Traaaaaaaaaiiiiinnn
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In
Bolivia for a few days the truck had lost the ability to find low gears and
pulling off in sixth is a slow process. With the combination of a sensitive
clutch the truck stalled half way through a U turn mid street. The street
was busy, and reversing would mean having to clear cars from around us to
make space. Fi looked across at me, her annoyance showing. I looked at Fi,
then altering my focus I stared out of her window. 
"TRAIN!!!!!"
Fi turned to follow my gaze.
"Shit!"
Who would have expected a freight train to be pulling itself along the tracks through the middle of the main market? The tracks were the same ones that the truck was, at the time, straddling. The market stalls were moving a lot quicker then us and slowly the train approached.
I
jumped out to try and make space for the truck to move, the train still ground
its way towards us. At this point I assume that the train driver awoke as
there was a screeching of brakes and the slowly approaching train was no more,
it had stopped. The risk of being skewered had gone and we edged our way out
of town and along the road to La Paz the capital of Bolivia.
Almost a month earlier we had been based for a week in the mountains of Los Arenales, near Mendoza in Argentina. The base Camp was in the garden of a border control post and the climbing, a three hour walk-in and at an altitude of 3,300m, was incredible...... We had just descended from one of the many 300m towers and I was catching a few z’s when a shadow flew over me. I opened my eyes to see a condor 3m in wing span no more than 10m above me. It was probably deep in thought as to whether to invite me for dinner or not. But it soon disappeared in amongst the maze of unclimbed rock. Yet again we had come to an area where a life time of climbing would not do the area justice.
The
long drive north to San Pedro, and Socaire Gorge, was punctuated with Christmas
on the beach. The feast consisted of a 10kg piece of Marlin, 6kg of Pork ribs,
15 mackerel, 5kg of clams, 3kg of shrimp, 4kg of squid, all served with fruit
salad, barbecued veg and champagne. A short walk along the beach saw those
with "itchy feet" climb until the sun dipped into the Pacific and
darkness brought them home.
New years eve was spent a further 2 days drive north through the desert in San Pedro de Atacama. The small typically Chilean town is a hive of activity. Yet the bar we had the new years eve party in said the night was beyond anything they had seen before. The climbing area was a further 1.5 hours towards Bolivia. At 3,700m in altitude Sociare Gorge winds for 10km down the hill side. Stupendous cracks, arêtes and faces provide the climbing that kept us busy for the week that we were there for. We claimed a further two new routes bringing the total to 25 since the start of the S. American leg...... The sky at night provided the camp with a perfect ceiling. The stars were brilliant, the only light pollution was that of distant electrical storms over Bolivia.
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We now began to travel into Bolivia over salt flats, past thermal springs, through the spray of geysers, under the shadow of six thousand meter peaks and into the city of Oruro. Oruro, a town complete with strange positioned train tracks with freight trains that appear from nowhere, and a bustle and ambience in clear contrast to Chile that makes you feel "out there" even before the climbing starts.
Even the most simple thing can be surprising as shown by our evening out. 10 steps down into to the cinema my eyes began to sting and water. 20 steps and my throat was burning. The ticket booth was in reach but I returned to the road side. On investigation I found that the cinema was still full of tear gas from the mornings demonstrations. Harry Potter - who would of thought it, such a risky film to watch!!
We
had arrived in La Paz and I had been very happy to have found the two guides
that know the granite walls of the Cordillera Quimsa Cruz area. I had spent
a few days picking their brains, taking their photos and copying every topo
available. With the info in pocket and the group inspired we packed for 10
days in the mountains. Kit included 100 loaves of bread, 100 oranges and fishing
tackle. We left early the next day by bus as the truck was still misbehaving.
An hour down the road, we came to the top of a hill with a perfect view of, we guessed, 10,000 bowler hat wearing dumplings and miners blocking the road ahead of us. We were told that they would probably stop for lunch at around two. Although it seemed very unlikely we waited with blind optimism that we would be able to get through and continue the journey to the Quimsa Cruz.
We waited.
And waited!!
Buses that were turning around taking people back to La Paz were having to run the gauntlet of driving off road through a hail of stones thrown by protesters. The blind optimism had faded and we joined the others turning back to La Paz. Stone throwers had left us and it was clear for us to leave. We arrived back in the Hotel in La Paz with our tails between our legs having failed to achieve our goal.
Story by Captain Lucas
