally have some pictures and the ability to post them!

From the ¨Death Road¨ ride in Bolivia.

At left, our group in the classic section of the ride half way in and above Jessica leading Bill and the pack through the first section of pavement early in the day.

We Made it to Santiago, Chile!

Well, after a brutal travel day we finally made it to our hotel in Santiago, Chile. Coming off our LONG climbing day in Bolivia, we were up early the next morning and off to the airport. We awoke to a La Paz covered in snow! Nothing quite like a snowy July 27th. Fortunately, the airport was operational and after a drawn out check in we boarded our Lan flight departing from the world´s highest international airport. An hour later we landed in Iquique, Chile. From 19,000 feet on Huayna Potosi to sea level in 30 hours. Iquique is a unique coastal town located in the Atacama Desert, where there is literally not a plant in sight. Turns out the rest of the passengers on OUR flight were heading on to Santiago immediately. For some reason our booking skipped the next 3 flights and left us with a 10 hour layover! We tried the stand-by rountine, then gave up and headed into Iquique as originally planned to spend the day. A nice taxi driver took us to town, gave us a little tour, then returned us to the airport 8 hours later. We enjoyed a great walk along the beach, explored the town´s historic district, had great seafood, and sampled Chile´s beers. Our Santiago bound flight arrived at 2:00 AM and to our great relief our bags arrived safely once again!!! This was a huge milestone as our ski gear has now traveled through 9 airports enroute to this southern hemisphere ski destination. Our first no show transfer of the trip left us to find our own ride to the Hotel Orly, where we arrived (at a reduced rate no less) arround 3:30 AM. Makes us tired just thinking about it. Our hotel is wonderful and we are excited to explore Santiago over the next 2 days before heading up to Valle Nevado ski resort.

Our Bolivian Send-off Adventure

Background: One of the things Bill was really excited to check out in Bolivia was the world´s highest ski area, Chacaltaya. On a perfect, cloudless day we climbed to the top of Chacaltaya at 17,000 ft. Unfortunately the glacier is mostly gone and the ski area is no longer. However, across the valley is the peak you see pictured at right, Huayna Potosi. Having two open nights we booked a 3 day/2 night guided climb.

Day 1: After getting all of our gear, we were driven to the base camp hut and given our mattress to sleep on for the night on the floor of the loft along with 17 other climbers. Decked out in our gear we hiked up to the leading edge of the peak´s main glacier and spent 3 hours climbing, traversing, and descending it using ice axes, crampons, harnesses and ropes.

Day 2: With full packs we climbed from the base camp at 15,000 ft. to the Rock Camp (advanced base camp climber´s hut) at 17,000 ft. The hike up was brutally steep on a loose scree field. While in an amazingly picturesque setting, the entire area reeked of urine and we shared an even smaller loft. 20 climbers slept in the loft from 5:30 PM after "dinner" until midnight when the climb for the top begins. We were elbow to elbow, feet to feet, with a six inch corridor down the middle of the two nasty foam pads. Just imagine 20 foreign climbers who hadn´t showered in 2 days and all their gear packed in this stuffy, freezing space. By the way, we were the only English speakers. You can imagine the sounds and smells. Speaking of which, let´s not even talk about the bathroom facilities.

Day 3: After not really sleeping, at midnight we put on all our gear and with headlamps shining the way, began the steep climb up the glacier roped together with our guide. After a brutal 5 hours we neared the final exposed pitch up the summit pyramid. Unfortunately, the typical perfect weather this time of year here, was not to be. It had snowed earlier in the night, leaving the trail soft and a nasty, cold wind was gusting. Feeling the strain of 2 sleepless nights, the elevation, and uncooperative weather we decided to not risk it and turned back after successfully exceeding 19,000 ft. We descended a bit, not believing how steep it had been, then watched the sunrise before returning to high camp for our things. Once packed up we descended the now snow covered scree field to base camp. An hour later we were in a car heading back to La Paz and the Hotel Rosario.

Overall: On one hand we had the unique opportunity to spend 3 days in one of the most amazing mountain environments on our planet. We saw eagles soaring, watched numerous Andean peaks illuminate from dusk til dawn, and had a world class climbing experience. On the flip side, the cramped, dank huts, permeating smell of urine, horrible food, sleepless nights, and intense suffering at 19,000 ft. in gale force winds made us very happy to have this adventure end.

Surviving the Death Road

After returning from Copacabana and Lake Titicaca our next adventure was to mountain bike down the old road from the Andes above La Paz at 17,000 ft. to the subtropical Yungas at 3,000 ft. We arrived at the tour agency at 6:30 AM, met the great group that would join us for the day, then an hour later were on our high end downhill bikes at the pass covered in snow. The canyons we descended rivaled Hell´s Canyon and the snow gradually gave way to tropical vegetation. During the section of the ride known as the Death Road vertical cliffs dropped away from the narrow, rough dirt road. Eventually we were Death Ride Survivors lounging at the pool of a hotel near the end of the ride. We drove back to La Paz on the new road that bypasses the section we rode, amazed at what we had just accomplished. Bolivia is a wild and exotic place, and in a few minutes we are off on an entirely different type of adventure. If you are interested look up Huayna Potosi. For the next two nights we will be staying at two different huts on the flanks of this great peak.

Lake Titicaca & Isla del Sol

Due to the strong winds this morning the harbor in Copacabana was shut down and no boats could go to Isla del Sol. Lucky for us, our amazing private guide had his buddy drive us out to a peninsula closer to the island where he had one of the local boatmen take us over. Turned out we were the only tourists to get to go to the island today. As a result, we had a very uncrowded experience exploring the Inca ruins and hiking the ancient trail from one end of the island to the other. While it was a bit windy, there was not a cloud in the sky and the views of Lake Titicaca and the Andes were incredible. The bonus ride out to the boat launch provided us additional amazing vistas and the opportunity to see numerous lakeside villages. An amazing day that only we were fortunate enough to experience.

From Quito, Ecuador to La Paz, Bolivia via Lima Peru

On our last day in Quito, Ecuador we were rewarded with the clear view we had been waiting for going on three weeks. We took a gondola ¨The TeleferiQo¨ up Cruz Loma to 13,534 feet. From there we were rewarded with the view you see pictured to the right. In all we could see 9 different snow capped peaks straddling the equador. It was an amazing send off after an incredible 20 days of adventures in Ecuador. Shortly after 8:00 PM we boarded our flight for Lima, Peru. We arrived around 11:00 PM, and rather than wait in the airport until noon the next day, headed with our waiting driver to the Manhattan Airport Inn. After a good sleep we returned to the Lima airport for our flight to La Paz, Bolivia. We made it without incident and after a few stressful minutes of waiting our bags appeared. The airport is actually in El Alto, appropriately named, because it is located at 14,000 feet. We were never so happy to see our bags, successfully make it to a destination, or find our name on a sign held by a smiling driver! All our planning has been paying off. Heading to our hotel we were rewarded with the view that is our new title image. A truly impressive and unique city that literally takes your breath away. Heading into town we were completely blown away at just how different everything was. They call this the third world, but we are beginning to think maybe we found the third and one half world! We couldn´t fathom that the driver was actually stopping on the street we would be staying on. Inside the Hotel Rosario we found an amazing sanctuary, shared by a lot of other very out of place gringo travelers. At first we were nervous to even venture out. However, once we did we were well rewarded with an amazing cultural experience, incredible shopping, and the colorful local streets in this the heart of La Paz´s tourist district. Back in our hotel we enjoyed llama tenderloin for dinner, then giddy due to the altitude and fact that we were actually in Bolivia, finally feel asleep. Today we took it easy, explored town, and planned activities for our remaining days here. In the Witch´s Market we were even blessed and now have a mother earth idol to protect us. We skipped the llama fetus and herbs offered us. This is quite the place. Tomorrow we head up to the world´s highest ski area for some sight seeing (it is currently closed). The next day we head to Lake (hee hee) Titicaca for 3 days 2 nights. Back in La Paz we are going to do a mountain bike descent of the World´s Most Dangerous Road. Our final days in Bolivia we are going to attempt to summit the 19,972 foot Huayna Potosi on a 3 day guided expedition. We will keep you posted...

Ecuador Reflections

Some random thoughts as our time in Ecuador comes to a close...

• Much more of a cultural experience from indiginous women in traditional clothing walking leashed llamas to graze to kids in Quito wearing Vans Off the Wall hoodies with pierced lips and 80´s hairstyles talking on cell phones.
• 90% of the tourists we expected to be American were actually non-english speakers (mostly Germans).
• Interesting Regional Specialties: we passed through a small town with 40 ice cream shops in 3 blocks, Baños had row after row of identical sugarcane/taffy stalls (after watching a guy pulling the taffy wipe his nose with his bare hands and then go back to pulling the taffy, we opted not to try any), and another town had a dozen denim stores in one block.
• A much more personal relationship with food from market to table.
• The ability to live like a king, tours/nice hotels/great meals/shopping/etc. and still being able to stay on budget.
• In Ecuador you are not on yellow or orange alert, it is always red. For example you don´t carry your ATM card around. You go straight to the bank, then immediately back to your hotel. When you are out on the town it is locked in your room at a gated hotel with a guard.
• You know you are not in Boise anymore when you overhear another table´s conversation at dinner, "Would you rather be shot or stabbed when being mugged?"
• Waking up at a lodge in a tropical cloud forest with tucans in the trees and butterflies everywhere, then going to sleep in a 300 year old hacienda overlooking the paramo and a distant glacial covered active volcano in the same day.
• Being asked to hold the raft while our guide went to see if the nearby vultures had found a woman who had recently drowned.
• Continually asking ourselves, "Where are we?" in a figurative sense. For example, after returning from the hot baths in Baños full of local people experiencing one of the countries most sacred spots at the base of a waterfall fed by a spring coming off of the active Tungurahua, sitting down at the Posada del Artes restaurant and enjoying vegetarian paella while surrounded by works of art by some of Ecuador´s most famous artists.
• Obviously no liability insurance, but it sure makes for great and cheap rafing, rappeling, and biking adventures. You wouldn´t believe the rickety bamboo ladder we had to climb up after free rappeling down a 120 ft waterfall with a guide that couldn´t have been much older than 16.
• Revisiting the same restaurant your purse was stolen at, sitting at the same table, ordering the same meal, being a little wiser (remember the gate hotel where our stuff was left this time) and not letting the rampant crime in this economically challenged country get the better of us.
• Heading back to our hotel through the streets full of local weekend revelers, we once again noticed that we seem to be a magnet for bizarre looking 3 foot beggars (they really are 3 feet tall!). For some reason they only seem to ask tourists, AKA "white people", for money. Bill contemplated just starting to give each of them $1 to take their picture and then making a calendar or something. Would you like one of those for Christmas this year?
• A journal excerpt from our day of rafting (remember we said it was amazing?) - In Rio Negro we stopped at a restaurant that looked really nice with a big porch for the lunch that was included in our trip. The meal however turned out to be the scariest one yet. Much more in the typical local style than catering towards gringo travelers. The first course was soup with big chunks of chicken parts, mystery vegetables, and a weird sort of greasy slick on top. We sure hoped it had boiled for a long time. Bill later told me that he almost didn´t even eat because he was disgusted by the young waiters dirty fingernails that were partially submerged in our soup as he set it on the table. This was also the case with the small glass of warm orange soda that did little to quench our thirst after several hours of rafting under the Equitorial sun. We were so famished we uncharacteristically threw caution to the wind and dug in. When the main course of rice, lentils, and some horribly tough, nasty mystery meat arrived we decided we had pushed our luck far enough. We ate some rice, picked at the lentils, and prayed we wouldn´t be sick in the morning. Thankfully the meal was over quickly and we were back in the van heading for Baños.
• Another journal excerpt at the opposite end of the spectrum. - High above Quito at a pass overlooking the valley our guide Christian, the former Ecuadorian downhill mountain bike champion, set us up on our high quality mountain bikes. He began to lead us down the initial descent with our shuttle car following slowly behind. The road surface continually changed from old pavement, stone, gravel, and dirt while the vista at each turn seemed to get better and better. At nearly 12,000 ft. valley after valley that we would be descending spread out before us...8 hours later we pedaled into Mindo Gardens. Hummingbirds fluttered outside the beautiful main lodge, and our host Rodrigo was there to greet us with a pitcher of lemonade. We were then escorted through the gardens on a beautiful path to the riverfront lodge that we would call home for the next 3 nights.
• Overall, we have had an amazing time. From our first meal in Quito´s gringoland at the Magic Bean, to our taxi ride with Gonzalo back to the capital city for our departure, this has truly been one adventure after another.