I’m finishing up a solo trip to Bolivia with the help of my good Peruvian friend Gilf Laurente who outfitted me through Colonia Expeditions (www.coloniaexpeditionsperu.com) There were four goals. First, to revisit a medical clinic in the impoverished village of Chunavi where I started a grassroots clinic in 2003. I wanted to go back to volunteer and kindly they all remembered me. The village leaders all met with me out of gratitude as they did in 2003. Many were the same leaders, or their sons. Such a rewarding vision.
The second goal was to climb Pico Austria, an acclimatization peak up front to the Condorri Range. I climbed the skyline peaks in 2003 and the stark change in glacier recession was striking. Like he does at the top of every mountain we’ve climbed, he prays to the mountain gods. I now do as well. He found an 800 million year old fossil of a clam on the summit.
Third goal was to visit the Isla de Sol, island of the sun. It’s a magical place in the middle of Lake Titicaca. Inca lore has that this was the birthplace of the sun, and where the gods placed the first Inca man and woman. They were put there to procreate and generate an empire.
Lastly, I wanted to climb Huayna Potosi, 6088m. The mountain has an old reputation for being a straightforward glacier and ice climb, but with glacier change and recession it’s decisively more technical. The summit exit ice sheet is now 500 vertical of horrifying loose steep rock we had to surmount. The glacier is all penitentes, meter-high icy spikes that form when rain, not snow, falls at altitude where there’s also hot sun. Another sign of climate change. But we summited, prayed to the mountain gods, and now I’m headed home to apply my re-inspiration from this magical country until I return with my family. Hopefully soon.
