Bolivia: 17,000 Ft. High in the Andes

Olivia and me on our way to Mt Tunari....

Do you like the alpaca hat that my family gave me?!

Today I performed perhaps the most physically demanding hike ever in my history of hiking.... climbing to the summit of Mt. Tunari, the second highest Bolivian peak in the Andes Mountain range ...Rose, I would have to say that our $20 day hike outside of Custer comes in at a close second! :)

On board for this aggressive test of dexterity and athleticism were 2 Bolivian tour guides (one to drive us up the mountain, the other to walk us to the top once the road was too steep), 2 doctors, 2 priests and 10 students and/or volunteers in Cochabamba like myself! The 2 guides were incredibly skilled leaders and I felt comforted by both the doctors' and the priests' presences...the doctors' for obvious potential medical assistance and the priests, well God only knows...

We started the day out at 7:30am...most of us barely awake as we piled into a 15 passenger van that drove us for 2 hours up the windiest, narrowest road I have ever seen. Our van hugged the side of the mountain, beeping around blind corners to signal our presence. We stopped periodically at freshwater streams to gather water. At first I thought that the guides were gathering water for us to drink later on, then I realized....no, it was water that they were literally pouring directly on the engine to keep it from overheating as we drove on. We stopped at one point to let a herd of sheep cross the one-way bridge that we came to...it was picturesque!

The sheep herders were very good at keeping these guys in line!

After the sheep sighting, we drove on for another hour until the mountain was too steep for car wheels and we got out to hoof it the rest of the way. (With the distance we drove, I thought....gee! We must already by near the top....how little did I know!) We began to walk following a little trail, passing the remains of old housing developments and even one that appeared to be active today...when I say housing development, I mean walls made of stone with a tiny house and a few sheds behind it...a wheel barrow here and there and usually an outhouse.

This house seemed to have folks living in it...can't imagine living so high up in the mountains!

After about 5 minutes...or maybe 2, we all began to feel the pangs of altitude sickness: dizziness, tingling hands and feet, headaches, dry mouth and a heartbeat that felt like it was radiating out of our heads rather than our chests....Drs' advice: let's stop and drink water, rest a few minutes and then continue on slowly. We did this and continue on we did...slowly!! Seriously every 50 feet or so we had to stop to take a few deep breaths before continuing on. The altitude made it feel like there you were carrying a ton of bricks ontop of your chest as you walked...very laborious!

After about an hour of climbing we stopped for lunch. It is always funny to see the various lunches that host families pack for their students...my friend Pat had tiny speckled hard boiled pigeon eggs in his "lunch box!" We all thought pigeon eggs sounded interesting so a few of us shared them with Pat...they looked kind of like Cadbury mini eggs on the outside and tasted just like regular eggs on the inside. I have to admit though every time I let my mind wander to think that I am eating the eggs of NYC's "rats with wings" I got a little queazy!

Pigeon egg

(By the way, Pat takes the cake on the most exotic meals...he also had cow udder for dinner at his house last night...I am ever the more appreciative that my host dad Teddy has taken such a fondness with Italian food...we eat pasta every few nights at my house!)

After lunch, some stayed back on the large rocks... it was seriously a physical workout just to breath that high up! while the rest of us climbed on for another couple hours or so until reaching the furthest point we could possible climb....(there were varying opinions on how we could feasibly and safely climb as the shale got really deep and slippery...5 of us went one way and 5 more another...I erred on the side of caution and went with the doctors to the lookout over Cochabamba which was slightly less high than the actual summit...so to be fair, maybe I only hiked to 16,800 feet!) Here I am at the overlook (it was breathtaking both literally and figuratively!):

Megs at the lookout

At about 1:30 we began the trek down the mount...it was such a relief to finally get to be walking DOWNHILL!!!! This proved to be much easier than the trip up and we were able to complete the decent in about an hour and a half....back to the bus. On our way down we ran into some furry friends--LLAMAS!! We were warned not to get too close or they might spit on us. I thought they were very graceful albeit a wee bit unintelligent seeming at the same time. I loved them though..they really made me laugh! (Sidenote: I am reading a short story right now in Language school about a one-eyed Llama named Consuelo...all of the llamas we saw seemed to have both eyes.)

Are you lookin' at me?

That looks like a cow on the right...I don't remember there being a cow!

Took this picture for you and your love of silhouetted animals, Roses!

I was soooo elated when we rounded the final bend and saw our bus sitting there! With tired legs, a heavy chest and thirsty mouths, we had a spring in our step the final few strides of our hike towards the ever welcoming site of a place to sit!!! The bus ride back was rough...we all felt pretty dehydrated, my stomach wasn't feeling great...I am blaming the pigeon eggs for making it feel like my stomach was in my throat most of the way, and I we all had monster headaches. Still, it was an incredible day and I am so glad I went, glad to be back safe and in one piece and glad to have had a 2 hour nap afterwards!! Here's a final picture of one of the spectacular views from Mt. Tunari along with our tour guide Emilio. (Sorry to disappoint with the name, Sara...I thought it was Grover, but we had Emilio instead!)