It’s been almost two months since my last blog update and I apologize I kept you waiting (if you were waiting). As you might know I spent quite a long time in Bolivia especially in Sucre in the south of Bolivia where I took a break from travelling and enjoyed great company in a great hostel. It wasn`t all relaxing though. I did a Spanish course for almost three weeks there. It really improved my Spanish a lot but I am still not there with my language skills where I would like to be so maybe here in Peru I might attend some more classes or at least sit down and practice again. After the long and replenishing stay in Sucre I went straight to La Paz which is definitely the beating heart of the country. Bolivia’s population consists mainly of three ethnic groups which are the indigenous Aymara and Quechua and the descendants of the Spaniards (and a mixture of these which are called mestizo). The Aymara people make the biggest part of the population in La Paz and it was a welcome sight to see people in traditional dresses walking around after Chile and Argentina which have a strong European touch. I finally got the feeling again that I am in a very different place and that is something I am usually looking for when travelling. In La Paz I also met my travel buddy Nick again whom I first met in Namibia last year in November. Together we cycled down the Death Road which is also called “World’s most dangerous road” because of the narrow width and the fact that there is nothing to keep you going over the edge and plummeting several hundred meters into oblivion. It was great fun! To change things up a bit we decided to fly into a more tropical part of the country. From the small town called Rurrenabaque we went into the wet lands and the jungle where we saw some amazing wildlife: monkeys, river dolphins, caymans, sloths, snakes and of course billions of mosquitos. Did you know that mosquitos can bite you through your jeans? I loved it anyway and after the high altitude chill of the alti plano and La Paz (which is on an elevation of 3600 meters) the warmth of the tropical jungle was a welcome change plus I was finally able again to walk up stairs with out needing a break to catch my breath. I didn’t enjoy this climate for to long though because after that we went off to a three days trip through the salar de uyuni which is not only the worlds largest salt flat with a salt layer up to a 30 meters thick, it is also one of the worlds largest lithium sources. And of course it is on very high altitude as well with parts of it being on an elevation of over 4000 meters. With major parts of the country being on such high altitudes I thought I was well acclimatized to high altitude when I took on a big challenge close to La Paz. The Mountain Huayna Potosi has an altitude of 6088 meters and is one of the easiest 6000+ mountains to climb. After the first night on high camp I had to turn back because of blinding headaches and my heart rate being beyond responsibility. At that time I didn’t have the mental strength to just push on so I accepted defeat and turned back. I don’t like defeat so it was clear to me that at one point I will have a second try at a 6000+ mountain. Here in Arequipa where I currently am they have the Chachani which is 6075 meters high. If I did it or not I will tell you in my next blog post. 😉
Flow Around The World 