Monthly Archives: December 2015

South America Day 100: Sucre

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dance

Extra 2 days in Sucre relaxing and getting over a cold.  I took an extra Spanish class to use the time. The secretary called the teacher, in English, asking if she was free for a class sometime today. The teacher immediately came running to the school. Party night at the hostel tonight – on Saturdays it’s the most popular place… Read more »

South America Day 98-99: Sucre

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At the Parque Cretacico here was a huge wall of dinosaur footprints, but not a single bone. Bolivian dinosaurs were immortal. The park asks for an extra 5Bs. to take pictures and pins the ticket to your shirt like a press badge. I hadn’t even considered that seeing Star Wars premier in Bolivia was within the realm of possibility until… Read more »

Crossing the Bolivian border from Peru

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boliviaflag

People from all over the world can easily cross into Bolivia, but the country makes a special hard case for Americans. If you are trying to enter Bolivia overland on a U.S. passport, here is my recent experience and advice on going from Puno, Perú to Copacabana, Bolivia. Visa Entrance into Bolivia requires a Visa. The Visa costs $135 and… Read more »

South America Day 95: Sucre

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sucre

The first impression of Sucre is that it’s just like La Paz. The main plaza is nice of course… As is the surrounding area for maybe five blocks out. It is, indeed, one of few places that is pleasant to walk around. It helps that the main plaza was barricaded off today. That creates an unusual feeling of peace in… Read more »

South America Day 93: Huayna Potosi Summit

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glacier

The first rays of the sun lighting up the subtle snow covered curves of the glacier below are an astounding sight that I thought I may only see in movies and extreme skiing videos. We get up at midnight for the ascent. “We might not go.” is the first thing I hear spoken. Someone had stepped outside and reported the… Read more »

South America Day 92: Huayna Potosi High Camp

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highcamp

Day two is a short day of hiking followed by a long day of eating crackers, drinking tea, and napping. I am not sure if the extra full day at altitude (5150m) helps or hurts. I feel like I have acclimatized sufficiently and don’t have any trouble here. The cabin is almost as nice as base camp and we continue… Read more »

South America Day 91: Huayna Potosi Training

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iceclimbing

I was determined to summit a mountain in the Andes. I stopped in La Paz with the intention of spending three days to climb Huayna Potosí (6088m), as was recommended by previous trekking companions. This time I had spent much more time at altitude and felt well prepared and acclimatized so as not to repeat the previous failure. I booked… Read more »