La Paz... and the end of Bolivia for now

Hola,
I am currently in La Paz (above is a picture of La Paz from El Alto). The EWB trip to Yanayo was successful and we left Cochabamba on Saturday. I will write a bit about the trip and post some pictures soon. There is a lot to talk about and I took a ton of pictures.

Today I went up to the only ski area in Bolivia: called Chacultaya. Doc Odle and two of his USAid colleagues stationed in La Paz went on the trip. Doc´s daughter, Andrea, was on the Yanayo trip and I also know his son Kevin from the dorms in Seattle... small world. The base of Chacultaya (which you can drive to) is at 17,000 feet above sea level. Then I hiked up to 17,500 ft. I actually felt OK at that elevation, especially for not spending a lot of time acclimatizing in La Paz. It was snowing up there, and it felt nice to be in snow again. The visibility was not very good, but Doc pointed out where the glacier used to be. It has receeded a ton in just the past 30 years or so. The Andes are definitely some of the most vunerable mountains affected by global warming.


Here I am at 17,500 ft. The visibility wasn´t great!

After that little hike we drove to the south end of Lake Titicaca and had trout for lunch. It was very cool to see this enormous lake at 13,000 ft, and experience the altiplano. The weather was not exceptional, but the mountains of Peru could be made out in the distance. It was a nice day.

In other news I think I have been suffering from altitude sickness and/or my first stomach issues of the trip. It is crazy how living at 12,000+ ft affects your body when you are not used to it. My Spanish is also improving, and I feel pretty confident communicating. Tomorrow morning I fly back to Lima, Peru. Kim gets in to Lima late tomorrow night, and I am very, very excited to see her and begin our adventure together.

Brian