in bolivia

Update

2008-03-04T23:16:00.007-04:00

I have a new blog here, since I decided I'd like to leave this located in bolivia.

I miss all the friends and relationships made in Bolivia every day.

Cheers to everyone who reads this--send me an email or otherwise sometime, it's good to stay in touch.

erik

you can write me at radiophonicworkshop (the same prefix to this blogspot address) followed by @gmail.com.

Summiting Longs Peak, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO, USA

2007-09-16T16:46:00.000-04:00

The final event of our return trip was to attempt the summit of Longs Peak Rocky Mountain National Park--at 14,259 feet, it's the tallest mountain in the park. One can reach the summit entirely in one day, so long as one starts up the trail before 2am and is game for 16 hours of hiking/scrambling. We figured it would be more fun to hike to the boulderfield just below the more technical section and camp the night, allowing us to wake up around 7 to eat breakfast and start for the summit. On the way up, we took a 2 hour detour to Chasm Lake, situated below the face of the diamond (the shear east face of the mountain), on our way up--photo pending...

I don't seem to have a photo, but when we started this hike in the morning there had been a large storm that deposited snow across the peak and left a crampon-defeating film of verglas on the rocks which prevented ascents that day (the first snow of the year). Luckily it had, more or less, melted off by the evening--leaving occasional patches of refrozen ice and a good amount of drinking water right in the boulderfield. It was a bit chilly that night, but our tent held up well in winds that destroyed some less fortunate poles.

looking to the east of longs from the boulderfield

the peak itself--on the far right you can make out the keyhole

I've decided a headlamp isn't worth anything if it can't throw the majestic red light--boiling water for tea and sleeping the

The first waypoint on summit day was pulling ourselves out of our wind battered tent into what we were told were 80mph winds--much worse than usual. Luckily we had balaclavas and hard shells to break the wind, but it would've been better to just have brought proper winter layers--such are the rockies. The first waypoint of the 'climb' was the keyhole, after which the class III route is named--we made our way up there after breakfast around 8 or 830.

Looking across the backside of the keyhole. Due to the structure of the rock, the winds here were quite violent. Only on the way back had they calmed enough such that I wasn't getting blown over and could pull my camera out for this picture.

Many people turned around here, because they just simply weren't prepared for the wind. Without a wind parka it would've been disconcertingly cold, and the nature of Longs is that many people go up unprepared. We pushed on into the wind, happy to have be with a smaller-than-usual number of people on the peak with us.

a view from behind the keyhole

another

The route continues through two long traverses and corresponding climbs that link one to the next and then the peak. They were a lot of fun, though very exposed with high winds. Definitely at the high of class III routes. I suppose that since this isn't so much intended to be a route description I won't get into too much detail--good ones exist on the internet and should be read instead if you have plans to attempt it. But, we took some great pictures...

across the narrows toward the trough

exposed, but there were usually handholds when the route cornered and caught the heaviest winds

The homestretch, which is the final vertical part before the peak, runs up a smooth rock face with a crack in it. It was still pretty iced over in places. We took our time to move carefully up the crack and then finally topped out!

on the summit

looking north across the park

looking off the summit to the boulderfield, if you squint you might see a white pixel that is our tent

sitting together above the diamond on the east fast of Longs

looking to the east down over the diamond onto chasm lake

This is a great peak. We made a good elevation gain (I think 6 or 7 thousand feet), which was really felt--even though Longs isn't as tall as most Bolivian peaks, I had become lost my acclimization in lower elevations since returning. It was a hard climb toward the end, but a great hike to share with Emily and a fine end to an amazing summer.

Somewhat sad not to have much more to post here for awhile. Plans are in the works for round two of travels--this time for an entire year after graduation. I also have a few short trips to various national parks lined up for during breaks from university that I'll write about here. Hopefully this isn't too melancholy of a hiatus.

Carlsbad Caverns National Park, NM, USA

2007-09-06T13:41:00.000-04:00

After finishing our time with NMD, and loading emily's things into her car, we took the long way home. Our first stop was Carlsbad Caverns NP, about 4 hours east of El Paso, TX. The Carlsbad cave network is one of the largest and the system is probably most famous for its immense chambers--the largest houses a 1.5 mile loop trail around its periphery. The neat thing about the cave is that one can enter via the first discovered natural entrance and wind down into its cool interior (about 60 degrees F) from the hot Chihuahuan desert above.

looking back toward the natural entrance

I imagine the best way to describe the features of the cave is via pictures, so here goes. These are all from our walk into the cave and explorations of the big room.

the plankton filtering teeth of "the whales head"

emily and an unnamed feature

looking out into a part of one of the larger chambers--I should note that all these shots were taken on my 50mm prime lens since it is my fastest, but as such I was unable to get really wide angle shots of the interior. The place was enormous.

this tower was more than 2 meters in diameter and spanned from the floor to ceiling--maybe 15 meters in height

taken from across the big room, shows a bit of the size--the ceiling here was at least 100 feet high

neat curtains on the ceiling

We also took a ranger led tour into the "lower room," which is only accessible via a series of ropes and ladders (not chutes). It was alot of fun, but the ranger told us leaving cameras behind was a good idea given the squeezes we would be going through. I've taken my camera to some risky places, so I'm not sure why I didn't just bring it regardless. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures to show from this helmet/headlamp expedition into less-explored realms of the cave. We escaped the crowds with our smaller group and had fun caving.

That night we hiked into the backcountry of the park (permits were free--the right price) and camped in the desert. The heat was quite a contrast.

The next day we would drive to Roswell, NM such that we might tour the international UFO museum there (their webpage, you should go) and then pass for Albequerque. There I got to met Emily's good friend Judy and her husband Keith, with whom we had dinner and spent the night (they were great).

No Mas Muertes; Douglas/Agua Prieta; Arizona, USA/Sonora, Mexico

2007-08-18T14:12:00.000-04:00

This will be the first of a series of three entries that will effectively catch everyone up on what I've been doing for the past month--namely, from my arrival in El Paso, TX to my return home to Omaha, NE for study . Sorry to have been delinquent during the interim, but life can be busy. Without further adieu.

Emily and I spent a week volunteering with No More Deaths along the US-Mexican border. No More Deaths was founded in response to the humanitarian disaster that occurs year-round in the Sonoran desert--hundreds of migrants die yearly. They run several operations in the area, ranging from a camp in the Sonoran desert that makes water drops and gives medical assistance to migrants to humanitarian aid shelters in in Nogales and Agua Prieta, Mexico for deported migrants, recently apprehended by the border patrol while crossing to the US. We worked in one of these shelters in Agua Prieta (across the border from Douglas, Arizona).

looking across customs into Mexico

the border immediately east of Douglas

border patrol vehicles were everywhere

We have no pictures to share of the many friends we made, but we spent hours staffing this small center--at times, all night. Groups of migrants would be deported after they were caught crossing, some of them on their third or fourth attempt. We would beckon to them as they passed and offer our services--free food, water, medical service. Many would come eagerly, but others would be ushered past by their coyotes who would often taxi them back out to the desert immediately for another attempt, further compounding issues of dehydration, exhaustion, and general physical malady.

passing the time during the late night

We found that the largest groups of deportees would arrive in two shifts, around 1230am and later, around 2 or 3. These were the some of the saddest moments. We talked with men, women and children who had been displaced from their farms in poor rural regions in southern Mexico, oftentimes by US or Canadian agribusiness, and were subsequently forced to risk their lives just to put food on their plates and that of their families. We stayed open all night to give a place to stay to a group of 5 women who had been deported at 230 in the morning after crossing the desert with but a little water and office shoes. We patched dozens of blisters, gave out hundreds of burritos and bottled waters, offered pudding to children who were so severely dehydrated after more than 3 days in the desert that they had lost the drive to eat or drink, and tried our best to offer companionship to these people in their hardship. Often, I just tried to apologize for the hatred and ignorance of those who vote and form US policy, which forces countries to abandon economic borders while maintaining a human ones--essentially stealing the fundamental necessities from so many and then demanding that they simply starve, all while we united statesians sit in the lap of luxury conveniently spinning webs of hate and fear that help us sleep at night by justified our condemnation of these beautiful, loving people to death. This reality was presented on an individual basis, several hundred times everyday.

looking west along the border

You can, and should, do whatever you can to help this organization. Visit their website at nomoredeaths.org. Solve the root of the problem by working to change a broken, murderous, immigration policy (not to mention or disastrous free-trade agreements, NAFTA, CAFTA, and more). Get involved!

And please, next election remember that voting against a president who is ambivalent about abortion policy does nothing to change abortion policy as this remains in the domain of the supreme court, but voting for a racist kills thousands every year--on the border and around the world--if you want to cancel your complacency as regards these violent exploitations, vote and end your support of these atrocities.

Clear Fluid Diet, El Paso, TX, USA

2007-08-08T16:51:00.000-04:00

With nothing better to do, I found the SummitPost for Huayna Potosi. Someone had put up a picture looking down the final headwall in daylight, so now I can convey the feeling at 6000+ meters much better. Climbing pictures are fun.

La Paz, Bolivia

2007-08-04T19:37:00.000-04:00

I thought I´d share a few photos I´ve taken in La Paz. At more than 11800 ft, it is the highest capital in the world. The city itself rests inside a valley that opens up to the looming 21125 feet Mt. Illimani. I´ve been more or less just taking things easy here for the past few days, and will continue to do so--climbing Huayna Potosi wiped out my energy and I am now just feeling normal again. I have visited several interesting museums and had a good time just meeting people. Yesterday I went to the ancient ruins of Tiwanaku, and will put a post up here about that soon. Until then, here are some pictures of the city.

looking across the valley, all the streets just go up and up...

looking down the valley towards downtown, Illimani towers over the highest skyscrapers in the world.

Summiting Huayna Potosi, 6088m, 19975ft, Cordillera Real, La Paz, Bolivia

2007-08-01T18:48:00.000-04:00

Two days ago, I set out at 9am with my mountaineering guide Roberto to attempt the nearby peak Huayna Potosi--a 6088m mountain which sits squarely in the Cordillera Real, home to many other giant peaks.

taken during our approach

We arrived at foot of the mountain around 1030am or so, and hoofed up all our equipment--cheesy yellow plastic boots, harness, ice axe, crampons, ropes, and the other usual stuff for camping and bitter cold. Other groups used sherpas to haul their gear up to the start of the glacier, but for some reason we didn´t--though later (after I took off my 60lb pack) it made me happy to feel like I wasn´t taking shortcuts through this thing. Anyway, the hike took about 2-3 hours up through a boulderfield until we ended up a refugee potosi--a wooden shack at 5200m (17060ft) that is frequented by climbers waiting to acclimatize a bit while the time ticks away until 1am when the summit attempt begins.

The rest of the day essentially consisted of this anxious waiting around, seeing how the altitude affected us, and watching other climbers have to turn around (text-book examples of Cheney-Stokes respirations). I took several photos during this time, which would turn out to be the majority of what I captured as the upcoming cold at 20000ft around 4am would prove too much for my desires to remove my overmits to navigate the camera.

a shot up the mountain from where we stayed, this was of course a false peak--about 1/6 of the way up from there

looking east towards amazonia and its cloudbank, past a few shorter mountains in the Cordillera Real

trying to relax and sleep inside the shack

The rest of the night I tried to eat aguacate and cheese sandwiches and drink mate de coca while my body rejected my attempts to sleep time and time again. I managed about an hour in total due to the altitude and a snowstorm that was happening outside--making me appreciate the refuge a little bit more. My guide Roberto (called el piano by the other guides, for why I never got a straight answer), told me it was 100 and time to suit up to go. Putting on all the gear, we stepped out into a frigid night, a fresh blanket off snow over everything, and a nearly full moon that light everything so brightly I would only turn on my lamp for knots and technical sections. Really a serene and beautiful night.

a blurry hand-held shot of Roberto advancing up the first section of glacier--shows how bright it was

So the work began, kicking on crampon in front of the next for several hours straight. It was hard work when we started, and only got more difficult as we progressed upward into thinner air. However, compared to other groups we made great time--Roberto and I quickly passed beyond all the other climbers and the entire morning was spent cutting a fresh path through the snow with nobody in sight. It was one of the more spiritual experiences I´ve ever had, just concentrating on putting one foot in front of the other in a steady rhythm while seeing all sorts of amazing glacial formations lit by this ethereal moonlight.

el piano

self-portrait

Normally, there is only one truly technical section of the climb aside from glacier travel--about 30 meters to step up to another glacier at about 50 degrees. Roberto thought I was doing fine, so he walked us over to an ice face, "mejorar escalar." We took a picture in front of it in the day on the way back down. Anyway, it was a blast--if a bit difficult at altitude.

in front of the first technical section

Apparently this was a test/warmup, because later Roberto told me we would be leaving the normal route. The normal ascent crosses in front of the final summit face to a ridge that one is able to follow to the peak at a steady 20 degrees. Instead, we would go straight up the face itself--climbing what he told me was 60+ degrees for the final 210+ meters (it was a bit more than 3 sections of 70m rope when we repelled back down) to reach the 6088 meter summit. So we set off, and this was durissimo--all I could do was concentrate on getting good throws of my axe, setting my toes into firm ice that wouldn´t fall out, and pressure breathing to keep my lungs as open as possible. Compounding this the most bitter wind I´ve ever felt whiping across the face of our climb--causing me to lose feeling in my toes about halfway up (damn rental plastics)... Pretty scary, but by that point there was no question about continuing to the end.

After too long of this (I really have no idea exactly how long as my mind was a little hazy at this point though Roberto told me it usually takes 40 minutes to an hour) we pulled ourselves onto the summit--later we would find out we were the first ones of the day up there. The view was amazing, as everything was lit by the moon--lake titicaca, the lights of la paz, other peaks in the cordillera real, forming clouds over the amazon basin--incredible. Unfortunately all my shots are blurry--I had lost feeling in my right foot and my right hand was coming in and out, making a stable platform a bit difficult. I went to drink from my MSR bladder, but the water had frozen! It was too cold to stay there much longer than 10 minutes, so we decided to go back down and take a longer break once the sun had presented itself.

the peak of Huayna Potosi with a hint of sun starting to crawl out

on the peak, you can see the lights of La Paz in the background

watching sunrise over amazonia

We rapelled back down the same face, and took a break at the bottom.

trying to rest and stay warm and breath

we ran into another group of climbers, and they took this picture of us

glacier formation

another

All that remained was the long walk back out, a few beers between the two of us, and a well-deserved shower.

Estoy Aqui, La Paz, Bolivia

2007-07-29T10:04:00.000-04:00

I just arrived in La Paz this morning on the night bus at 5am. I´m checked into a hotel and all is well.

This city is incredibly beautiful and freezing. We are literally sitting up in the clouds at 12000 feet--the highest capital in the world. I am spending today walking through labyrinths of winding narrow stone streets. Tomorrow afternoon I will climb to Lago Titicaca, the highest lake of its size in the world (navegable at something like 14000 feet). There I will take a boat to Isla del Sol--the birthplace of civilization in the Andino Cosmovision. I plan to rent a tent and camp either there or on the smaller Isla del Luna--the two are supposed to be amazingly beautiful (and freezing tambien).

After that plans are not set, but one could just sit and watch this amazing city for days. Photos to come.

Ultimo Dia, Cochabamba, Bolivia

2007-07-27T09:16:00.000-04:00

all the students in my class

A sad day, my last studying in Coch. I´m going to miss this beautiful place, my host family, and all the friends I´ve made here. I just keep telling myself I´ll be able to come back in the future and that makes it better. A friend, Daniel, a Dominican, sent me a link to his web album of photos from our time here. I picked out a few more photos, and you can see the whole thing here. He took some good shots of the city, at times I never had my camera and some other shots that are neat too.

a concert we attended of the bolivian group called negro y blanco

after our hike up cerro tunari

Villa Tunari, Chapare Province, Cochabamba, Bolivia

2007-07-24T10:23:00.000-04:00

This weekend I hitched a ride in a van with some others and was able to visit a totally different environment of Cochabamba--Villa Tunari in the Chapare. This region essentially sits on the western edge of the Amazon Basin and is dominated by tropical forests. To get there, one drops down out of the Andes from 8500 feet in the Cochabamba Valley to about 900 feet in the Chapare.

This road is dominated by large camiones that haul a variety of goods out of the Amazon, over the Andes to the sea, for sale in other locales (like albertsons). Fruits of all varieties, lumber, and oil are just a few of the exports.

Our first stop was Parque Machia--a wildlife refuge for pumas, monkeys, and other creatures; but especially monkeys. They are not timid, and will come right up to you. This entire weekend I shot with my 50mm prime lens, so I had no zoom--I had no problem getting up close for the next several shots, and the monkeys had no problem either.

2001: A Space Odyssey

a sweaty me with a friendly monkey doing its business

he was more direct with my friend Thomas

There was also a nice trail that lead up a small hillside to a great panoramic view of the Villa Tunari area (where we stayed) of the Chapare.

The Chapare near Pueblo Villa Tunari

That night, we crashed in a hostal that cost us 30 bolivianos a piece (2.50 US) that was run by the director of the Andean Information Network. This group runs information campaigns in english about the problems and abuses of the Campesino population in Bolivia. We drunk some beer and played cards until early in the morning. You can, and should, visit their website here.

The next morning, we got up for sunrise and mass (yes mom, mass--the seminarians keep me in line...), and then headed to Parque Carrasco, which protects an area of beautiful cloud forest home to bats and a rare endangered species of bird that lives in caves (I forget the name, but I have seen them before in an episode of Planet Earth before I left) You have to cross a river by cable car to access the jungle.

We entered a pitch-black cavern, and I got some lucky manually-focused shots of some murcielagos.

and a spider...

a flower in the forest, the 1.8 f-stop makes for a pleasant focus

It was most certainly a jungle, complete with massive trees and thick vines. The vines were able to hold the weight of a body, so of course I took advantage of that...

escalando

Another aspect about the Chapare is that it is one of two Amazonian regions of Bolivia where Coca is readily grown. We saw a coca field in the park, tended by campesinos who have lived here for ages and done the same thing--long before cocaine. The coca leaf is not a drug, it is a milder stimulant than coffee and contains 14 alkaloids that are able to help suppress hunger, give energy, combat the effects of altitude, and act as an antiseptic/digestional aid--among dozens of other benefits. I have used it for all these things, and the campesinos in their work most certainly need its aid. The problem with Coca arises when someone extracts one of the 14 alkaloids and concentrates it into Cocaine--and this problem is generated by the addicts, not the growers. Nonetheless, the US used to regularly spray this area of Bolivia with an analog of agent orange--effectively destroying hundreds hectares upon hectares of Rainforest and Cropland, along with any meager profits that the imporverished local population might enjoy. Spraying currently goes on at full pace in Columbia, under the name Plan Columbia--along with US-funded troop deployments that have been linked to hundreds, if not thousands, of deaths and violations. Visit the Andean Information Network link for more information about the current state of this problem in Bolivia. Anyway, we saw a coca field which was a pretty cool chance to witness the source of so much contemporary intervention by the states.

a coca field

One the way back out, I asked the guide if I could cross the river like the Campesino farmers (which we had seen earlier). He said it was possible and gave me a rope and hook with which I hung myself from the cable that crossed the river. It was a good time, and something else to have seen 40/50 year old women cross in the same manner.

roping up

para crusar

It was a good time. Afterward, we heading back through a rainstorm (the first storm I´ve seen in Bolivia--if the ice/snow storm on top of Tunari is overlooked) and got back into town around 10pm. A great weekend overall, and a experience more like that of El Salvador than Alpine Bolivia.

Reality, Cochabamba, Bolivia

2007-07-20T20:09:00.000-04:00

I realized that most of this blog has been devoted to my adventures down here. I´ve really spoken little about what I´ve actually been DOING for the 5 days in the week, but only my brief side trips to other lugares. Somewhat atypically me, I guess, so now I start my attempt to bring in other, more important, aspects of my trip. Because the reality of the situation is that Bolivia is incredibly complex, progressive, and illuminative of both the history, present, and future of our global socio-economic system. I don´t have time to write anything long here, nor do I really want to, but I thought I might start with two quick links to get people started.

First, an excellent film that I just recently saw called The Devil´s Miner. This film profiles current working conditions in a silver mine near Potosi, Boliva which is called Cerro Rico (loosely, Rich Mountain--rico is a all-use word for rich, tasty, good, and much more in Bolivia). This mine was opened by the Spanish Conquistadores who forced the native populations into forced labor where a person would have to work in the mines for 6 months strait never seeing the light of day. Today, not much has changed. This movie is shot in the style of Mexican Realism and really carries a powerful impact on the viewer. If you want to experience just a tiny bit of the devasting exploitation of south america--you should see this movie. You´ll see a link in the bottom right of the above-linked website where you can both see a preview and purchase a copy of the film. If you don´t like it, I´ll buy the copy from you when I get back as I will surely be getting it for my library. An excellent work.

Second, the Democracy Center´s Blog from Bolivia, which has and continues to give an excellent account of current events--of which there are many. I had the opportunity to meet the writer, who is an excellent person, and also was a key player in breaking the story about the US-based Bechtel Corporation´s exploitative and illegal contract for ownership of the water-supply of Cochabamba--this left people paying over 20 dollars a month for water when they only made 80 and oftentimes stole home-made wells from the campesinos. Jim played a critical role in ending this contract via massive education and mobilization of the people--today this supernational country-of-a-corporation is gone, though water problems remain and Bechtel is doing the same thing (and getting away with it) in other places throughout the world thanks to malicious contracting on part of the US-elected World Bank.

Great, hopefully this is a decent start. In the future I will do my best to try and unpack certain aspects of the current political and economic climate here as I perceive them from my time and conversations spent here.

If you are thinking "I don´t want any of this," just hang around for 3 days--tomorrow morning I leave for the Chapare, a tropical region of Bolivia. This area is one of the more politically active areas and also home to monos ladrones/rainforests. Thanks for reading, plenty more to come in my last few weeks here...

Climbing Machu Tunari--16,600ft, Parque Nacional Tunari, Cochabamba, Bolivia

2007-07-16T16:21:00.000-04:00

Last Sunday was one of the most breathtaking things I´ve had the opportunity to do so far in Bolivia--also the hardest. We made it to top of the mountain, and then to another mountain a thousand feet or so lower so we could see the Valley of Cochabamba.

nearing the top

Another student, Daniel, and I left Cochabamba around 630 in the morning along with our guide, Grover, and drove up onto the altiplano north of Cochabamba. The trip took about 2 hours due to the conditions of a narrow mountain pass that we followed, but the scenery was beautiful and we were able to see many campesino pueblos (some people of which Grover knew personally).

domestic llamas by the road

We reached our point of departure--which was probably around 12,000ft--around 900, packed some coca leaves to help with the altitude which was already apparent, and headed out. It was readily apparent that we were going into some pretty rough weather--snow, ice, and a biting wind made conditions pretty poor. For example, the camelbak hose of my friend Daniel froze about halfway up the mountain. The first step was scaling many feet of loose shale-like rock that surrounded the jagged peak.

on the loose shale and in the clouds

We progressed onto hard rock/snow and into more of the storm.

the final several hundred feet follow the edge of this abyss

After enduring the storm inside the clouds for about 2.5 hours we made it to the top, we things were so bad I couldn´t keep my camera lens clear for more than a few seconds at a time.

on the peak

There are bizarre fossils of what Grover told us were worms and, if I translated correctly, crustaceans, on the peak--remains of an ancient sea that once covered all of Bolivia (see below).

on top

posing below the peak now, the top is far above in the clouds

our guide wouldn´t let me sleep on the ice sheets

A bit lower when we could take decent photos, we posed with a can of Taquiña, the local beer, which bears the peak of Tunari on its label. Also evident is the sheet of ice around my exposed hair.

After about an hour of ski-ing/sliding/controlled falling down the backside of Tunari, we came out below the clouds and spotted this mountain in the distance. It was more or less clear of clouds, and we wanted to see the view of Cochabamba, so we decided to head over.

the most distant peak was our objective

the scenery was like photos I´ve seen of Nepal--they call Bolivia the Nepal of the Andes for good reason

a little bit closer, we followed this ridge over to what we called machito tunari

we encountered a herd of wild llamas on these ridiculously high slopes

she was my favorite, and the most photogenic

We made it to this next peak after about 3 more hours of high-altitude scrambling--by this time the height was started to really sap our energy and it made it hard to keep up the pace we had set earlier (then out of necessity so we didn´t freeze!)

the vast expanse of the cochabamba valley--if you follow the picture, blow it up, and squint, you can barely make out the gigantic cristo towering over downtown--we were high...

and another a bit more to the right

Going back was hard. The detour to the other mountain cross several deep ravine/valleys, so we had to scale the same several hundred feet multiple times along the way.

the wild llamas wondering what the hell we were doing--on the right you can see the ridge leading up to clouds and the invisible peak of tunari

From the slope that would eventually take us to our landrover... Seriously, like Nepal

a laguna

And we made it back to the truck around 5pm--leaving a tour hour car ride to Cochabamba across the same crazy mountain road, pizza and taquiña, the final of copa america, and an early bed at 9pm.

Hacia harto frio.

El Parque Nacional Tunari, Cochabamba, Bolivia

2007-07-11T15:26:00.000-04:00

during lunch

This past weekend, myself and 3 others went to part of Parque Nacional Tunari, directly north of Cochabamba. We started out early in the morning and hiked up to the tree line, which took about 7 hours to get to and a bit of route finding. The hike itself was more or less straight uphill, but afforded some amazing vistas of Cochabamba and the surrounding mountains as well as a look into certain maneras of the people in the nearby hills.

Cochabamba in the morning, just as we started

another photo, about 3/4 up the mountain

During the hike, we ran into several campesinos who were living on the hillside. Particularly memorable was a woman who we asked as to where we might find water (which was a problem for though lagunas are listed on the map, they turned out to be much further than we had thought). When she responded we realized she spoke only Quechua, one of the native tongues--but she did help get us back on the trail. I took the following shot of her tending to a herd of sheep after we had gotten a ways further up the mountainside. Our elevation relative to Coch is also apparent in this photo.

The rest of the day was uneventful, and my boots kept my toes from getting banged up into the toebox on the way back down--a welcome change from the grand canyon. It was a 12 hour day hike, but a lot of fun.

Next sunday, myself and a fellow student from Colorado are going to attempt to summit Cerro Tunari. The highest peak in the this Cordillera at 16,700 feet. We´ll be taking a local guide and it should be really great--especially because there is now snow dusting the peak due to a freak snowstorm that happened in the higher altitudes of Bolivia yesterday. I am prepared with long underwear, a waterproof outershell, and boots made from hiking in winter in the mountains, among other things--so it should just be a challenging high altitude summit. It takes about 4 hours up, and 2 back down. I am excited to share those photos...

The Salar de Uyuni, Uyuni, Bolivia

2007-07-01T13:51:00.000-04:00

We headed out around 1030 in a landrover with a guide, a japanese man, a french woman and her mexican husband (they spoke french, spanish, and english), and another french woman who was from southern france and a riot. The couple had been touring the world for over a year, and were now finishing up with 3 months left to ascend from the tip of Argentina to Mexico where they planned to start a biofarm. The lone french woman had come to South America to follow the steps of her hero Che Guevera--a trip which would culminate at his place of death in Bolivia upon the celebration of its anniversary. They were great partners for the trip, and it was fun to converse with French being translated into Spanish and vice versa.

The Salar, recently named a wonder of the world by the Times UK, is a 4024 square mile expanse of salt--making it the largest salt flat in the world. At 3650m, or 12000 feet, it´s probably the highest too. There are tours of 4+ days offered of the flats, but since we were on a limited schedule we elected for just a 1 day excursion. Volcanoes, colored lakes, and bizarre rock formations scatter the corners of the flats--called Salvador Dali´s desert by some--and are accessible on longer tours. Going there in the winter is also quite frigid, with temperatures plumetting far below 0 at night and not getting much better due to wind in the daytime.

My polarizing filter and a quick shutter helped control the blast of sunlight that were the salt flats.

Indigenous locals shovel and process the salt for human consumption--exporting nearly 25000 tons a year from the flats. The salt is scooped into piles, and the piles are scooped into trucks.

About halfway through the day, after driving at 65mph+ through the flats, we stopped at an "island" in the interior of the Salar for lunch. Bizarre cacti grow there, reminiscent of southern arizona--but in a sea of salt.

At this point, I was talking with the french couple about what might be wrong with me and they told me they were having trouble with altitude sickness themselves. They were taking a "natural" red and white pill which solved their problems. After being offered one, I eagerly took it as I was starving for calories to keep myself warm and within twenty minutes my problems were similarly solved. Having lunch was nice.

able to move around again!

an arrangement of flags outside a hotel made of salt on the salar

After a few more hours, we drove back off the Salar and into Uyuni. First stopping by a desolate gathering of more than a dozen rusted train engines. Our guide explained to us that they were leftovers from the mining boom which saw the forced exploitation of Bolivia´s vast mineral resources. The mining companies simply had left them to rust next to the track that goes from Uyuni to Chile and Argentina. Another example of the abuses and exploitations Bolivians have suffered throughout history.

just a glimpse of the spread of rust

traveling

We got back into town around 630, and had wine and pizza with the french folk until our train left at 9pm for Oruru, connected in Oruru for Cochabamba at 6am, and got into town around noon today. It was an experiment in sleep deprivation, but certainly worth it. I´d like to go back again sometime and do a full 4 day trip, it has to be one of the most surreal environments I´ve ever encountered. Hopefully I´ll meet up again with the couple when they make their way through Cochabamba on their way north.

The Altiplano by Train, From Oruru to Uyuni, Bolivia

2007-07-01T13:14:00.000-04:00

This weekend was a marathon. A friend and I decided to visit the Salar de Uyuni and as such piled into a bus from Cochabamba to Oruru early friday morning. When we arrived in Oruru, we bought tickets for a train across the Altiplano to Uyuni, where we would hook up with a guide to take us onto the salt flats.

I had no idea what a surreal place the desolate, over 3500m high altiplano would be. That such a strikingly flat place exists at an altitude higher than anything but a few brief peaks in the continental states is mindblowing. I was glad I had my camera in the train for the seven hour ride across just a bit of it.

Once and awhile, a herd of llamas or vicuñas could be spoted from the train, as well as flocks of pink flamingos who seemed to enjoy meandering in the few lakes we saw. All the wildlife was too far for my lens.

a mirage like effect across the expanse at sunset

We got into town after 12, around which time I let it all hang out as I got sick and stayed sick for most the night--perched over a toilet. I couldn´t catch my breath, sleep, or keep any food down. The next morning, I didn´t feel much better but we had already come 16 hours to see the Salar so I swung by the farmacia for some dramamine and pushed on.

IDIEM, Cochabamba, Bolivia

2007-06-20T17:20:00.000-04:00

Here are a few pictures of the institute, they are no good and I will take better ones in the future. The first is out the window of my classroom, and the second is from a garden where I can study.

from my classroom

outside study/eating area

There are mountains in the background, you just can´t see them well through the trees inside the institute.

Estoy Aqui, Cochabamba, Bolivia

2007-06-19T12:31:00.000-04:00

I am here. It is great. I have to eat lunch, but will hopefully hit up a computer station a bit later today. Short messages are sometimes better, especially when there is too much to say.

Que Rico.

Stranded in Miami, Miami Beach, FL, USA

2007-06-15T09:43:00.000-04:00

There were severe delays in Houston last night. This meant that american couldn't get me into miami until 2am, over 5 hours late. I missed my connection into La Paz, and my subsequent connection into Cochabamba. I leave for Bolivia tonight at 2320, and hopefully will get a boleta to Cochabamba for an arrival of 1540 tommorow.

I did get to sleep in front of a explosion containment case for potential airport bombs (hello CIA keyword grabber software). It was quite exciting.

I also have the full day to spend in Miami, so I am writing this post from a library in Miami beach--just a 1.50 bus fare away from that hellish airport and its overpriced commodities (though food is no cheaper out here, but there's a beach). There is definitely a huge cubano population here, most people seem to speak spanish. The highlight was getting out of the airport in time to see the sunrise over the ocean. So not a terrible layover, but still an unwanted hassle--even if it was to a supposed "tropical paradise."

Can't wait to actually get to Bolivia...

false color infrared

2007-06-12T13:22:00.000-04:00

I had a bit of time this morning to play around with photoshop and came up with this false color processing of an infrared from monument valley. I wanted to subdue the red added by the filter.

Also, I watched a few episodes of the BBC's "Planet Earth" on Sunday and it's one of the better documentaries I've seen. It's out for rental now and certainly worth it.

Four Corners Area, AZ-UT-CO-NM, USA

2007-06-09T22:29:00.000-04:00

We drove to the four corners area next, which allowed us to continue our scenic overload and recuperate from the canyon. First stop was Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park, which was incredibly windy yet serene.

infrared shot of the totem poles

the mittens

the three sisters

forgot the name, but a nice picture

sunset

We drove through the four corners on our way to our next stop, being sure to stand on the cardinal axis that divides the four states. It cost 3 dollars a person, but we did get some fry bread (for 6 dollars). Not bad.

We arrived at Mesa Verde National Park--home to one of the densest groupings of ancestral pueblo ruins yet found. The park homepage has more about the detailed and interesting history. We were able to see a multitude of these sites.

Spruce Tree House

Spruce Tree House

The circular opening in the ground you can see in the above picture is an example of a kiva, which served as a religious ceremony site for ancestral puebloans. The park service restored one of these kivas, as they normally have a sealed roof (which since has eroded away on unrestored sites). We could climb down into it.

inside a kiva

spruce tree house

That night we went into town for the oft-loved pizza and microbrew combo at a local brewer--main street/mesa cerveza. They made a great one called schnorzenboomer doppelboch and sold it to go.

The next morning we woke up and took a guided tour of balcony house, another ruin at mesa verde. One must climb up a long ladder to reach this secluded ruin.

the balcony, for which this ruin is named, is visible in the foreground

exploring balcony house

balcony house kiva

balcony house

balcony house

the tunnel leaving the "house"

After we left Mesa Verde, all that remained was a long drive through New Mexico and a stop by REI for new boots.

Hermit's Trail, Grand Canyon National Park, AZ, USA

2007-06-09T19:33:00.000-04:00

Emily and I just returned from our trip to the Grand Canyon, Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park, Mesa Verde, and other select four corners locales. We arrived late Saturday night at the canyon, just in time to catch a beautiful sunset.

Looking down into the canyon through a strong sense of vertigo, we could barely make out the Colorado River--which would be the destination of our backpacking trip to the bottom of the canyon via Hermit's Trail. With a touch of nervousness, we went back to camp to pack for the next day's hike.

With 15 liters of water between us, we set out after jumping the car battery (the death of which enabled both our packing and the previous photo). We hit the trail around 7:30, unfortunately an hour and a half late.

about 1/8 of the way down the trail

We made it about half-way down the canyon wall by about 1130am, when the intensely hot sun forced us to rest through the heat of the day. Due to our late start, we were stuck on a length of long traverses with a cliff above and below us. We found a rock ledge for some shade and pitched the rain fly when the we lost that.

hot

We left our shelter around 3 or 4 when the sun became obscured by clouds and moved on down the wall.

This left Cathedral Stairs and a few miles of canyon floor between us and our campsite.

me above the stairs-essentially a switchback down something like the cliff immediately across the expanse

the cathedral stairs

We got into camp around 9, after the sun had gone down--no pictures. We set up camp alongside a chilly stream and soaked our very sore feet as we made dinner. Of note was a chorus of several thousand tiny frogs croaking.

We awoke to the rise of the moon over the canyon rim. It was nearly full, and so bright it casted distinct shadows. We were able to pack and hit the trail without lights at 4 in the morning.

The next day was essentially a reverse of the first, only this time with very sore legs and feet. There were several large boulderfields to navigate but this time we couldn't see the target like on the way down--the continuing trail over with a difference of several hundred feet in altitude. This, and some misplaced cairns by previous hikers, lead us off the trail from time to time. Though never as bad as another group of three hikers who brought too much trash to leave on the trail and not enough water--a pair of Canadians we ran into in the morning told us those three had gotten lost and dehydrated the night before. We had encountered them going up the day before but they didn't ask for help--we had plenty of water we would've shared had we known. We saw them getting evacuated by a helicopter on the way back up.

This was a particularly hot day, and we felt it. We realized quickly we were getting way too hot and stopped for the afternoon on the supai--luckily we found a ledge to hide under during the worst of it.

even hotter

The rest of the day was hard, and as such we didn't take the time to get any pictures to share. A nice break was found at Santa Maria Springs, where we refilled our water bottles (my msr miox kit worked great for cleaning our water both here and the night before).

We hit the canyon rim exhausted around 9 pm after 9 miles of linear distance and over four thousand vertical feet. Notes for next time: early start (4am), good boots (I'm loosing at least one toenail), it's hot enough to skip carrying sleeping bags and a tent (in the summer anyway), be sure the cairns you're following aren't taking you to labyrinth boulderfields, bring more than enough water (something we did right), don't leave your half-eaten beef jerky and smuckers bottles on the trail--the canyon will kick your ass for that, empirically proven.

leave no trace

ushering oneself into hyperreality

2007-05-16T12:24:00.000-04:00

I have become one of the countless users of blogs. However, I hope this will help me keep everyone updated as to my travels (and thoughts) this summer. I can only apologize for the shortcoming of this somewhat less-than-personal medium.

a rough plan of my summer follows;

may 27: depart o-town for el paso, tx
june 1-7: backpacking grand canyon, monument valley, and four corners area
june 14: depart for cochabamba, bolivia and study at the maryknoll language institute - http://ideim.org/
july 31: depart bolivia for cusco peru and the salkantay trek to machu picchu - http://www.sastravelperu.com/english/alternativetreks.html#Salkantay
august 7: return to el paso, tx and decompress for a few days
august 12-19: work with no more deaths along the arizona-mexico border and put my emt license to good use - http://nomoredeaths.org/
august 23ish: return to omaha by car with emily via colorado

a side note;
the title "bbc radiophonic workshop" was chosen since it was obscure enough to not have been picked. But I will do my best to tie its obscurity into my own-this follows. They were one of the first studios to generate reverb in post-production. This required building a smooth-surfaced soundproof room in the basement of the workshop into which they pumped an unprocessed signal via speakers, allowed it to bounce around, and then picked up the subsequent mess with several microphones in various locations which allowed them to dial in the sound they desired. The inefficiency of this process seems parallel to my future attempts at the maintainence of this monstrosity.