So I left off my last Bolivia section as I was arriving in Potosi for some serious acclimatizing. A long stretch in relatively unexciting urban environments left me with a longing for an adventure. Upon searching the internet and racking my memory one place stood out to me as the place for achieving such a desire. So after making my decision and setting my desires on returning to Argentina to explore The Puna de Atacama I decided that being as acclimatized as possible was probably my only chance to reach the high peaks solo, atleast while doing so safely.
In Potosi I was checked in to a relaxing hostel filled with Argentinians, due to their summer vacations they made up about 70% of the travellers in Bolivia at the time. My first day I set out with just my rain jacket, a warm shirt, my balaclava, and a hat. To my pleasent surprise as it was in the dead middle of the Bolivian rainy season the skys over the Kari Kari Range east of the city were blue and warm. Things began to change quickly as I arrived at the base of a mellow mountain located closest to the city and the farthest north of the range. A horridly black thundercloud had swept in to the west of the city with thick rain visibly pouring from its bottom and of course frequent lighting flashes that sent after a long delay rumbling thunder towards me. The cloud was a long way away and not moving towards me so I continued up a casually ramped ridge 700m towards the summit. As I arrived at the summit just over 4800m another blackened cloud was moving just off to my north, here the delays between lighting and thunder were only seconds, a few cold rain drops fell but the cloud blew on past.
I enjoyed the view and then continued east bound following a long connecting ridge that led up to another higher and more beautiful peak. The ridge was narrow and at times some seriously wicked and exposed scrambling but the rock was solid and easy so I was enjoying it very much. I picked my way up the peak through some very delightful lines to the summit at 4885m. Such a wonderful altitude, a little more tiring but a clear head if maybe slighly light feeling. From there I had no choice but to downclimb a near vertical pitch to another ridge that led farther east to another higher peak. 30 minutes and an easy scramble later and I was standing on its top just over 4900m. Now getting a little late I decided to finish the long ridge traverse to a peak to the north of slightly less elevation and then an easy scree slide into the valley. The entire day the ridge led me away from Potosi and so I had a solid 13km through the valley back to the city. A very enjoyable day so far it had been.
As I had only 5 km left to the edge of the city some frightningly fast and dark clouds rolled down the valley from behind me. In a moment the wind picked up hard from my backside and without a drop of rain a wall of hail came down at me. Not very large but enough to sting the back of my exposed legs as I picked up my pace to a very quick march dropping elevation as quickly as possible. I now had my jacket and balaclava on but the rain and wet hail at still about 4300m was very cold and I could feel the cold coming on to me. As I left the valley I left its walled protection and began out into strong winds across an open and sloped plain towards the city.
Visiblilty was reduced to a hundred meters or so as the wind blasted clouds along the slope. The lightning started flashing all around me and I was getting very cold so I started running down the slope. Running across a barren meadow straight into the clouds as electricity flashed all around me. Something would flash near me and a second later a peircing crack of thunder. It was rather scarry but as exhilarating as anything and in a way I was finely enjoying it. From running I was staying warm enough and finnally I was back on a gravel road and reached the limited shelter of some rocks where I cowered and managed to get my warm shirt on under my jacket without getting it very wet. As I emerged from the rocks I was dissapointed to see that a jeep had just passed me by. I tried to wave it down but it dissapeared quickly into the clouds. I continued running along the road and then dropped off it towards the city below all the while as the clouds were softenting their attack on me.
Stupendously ironic and seemigly timed perfectly as I arrived at the city´s border the whole thing blew off to the north and sun lit up the sky to the west. The city was entiely soaked and the rain had caused some large slides of mud and rock down the undeveloped streets. I arrived at the hostel soaked to the bone and had a hot shower followed by a hot meal. A fine day.
With out proper rest the next day I set out again bound to follow another valley to some higher peaks that I had seen the day before. The really interesting thing about doing dayhikes here and leaving directly from the center is finding your way through the outskirts of town. Usually through shabby Bolivian neighborhoods always littered with trash, sometimes recieving unwanted reactions from locals but always very unwanted reactions from grungy street dogs that just know that you are a gringo and they are sure to give you shit. Especially those high elevation dogs, at low elevation most dogs are on an extended siesta for most of the day. On my first day I was accosted by a large group of small mangy muts and one of them actually came up and nipped me on the ankle from behind, luckily he got nothing not nearly piercing my skin. But after this I was not going to take chances so I started carrying a large rock that I showed them and raised above my head if need be. This was usually enough but then I found it much more effective and fun to carry a handful of small rocks that I would not hesitate to throw as hard as I could trying to hit them as hard as possible. I wasnt taking any more shit from them. And so I put this to use at first with three large dogs who began at me from behind. I sent them running with their tails between their legs... hey hey "bitches." Im sorry if theres dog lovers reading this but you must understand how terrible the dogs can be down hear and a single bite by a rabid dog can kill you if not treated in a matter of days.
So anyway hiking out of town and no longer afraid of anything I managed to get a little
disoriented and found myself in another valley farther south. What a wonderful error that turned out to be. A narrower valley with several lakes, green meadows, and volcanic rock formations. I cant forget to mention the thousands of llamas and sheep that grazed the valley watching me with histerical llama expressions as I passed by them. At the head of the valley stood 3 very attractive 5000m peaks now covered in a blanket of snow which fell in yesterdays storm adding beautifully to the pleasent atmosphere of the valley. It was a definition Andian valley. I tried my best to catch a couple of the llamas because there so fun to pet but they just didn´t trust me and I never succeded.
Meandering eastwards I arrived at the head of the valley in a cirque at 4740m with my pick of
peaks to climb. I decided to continue straight for a domed shaped peak that most domintaed my view while hiking up the valley. The snow had since melted in the scolding high elevation tropical sun. Easy scrambling from there led me up to the peak which my G.P.S affirmed was over 5000m, barely but definetly. A great feeling it was because it was my 4th peak ever over 5000m. I led out a roar that echoed througout the range for nearly 20 seconds and then sat down looking back down the wonderful valley and ate my modest lunch of 3 plain buns that had cost me 10 cents. Enough for one day but I scoped out my next hike towards what were surely the highest peaks in the range and hopefully could all be hit in a grand traverse from the next valley over and then back into this one.
My next day I took some rest and travelled for one hour in minibus with some Argentinian guys to a hot spring set in a volcanic crater called Hoyo Del Inca (The Inca hole). A nice rest but the next
day I was eager to go out for another hike. I was starting to feel very acclimatized to Potosi while many other travellers in the hostel were suffering headaches and totally out of breath from climbing the stairs up to our dormitory.
I set off just like always with lots of water, plain bread, and very warm and water proof clothes(learnt after my first day). I found my desired valley and followed it up to its head, scrambled up some loose scree rocks and gained the ridge. The weather was ify with blue sky here and black sky there. The ridge was very enjoyable and the peak that I was approaching was not only surely the highest but also the steepest and most challenging. Nonetheless I found comfortable scrambles past the steepest parts. As I hit the summit ridge a black cloud was swirling about just to my east clearly with some electrical potential. I stood up on the peak and felt something that I had never experienced before. My hair shot up and I could feel impressive amounts of static electricity flowing right through me. Immidiately I descended down below the ridge and the electricity dissapeared. When I resurfaced to the ridge, out of neccesity to continue the traverse, again a crazy amount of energy was in the air. A quick read from the GPS told me I was standing at 5070m. I had to downclimb a vertical but protecting chimney on the other side of the peak ridge and I was back on a casual ridge. I decided to make a direct descent down a steep scree slope rather than continuing my traverse to the other 5000m peaks further along. If this cloud decided to start going I would not want to be up here. I descended back into the valley from the day before and power hiked out before the weather had a chance to develop into anything other than a few drops.
These hikes that I had here in the Kari Kari range were some of the most enjoyable day hikes that I had ever been on. The scenery while not being spectacular is very pleasent and interesting. The rock was wonderful making the steep peaks and exposed ridges very safe while still exciting. And the accesibility of it all was a dream being able to choose whichever mountain to climb all in a 7 hour hike from the main plaza in downtown Potosi.
From Potosi I boarded a bus for the Argentinian border but this time to the crossing at Villazon rather then Tarija as the road to Tarija was in an impassable state from the rains. Crossing the border I asked which line for entrance stamp to Argentina was for me. I stood in line for 2 hours fully exposed to the scorching sun until a custom official asked me what the hell was I doing in the Bolivian line and very soon after that I was stamped and walking to the bus station. I bought a ticket to San Salvador Juy Juy nearby wonderful Salta, which I love so much, and then ate a fabulous and long missed lomito completo( steak and egg sandwich with vegetables, ummuuhh).
I was back in Argentina but this time on an agenda rather than to just eat steaks, drink dirt cheap European beers, and fine Argentinian wine. Not surprisingly though I ended up in Juy Juy for 4 days doing exactly that. Can you blame me. After that I rode a classic 5 star Argentinian cama bus( bed bus) to Tocuman where I spent one night checking out the cosmopolitan big city life. I stopped by La Casa Hitorica where Argentinas confederation was s
igned. I bought some hard to find camping food and also some sewing equipment and materials with which I could hopefully make my cheap 60 dollar Bolivian tent into something that could survive the raging winds of La Puna de Atacama.
After that a 6 hour ride to Catamarca where I ended up for 2 days for my last party before the mountains. I bought some final supplies that I knew I couldn´t find in tiny Fiambala the last town which would be my base for the mountains. And I was off to Fiambala brimming with ambition but also uncertanty as I had never explored desert mountains before.
Sorry that is as far as I got, its a lot more than you should expect though as I was planning to return to teh mountains this morning. After already 1 week spent there I am now returning back for 9 or 10 more days and then passing on to Chile. the reason that I did not go this morning Feb 13th is that I waited for 7 hours on teh desolate road at teh edge of town and had nothing. Only 2 cars were passing where I wanted to go and were both full as full can be. I had an offer to go 30km but I wasnt sure if that would get me out of teh main valley and out of teh high winds and virtual sand storm that was blowing around outside tiny Fiambala all afternoon. So hopefully in less than 2 weeks Ill be in Copiapo Chile and Ill take up where I left off and put on some seriously wicked photos like that of the pet Vicuña living in the Refuge near the border, a definate highlight. And some rather enormous volcanoes dry right up to there over 6000m summits.
In Potosi I was checked in to a relaxing hostel filled with Argentinians, due to their summer vacations they made up about 70% of the travellers in Bolivia at the time. My first day I set out with just my rain jacket, a warm shirt, my balaclava, and a hat. To my pleasent surprise as it was in the dead middle of the Bolivian rainy season the skys over the Kari Kari Range east of the city were blue and warm. Things began to change quickly as I arrived at the base of a mellow mountain located closest to the city and the farthest north of the range. A horridly black thundercloud had swept in to the west of the city with thick rain visibly pouring from its bottom and of course frequent lighting flashes that sent after a long delay rumbling thunder towards me. The cloud was a long way away and not moving towards me so I continued up a casually ramped ridge 700m towards the summit. As I arrived at the summit just over 4800m another blackened cloud was moving just off to my north, here the delays between lighting and thunder were only seconds, a few cold rain drops fell but the cloud blew on past.
I enjoyed the view and then continued east bound following a long connecting ridge that led up to another higher and more beautiful peak. The ridge was narrow and at times some seriously wicked and exposed scrambling but the rock was solid and easy so I was enjoying it very much. I picked my way up the peak through some very delightful lines to the summit at 4885m. Such a wonderful altitude, a little more tiring but a clear head if maybe slighly light feeling. From there I had no choice but to downclimb a near vertical pitch to another ridge that led farther east to another higher peak. 30 minutes and an easy scramble later and I was standing on its top just over 4900m. Now getting a little late I decided to finish the long ridge traverse to a peak to the north of slightly less elevation and then an easy scree slide into the valley. The entire day the ridge led me away from Potosi and so I had a solid 13km through the valley back to the city. A very enjoyable day so far it had been.
As I had only 5 km left to the edge of the city some frightningly fast and dark clouds rolled down the valley from behind me. In a moment the wind picked up hard from my backside and without a drop of rain a wall of hail came down at me. Not very large but enough to sting the back of my exposed legs as I picked up my pace to a very quick march dropping elevation as quickly as possible. I now had my jacket and balaclava on but the rain and wet hail at still about 4300m was very cold and I could feel the cold coming on to me. As I left the valley I left its walled protection and began out into strong winds across an open and sloped plain towards the city.
Visiblilty was reduced to a hundred meters or so as the wind blasted clouds along the slope. The lightning started flashing all around me and I was getting very cold so I started running down the slope. Running across a barren meadow straight into the clouds as electricity flashed all around me. Something would flash near me and a second later a peircing crack of thunder. It was rather scarry but as exhilarating as anything and in a way I was finely enjoying it. From running I was staying warm enough and finnally I was back on a gravel road and reached the limited shelter of some rocks where I cowered and managed to get my warm shirt on under my jacket without getting it very wet. As I emerged from the rocks I was dissapointed to see that a jeep had just passed me by. I tried to wave it down but it dissapeared quickly into the clouds. I continued running along the road and then dropped off it towards the city below all the while as the clouds were softenting their attack on me.
Stupendously ironic and seemigly timed perfectly as I arrived at the city´s border the whole thing blew off to the north and sun lit up the sky to the west. The city was entiely soaked and the rain had caused some large slides of mud and rock down the undeveloped streets. I arrived at the hostel soaked to the bone and had a hot shower followed by a hot meal. A fine day.
With out proper rest the next day I set out again bound to follow another valley to some higher peaks that I had seen the day before. The really interesting thing about doing dayhikes here and leaving directly from the center is finding your way through the outskirts of town. Usually through shabby Bolivian neighborhoods always littered with trash, sometimes recieving unwanted reactions from locals but always very unwanted reactions from grungy street dogs that just know that you are a gringo and they are sure to give you shit. Especially those high elevation dogs, at low elevation most dogs are on an extended siesta for most of the day. On my first day I was accosted by a large group of small mangy muts and one of them actually came up and nipped me on the ankle from behind, luckily he got nothing not nearly piercing my skin. But after this I was not going to take chances so I started carrying a large rock that I showed them and raised above my head if need be. This was usually enough but then I found it much more effective and fun to carry a handful of small rocks that I would not hesitate to throw as hard as I could trying to hit them as hard as possible. I wasnt taking any more shit from them. And so I put this to use at first with three large dogs who began at me from behind. I sent them running with their tails between their legs... hey hey "bitches." Im sorry if theres dog lovers reading this but you must understand how terrible the dogs can be down hear and a single bite by a rabid dog can kill you if not treated in a matter of days.So anyway hiking out of town and no longer afraid of anything I managed to get a little
disoriented and found myself in another valley farther south. What a wonderful error that turned out to be. A narrower valley with several lakes, green meadows, and volcanic rock formations. I cant forget to mention the thousands of llamas and sheep that grazed the valley watching me with histerical llama expressions as I passed by them. At the head of the valley stood 3 very attractive 5000m peaks now covered in a blanket of snow which fell in yesterdays storm adding beautifully to the pleasent atmosphere of the valley. It was a definition Andian valley. I tried my best to catch a couple of the llamas because there so fun to pet but they just didn´t trust me and I never succeded.Meandering eastwards I arrived at the head of the valley in a cirque at 4740m with my pick of
peaks to climb. I decided to continue straight for a domed shaped peak that most domintaed my view while hiking up the valley. The snow had since melted in the scolding high elevation tropical sun. Easy scrambling from there led me up to the peak which my G.P.S affirmed was over 5000m, barely but definetly. A great feeling it was because it was my 4th peak ever over 5000m. I led out a roar that echoed througout the range for nearly 20 seconds and then sat down looking back down the wonderful valley and ate my modest lunch of 3 plain buns that had cost me 10 cents. Enough for one day but I scoped out my next hike towards what were surely the highest peaks in the range and hopefully could all be hit in a grand traverse from the next valley over and then back into this one.My next day I took some rest and travelled for one hour in minibus with some Argentinian guys to a hot spring set in a volcanic crater called Hoyo Del Inca (The Inca hole). A nice rest but the next
day I was eager to go out for another hike. I was starting to feel very acclimatized to Potosi while many other travellers in the hostel were suffering headaches and totally out of breath from climbing the stairs up to our dormitory.I set off just like always with lots of water, plain bread, and very warm and water proof clothes(learnt after my first day). I found my desired valley and followed it up to its head, scrambled up some loose scree rocks and gained the ridge. The weather was ify with blue sky here and black sky there. The ridge was very enjoyable and the peak that I was approaching was not only surely the highest but also the steepest and most challenging. Nonetheless I found comfortable scrambles past the steepest parts. As I hit the summit ridge a black cloud was swirling about just to my east clearly with some electrical potential. I stood up on the peak and felt something that I had never experienced before. My hair shot up and I could feel impressive amounts of static electricity flowing right through me. Immidiately I descended down below the ridge and the electricity dissapeared. When I resurfaced to the ridge, out of neccesity to continue the traverse, again a crazy amount of energy was in the air. A quick read from the GPS told me I was standing at 5070m. I had to downclimb a vertical but protecting chimney on the other side of the peak ridge and I was back on a casual ridge. I decided to make a direct descent down a steep scree slope rather than continuing my traverse to the other 5000m peaks further along. If this cloud decided to start going I would not want to be up here. I descended back into the valley from the day before and power hiked out before the weather had a chance to develop into anything other than a few drops.
These hikes that I had here in the Kari Kari range were some of the most enjoyable day hikes that I had ever been on. The scenery while not being spectacular is very pleasent and interesting. The rock was wonderful making the steep peaks and exposed ridges very safe while still exciting. And the accesibility of it all was a dream being able to choose whichever mountain to climb all in a 7 hour hike from the main plaza in downtown Potosi.
From Potosi I boarded a bus for the Argentinian border but this time to the crossing at Villazon rather then Tarija as the road to Tarija was in an impassable state from the rains. Crossing the border I asked which line for entrance stamp to Argentina was for me. I stood in line for 2 hours fully exposed to the scorching sun until a custom official asked me what the hell was I doing in the Bolivian line and very soon after that I was stamped and walking to the bus station. I bought a ticket to San Salvador Juy Juy nearby wonderful Salta, which I love so much, and then ate a fabulous and long missed lomito completo( steak and egg sandwich with vegetables, ummuuhh).
I was back in Argentina but this time on an agenda rather than to just eat steaks, drink dirt cheap European beers, and fine Argentinian wine. Not surprisingly though I ended up in Juy Juy for 4 days doing exactly that. Can you blame me. After that I rode a classic 5 star Argentinian cama bus( bed bus) to Tocuman where I spent one night checking out the cosmopolitan big city life. I stopped by La Casa Hitorica where Argentinas confederation was s
igned. I bought some hard to find camping food and also some sewing equipment and materials with which I could hopefully make my cheap 60 dollar Bolivian tent into something that could survive the raging winds of La Puna de Atacama.After that a 6 hour ride to Catamarca where I ended up for 2 days for my last party before the mountains. I bought some final supplies that I knew I couldn´t find in tiny Fiambala the last town which would be my base for the mountains. And I was off to Fiambala brimming with ambition but also uncertanty as I had never explored desert mountains before.
Sorry that is as far as I got, its a lot more than you should expect though as I was planning to return to teh mountains this morning. After already 1 week spent there I am now returning back for 9 or 10 more days and then passing on to Chile. the reason that I did not go this morning Feb 13th is that I waited for 7 hours on teh desolate road at teh edge of town and had nothing. Only 2 cars were passing where I wanted to go and were both full as full can be. I had an offer to go 30km but I wasnt sure if that would get me out of teh main valley and out of teh high winds and virtual sand storm that was blowing around outside tiny Fiambala all afternoon. So hopefully in less than 2 weeks Ill be in Copiapo Chile and Ill take up where I left off and put on some seriously wicked photos like that of the pet Vicuña living in the Refuge near the border, a definate highlight. And some rather enormous volcanoes dry right up to there over 6000m summits.
"I am King Llamaman, if you wish to enter my sacred valley you must bow before me"
