A short leg this one. Having left Cusco and the truck behind four of us went to climb little known Yana Cuchill in the Cordillera real, on the Peruvian Bolivian border. We would soon be in La Paz where I had my eyes on a 6000m peak. At 5450m high this would be the perfect acclimitisation. Having got a disapointing 5 hour bus ride (we were promised video and toilets!) to a random village we trekked up the hill and into a lovely valley which would be base camp for the next two nights. We had tactfully decided to save weight and just take my 2 and a half man tent between the four of us. I had my doubts though and had secretly packed my bivi bag. Although we attempted to find a way of fitting four in the tent I gave up and slept top half in the porch legs outside the tent, good giggles!
Were away by 7am and walked up endless screes onto the north ridge of the mountain before getting hideously lost in the mist. I only knew we were going wrong when the altimeter had dropped significantly. Checking the compass we back tracked and thankfully th mist cleared enough for us to see our way to the top. At about 5000m we got to the snow line and I started feeling very wobbly. Got up to main ridge which was much steeper, only two of us had crampons n axes so whilst two stayed behind myself and ALys marched on to the top with a short icy scramble to finish - nice!
Unfortunately at this point my camera had ran out of battery so got not photos of the summit, most upsetting as the ridge was lovely. Descended very quickly to camp after a 14 hour day and loved running down the scree and snow slopes accidentaly setting off a small avalanche. It was most bizarre to be sat on top of it!
We had arranged to meet the truck the following day at 12 so after a relaxed breakfast sauntered down to the pass. We waited and waited but it never cam. We gave up about 5 assuming there was a problem and caught a taxi to Puno, right on the border and on the famous Lake Titicaca. The highest navigable lake and home of the Uros Indians. Here we spent our time waiting for Ernie by visiting the bizarre floating reed islands which were now very touristy but still intersting to visit. Got dumped on an island no bigger than my lounge for an hour but resisted the temptation to buy a model boat made of reeds and resisted the temptation to send my postcards from the only floating post box. Instead i sat in the sun and sulked at having no clothes to wear other than my mountaineering garb, it was so hot. To worsen my mood that night I ate Guinea pig which was the worst 8 pounds I have ever spent, there was literally no meat on it, luckily I had a doctor with me who enjoyed picking it apart and feeding me the small scraps of meat.
We finally met up with the truck and after a few cheeky bribes were able to get into Bolivia and on our way to La Paz with no other difficulty. That night we bivvied on top of a hill after not making it to LA Paz, I thought it would be an excellent idea to sleep in my bivi. It was till the eggs I had for dinner gave me the worst bottom runs in the world which in turn made me vomit out of my bag. To make things worse at 4 in the morning it started snowing and I woke wwith my bivi bag full of snow as it had drifted in through the mozzy net. Not the best start to Bolivia. I spent the next morning on the truck a shivery vomity mess!!
My mood was improved by the crossing of Lake Titicaca. I heard screams of ´´no, surely not´´ as we approached the ``ferry´´. Turns out it was a barge made of sticks which we were all sure would not support Ernies 14 ton bulk. Undeterred the little Bolivian man pushed us away from the shore with his stick and motored us across with the smallest motor ever, about the same size as the one on my dads little Bounty!
Jon and calum leaped to dry ground and pulled us to safety and we went on our way to La Paz.
Photos click link below
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150356903420059&set=at.10150356896330059.347030.643815058.501123779&type=1#!/media/set/?set=a.10150337883618780.350711.501123779&type=1
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