Bolivia Expedition Dispatch

June 15, 2010 – Leave Copacabana and Hike to Condoriri Base Camp

This is Leila Silveira reporting from Condoriri base camp. Today we had an early start from Copacabana where we said good bye to Michael; it was a really emotional moment but he has to return to La Paz to catch his flight back home.

We all managed to leave on schedule and the drive to Condoriri went really well. We took the boat back across the strait and again, our bus took the barge. I guess the fact that it was Tuesday and not so busy helped to make the crossing much faster. There were no line-ups.

We drove towards La Paz and just before we reached El Alto, we made a sharp left turn and started driving off-road to the trailhead.

Upon arriving at the trailhead, we met with Juancho, who will be joining us for this part of the program. The weather is absolutely amazing, blue skies and not a single cloud in the sky. We saw so many llamas and guanacos that it is almost hard to describe; everywhere we turned, there they were. We also saw a beautiful duck on the lake.

The hike itself is not very long. It took us around 2 hours to get here and we enjoyed every moment of it. Once we got to base camp, we met Simon and Maria who were waiting for us with lunch ready. We had barbecue, vegetable kebab, salads and fries. We couldn’t ask for more.

After lunch we got our gear organized and settled down in our tents. Some members went for a short hike and others just relaxed or took a nap. We all met again at the dining tent for tea, to catch up and enjoy a delicious vegetable soup.

Well, it was a long day but we are all here at Condoriri base camp, at 15,091ft/4,600m. That's quite a big jump in altitude. We do have a few people with headaches and mild nausea which is pretty common at this altitude. We just need to give our bodies more time to catch up.

Stay tuned because tomorrow we will send updates from our hike to Cerro Austria.