This blog has been a long time coming, as I haven't made one for months!!!! But I'm super excited to make this one, and this one is special because its got VIDEO'S!!!!! Yes, that's right, VIDEO'S!!!!!
So I'll start from the top.........no pun intended!!!!
I decided to climb up a mountain called Huayna Potosi, it's 6,088 meters above sea level and covered with snow for the whole year. It's a very impressive mountain to look at, it's very easy to get the jitters and intimidated just looking at it and knowing your going to try and get up to it. It certainly shouldn't be taken lightly as some people do, you have to understand that places like this and even mountains much smaller can and do kill plenty of people every year.
I trekked with another Aussie called Sean from QLD, who I met at the travel office the first day. He was pretty excited, just like me, and also didn't know quite exactly what to expect.
On the first day we arrived at the lodge with our guide, Mario, and settled in and had lunch. After that we walked for about 40 minutes to the glacier, at the foothills of the mountain...........
When we got to the glacier we got kitted up to ice climb. I've never done anything like this before, it was very scary. It's like rock climbing but without the hand holds, and everything is slippery. You need to have sun glasses or goggles because when you hit the ice with your axe the ice shatters everywhere, and into your face. Seeing the glacier was an amazing experience as I'd never seen one before. While climbing up it I was petrified!!!!!!.............
After we finished up at the glacier we went back to have dinner and sat by the fire talking crap! Mario, our guide, offered cocaine and marijuana to us, again. We politely refused,again.
The next day we went for a walk around the hydro electric dam, which was huge. Sean and I underestimated just how big it was.........
We kept walking and walking and walking
I didn't believe Sean would take his pants off, but sure enough, he did...........
And kept on walking and walking and walking, but also taking the piss out of commercial tv back home and crappy advertisements..................
Later that day we met Rocky, another guide, and Fernando, a tourist from Lima, Peru, at the lodge. We left after lunch to go to the second lodge, at the height of 5,300 meters. On the way we saw some graves dedicated to people who had died up on the mountain.................
We got to the 5,300 meter mark at around 5:30 that afternoon. I felt absolutely terrible. I had altitude sickness. My heart felt like it was going to explode out of my chest and I was really hard to breathe. We got changed into more comfortable clothes and had dinner. Straight after dinner we went right to bed as we had to be up at 12:00 am to start our preparations for the final ascent of the mountain. Because of the altitude sickness it was impossible to sleep, my heart still hadn't slowed down and I had a pain in my arm. I also had a slight headache.
Sometime during the night I made the decision that I would not continue the trek up to the summit. 12:00 am came and I told the guides that I wouldn't be going with them, that I was sick and that I was feeling terrible. They didn't give a shit. It then dawned on me that I'd made the wrong choice of company as they didn't have any pills or medications to give to anyone in my position.
At 1:00 am everybody left to go up the summit...............
I tried to get some sleep but it was just impossible with the heart rate I had. I started listening to my mp3's and was startled when I heard the door to the cabin open. It was Rocky and Fernando. Poor Fernando had a splitting headache and was not able to got to the summit with Sean and Mario.
Again, Rocky couldn't have cared less for the welfare of Fernando. The best option for us would of been for us to descend to the lower lodge, even though it was night time, to reduce the effect of the sickness we both had. But we didn't, so Fernando and I spent the night feeling horrible and unable to sleep.
We waited for the others to return from the summit, which as at 8:30 am. Sean and Mario rested for about half an hour before we kitted up and left to go downhill. I took one last look around as it was so beautiful and humbling.
We got to the lower lodge at 11:00 am and had lunch, before leaving the lodge for La Paz at 12:00 pm. We got back to La Paz around 1:30 pm and I said my goodbyes to Mario, Rocky, Sean and Fernando and headed to my hostel for some well deserved sleep.
If there was anything that I got out of the whole experience it was the scenery and the wonderful views that I saw. I also know now that I can probably climb to the same height but that I need to acclimatize myself slowly next time, more than just 3 days!!!!!
Anyhow, I hope you've enjoyed the blog and that you can get something out of it, I know I did !!!!!!!!!!
*Disclaimer: These videos took Literally... all night... to download. Please appreciate them!*
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