La Paz, Bolivia

I am currently in La Paz, Bolivia and have spent the week preparing for a trek into the mountains of the Cordillera Real.   La Paz is a huge city in a valley at 11,000ft elevation.  The photos below give an idea of the scale of the city.

Some photos of the people in La Paz.

Not a local

Today we went to El Alto to see some Cholita wrestling.  Words can not really describe this.  Only a video clip does it justice.  The most entertainment $10 can buy.

I will post more photos as soon as I return from our trek.  There may also be some additional Cholita videos...

Why YOU should go to Bolivia!

The Bolivia trip I did last year was truly a life changing trip.  Its likely I will be going back to Bolivia this year and I wanted to post some photos to show you why Bolivia really is one of the best trips a person who enjoys the outdoors can do.

To start with Bolivia is safe.  I travel everywhere with a lot of expensive camera equipment, and Bolivia last year was no exception.  The first couple of days I left it all in my room rather than carry it around, because I was worried about having it stolen.  On day three I realized that even in Bolivia's biggest city there was a surprisingly small amount of crime.  To put it simply, if you use common sense in La Paz you are likely safer than you would be in any major American city.  The people are kind warm friendly and honest.  No one on our trip had anything stolen or heard of anyone having things stolen.  This does not mean we were careless, but I was no more careful here than I would be North America.

Bolivia is cheap.  When I say cheap what I mean is once you get there it is really inexpensive to buy things.  If you are willing to eat street food then you can get lunch for a lot less than a dollar.  A good dinner at a very nice restaurant is likely $10.  Hotels are also a  good deal and there are plenty of hotels that would meet that standards of North America for cleanliness and comfort. 

Bolivia is Beautiful.  I don't need to say anything here.  Just look at the photos.

Bolivia is fun.  The people of Bolivia are some of the happiest people I have met.  They add to the enjoyment of what would be a great vacation anyway.  La Paz is a big city and the night life is a blast!  Great bars, great restaurants and great clubs. 

Bolivia has great trekking.  Just look at the photos.

Bolivia has great climbing.

So sign up for a Bolivia trip on the AAI website and join me in the country I have fallen in love with.

http://aai.cc/Programs/Location/South-America/

See you there!

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American Alpine Institute Bolivia Trip: Part 3 Illimani

I am back in the not so sunny Pacific Northwest. While on many hours of flights yesterday I sorted through hundreds of photos from the Bolivia trip. Not only did I sort the ones from the part 3 but I went back and added photos from part 1 and 2 so be sure to go back through the previous 2 blog posts to see some new photos.

The last few days of Part 2 consist of a summit of Huayna Potosi. I got a nice photo of it, but unfortunately did not climb it due to the flu.

Kids when we got off the bus at the base of Illimani.

One of our porters and a horse.

AAI guide Juan with north summit of Illimani in background.

Some porters coming down from high camp.

This lady kind of makes me ashamed to not be carrying my own stuff up to high camp.

Diccon making the last few steps to the summit.

On the summit. Diccon giving the universal "I feel great" sign.

Summit shot.

Heading down with the summit in the background.

The north peak in black and white.
This guy greeted us back to camp. This photo does no justice to how big these birds are.

Leaving La Paz. The houses of the Altiplano catching early morning light.
El Alto and La Paz from the air with Huayna Potosi in the background.
See you next year Bolivia.

Bolivia: La Paz

Today was our second full day in La Paz and I figured I would upload some photos of the trip so far. La Paz is a huge city that I somewhat wary of coming to prior to the trip. After walking around the first day without any valuables on me I realized that this city is safe, very safe. Other than potentially getting killed by cars this city is great. I have certainly felt less safe in several American cities. So today I walked around with the camera. Fellow AAI Guide Danny Uhlman arrived this morning, and we spent much of the day walking around the sprawling markets that most of the locals use to buy everything they need.

Danny and Susan enjoying the walk. The people here are not very tall.
Typical street scene.
Most of the women have kids somewhere very close by. Here is a typical housewares market stall.

Susan navigating the market.
Danny
Danny buying some pears.

Three full generations of local women.
There are dogs everywhere here. They do not seem to be neglected and starving as in many other countries. The people here just love dogs.

Entertaining the locals.

Hey Danny, where the hell are we?

I now have a new belief about what animal has the cutest babies. We met this guy on our way to do some climbing. There is no question this is the cutest animal I have ever seen in my life.

Some human kids are cute also, but the llama still wins.
Unfortunately not everything in La Paz is cute or enjoyable. This next photo is of the river that runs through La Paz (mostly underground) and re-surfaces just outside of town. It is quite simply the most disgusting thing I have ever seen (smelled) in my life. The color and the smell make it clear that this water is mostly raw sewage.

Danny and I managed to find the La Paz rock climbing. In this photo I am climbing on some conglomerate rock of questionable quality. The climbing area is actually pretty good, although Danny and I both got our asses kicked a little by the altitude.

Thats it for now. There is lots more to come. We have one more day here in La Paz and then off to the mountains on Sunday for five days of trekking. Stay tuned for more photos.