In mid-September Amizade had an open volunteer program here. One of the participants, Ryan Wolfrum, had recently completed the Leadville 50, which is a 50 mile endurance race above 10,000 feet in Colorado. He wanted to hike to the top of Mt. Tunari, a nearby mountain (peak pictured below in the background of the Cochabamba photo) that rises to above 17,000 feet. To put this in perspective, the highest mountain in the United States, Mt. Whitney, rises to 14,505 feet, many people experience symptoms of altitude sickness at elevations above 8,000 feet, and in Pittsburgh the three rivers meet at approximately 700 feet above sea level. Of course, I was eager to attempt the summit with Ryan. We hired a guide and were joined by three other guests at the international guest house where I live.
In fairness, we were able to drive to about 15,000 feet, so all we had to do was about 2,000 feet of elevation - at altitude. I felt good and was glad to be able to talk with Ryan most of the way up. Some of the others were clearly dragging. A step at this height is unlike any other step. Every 20 meters is a definitive challenge. Nonetheless, we enjoyed it. We saw llamas and learned a great deal from our guide about these and other regional camelids (vicuna, alpaca).
We passed by a few beautiful lakes, and all in all had a great climb before
reaching a beautiful summit where we could see the now-minute city of Cochabamba far below. The climb was great, the hike was beautiful, the air at the top was cold and we event got a little light snow before heading down. On the way down, I got all the classic altitude sickness signs. I had been in Cochabamba about two weeks - and they say it takes as long as six months to adjust. I got a headache, I got lethargic, and then I threw up. But, all in all - as the Spanish expression goes, it was vale la pena, worth the pain. And really the pain was very slight and very much at the end of the day.
It was great to meet Ryan (who took all of the photos I've posted above in this particular narrative) and to hike the mountain with Val and Jon (volunteers from Colorado and Oregon working with a very cool initiative to improve access to safe water, SODIS) as well as Helen, a graduate student from Switzerland researching the implementation of the new land tenure reform in Bolivia. As is so often the case, I'm meeting a number of incredible people while on the road. In fact, this past week two of the people who stayed at the guest house were a husband and wife traveling team that has been on the road for three years, continuously. They call themselves Uncornered Market.
They travel, they blog, they freelance, they take excellent photos, they try to act as person-to-person diplomats, and they reflect on their lessons learned. Checking out their blog will take you through a set of experiences and places that most people will never have the chance to access in person. Their photo below is of a mural on the third floor of the Bishkek State Historical Museum in Kyrgyzstan. It is pro-peace, anti-atomic bomb, and.... complex.
Audrey and Dan (the Uncornered Market team) are leaving Cochabamaba today but of course I'm staying and I'm continuing my effort toward a personal challenge that I have only one more month to complete.
That is, I need to run up the steps to El Cristo de la Concordia, the statue of Christ that towers over Cochabamba. I've included photos of El Cristo, the ascent to him, and the view from his base below. Cochabamba sits at about 8,000 feet and, apparently, the statue rests at about 9,000 feet, so we're talking about 1,000 or so feet of steps - mas o menos - at altitude. I've been incrementally working toward this goal. I run across town, run the steps until I can't do anymore, then hike the remaining steps before returning, but the occasional Bolivia sickia sets me back. Nonetheless, I think it's achievable. I'll keep you posted.
Below and on the next linked page are many photos from Cochabamba. Enjoy!
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