Back to Washington: Mt. St. Helens

Now that I've finally caught up on my South America blogging its time for some updates on what has been going on in the 3.5 weeks since then! We have been so busy I honestly couldn't even begin to get it all down but I'll start with a big one: we climbed Mt. St. Helens. You know, that cool volcano that spewed ash all the way around the world 30 years ago this year? Yep, that one. The good news: the glissading was awesome. The bad news: we couldn't see a darn thing at the top. I took the cave pictures. Valerie took all the neat mountain ones. Thanks Val.

The adventure started Saturday morning with Catherine, David, Matt & I all piling into Lance & Val's car and making the long drive down to Cougar, WA.  We picked lovely campsite on the lake and prayed for dry weather. We then put on the ugliest clothes we could possibly find and headed up to the Ape Caves. We got distracted by Lava Canyon on the way. It's neat. It was formed in one of the mountains' explosions 3,000 years ago.

The Ape Caves are actually a lava tube - the longest one in the contiguous U.S.A. at two miles long. It was neat. We descended, walked, scrambled, crawled, and climbed our way through the 1.25 miles that you can access without being the size of a Chihuahua and had a lovely time.

After the caves we returned to camp, cooked up some sustenance, and sat around the camp fire eating and drinking the night away. Lovely!

Camp. (Jim & Phebe: our tent has been everywhere now. We love it. Thanks!)

Lake

Campfire time!

Next morning we were up early heading for Climbers Bivuoac where the summit trailhead starts. While we were glad for a lack of rain we were saddened by the distinct lack of visibility but hoped things would improve by the time we reached the top.

David, Catherine, me, Matt, Lance & Val at the trailhead

Cute Osprey packs with ice axes, crampons, trekking poles, etc

Climbing

Steep

There was a slight moment where it looked like clearing might be possible

...and then it was gone. Up, up, up 5,000 vertical feet we went. This is the view from the top.

Summit pic

Then came the best part: glissading. If you have never had the joy of knowing what this is, let me explain. It's really very simple. You sit down on your bottom. And slide. The End.

The best way to describe glissading is it's like going down a very, very, very long waterslide. You slide and swish, and turn and...it's so exciting. We dropped 3,000 vertical feet in about 30 minutes. I love it. Top 10 list of favorite activities.

Lance & Catherine racing

Cute Catherine

my cute hubby

That is all. I felt bad for the crew that we couldn't see the crater, because it is neat. But the glissading was epic. If you're curious about what the crater might have looked like here's a pic from when my awesome Mom and I climbed it in 2007.

Lava dome, Spirit Lake, & Mt Rainier

Crater

Touching the Sky

I will admit I thought beforehand that the chances of all four of us making it to the top were pretty slim, and considered myself at the forefront of the list of might-not-make-its. Our trip was originally just a trip to Peru, but it turned out that by the time we were all the way over at Lake Titicaca it just made more sense to fly out of La Paz. Once I knew we were flying out of La Paz, I started looking around to see if there was anything especially interesting in the area. Turns out there is a 19,975ft mountain called Huanya Potosi that is technical without being tooo technical. It was a daring adventure I couldn't turn down.

The Mountain

At the end of day four of trekking I confided to Ashley that I would be perfectly happy to skip Huayna Potosi and spend the last two days of our trip lounging on Isla del Sol. Luckily, I recovered from my apathy and had a fantastic time.

Since the mountain has crevasses (large, deep cracks in the ice you can fall in), snow bridges over said crevasses, and some fairly steep ice climbing we went with some guides through Refugio Huayna Potosi. I would highly recommend them: great guides, accommodations, everything. (Just don't expect too much from any e-mails you send them beforehand). Our group of four had two guides.

Day one involved running around La Paz picking up all the gear we needed (crampons, ice axe, plastic boots, etc), making the 1.5hour drive out to base camp, skipping a lunch of lentils, and then a three hour hike up to high camp where we would spend the night. High camp was located at about 17,500ft and had a small refugio that was basically two sleeping platforms where the four of us and 12 Italians curled up next to eachother at 7pm to try to get some shut-eye.

trail

View from the Refugio around 5pm

We were rudely (ok, they weren't rude, but it was early!) awakened at 1am, given some bread and coca tea, and pushed out the door. There we turned on our headlamps (it was pitch dark), put on our crampons, and roped up. The next 7 hours were a long trudge up the mountain. One foot in front of the other. Must-breath-must-find-oxygen. The amount of oxygen at 20,000ft is only 50% of that at sea level. There were two sections of semi-ice climbing: not vertical but definitely needed to use your ice axe to haul yourself up, and definitely didn't want to look down. Luckily it was dark, so you couldn't see how far there was to fall. :)

We arrived at the summit right in time for sunrise, and boy was it beautiful. We tried in vain to catch our breath, took a peek at La Paz in the distance, snapped a few unbecoming pictures, and headed down because it was cold.

Sunrise from the summit

La Paz in the distance (if you click, it will get bigger)

people coming up the final stretch

Summit

Summit picture Steven, Ashley, Me, Matt

Matt & I

The climb down was amazing. Despite lack of sleep, food, or oxygen, the sun had risen and we could now see what we had climbed, the surrounding mountains, and the beautiful glaciers and crevasses. Well, it was amazing until we got back to the refugio, loaded the rest of the gear into our packs (heavy!) and had to walk down the rocky part.

I'll just sum it up by saying it was definitely worth the hard work.



***The whole climb up was dark. Lots of the climb down I needed my hands so I didn't fall to my death. Hence, there are not very many pictures, and even fewer good ones. Steven took some better ones because he is much more coordinated than I am and did not need all his hands. But I don't have them. Too bad. Climb it yourself. :)

Details, Details - Peru & Bolivia

At the end of Turkey I decided to do this for each trip, so I'm going back to this one now a year later: "I decided to start doing a post at the end of the trip that had links and mini-reviews to the places we stayed and other services we used. Sometimes people ask me about places or are planning a trip themselves and I can't remember or find where I put the info. Now it's all right here. I'm going to try to go back and do the same for some of our older trips as well. Scoot on by for today if you're not interested in the details."

Lodging:  (All were private bed/bath, breakfast included, very simple, and cost $20-$30/night)

Cusco: Samay Wasi. Excellent location, cute rooms, awesome rooftop deck, nice staff.

Augas Calientes (Machu Picchu): Pirwa Hostels. Nothing special, nothing wrong with it. Gets the job done in an expensive town.

Puno: Inka's Rest. Owner was a little scary but rooms and breakfast were very good. Not many good places in this town, so I would recommend it.

Isla del Sol: Show up on the ferry and there will be lots of people wanting to sell you a room. Simply walk up the hill with someone who seems nice, and see what you think. If you don't like it, just keep walking. (This one was actually $7/night with a shared bathroom). We stated at I think the first one on the left as you walk up the hill, overlooks the ferry dock.

La Paz, Bolivia: Adventure Brew Hostel. Pretty popular with the young crowd so its on the noisy side but good location, great staff, nice rooms, good breakfast, and a cool bar/restaurant on the top floor. Definite recommend.

Transport:

Cusco: within Cusco we walked except taking a taxi to a real grocery store across town

Sacred Valley: There are tons of tour companies that will take you to all the sites for $30-40/person, but we had a taxi driver who gave us a great deal on the way back from the grocery store and I asked him how much he would charge to drive us around all day. He said $60 for all 4 of us so we totally took him up and were able to stop whenever we wanted for however long we wanted. If you have a decent grasp of Spanish I would definitely try this option.

To Trekking: We started in Mollepata. Is was a 4 hour $4 public bus ride. As your hostel for details.

Train from Machu Picchu to Cusco: a bit expensive, not super comfortable, but apparently quite pretty if you do it in the daytime (we did not), and really its the only way to get down besides walking, so just do it.

Bus to Puno: We did the 'tour' bus which stops at a number of locations along the way. All were vaguely interesting, but none super special. The direct bus is only a few $ less so saves some time but doesn't let you break it up. The companies are all pretty much the same, just find one that will give you a decent deal. ~$10

Floating Island tour: We waited until we were in Puno to book this and paid about 1/10 of what the people who booked from the US paid. We actually used a really good company, but a year later I have no recollection of what they were called. As for recommendations from fellow travelers (not your hotel) because some truly are much better than others. ~$10-15

Bus to Copacabana: Just ask at your hostel, there are lots of choices and they are all essentially the same. ~$10

Boat to/from Isla del Sol: There will be lots of people around selling tickets when you get off the bus. Again, lots of choices and all are essentially the same. $5-10

Bus to La Paz: We took the cheap public bus and regretted it as it made many stops along the way. Just ask around town in Copa and I would recommend to pay a little more for the 'tourist' bus.

Around La Paz: our own two feet and a few cheating taxis.

Activities:

Death Road Mountain Biking: Adventure Brew Hostel has a highly recommended trip, but it was a bit more than we wanted to pay. We ended up going with Gravity and had a great experience. ~$80 at the time

Climbing Huayna Potosi: There are lots of companies who will take you up the mountain but this is not something you want to go cheap on with your life on the line. Refugio Huayna Potosi is the most well established, they actually own all the huts on the mountain, and Hugo and his staff are fabulous.

Food:

We ate at a number of good places, but very few that were memorable enough that I could come up with the name a year later. The one I do remember was Indio Feliz in Aguas Calientes, and it was GREAT and cute. Make a reservation early if you can. We tried alpaca and cuy (guinea pig), two local specialties. Both were fine, though I would recommend doing it a nice(r) restaurant.

Death Road Mountain Biking

Almost a year ago my mom sent me and e-mail with some pictures of crazy roads. One of them was a road in Bolivia that had the most fatalaties a year of any road in the world. It looked neat.

When we were down in Patagonia last fall we met a guy who had just mountain biked down it and said that there had been a new, safer highway built and that now it was only mountain bike traffic on this road, and that is was amazing. Well, its all history from there. My mother will never send me another e-mail regarding anything remotely risky!

We went with Madness Bolivia, who did a great job. You drive an hour outside of La Paz to La Cumbre which is at 15,400ft and bike about 40 miles down to Coroico 5,200ft. On a crazy, windy, cliff-side, rocky, dirt road. But there weren't any cars. So it was cool, and beautiful. I didn't bring my camera because I didn't want to break it when I fell to my death, but the company takes pictures and gives you a CD, so these are their beauties.

Getting ready to start at La Cumbre

The very first part is on a real road

...and then it's not a real road

Matt, Ash & Steven were speedy and had a great time! I was a scaredy-cat and....was scared. But it was a good experience, and I'm glad a did it. Its good to conquer your fears right?

Conquering my fears

Almost at the bottom

Once we got to the bottom they had a buffet lunch for us and we had a few hours to hang out pool-side at a hotel before heading back to La Paz.

I actually enjoyed La Paz, which is not something I expected from the capitol of one of the poorest countries in South America. It's surrounded by a lot of beautiful mountains, is decently clean, and is lively. There's still a lot going on at 10 at night and I felt safe walking around at that time a night. There were lots of great markets with amazing fresh fruit, jewelry, hats, etc. Our hostel was awesome and if you are ever in La Paz I definitely recommend staying at Adventure Brew. And get the dinner they serve.



....last post of the trip is Huayna Potosi, our 20,000ft adventure. Coming soon.

Into Bolivia

I truly thought that a border crossing could not get more dysfunctional than this one we had crossing from Chile to Argentina in a rental car. But I think Bolivia may have actually one-upped them. Since the U.S. charges Bolvians for a visa to get into the US, Bolivia decided to intstitute a friendly reciprocation policy whereby US citizens must buy a $130 visa to get into Bolivia.

After our day on the floating islands we hopped on a bus to Copacabana, Bolivia. We had 'planned ahead' very well and arrived at customs & immigration with our Visa forms already printed and filled out, passport photos in hand, yellow fever certificates in hand, and 135 US dollars in hand. We got in line and were immediately told 'copias!' (copies) while being vigorously pointed to Visa form, passport, vaccination certificate, and more. During the next 45 minutes a crazy game ensued whereby we ran back and forth from a nearby copy shop to immigration approximately 45 times. Once they gave us the visas we were sent back to the copy shop yet again to get a copy of the visa that they had given us...because they need a copy of the visa they give you....right. I can't even begin to explain all the absurdness of it, but boy was it fun.

We had also 'planned ahead' very well for our money situation. We made sure to use up all of our Peruvian Soles before leaving Peru and planned to get Bolivianos out of an ATM in Copacabana upon arrival. Copa is a decent sized city. Turns out they don't have a single ATM. We were planning on catching a boat an hour after our arrival to the city and the bank was closed for the next hour and a half due to siesta. After an extremely stressful half hour of thinking we were standed in a strange Bolivian town and going to have to skip our entire Isla del Sol experience, a very nice man named Jesus (who we had bought our boat tickets from), said he would lend us the money necessary for our night on Isla del Sol and then we could go to the bank the next evening when we returned and pay him back. I can't even begin to describe all the nice people we met on this trip but this may have topped them all.

Finally we were on our way to Isla del Sol, and our two days of relaxation. It's a fairly remote island with pretty basic services, but it was absolutely gorgeous and extremely cheap.

Here's our hostel.

Have you ever seen a better view for $7/night? Yes, thats a private room.

View

Sunshine

On an afternoon stroll

Sunset

Sunset from our $3 dinner

Sunrise from our bedroom doorway

The next day we walked across the island....

...and found a sunny beach!

...and stuck our toes in Lake Titicaca

Lake Titicaca - the Peruvian side

The next day we woke up at 6am (yes, that equals four hours of sleep, and yes this was vacation) to hop on a bus to Puno. Puno is on the shores of Titicaca and about a 7 hour drive from Cusco, winding through the high Pampas region. The scenery was incredible despite a somewhat obnoxious tour guide and we got to stop at some interesting sites along the way.

These are live sheep riding on top of a van. Saw it multiple times.

The next day, we spent on a boat out on Lake Titicaca. Lake Titicaca is at about 12,000 feet and is the highest navigable lake in the world. The weather was beautiful, though chilly in the mornings because of the high elevation.

Puno city

Our first stop was the Uros floating islands. Way back when the Spanish came, they were trying to enslave the locals. Some of them took off in their boats made of reeds and began living on their boats to escape the Spanish. Eventually they discovered that they could create floating islands made of the reeds that grow in the lake, and began creating and living on these islands. Today it is fairly overly-touristy but it was still incredible to see the way that these people had been living for 500 years.

Our next stop was the Island of Taquile which is known for its amazing textiles. We got to walk across the island, visit the textile market, and eat lunch with a great view.

We had heard Puno was a boring/ dirty town but actually found it to be quite agreeable. Decent $2 local meals, great $12 tourist food, and fairly lively and safe feeling. The boys ordered Cuy our second night there. Cuy is a Peruvian delicacy also known as guinea pig. Ashley and I each tried a bite and all agreed it was fine but somewhat like chicken wings....greasy and boney. But hey, now we had all tried both guinea pig and alpaca.