Biking Camino del Muerto

All geared up and ready to go

One of the popular things (for all the adventurists) to do around La Paz is the downhill biking of the 'Death road'. The tour companies have made it surprisingly accessible at $50 for the day providing top of the line full suspension bikes, all the gear, pictures and movies of the group along the ride, showers and a buffet lunch at the bottom. Then they give you a t-shirt advertising their tour outfitter that says that you survived the Death Road. Amongst the backpackers in La Paz there was a lot of hype around this ride, and so even though we had wanted to do it before getting there we had to do it after hearing so much about it. I'm super glad we did. I understand the thrill now, not that I ever thought I might fly off the edge and die. :)

We rode with a bunch of 20-year-old French backpackers. This was one of the waterfalls over the road.

 

 

 

fog off the road in the morning

In the morning we started for an hour on the road and because of the altitude and that it's the rainy season it was raining and very cold on the bike.

A little rest

About half-way into the ride (about 2 hours) it stopped raining and warmed up. Actually by the time we got to the bottom we were hot and most of us took off a few layers of to keep from over heating in the humidity of the jungle.

The Death Road

Everything about the ride was beautiful and exhilarating at the same time, but my favorite part was riding through the dozens of waterfalls that fall onto the road. The waterfalls were almost always at bends in the road and where they fell onto the road they seemed to collect more of the gravel or stones from the road, making the turns really scary because you can't slow down too much or else you'll lose control on the stones but at the same time you never know where the stones have piled up because of the water.
The guides took advantage of these bends and took photos there - although I really think they were waiting there to see if any of us would wipe out and then they could catch it on tape.

The view of the valley near the end of the road

3 days around Condoriri

There were lots of hikes around La Paz in the Cordillera Real and other mountains of the Andes. So we decided to do 3 days around Condoriri because it wasn't too high (max 5,000m), too long, too expensive ($100 each with a guide + food)  or too strenuous.

We started here in the small village of Tuni at 4,448 m.  It was only a couple hour drive from La Paz. We picked up a donkey lady and three donkeys that carried all the food and the other two hiker's backpacks. We asked not to use the donkeys because we didn't want to have to pay for them and so we carried everything ourselves. Yeah, it was more difficult with our packs at that elevation but I'm glad we didn't use the donkeys.

Our guides were Pasquale and his wife Josefina. Josefina carried lunch every day on her back in her traditional colorful bag.

Llamas and a black alpaca

At the high elevation we saw some unique plants and animals. 

Flowering thistle

 

The incredible landscape we passed through

by Lago Chiar Kota

The first day, in only 3.5 hours we made it to the base of Mt. Condoriri at Lake Chiar Kota. The lake was formed by the mountain glaciers. Come to find out the hike is super popular during the winter months - dry months - and so there was a little house with a room with straw mattresses and a table to rent. We stayed there with the view of the lake next to us and the mountains on the other side.

Glacier Condoriri 5,200m

After a break and setting up our room to sleep we hiked up to the Condoriri glacier. It was a bit harder than it looked because of the altitude and that it's so big that it looks a lot closer than it really was.

the boys on the glacier

 

view of the lake from the glacier

In the evening before sunset the fog set in over the lake giving it a really remote peaceful feeling. I'm glad we went in the off season, even if it did rain every day and was really cold.

In the morning we woke up to a still lake reflecting the mountains.

As we climbed out of the valley below Condoriri we said good bye to Lake Chiar Kota and walked toward Huyana Potosi, the 6,000m mountain that towers over La Paz.

then came the rain

...and then the snow

We put on all of our rain gear and continued on.

In the afternoon, we walked through a few valleys and small passes and when we thought we would stop for the night we kept walking, and then we thought we might stop again we continued on for another few hours. It's because we saw these mountains in the distance and our guide told us that tomorrow we'll cross them, and we slept here, right at the very base of the pass. When you look at mountains in the distance they always look nearer than they are.

Morning view

Night view at the mountain hut

Again we slept in a little hut. It was nicer than sleeping in our tents but that meant that we had carried all of our camping gear for nothing... but maybe to make us stronger. :)





The next and last day we climbed over the mountain pass and were graced with blue skies and a fantastic view of Huayna Potosi to the east. In the sun it didn't matter that there was snow on the ground it was still hot climbing up to the mountain pass at another 5,000m. 

Josefina and me warming up on the way to the top

Micah and Pasquale warming up

Micah climbed the mini mountain at the pass

Huayna Potosi

What a wonderful hike for us to be rewarded all along the way by such beautiful sights!

Tiwanaku

About an hour from La Paz is the ancient city of Tiwanaku. The people who built the city were said to be really advanced for their time.

 I'm not exactly sure what all the sites were because we didn't have a guide, but these remains are from the center of the great empire of Tiwanaku from around 1200 BC. They were sun god worshipers and so they built their temple aligned with the sunrise and sunset.

Puerta del sol

Getting into Bolivia

So for the Christmas holiday break we decided to go to Bolivia for some hiking, backpacking and just generally to get out of Arequipa for a bit.

Since we're in southern Peru it's a pretty straight shot into La Paz, the capital which is in the western part of Bolivia on the Altiplano. 

We took a 10-hour night bus to the border town of Desaguadero and stood in line for a few hours waiting for the border control to open and let us walk across the bridge into Bolivia. All the while we could see the local people who live in the town just walk casually across the bridge and back as they got ready for their daily business there.

The entrance visa fee for Bolivia is the highest in all of South America at $135. Although supposedly they are just doing it to US citizens because our visa fee is that price or higher for all applicants.

Once in, we took a 2-hour cambi into La Paz and then the most expensive taxi ride of my life into the city (they even charged me my camera and phone - all replaceable things). After that we thought of ending our trip and coming back to Arequipa but decided to continue on and I'm really glad we did.
La Paz was really one of those cities that I got into and just couldn't stop looking around and wondering how in the world they had the idea to build a city there, in a hole in the Altiplano at over 3,000 meters elevation.




And it grew into the capital city and the hole became so crowded that the people built their homes up the sides of the walls and eventually the city spilled over the top of the hole. Anyways it's quite beautiful for a city and from inside you can see the snow covered Cordillera Real (mountains) just to the east of the city.
The center and different areas of the city are all centered around these beautiful churches with tall pointy steeples. We were there over Christmas and so we popped out heads in on a mass at one of the big churches on the hillside. It was interesting because it was my first mass ever (even though we only stayed for 10 minutes because someone was falling asleep next to me), and all the locals carried their baby Jesuses to church and took them up to the nativity scene in front. These baby Jesus dolls were really well dressed and in fancy little carriages that looked like they could have a real baby inside.

San Francisco Church, Downtown La Paz

Just some nice church near the crazy huge market