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Scraping the Andes with LATAM and adventures in Bolivia

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  • Scraping the Andes with LATAM and adventures in Bolivia

    Background

    In September last year, I went into the Himalayas and it rekindled a younger day passion for the mountains. It struck my soul deep and since then I was back to the Himalayas one more time and shortly after I went to the Andes with the ambition to climb my second 6000er ever in my life - Parinacota in the Bolivia/Chile border and I approached it from Bolivia.

    This trip report was originally planned to include a Cusco to La Paz flight by Peruvian and then a La Paz to Uyuni flight by Amaszonas. However, I lost all the pics due to iphone issues and I was then left with my Santiago-Mendoza-Santiago flights to showcase here. The good thing is that these latter flights are the more spectacular ones. And within a short span of 40 minutes (123 miles) one journeys over the narrow but lofty spans of the Andes. In the Himalayas, we usually traverse along its sides, but the Andean peaks around Santiago are traversed directly over by almost all flights heading east of Santiago. Since Mendoza is just a short 180km away, the traverse is done at the minimum altitude and wow it was a spectacular journey where one feels almost like the flight is scrapping the tops of the great mountain range.

    I will also be peppering this report with my travel pics of the surreal landscapes of the Bolivian Altiplano. It is like on a different planet altogether.

    Flight: LA434
    Type: A320-200
    Reg: CC_BEG
    Cabin: Economy
    Seat: 13A
    Load: 80%


    The flight was a regular A320 flight in economy and as such I don't have much to show in terms of onboard product. There was not even a meal service on the short hop. Good that It did not because my eyes (and camera lens) were almost all the way transfixed at the window looking out to the majesty outside.

    Latam flight 434 was a regular all-economy flight in standard 3-3 configuration. And I had an emergency exit row. The plane is newish and there are no IFE screens.



    We pushed back in time.



    And these are some plane spotting pics around SCL. Most of them don't come to Asia. Iberia and KLM on their afternoon departures to Europe.



    Taking off .... The mountains were veiled in the background behind the haze.



    I didn't expect that Santiago is almost perpetually covered by a thin layer of fog / smog



    As we flew higher, the city disappeared beneath the haze, and the mountains appeared crystal clear in the distance. We were heading due south and the mountains were on the left hand side.



    And then we veered left (eastwards)



    And the following pics were taken over the next 20 minutes. We were cruising at 7500m and these white peaks were up to 6500m. The geography below was clearly visible from cruising altitude - every road (although there weren't many at at all), every rivers, lakes, and villages. We were almost literally scraping the top of the Andes.







    The Andes then abruptly drops to the flat winelands of Mendoza, Argentina.


  • #2
    And then we were cruising parallel to the mountains for a few minutes. This was in autumn and ⅓ of the mountains were already covered in snow. From this side, it looks similar to the Himalayas with its teethlike jagged tops.





    And then we began our descent to Mendoza airport.





    And it's Skyteam territory here. A little bit of OneWorld, and no Star



    Thus ended the shortest flight I ever flew on (123 miles), but also one of the most spectacular.

    On the return flight towards Santiago, I didn't take any pics. But I ran a time lapse of the journey. The 20 minute crossing is condensed to mere minutes and it's interesting to watch. Unfortunately the resolution is Low as the original video in the iphone is lost and I only have the Facebook version.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wADy...ature=youtu.be

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    • #3
      The purpose of my South American trip was to climb a 6,350 m (23,00ft) giant which is the 2nd tallest mountain in Bolivia. It is located in Sajama National Park and this lonely corner of Bolivia is a land of unspeakable beauty, and for me - a heaven on earth. The cone on the left is the one I set out to conquer.




      I am always enchanted by solitude and especially amidst the majesty of the loftiest of the lofty. It is somewhat a spiritual experience for me.







      My base was the little village of Sajama, an unknown outpost little visited by tourists. Bolivian tourist circuit is mainly in the La Paz - Oruro - Uyuni corridor. For miles and miles around, there is simply nothingness - pure solitude.



      The day of the climb (or night as I set out at 2am) was the toughest day of my life. 7 hours later, I was at 6,250m and I was struggling for air. Hypoxia kicked in and I was falling asleep while I was walking. And I barely managed with 2-3 steps before I had to stop to rest and my eyes struggled to keep open due to drowsiness. The guide advised that it would take me about 3 hours at my pace to cover the final 100 m .... that stunned me and I decided to abort the Mission. I was immediately crushed and I felt Low.

      This is me at the highest ground I ever set foot on - 100 m higher than the previous peak I conquered in India. It's so high it feels like you are on an airplane. But cold and I can't describe how exhausted I was. The altitude gain I undertook that day was 1,200 m (300-floor building, 4x higher than Empire State). It was too fast and I didn't acclimatise enough. I should have spent another few days climbing 5000ers before the summit attempt.




      Going down took 5 hours. And I was literally dragging my feet. I couldn't lift them anymore out of extreme exhaustion. And I really didn't take more than the single pic at the top. That was my only pic out of this climb. I was depressingly exhausted I didn't feel like taking out my camera at all, and the iphone was dead at that altitude. It only functioned again when I was back to base.

      I clicked a pic of the ‘depressing’ martian landscape at the base of the mountain. I felt abandoned in this godforsaken place. It was a really tough day – physically and mentally.



      I slept through the whole afternoon and night until the next day and I was shivering in pain and mentally I was depressed. I told myself, I would not attempt another one.

      But ... 4 days later, I was already planning where next. It might be Pik Lenin (7,000m) in Kyrgyzstan for 2019 and I will give myself more time to prepare.

      The next few days were spent recuperating. There were hot springs everywhere. I went to one and I was the only one. I thought this was heaven.



      And watched only by cuddly Alpacas.





      My adventure continued southwards from northern Bolivia towards Chile and here too the landscape is spectacularly otherworldly. I was then in relative comfort with nightly stays in proper rooms and 4WD - no walking!

      First it was to Uyuni, the world's largest salt flat that can fit 20 Singapore islands. How small my country is.



      Last edited by SQueeze; 28 July 2017, 04:44 PM.

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      • #4
        It’s an incredible place with islands of giant cacti rising from the lake with no water.





        And then it was a few days in the wilderness with no roads and every few hours we came across bizarre altiplano lakes of multicoloured lakes which are visually stunning but toxic (some are arsenic). And its beaches are borax. Are we no longer on earth?





        The most spectacular is the red lagoon close to the Chilean border. No description can do justice to this place.





        Along the way, we are just one tiny speck of dust in the grander scheme of things

        Tracks and railways lead to infinity



        Rocks were sculpted by wind for millenia!



        And it might be a year before I can get a hitch?



        Crossing into Chile, the road suddenly appears and starting right at the physical border, not an inch more or less, the highway started from dust to full high quality paved road. We were then leaving Bolivia behind and we went down and down and down towards San Pedro Atacama in Chile.



        Chile is also a beautiful country but I spent more time in Bolivia this time and I would go back to Chile for a longer exploration in future. Patagonia will be in the itinerary next time.

        PS: I also went to Peru and Argentina but I thought this report might get too long if I show everything. Please PM me if you want to know more about the Latam region. Previously I have also explored Brazil, Colombia, Cuba, Mexico, and Panama. I have the trip reports buried somewhere here as well.

        Thus ends this trip report. Thank you for reading.

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        • #5
          Great photos SQueeze. Thanks for sharing.

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          • #6
            really enjoyed this! thanks for sharing.

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            • #7
              Wonderful TR and pics, SQueeze! The scenery is just stunning...and the alpacas look kind of cute too.

              Don't feel too bad about the high altitude acclimatization...for those of us who live near sea level, it is pretty common I think. We are just not used to it. I am personally extremely prone to altltude sickness too. I get headaches and suffer altitude sickness VERY easily when I go up a mountain (even if I took a cable car up, rather than climb...). Until it is experienced, I think most people have no idea how challenging high altitudes can be...

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              • #8
                Originally posted by SQueeze View Post
                ....... I thought this report might get too long if I show everything.
                NO! its too SHORT! Please share more SQueeze. This is an excellent TR.

                Comment


                • #9
                  SQ218, banoffi, yflyer, and 9V-JKL

                  Thank you very much. It was an awesome trip and I had to share it. Let me see if I can upload some more on the Argentinian bits next week, let's say it would be a wine resort report. I just thought it's an aviation forum but I am digressing much away from it.

                  yflyer,

                  I am actually quite experienced with high altitudes and that's part of the problem. I took it lightly. I have been going in and out of mountains for ages and I think even in my past lives, because I feel so connected to the land. I know the issue of acclimatisation, how to avoid it, and how to increase chances of success at the mountains. For my previous mountain, I spent 3 weeks in high altitudes to 5000m plus before I finally attempted summit. This time, I only prepared 10 days and I didn't do an intermediate summit.

                  For this trip, to acclimatise, went to Cuzco which is as high as Tibet at 3400m and obviously because of past experience, i felt no altitude effect (just drink lots of coca tea, hehe). Then I went to La Paz, capital of Bolivia, which at 4000m is as high as Mt Kinabalu. I didn't feel any effects either. After more than a week, then I went to Sajama village which is 4500m. Again, no effect. Increase of 500m is good but that day I went 1000 m plus that which was very intense.

                  In any case, above 5500m is an altogether a zone not for any mammals or humans. Here, effects of altitude sickness is so severe it is no longer about the usual headaches or dizziness. There is so much less air that we will be only partly conscious, part awake, part asleep, moving in and out. In fact, up to today I don't remember much details from up there. in my memory, its still partly hazy like a dream although its a real experience.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Great TR SQueeze! Scenery is beautiful!
                    God must have been a ship owner, he placed the raw materials far from where they are needed and covered two-thirds of the earth with water...

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Wonderful TR, SQueeze! The pictures and landscape look very stunning! This is a part of the world which I would love to visit, but I keep postponing it.

                      Do share your Peru and Argentina pictures too, as well as more from Chile!

                      Out of curiosity, how did you get to SCL from SIN?

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        This is a fantastic TR! I've long been thinking about heading to South America for a solo trip (or maybe with a travel partner or two). How did you get around the cities that you visited? Did you rent a car to get around or did you hire a guide who took you everywhere?

                        I'm personally very interested in heading to Peru specifically for the Inca trail to Macchu Picchu, but would also love to visit any of the "nearby" cities like Bogota, Santiago, etc. I would love to find out what your itineraries in South America have been like, if you're keen to share that with me.

                        I was absolutely drooling at the pictures of the scenery you've shared! Thanks for that!

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                        • #13
                          Great TR SQueeze. I would definitely love to visit the Andes or Alps doing something similar one day.

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Originally posted by SQueeze View Post
                            I am actually quite experienced with high altitudes and that's part of the problem. I took it lightly. I have been going in and out of mountains for ages and I think even in my past lives, because I feel so connected to the land.
                            Wow...yes from what you have written, you have tons of experience at high altitudes!

                            Originally posted by SQueeze View Post
                            In any case, above 5500m is an altogether a zone not for any mammals or humans. Here, effects of altitude sickness is so severe it is no longer about the usual headaches or dizziness. There is so much less air that we will be only partly conscious, part awake, part asleep, moving in and out.
                            Incredible...not something I would be able to attempt...as mentioned I am VERY prone to altitude sickness or any kind of lack of oxygen. Even in a crowded, stuffy meeting room in the office, the stale air forces me outside for cool air afer a short period of time...

                            Originally posted by SQueeze View Post
                            In fact, up to today I don't remember much details from up there. in my memory, its still partly hazy like a dream although its a real experience.
                            And you still managed to climb up and back down...amazing endurance...thumbs up!

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Since there is more interest to see more from me. So here goes.

                              La Paz is an interesting metropolis perched at 4000m above sea level. It is the highest capital city in the world. It is incredible how they pack millions of people in this challenging location.



                              Public transport by underground metro or let alone by viaducts are not possible due to steep terrain. So they have creatively created their own aerial metro using cable car - an ingenious solution. There are currently 3 lines running. And it's cheap. There was a remark on how I travel in the cities, well, I travel by public transport! no car rental required. There are ubers as well.







                              It's surrounded by beautiful peaks. And the city has a beautiful weather with no more than 20 degrees celsius every single day throughout the year. We are at the equator here but high altitude. No marked seasons.



                              And the people are gorgeously dressed. People watching is so enjoyable



                              Despite the traditions, they are moving forward to the 21st century with the cholita style of dressing in vogue. And they make use of modern conveniences as well like the aerial metros.

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