June 15, 2007
Day 625
Laguna Glaciar Trek Day 3

Last night was bitterly cold, much colder than the night before. I stayed in my tent for over ten hours, but probably only slept five because I was too busy shivering most of the night. My whole tent was covered in frost in the morning.

The Israelis went back to the bottom today, so just Olando, David, and I continued with the trek. It was a very easy day with a lateral walk around a large valley was used as a mine until the minerals ran out. We passed a few caves that had been recently dynamited by the miners and some much older ruins from Pre-Colombian times. We had a long lunch at a great lookout point of the entire area and a different view of Illampu behind us.

After we rounded the valley and went over a small shoulder, we passed an isolated 4000 meter village and began our descent. A few minutes later, we found a good campsite and called it a day. The hot sun felt good this afternoon, but as soon as it passed behind the mountains at 4:00, it got really cold again. We had another small fire that didn't give us much warmth and got ready to make our way back to Sorata tomorrow morning.

The photo album for this entry is here.

June 14, 2007
Day 624
Laguna Glaciar Trek Day 2

We got up at dawn today, ate breakfast, and got ready to walk. We would be returning to the same campsite later tonight, so there was no need to take down camp. As an additional courtesy, Alvaro's friend came up to the campsite this morning to watch over our stuff while we were gone.

The walk was long but not very difficult. We went over a pass after about half an hour, then proceeded to walk around a valley, continuously moving up. There were several streams with ice cold glacial water, so I made sure to take a few liters with me so I wouldn't have to drink the nasty lagoon water anymore. The trail was pretty clear until near the end, where we had to do some rock scrambling. Near the top, the perfectly clear sky afforded us an incredible view of both Lake Titicaca and the Cordillera Apolobamba, another mountain range far to the north.

When we got far above the snow line, we curved behind a hill and dropped down a bit to access Laguna Glaciar, the "Glacial Lagoon," at 5038 meters (16,528 feet). A few people were camping at this level in preparation to climb Illampu and some of the other peaks in the area. I didn't envy the bitter cold night's they were bound to face. The lagoon was filled with ice coming off of Illampu's glacier. We only had about an hour to eat lunch before heading back down.

The climb down to camp was long once again, but I felt good. I had plenty of energy left to explore some of the rocky hills and ruins near our camp. The altitude didn't affect me at all, and afterward I felt ready to take on bigger challenges in the area.

We made a big dinner again and David searched the area again for wood for another campfire. I think he's a pyromaniac. The fire didn't burn too well because of the altitude, and it got really cold shortly after dark, so we all gave in and climbed into our comfy sleeping bags early.

The photo album for this entry is here.

June 13, 2007
Day 623
Laguna Glaciar Trek Day 1

We got started a little late this morning for some unexplained reason (maybe "It's Bolivia" will suffice), but later we were able to buy all the food we needed at the market. Next we met our guide Olando and walked uphill to the edge of town where we found his mules. We loaded up everything on the animals and continued walking up toward Olando's house in a higher village where he had to pick up some stuff. It was so pleasant only having to carry my camera and water with me.

After we passed Olando's house we saw few local people. We had lunch in a flat area overlooking Sorata that also served as a good pasture for the mules. From there we continued walking up until we reached Laguna Chilata at 4200 meters (13,780 feet), finishing today's ascent of 1500 meters (almost a vertical mile).

The lagoon was beautiful but not so much that I'd want to drink from it. Still, despite the lagoon's still water and the nearby grazing cattle, we had no other option but to drink it (after boiling it of course). We cooked up a huge meal, David gathered some wood and lit a little campfire, and we went to bed early in anticipation of the big climb tomorrow.

The photo album for this entry is here.