Above the clouds

Mt. Condoriri

Having skipped the opportunity to trek in the area around Machu Picchu, Deb and I were even more psyched to trek in the Bolivian Cordillera Real (Royal Range). Running from La Paz — where Illimani towers over the city like Rainer over Seattle (except much bigger at 21,201 ft) — past Lake Titicaca where the snow caps are reflected in the lakes azure waters, the Cordillera Real offers awesome hiking for the well-acclimitized.

 

As in Peru, we opted to do the hike on our own. We chose a unique route that wasn´t covered by any of the trekking agencies and were rewarded with absolutely no crowds on the trail and unspolit wilderness. We hiked in from Tuni to the Mt. Condoriri Base Camp, which was the only time we ran into any other hikers until four days later when we hit the Choro Trail, which we hiked up the ´wrong way´ to La Cumbre, where we caught a ride back to La Paz. Along the way, we passed over our highest point ever at 5016 m (16,457 ft) at the Col de Agura Negra. We also passed a ton of lakes, high meadows, llamas & alpacas, misty valleys, and a couple of small backcountry villages.

 

Cool speckled llama

The hiking was tough — up to 4800 m and then down to 3600 m, then back up to 4600 m, and so on. All told we crossed over 5 passes, all over 4600 m, and there was a deep valley before each one. Highlights included: getting lost in the mist near the top of one of the passes, forcing me to climb a bit with a 40 lb backpack; the quesadillas; one night where our 15 degree sleeping bags weren´t warm enough for the cold, which ended up freezing the entire tent so that in the morning it kept it´s shape and wouldn´t bend; discovering that no matter how high we got, llamas were always (always!) higher.

 

Choro trail -- old Inca Road

The end of the trail tracked up the Choro Trail, a centuries old Inca Road that leads over the high mountains down into the jungle. We took this finely rock-paved road up and over the final pass and met a kindly trio at the top, who unexpectedly gave us a ride back to La Paz scrunched into their VW bug, all the while chatting away about everything from dromelids to politics. When we got back to the city, they seemed more than eager to give us a tour around La Paz, and we got some fantastic shots of the valley of La Paz from the rim above.

 

The route is in this map.  To view other photos, go here.

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