Chacaltaya

After a relaxing day in La Paz I decided to take on a challenge- the highest road that I have ever cycled. Mount Chacaltaya overlooks La Paz and is an ex ski run, hence it has a road going within 200m of the top. Unfortunately the ski run is no longer in use due to the melting of the glacier- which is worrying. I read that climate scientists are debating whether the melt is due to local climatic factors or due to global warming, or both.
     The road finishes at 5300m, and I was starting at about 3700m in La Paz. The equivilant of an Alpine pass in height difference, but with added factors such as altitude and a very unpaved road.
    I did it without luggage which helped a lot. I started off on the same motorway out of La Paz that I had done twice before, and got my share of fumes from the American Dodge buses, which didn´t make me feel great at first, but once I left the traffic behind I felt much better. I took the climb on slowly as even though I´m adjusted to the altitude to a certain degree I know that too much sudden exertion up a mountain at these altitudes can leave one suddenly dizzy from lack of oxygen, so I just concentrated on breathing well and keeping a rythymn.
  I went through part of El Alto, the city 400m or so above La Paz, and a couple of kilometres later the paved road finished and became a track. This middle section of my route was reasonably gentle in gradient and was not that challenging. After a while I got to the foot of Mt Chacaltaya and the road began to hairpin up the mountain. This was more challenging as the road got worse, ice started appearing on the road, and the sheer drop off the side was worrying. It was quite challenging to steer a course around the bits of ice on one side and the cliff on the other, so I kept my shoes out of my SPDs so I could stop more quickly. I saw some birds of prey circling above as well, looked ominous!
   After a slow wind up the side of the mountain I finally got to the ski station, 5300m! I hiked the remaining 200m or so in height to the top of the mountain and was rewarded with unbelievable views of Huayni Potosi (6080m), La Paz and El Alto with the fumes from those ancient American buses hanging above, Lake Titicaca, and even the volcanoes close to the Chilean border; a very long way indeed. I ate some manky bread on top and came down. The descent was tricky at first and I could in no way get up any speed, but once I got off the mountain I could open up and I had an adrenaline filled downhill. I really learnt what a good downhill on a mountain bike is!
   The next day I had bought a flight to a town in the Amazon, called Rurrenebaque. It was however dealayed for a day, so I spent a day in La Paz relaxing and buying presents. I met up with Valerie, whom I´d met in Uyuni and did a three day tour together, and with another of her friends we had a very nice French/ Bolivian fusion meal. French cooking and Bolivian ingredients, trout and wild rice. A little pricier than normal but well worth it.
   The next day I took my flight to Rurrenebaque. Normally if possible I like to look for overland alternatives to flights, being often more interesting and less polluting (although nobody´s a saint here) but I looked at the 24 hour bus journey and compared it to the 30 min flight across the Cordillerra Real (6000m+ range east of La Paz) and my choice made itself. The 16 or so seat plane was the smallest I´ve ever been in, and the flight gave great views over the Cordillera Real, and the steep dropoff into the jungle from the peaks of this range. It gave me a slight sense of satisfaction that the plane didn´t go much higher than the road I´d cycled up, which I could seee from the window!
   The plane landed on a small strip 2 km out of town and I took a motorbike taxi in to town. It felt like a different country; we´d lost about 3500m in height and gained about 30 degrees in temperature. Motorbikes are the main form of transport around this small jungle town, unlike on the altiplano where it is a bit cold for them. Already I´ve seen a large amount of wildlife even in town,compared to the dogs that passed for the wildlife on the altiplano. I´ve spotted hummingbirds, parrots, and some enormous butterflies. I checked into a hostel and relaxed for the day, as my tour was happening the next day and there was not a lot to do except relax in the hostel hammocks and eat.
   In the morning I went to the agency and met up with the driver and the 7 other people doing the tour, and drove 3 hours along a bumpy road to the river. We then transfered to a motorised canoe and spent the afternoon viewing wildlife along the River Yacuna, which flows through the pampas (wetlands that completely flood in the summer wet season). We saw an amazing amount of wildlife in a short stretch of river. The most easy to spot were alligators and caymans, they were absolutely everywhere. We also managed to see squirrel monkeys, flamingos, pink river dolphins, pig sized creatures which look like and are related to rats (forgot the name), eagles, and much more. I was convinced to go swimming with the dolphins, the guide told us that the alligators would not come to the middle where we were swimming, so a couple of us took the plunge. However the experience did not fit the description "swimming with dolphins", it could more easily be described as "us swimmimg and dolphins avoiding us". All in all the ride was a very special experience. When I looked up above and saw all kinds of very exotic birds flying above I really felt I was in the jungle. The only complaint I had was that the guide went a bit fast sometimes, he did not give us enough time to really observe some of the animals. His explanations were often lacking too, even though one or two of us spoke enough Spanish to interpret he didn´t really say much.
   We stayed that night in some huts built for tourists, and here we could see squirrel monkeys again jumping all over the place. Sometimes they would jump onto the roofs and fight each other.
   The next morning´s activity was to look for anacondas. This involved a long walk through the pampas, which was often very muddy. We wore wellingtons as we were walking through a lot of swamp. Undfortunately one girl from the US complained non- stop; it was not a particuarly easy walk but she should have realised what the tour involved. She was actually a very nice girl (when chatting in the bar later) but a bit adverse to activity and the pampas tour cracked her a bit...  After 3 hours the guide spotted an anaconda, which we could get up close to as they are not particuarly dangerous. This one was about 2 metres long, and we spent a couple of minutes observing it before it got scared and went and hid in its´ tree.
   In the afternoon we went piranha fishing, and I managed to catch one! The first fish I ever catch and it´s a piranha. I was going to take the hook out but took a look at its teeth and handed the fish to the guide next to me.
   We went back the next morning and arrived back in Rurrenebaque in the early afternoon. All in all it was a very interesting tour, but for me the group didn´t gel quite as well as the last 3 day tour I did from Uyuni so it wasn´t as fun from that point of view. But very worthwhile for what we saw!