Up
at the crack of dawn, we spend the day traversing the most interesting
landscapes in the altiplano. From bizarre rock formations jutting up
from the earth, to colorful lakes full of flamingoes, it's a new view
every few meters and the colors continue to change before our eyes. We
eat lunch at "Laguna Hediando" (Stinky Lake), quite a nice location for
a picnic. The bulk of the day we spend above 4,000m, and we can really
feel the impact. It's not just our head colds keeping us from
breathing at this point, but the thin air and decreasing oxygen content
that keeps us gasping. Good thing we're not out trekking around,
bracing ourselves in the car is activity enough. The winds are really
strong, and the temperatures cold, even during the day.
After
a full day of driving south through every changing landscapes, we kick
it at Laguna Colorado in a "Campamiento" or what looks like a
cinderblock rectangle, half finished, jam packed with tourists. All
six of us share one room, which is fine, there's no heat and the
temperatures outside are freezing, so hopefully more people in one room
will keep in warmer. There must be a hundred people in our cinderblock
rectangle, all with the same idea: beer, wine, and people all
scrunched together will bring warmth.
While we're settling in over nice drinks, our driver has half his body
in the engine of the truck. He's been fidgeting with it the entire
trip, and we wonder if it has problems. He finally finishes up around
10:00 p.m. and we force him to have a drink with us. You can tell he's
one of the more reputable drivers. He politely refuses several times,
keeping his professional demeanor, and differentiating himself from
other drivers who drink compulsively and leave their clients in the
middle of the altiplano, unable to move the next day. But we finally
get our driver to have just one beer, the man has been working himself
to death, is exhausted and filthy, and needs to kick back, and we want
to see him enjoy just one.
The Bolivian wine isn't so bad, and it goes down quickly, three bottles
to wash down the nasty meal - one we've never quite seen before, its a
casserole of diced hot dog, tomato, egg, llama and french fries. I
can't bear to eat more than a couple bites, so my dinner will be liquid
- vino. Our plan is to drink enough wine and beer to make us all pass
out, so we could survive the cold night at high altitudes. No such
luck at 4,500m above sea level, it actually has the opposite effect. I
don't sleep even for 30 minutes. Waking up, unable to get air into my
lungs, and afraid to fall asleep, stop breathing and suffocate... all
pictures that flash through my mind when I close my eyes and try to get
some sleep. Our wake up call at the chilly dark hour of 4:00 a.m. was
brutal for all of us.
