Bolivia at LONG Last
Well we are here safely and settling in well in La Pas, more on that later.
The build up day went well on the Saturday at Hounslow Barracks in London. The team arrived at 1630 and ate, checked all the kit and completed the handover from World Challenge (WC). The expedition had begun! After the 121’s with all the challengers we discussed roles and rules for the expeditions. It was earlyish to bed for most of us in preparation for the 5am start the next day.
The trip to Heathrow went well. We checked in without a hitch apart from a 5 min panic that Maz (assistant leader) hadn’t been given a ticket by WC. All the baggage was checked in without a hitch. The money was collected and after a 5 minute dash in departures to get some breakfast (more like 15 actually ) it was a run to the gate in time for departure.
The flight to Miami was great, on a comfortable 777 (John you would be pround). There was loads of leg room and the food and entertainment was ok. Arrival at Miami was a different matter. Security was a pain with loads of checks from sullen security guards. We all bit our tongues and got through to the main airport within a couple of hours.
Now Miami airport is not the greatest in the world, especially when you have 8 hours to kill. We still had lots of stuff to cover which due to time constraints we hadn’t been able to complete on build up day. We found a clear floor area and went through all of this including our first review. The team was now starting to flag a bit as we had now been up for over 20 hours. We did a quick review of progress to date and then it was off for food. Our first mistake was assuming that departures was as full of shops and resturants as most European airports are. They are not! Infact they were empty, fortunately we could return back through security to get some more food.
We boarded our flight for La Pas just after midnight US time. By now we had been up for over 24 hours and all (me included) were dead on our feet. Most of us got on the plane and passed out. Not before Jo and a couple of others on the team had managed to blad their way onto the flight deck (before we took off obviously). The pilots loved it but the ground crew were getting a little upset to say the least as they wanted to get the flight away. Calls of ‘Captain we have to close this flight now!’ were not being answered. After much diplomacy by me the guys managed to get the photos they wanted, including Jo in the pilots seat wearing his hat
The flight to La Pas was very very uncomfortable. It was difficult to sleep with little leg room but we did our best. Being woken up at 1am to be offered a full evening meal didn’t do much for my mood as I am sure you can imagine
We landed on schedule in La Pas just after dawn. Due to the altitude (4000m) the plane has to land at twice its normal velocity but it was very smooth and we stopped pretty quickly.
All bags had arrived safely which was reassuring as we hadn’t seen them since Heathrow. Once through security we decided on a hotel and grabbed 5 taxis and headed down into La Pas (3600m). The drive was interested with loads of beautiful mountains on the skyline. We were dropped at our first choice hotel to find it closed, as was another option over the road. This left nothing for it but to hike across the city to our third choice. Not an easy option after little sleep and carrying heavy packs at altitude.
We arrived safely with loads of rests and good navigation by the team. Accommodation is basic but pretty good with hot water and an internet connection. Arrangements were made for today, including booking a guide to do the Devils Molar trek to the south of the city.
Everybody had a great nights sleep last night, the first for a few days and have all lost any sickness or headaches from the altitude this morning.
Anyway, I had best sign off now as our guide is due to arrive in a few minutes. More later about th trek during which we should get some great photos of La Pas and the mountains
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