Today woke up, and I knew that we could not pass on going to the Andes mountains, as that was half the reason we came here. They wanted to go on the fifth day, but I knew something would happen, we'd run out of time, or they'd be too tired, or something, so I convinced my family that we should go the mountains today. We didn't plan on hiking to the top of them or anything, since they were known to be very difficult to climb, and we're not experienced at all. We did plan on climbing them though, even if just a little.
Luckily for us again, La Paz was at the foot of the Andes Mountain range, so we did not need to go very far to reach it. The best way to reach it was going through Lake Titicaca once again, since the Lake is situated in the middle of tons of mountains. So we just took a inexpensive and small ferry take us to a camp at the base at one of the mountains. There was a building for checking in, that supplied us with the equipment for hiking the hill, and also served as a restuarant. After we ate, we began our trek. There were large markers that showed us where to go, because even at the bottom of the mountain, some parts were dangerous to climb. We had a guide, though, and we followed him, along with two dozen or so other people, most from looked American. We're glad we had a guide since we had no idea who to hike.
We've been hiking now for about three hours, and apparently we haven't even made it up 20% of the hill yet, and we're exhausted. We're about to reach another camp though, and I think we're going to stay there and rest up, then continue on. And oh, I forgot to mention such a huge detail, the mountains are absolutely gorgeous! They are more beautiful than anything I've ever seen, and it's the only thing that's motivating us to keep moving.
There's been some interesting ruins a villages along the way, the ruins in particular are pretty cool. Most of them are small, but they're very cool to see on a mountain. Anyway, we can't get too distracted by them since we have to keep up with the group.
After hiking for about another hour, we reached a rest camp. We are officially one-fourth the way up the mountain, and it's not even that big of a one, when compared to the others, such as Mt. Ancohuma, which is giganticly high, but we think this is far enough. We're high enough to be able to see La Paz from the camp, along with many other mountains. The sight is indescribely majestic. I think that trekking isn't really the point of mountains. I think just observing them is enough, as they are the most beautiful thing in nature by far, once again, in my opinion. Anyway, we've all decided that we've gone far enough, so after we ate and replenished our oxygen tanks, we headed back down. The trek down wasn't much easier than going up, since we had to be very careful. This particular mountain wasn't too steep, but we still had to be cautious.
We've finally made it down the mountain. That was a great experience; the mountains were the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. We're somewhat exhausted, yet again, and right now we're taking the ferry back to La Paz, and it's around eight o'clock.
Once we arrived in La Paz, we were once again too tired and too lazy to find a good restaurant to go to, so we just ate at the hotel, which actually has decent food. After that we went to sleep, with the beautiful images of the mountains still in our heads.
The Andes Mountains
Today woke up, and I knew that we could not pass on going to the Andes mountains, as that was half the reason we came here. They wanted to go on the fifth day, but I knew something would happen, we'd run out of time, or they'd be too tired, or something, so I convinced my family that we should go the mountains today. We didn't plan on hiking to the top of them or anything, since they were known to be very difficult to climb, and we're not experienced at all. We did plan on climbing them though, even if just a little.
Luckily for us again, La Paz was at the foot of the Andes Mountain range, so we did not need to go very far to reach it. The best way to reach it was going through Lake Titicaca once again, since the Lake is situated in the middle of tons of mountains. So we just took a inexpensive and small ferry take us to a camp at the base at one of the mountains. There was a building for checking in, that supplied us with the equipment for hiking the hill, and also served as a restuarant. After we ate, we began our trek. There were large markers that showed us where to go, because even at the bottom of the mountain, some parts were dangerous to climb. We had a guide, though, and we followed him, along with two dozen or so other people, most from looked American. We're glad we had a guide since we had no idea who to hike.
We've been hiking now for about three hours, and apparently we haven't even made it up 20% of the hill yet, and we're exhausted. We're about to reach another camp though, and I think we're going to stay there and rest up, then continue on. And oh, I forgot to mention such a huge detail, the mountains are absolutely gorgeous! They are more beautiful than anything I've ever seen, and it's the only thing that's motivating us to keep moving.
There's been some interesting ruins a villages along the way, the ruins in particular are pretty cool. Most of them are small, but they're very cool to see on a mountain. Anyway, we can't get too distracted by them since we have to keep up with the group.
After hiking for about another hour, we reached a rest camp. We are officially one-fourth the way up the mountain, and it's not even that big of a one, when compared to the others, such as Mt. Ancohuma, which is giganticly high, but we think this is far enough. We're high enough to be able to see La Paz from the camp, along with many other mountains. The sight is indescribely majestic. I think that trekking isn't really the point of mountains. I think just observing them is enough, as they are the most beautiful thing in nature by far, once again, in my opinion. Anyway, we've all decided that we've gone far enough, so after we ate and replenished our oxygen tanks, we headed back down. The trek down wasn't much easier than going up, since we had to be very careful. This particular mountain wasn't too steep, but we still had to be cautious.
We've finally made it down the mountain. That was a great experience; the mountains were the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. We're somewhat exhausted, yet again, and right now we're taking the ferry back to La Paz, and it's around eight o'clock.
Once we arrived in La Paz, we were once again too tired and too lazy to find a good restaurant to go to, so we just ate at the hotel, which actually has decent food. After that we went to sleep, with the beautiful images of the mountains still in our heads.
Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andes