Balsa floats, monkeys and papagayos

Day 2 and 3 of our time at Mashaquipe eco-lodge were filled with a long walk to look for animals, a float down the river (who knew it takes only 15 minutes to put a few logs together and get floating?), monkeys and more monkeys - all with the benefit of Eber's vast knowledge and know-how. There's nothing quite like a local guide to get to know more about a place, its culture, customs and evolution.

Best to let the pictures do the talking!

Howler monkey family

Juuuuummmmmp!!!

Eber took this pic with our camera - he had far more steady hand than I to make up for the lack of a powerful zoom :)

Tree filled with papagayos. We didn't get any good photos of them in flight, but they did put on a great show!

Day 3 we explored the other side of the river and say many more monkeys. Amazingly, Eber seems to be seeing a path here. Anyways, we got to the rendez-vous spot with our boat at 12:59 pm and the boat showed up at 1:02 pm. Folks are pretty punctual in the jungle.

We also saw these much rarer papagayos on day 3. Pretty cool!

As for that balsa tree trunk float, that was an awesome way to send a day filled with walking, seeing, admiring and, finally, relaxing.

Eber makes our float. Balsa is a local tree, a very buoyant tree.

On our just assembled balsa float. That was such fun! And, yes, you do get a bit wet, but the water is warm so who cares.

We even saw a caiman - a very large crocodile - sunning itself on the river bank as we motored by on the way back to Rurrenabaque. Impressive and fast to get into the muddy water as we approached for a somewhat closer look.

The place where ants live: Madidi

We learned that Madidi has an incredible diversity of ants and very many of each. We certainly saw many different kinds.

But the kind that goes and harvests leaves from trees and bring it back to massive ant hills, no... colonies with its subterranean city state, are a sight to behold. So this video is worth a look to see the path-creating action of hundreds of thousands of little tiny ant feet.

Also, look out for the lazy ones that catch a ride on a leaf ... carried by another busy ant ... too funny.

Madidi National Park: First encounters

I don't know what we expected, but the roads in the jungle are mostly rivers! So, from the Mashaquipe office in Rurrenabaque, we headed to the river bank to board "a very comfortable boat".

Jan's loving the 2+ hour boat ride. Here we are parked at the Madidi park entrance. While in operation, it really is best to sit down.

A visit with a local family on their jungle farm. Operated by our boat/guide crew, with the owner capably observing the action. This sugar cane press is commercially operated by horses as it's actually quite hard work.

Limes. Really big limes.

About an hour in, we had a break to meet a local family and their sugar cane operation. It's kind of cool to harvest a few stalks and then see the process unfold. The family was very nice and we got to drink the freshly pressed cane juice with plenty of lime out of coconut shells. We also tried the honey that they distill from it, as well as the most awesome deserts: dried honey and milk bars or with peanuts - or pure. All I can say is: wow.

We arrived at the beautiful eco-lodge, nestled just up a steep, short climb from the river in time for lunch. Then after a short nap in the hammocks, we went of on a long walk until dusk. It wasn't that long in distance, but huge in experiences over those 4 hours. The pics say it all. So here it goes.

Ahhhhh... life is good! Also, note, my long sleeves: our first day in the jungle was not the usual hot experience, but cool and overcast. Nice!

Many beautiful butterflies live here. Getting a picture with the wings open is actually not that easy.

See the love birds? The blue one is the male, busy wooing. The one that blends in more on the right side middle in between the two tree trunks is the rather aloof female. I guess life can be pretty hard on some out here.

We got a taste of our guide, Eber's, amazing ability to see things on this first walk. Like this awesome creature that was on the underside of the leaves. 

Travelling with a machete, to clear trails as needed. Eber grew up here and lives here still with his family. It was amazing to see his ease and  his skills suited to life in the jungle. 

We also got to eat things. Here, Eber is peeling away on a downed palm tree to eventually reveal the heart of palm, which we ate and loved. Heart of palm has never been this tasty!

Day 1 ended with a buffet dinner; a chat with our guide and some of the other folks - staff, guides and guests - around; a decision to go for a very long hike the next day and come back to the lodge, so that on our final day we could head to the other side of the river for more exploring. Then off to bed in our comfy hut.

Our duplex in the jungle.

Jungle fun

We had an amazing time in the jungle in Madidi National Park, in the north of Bolivia. Mashaquipe, the etno-ecolodge we visited was perfect: rustic, great food (thanks again Wilson), an excellent local guide (the ever knowledgeable Eber), a very good manager who made sure all was in fine order. We got to see monkeys, papagayos, kolibri and many other birds, wild boar, turtles and even a cayman (a supersized crocodile) in their natural habitat. And we got to walk a lot to do so, which was also pretty perfect.  We took some great pics along the way which we will post later.

Rurrenbanaque, the small gateway town to the jungle or the pampas, is laid back, well equipped for tourism, and friendly.

Right now we are at the La Paz airport awaiting our lengthy flight itinerary home. We have booked a 3 hour Panama City tour - the kind tailored to "in transit" tourists, as a from/to airport, to see the Panama Canal and some of the city, too. Jorge, our guide/driver will await us after we clear customs with one of those little signs with our names on them. The adventure continues - even if we will be seriously sleep deprived.

Illimani

We spent Thursday to Sunday working our way up Illimani, Bolivia´s second highest mountain.

Here is Jan on Thursday, in front of the massive ridge to get from  base camp to Niedo de Condores, the high camp,  1,000m up at the very top of that rock ridge. The summit is another 1,000m higher.

Base camp at about 4,500m had us living above the clouds. 

Our awesome North Face Summit Series tent at high camp - aptly named Condors´ Nest. 

2 am - I love Jan´s camera for its night photography options! - just as Jan got up to  embark on her attempt at summitting 1,000m higher. The night sky was clear and the clouds just seemed to move in  - 20 minutes later, the entire route was in clouds and it turned out, the 2 groups that summitted saw exactly nothing on the way to the top, at the top and on the way back down. But they did feel that amazing sense of accomplishment of a hard effort. 

2:30 am: Jan and Eduardo are ready to  get on to the glacier. I have already decided this is not my time and I am taking pictures instead ;)

Jan contemplates - at basecamp. After 3 hours of hard effort, exhaustion meant  no summit today. She did reach about 5,800m - a significant high point, if you have ever been there you´ll know. Proud.

The whole of Illimani - the main summit is the peak straigth up from that single tree. The rock ridge is easy to identify.

More than merely achieving summits, we love being in - really in - the mountains. The culture, the people we meet, the experiences of this raw mountain power appeals. It is simple. We walk among giants.

Glacier excursion: Huayna Potosi

After yesterday´s super long day out there, we wished for an easier day out. So ice climbing we went. Of course, the car ride in good traffic is an hour, the hike in another hour. So, we ended up getting back to town around 4:00pm anyways.

Eduardo is an extraordinary mountain guide and climber. It is a pleasure to see him in action and to see him excel at mountain crafts. And he loves to share his knowledge and enthusiasm with eager students like us : )

Jan free solos the first pitch with Eduardo by her side. She totally nailed that!

Real glacier, real crevaces, including that one 2 feet to our left.

Jan steps across to get to picth 2 - this time on top rope.

Nice form! Awesome scenery!

Eduardo makes for a very relaxed belayer.

My turn. 

Despite a tiny bit of intimidation - ahem crevace anyone? -  I made it up there, too :)

For good measure Eduardo had me downclimb that first pitch to end the day, on a very loose belay. Just to get into that confident mindset thing. 

All around a fine day, without actual epic moments. Tomorrow we hope to head off to attempt Illimani. If conditions are good, ie not too much soft snow to contend with and good weather and no sickness ... well, the stars might just align for this spring equinox.

Easy climb? Not really. But Jan nails it!

Yesterday we ventured out to a supposedly ¨easy day¨. It turned out to be anything but.

First off, having been recovering in La Paz from colds we both found the approach hike between 4,500 and 4,900m actually quite hard on the breathing. Once that got worked out, we started out on the snow, very soft snow. My less weighty companions barely broke in, I on the other hand found myself struggling with hip deep snow, trying valiantly to get above it all.

My engery was drained in no time, well a couple of hours probably. I got to about 5,100m and was just exhausted. I decided to watch Jan and Eduardo complete the ascent to a summit of about 5,500m. It took them another hour and a bit. They took some summit shots, while I was basking in the sun awaiting their return. When I watched them coming down I realized they were downclimbing the upper slopes. Must have been steep and treacherous.

The objective is on the left, think highest point you see in this pic.

Me working through a not so fluffy bit. Mostly it felt like I was way deep in there.

Jan is ready to take it on. Here is the spot I went down to the beach and Jan and Eduardo went up.

Off to work they go!

Here they are heading uphill.

And higher they go: step by step.

Meanwhile I also kept track of the sun and cloud action.

Admire the valley below. I am about 600m up from the top of this valley.

And 3.5  hours later Jan and Eduardo return from a successful, demanding summit attempt. Congratulations!

Rest day

There is climbing and there is resting.

Here are some impressions of simply living at 4,900m, where our high camp was located, near the end of the last valley in this part of the Cordillera Real range (Humalajanta group).

Remember: clicking on these images will load a larger version for your viewing pleasure.

Grooming is part of resting : ) And what a back drop for it.

Juan, our cook, takes advantage of the mid-morning sun for a rest on a rock near our tent.

Inspired 1

Inspired 2 (Jan named this rock "womb")

Hot sun alternates with cold winds. The mid-day view out the back and down valley from our tent.

The night time view up the valley from outside our tent. Loving Jan´s dSLR!

And moments later the clouds started to move in again, with atmospheric  lightening to boot. 

Opening up a new mountaineering area: Chachacomani

A week in the mountains seems so simple. But nothing ever is simple. In a way just getting here is a big deal.

First, the local community has to agree to the area being used for tourism. Cordillera Real areas like Condoriri and Huyana Potosi crossed that hurdle long ago. The Chachacomani area we spent the last week in was opened only three years ago. That makes us one of the earliest groups to visit there.

Jose is a local man from the Chachacomani community who has encouraged opening this area for climbing, i.e. tourism.  Only since 2010 can climbers access this area. It remains very little visited today.

Second, equipment and food for a week takes lots of help to move into the mountains. To get here takes a 4x4 ride from La Paz to Peñas where the dirt road starts. The dirt road eventually deteriorates considerably into basically an adventure ride for folks used to precipitous views. Finally, three to four hours later, we park at Jose´s house where we meet with porters and pack animals.

Third, the hike in to base camp takes close to three hours. It is not steep at all -- we gained perhaps 100m in elevation. There is a lot of wind though.And the views are typical Cordillera Real, that is, stunning.

Here´s the valley near the start of the hike in. It gets drier higher up.

Thanks to burros for carrying our stuff ...

... and thanks to the llamas and porters, too! 

First view of Chachacomani, one of this area´s 6,000+ metre summits.

Fourth, local community people have to be recruited to act as porters and helpers. This in a place without communications. To talk to someone, you have to show up at their house. Imagine!

The breakfast table. Juan, our cook, made sure we were well fueled.

Our job is really to be acclimatized, stay healthy, eat food and climb.

There are lots of superstitions locals have about the mountains they live amongst. Eduardo told about meeting with practically every person  in the community to talk about mountaineering and allowing climbers to use this area. Jose was instrumental in creating that conversation. Coming from places where mountain tourism and mountain culture is normal, it is valuable to understand better the work needed to establish access in new places where neither really exists. And I am happy to be able to experience a part of the world few have seen up close and personal as we have over this last week.