Huayna Potosí

DAY 1: It's Monday already, the day we leave for our second excursion of this vacation, a trek up Huayna Potosí, one of the easier mountains to climb in the area. Somehow and quite easily, Alice convinced me that it would be fun, ignoring the fact that we would be in arctic temperatures of course. Have in mind I have never done anything very 'outdoors-y'. This would be my first experience with anything even remotely close to this.

The first day we arrived at the first refuge. There we had a quick lunch and then an hour trek with our guide Jesús to our training grounds, a little patch of ice but sufficient for learning the essential techniques.

all bundled up in the refuge

on our way to refuge #2

during training

taking a break

We returned to the refuge, another meal awaiting us. Warm soup and rice and meat; some things just never change no matter where you go in Bolivia. It was sooo cold! Even inside the refuge you could see your breath. We looked kind of ridiculous all bundled up, but it was oh so necessary. After an early dinner we went straight to bed, for the next day we would be hiking up to the second refuge at 5.300 meters (an altitude of 17,500 feet), three hours of rocks and another 40 minutes of snow near the top.

DAY 2: Well, no surprises, 3 full hours of slowing making our way up along rocks and finally another 40 minutes of snow. The pictures don't even show how difficult that last snowy part was. A very steep mountainside with slippery snow, not to mention the altitude and therefore lack of oxygen.  By the time we got to the second refuge I didn't want to do anything else but curl up in my sleeping bag, which is exactly what Alice and I did. We didn't move from those sleeping bags until the next day.

halfway to the top

snow-covered and hard to climb

in the second refuge

DAY 3: This is when we were supposed to climb to 6.088 meters (almost 20,000 feet), the top of the mountain, a six hour climb from our refuge starting at 1 AM. But at that hour, strong winds, snow, and poor visibility made us think twice about the rest of our trip. Let's be honest, we did chicken out. We didn't think it was too good of an idea with the little experience we had climbing mountains; we respected nature and its unpredictability and decided to turn back the next morning. Yes, when we got back to the first refuge  we did somewhat regret our decision, but at the time it seemed like the smartest thing to do. The sunrise that morning made the climb on day 2 worth it, for sure.

sunrise

Two and a half hours later we were back to the first refuge. Alice and our guide pretty much sprinted the whole way down, leaving me a good 30-50 feet behind them at all times, but I didn't see the rush. I was trying to enjoy the views while I could.

A couple of hours waiting at the refuge, quick trip back to La Paz, and then our 16-hour bus ride back to our house in Santa Cruz. Another unforgettable week of vacation.