Adventures in Peru

i have summited a 6000m+ mountain.

Huayna Potosi is a 6088 metre above sea level mountain. it was subzero.

day 1:

getting used to the equipment. learning how to use an ice ax. “you could kill someone with the ice ax, but lets not try; we already had someone fall on one and have it trick into their eye.”

crampons take some getting used to. the day was a lot of fun.

then came the night.

3 people in one tent. a little bit of ice rain. the ice turns to hail, the hail to ice. and then it starts snowing. it snowed over 5cm and covered the tent. very very little sleep was accomplished with freezing weather and rocks in the back.

day 2:

climb the 3.5 hours from base camp to high camp, with all the equipment on our backs. crampons, ice ax, safety harness, sleeping bag, dry cloths, warm cloths, boots. everything but the tents and cooking gear.

at high camp we eat lunch and i get an hourish long nap just before dinner. eat dinner, try and sleep. day 3 was set to start at midnight. after the sun set i tried to get some more sleep. listened to an hour of music, then the battery died. counted the guy with the head lamp that was reading turn 18 pages. toss and turn lots. the nap did me in. sleep off and on until 11:30.

day 3:

get out of bed at midnight. eat breakfast. get dressed. head to the snowy mountain. we started the climb at 1am. it was long, cold and steep. the summit was reached at 6:30am. it was colder then -5C. the wind would gust at speeds enough for me to get a wind burn on my nose.

return to high camp in the light, pack up for the descent to base camp. return to base camp with all the gear on our backs.

the ‘climb’ was finished at 1:30pm. headed back to la paz. sorted out the equipment. eat lunch. showered. read/relaxed. went out for an 8:30 dinner with the people i climbed with. drank some celebration wine.

returned to the hostel and went to the bar for a night cap. with the drinks that people bought me i ended up have 4 or 5 night caps. i also didn’t get to bed until after 1am, almost 1:30. 26 hours awake.

today i embark on a 3 day top secret adventure.
it is the kind of adventure that that i am attempting shocks even me.

I survived ‘Death Road’ - the worlds most dangerous road.

I bussed away from the hostel to an altitude close to 4800m.a.s.l. that is the point the of starting. the trip is 65km and descends down to an altitude just over 1100m.a.s.l. 5km up hill, the rest down. the first 20km were on a paved, in-use, multi-lane road, with a speed limit of 35km/h. that part of the trip was to get used to the bikes, get a feel for speed, steering, breaking. one girl, from a different tour company smoked the side-view mirror of an oncoming truck. we had been very specifically told ‘this is a highway, in used by hundreds of cars every day, stay in the right lane.’ she crossed over to the other lane on a blind corner. 20km in we started on the gravel/dirt.

the start of death road. largely out of use since there is a quicker, safer, paved way now. lots of mountain bike support vehicles drive the road everyday. on the way down i passed one car coming up, he presumably lives in one of the few houses beside the road; one of the banana farms.

the road trip was amazing. rivers crossed of the road. waterfalls beside the road. one waterfall went (mostly) over the road. another waterfall landed across the road and needed to be driven through. death road started out misty and cleared up. then it started to get hot, i burnt my nose and cheeks a little. skies cleared, then it rained for 10 minutes, cleared again. we finished the ride and went to a hotel at the end of the road for showers and food. then it started pouring. the full 65km ride, with stops, took about 5 hours to complete.

on the 3 hour bus ride back to my hostel the rain didn’t stop, but turned to snow as we reached the higher altitudes, and back to rain when entering la paz. it was a great day, but 2 days later and my ass is still sore. 5 hours on a bumpy bike ride is a real pounding.

i am on day six of sickness. i have been largely bed bound. my last hostel didn’t have tv or anything, so i stared at the ceiling. my new hostel, here in la paz, has comfy couches in the dvd room. i do not like watching 6 hours of tv in a day, but it hurts to walk; hurts to sit for too long; reading makes me dizzy; my throat is sore so i can not talk for to long.

hopefully i get better soon. i have to ride a bike down the most dangerous road in the world, and visit the great salt flats.