The Finale in the Altiplano

For our final few days of our trip we took off on a 3 day trek in the altiplano. Here are the highlights:

It was cold! Our first night at Condoriri base camp there was ice on the inside of our tent. Our 35 degree F sleeping bags didn´t keep us too warm, and we were really happy for the sun to rise in the morning. Very little sleep was had. The next night we set up our tent inside an adobe house and were luckily much warmer.

It was high! We started at an altitude of 4,500 meters (about 14,850 feet) and we never went lower. Only higher to passes around 5,000 meters. It made it difficult to breath, it was impossible to drink enough water, and headaches were pretty common.

It was beautiful! The landscape was incredible. Big, glacier filled peaks that rise up above 6,000 meters contrasting with the brown, dry altiplano. We saw gorgeous mountain lakes, small mining communities, and llamas grazing everywhere.

We didn´t carry our gear! We payed about $10 a day to get our gear carried from camp to camp for us because we knew it would be difficult with the altitude. Our packs were first on a donkey, then a motorcycle, and finally with two porters on the final day. The porters were a 20 year old local and his 10 year old nephew. The 10 year carried Kim´s pack and was our guide. He was small for a 10 year old and there was still no way we could keep up with him. Luckily he was a great guide and constantly waited for us. It was unbelievable. The people that live in the altiplano are TOUGH. And they were also incredibly kind and fun to talk and hike with for the day.

Brian climbed Huayna Potosi! On the first day we hiked up to the Condoriri base camp with a guided group because we got transportation from the company. After speaking with one of the guides I found out that I had just enough time to summit Huayna Potosi. We were ending our trek at the base of the trail up the mountain. We arrived at the trailhead and a refugio in the afternoon of the third day. Kim stayed at the refugio, and myself and the guide hiked up to a higher refugio at 5200 meters. We woke up at 2:00 am and started hiking up the glacier. By 7:00 am I was at the top. There were incredible views of Lake Titicaca, La Paz, the fog above the Amazon Basin, and the Cordillera Real. It was amazing to be 6,008 meters (19,974 ft) above sea level. I got back to the refugio where Kim was waiting by 10:30 am, and we were off to La Paz.

I´ll try to post some pictures along with this some time soon. So our trip is coming to an end. We are in Puno right now, and fly home tomorrow night. We´re both looking forward to seeing a lot of you soon.