• Nadja Pfister
  • Americas project

Americas Project

A climbers couple 🇨🇭🇧🇷 travelling with their dog from the US to Patagonia by car.
vida simples escalada forte 💛
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  • La Mojarra

    June 11, 2023 in Colombia ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C

    Back to climbing 🥳

    10 days in La Mojarra
    * body is not used to climbing anymore (weak, hurting feet, no skin, sore muscles..) but we are very happy!!
    * small but great climbing community
    * camping at a super nice and cute hostal
    * tasting delicious, fresh made Arepas (corn patties with cheese in between)
    * sleeping with 16° outdoor temps 🤩
    * enjoying our van
    * new motivation for climbing and travelling ➡️ planning the next stops with good advice from the locals
    * getting there had to be deserved! Bad roads (especially when you enter a village) , many trucks, only one road between cities means a lot of traffic jam and an average speed or 40km/h😅 It took us 16h to drive 600km from Cartagena to la Mojarra 🙈
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  • Villa de Leyva

    June 21, 2023 in Colombia ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C

    On our way to Bogotá we stopped at this cute little town. We arrived late in the evening, ate a big pizza (not the best but good enough when you're hungry), then went looking for a place to pass the night and were surprised to find our container buddies at our chosen spot 🙂
    In the next morning we made a quick tour through the village, drank a good coffee and off we were, again on the road 😎

    PS. Many people are concerned about the safety in Colombia but we feel actually very safe and for the first time (since we left the US) we feel safe enough to drive at night.
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  • Suesca/Machetá/Bogotá

    June 25, 2023 in Colombia ⋅ 🌧 18 °C

    After some tourism straight back to climbing. First stop was in Suesca, a small village at 2600m above sea. This altitude meant putting back on the warmer clothes and even take the rain jacket with us. The region around Bogotá is known for unpredictable weather and a lot of rain through out the whole year. Good thing, you still get to climb when it's raining :)
    Suesca is one of the oldest climbing crags in Colombia, basically where the climbing started. The style of the routes is very old school, requires a lot of technique, spaced bolting sometimes needs extra protection with some trad gear and the grading of the routes is very sandbagged!! Sending 7c/12d feels very good 😝
    Before getting there I was not sure if I would like the climbing there and felt quite intimidated. But turned out that we both really liked the climbing (just had to forget about grades). Santi, one of the locals and friend of our friend Josh (we were travelling with him in 🇺🇸&🇲🇽) showed us the best routes and introduced us to the local climbing scene and 🍻. Richi (an other friend of Josh) let us stay at his house even though he wasn't there and only met us at the bar for a quick chat. His house was great with a nice garden where we could park Vanbora. But as it was raining quite a lot we had a hard time getting out of the mud of his garden (that's when we decided go change our tires to all terrain ones). Not only we are feeling the altitude, Vanbora is also suffering a little bit. High altitude, mud and uphill is hard😅
    After 2 days it was time to move on to the next crag only 40min away.
    In Machetá it's less old school, climbing is steeper and it's much warmer because of less altitude. There are some very nice routes but unfortunately it was raining a lot so many of them got wet in the upper part. That's why we decided to leave 3 days earlier. A part from climbing it was so nice to get to know all the locals and see again our friend Angie whom we met in Mexico in the beginning of the year. She lives in Chía (next to Bogotá) and invited us to stay at her place. We had an amazing time with her and her family, went training together, explored the city, tasted delicious coffee and beer and enjoyed having a house for some days. We felt so welcolmed by all these amazing people! Thank you all 🤗
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  • Salento / Valle Cocora

    June 29, 2023 in Colombia ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C

    Leaving Bogotá direction Ecuador we decided to spend a day in the cute village of Salento. Colombia is world famous for it's quality coffee and the Salento region is one of the most famous for it. Apart from the delicious coffee we could enjoy the nice atmosphere of the village and visit the near by Cocora Valley and see the gigante wax palms that can reach a height of over 60m. They are the tallest palmtrees in the world and are located at 3000m about sea level!
    We also discovered "Tejo" a national game of Colombia together with our camping neighbours Estefi y Martin from Argentina. For sure this game wouldn't be allowed in Switzerland. As you have to try to hit small triangles filled with gun powder with a disc made of plum and make them explode 😂 We had to put toilet paper in our ears to protect them and don't get deaf 😅🙈
    Fun days in Salento for sure and our favourite landscape in Colombia so far!
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  • Pasto/Ipiales

    July 2, 2023 in Colombia ⋅ ☁️ 15 °C

    The expected but unwanted happened. On the day we wanted to cross to Ecuador our van broke down on the middle of the highway, only 40km away from Ecuador 🥴
    Vini had already a weird feeling the night before. He was talking to Vanbora, telling her to only hold on a little longer that soon in Brasil we will treat her well and do a big maintenance. A little longer in this case meant 50km 😂
    As the clutch was broken (see the video) there was no way to fix this on the highway, so the towing vehicle had to come. Luckily the whole service was free and gets paid with the highway tolls.
    The towing vehicle unloaded our van at the entrance of the city Ipiales (it's not allowed to drive any further). We were lucky that right there was a good mechanic who let us sleep inside his garage and store our van there as long as we were waiting for the spare parts to arrive from Bogotá. Of course it all happened during weekend with a holiday on monday which meant extra waiting time.
    The next day we decided to drive back by bus to a city called Pasto as we heared from our friends that it's possible to climb there. Thanks to the great climbing community in Colombia we got the contact of Carlos, a climber who lives in Pasto. He was a great help these days. He let us stay in his small cottage next to the climbing sectors, guided us to the sectors, showed us local food, and even went to the mechanics to check how things were going! We feel very grateful to meet so many amazing people during our trip. Hopefully one day we can give it back to them.
    When the parts were about to arrive we traveled back to Ipiales and made a short visit to the cathedral "las lajas" , a stop at the gym and the city center (not very beautiful).
    After 6 days of delay we were finally able to continue and cross the border to Ecuador.

    Some facts:
    * we had diner in a restaurant for 1.50$ per person
    * paid 2$ for gym entrance
    * waited 40min at the ATM to get money. When it was our turn there was not enough money left in the ATM
    * at the mechanics you have to pay all the parts and productos yourself before the car gets fixed. Which meant withdrawing money 10 times and then go to the bank and make the payment. Vini even had to go to the gas stations to get some stuff so they could do the work.
    * colombian roads are tough for cars. Many up and down, steep and curvy and many bumps and wholes. All this at >2000m above sea. When we got towed we saw 4 other vehicles that had to be towed at almost the same spot
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  • Ciudad Mitad del Mundo

    July 7, 2023 in Ecuador ⋅ 🌧 18 °C

    And we crossed from the north to the south hemisphere 🥳
    First stop in Ecuador was the Mitad del Mundo monument with it's attractions. It's supposed to be at the center of the earth on the equator.
    To make the park more interesting and vistor friendly there are exhibitions of the houses of the diferent villages of indigenous people that live in Ecuador, information about cacao plants and productions and a lot more..
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  • Cotopaxi

    July 8, 2023 in Ecuador ⋅ ❄️ 1 °C

    The Cotopaxi 🌋 was a altitude test and height record for Nadja and Vanbora and luckily they both succeeded.
    You could drive up on 4500m with your car. Vanbora made it up to 4450m, on the last turn there was too much snow so we had to park there. Leki was not happy to stay back in the van, seeing all this snow around. But it was forbidden to bring dogs inside this park so we already felt bad bringing him along in the car. For crossing the park entry we had to attach him in the back of the van on the bed🙈
    To reach the Jose Rivas refuge you had to walk around 1km with 350m height difference. With a slow and steady pace we had no problems to hike up there, and reached the refuge about 45min later. We were the first ones to arrive and even arrived before the staff. Unfortunately we forgot our money and couldn't taste a hot chocolate or a 'te de coca.' We really liked this hut, it was cozy and full of memories of other tourists. Our highlight was of course the climbing wall 🤗
    As the weather was quite stormy we didn't have the best view of Cotopaxi but we nevertheless enjoyed this small adventure very much!
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  • Chimborazo

    July 9, 2023 in Ecuador ⋅ ☁️ 12 °C

    Chimborazo was our 2nd Volcano in Ecuador. This time not the🌋 was the main reason for the stop but the climbing at it's base. Our camping spot was just above the beautiful chorrera canyon where the climbing is hidden. Our first climbing day was a bit rough: rain, wind, cold and exhausting to climb at 3800m. Luckily the next days were much better with a lot of sun and our bodies got used to the altitude and it was much more pleasant to climb.
    On our rest day we drove up to the first refuge at 4800m of Chimborazo. A well mantained dirt road made Vanbora easily climb up these 1000m.
    Of course we also did the short hike to the 2nd refuge at 5050m and the small laguna at 5100m. For us it was an easy hike and we almost didn't feel the altitude until we got back to our campground. I got a bad headache that lasted the whole day and Vini had problems while sleeping.

    Before we drove up to the climbing place we spent one night at a farm in San Juan and were hosted by Juan a very sweet and welcoming old man. He loves hosting all the travellers and has a room to hang out & cook which is full of pictures of all his visitors. The big book once used for notes about farming and his cows turned into a guest book (it still contains the 🐄 notes😂). He told us that his life changed a lot since he started hosting people, it is much more interesting and beautiful 🙂.
    This was our last in Ecuador before heading to our next country 🇵🇪
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  • Huaraz - Laguna 69

    July 16, 2023 in Peru ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C

    * a summary of 500km along the coast: eating delicious ceviche, sleeping & showering at a gas station between trucks, breakfast at the sea (not a beautiful place but we saw some seals & surfers), a lot of dirt everywhere!!! , grey landscape, grey and dusty weather, many poor cities and villages & some traffic jams...

    * welcome to Huaraz: sleeping at 3000m in the center of the city in a small park, talking to the neighbours which offered us their bathrooms, watching the locals dance in the park at night, breakfast while watching the students practice marching, changing our sleeping spot to a lovely farm of an old lady, meeting other overlanders at the farm (🇨🇭🇩🇪🇺🇸), looking for boulders close to the farm, ending up training because we didn't like the boulders, eating one of our best Raclettes in a 🇨🇭 restaurant 🤩

    * Laguna 69: beautiful hike, starting at 3800m, top at 4650m, 16km in total, 60km rough dirt road for Vanbora, 4.5h sleeping for Leki 🚐
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  • Hatun Machay

    July 18, 2023 in Peru ⋅ ⛅ 10 °C

    Wonderful days spent in Hatun Machay, doing what we love to do 🧗‍♀️and being where we love to be 🌄⛰️😌
    Apart from many rock, 🐄 & 🐑 (very interesting for Leki) the only thing you can find there is a refuge for climbers.
    It was nice to meet some other climbers, share our passion and have some tea together in the cold evenings. While everybody was freezing in a tent or the cold refuge we where happy to spend the night in warm Vanbora. Even though our van was very cozy and we were tired from climbing we didn't sleep well these nights. Sleeping quality at 4300m is just not great. Especially Vini was having troubles breathing while sleeping (strange thing, because during the day he felt great and had no troubles with altitude).
    Climbing at this altitude felt hard (even harder than in Ecuador at 3800m 😅) but we didn't care too much. Just happy to be climbing at such a magical place and touching good rock.
    On the last day we climbed at an other place, only 30min away from Hatun Machay, on to the road to Lima. There was a small but well organized camping for free where we spent the night. Short session in the morning before it got too hot (full sun & no shade). Normally in Europe at 4000m it's cold but here in Peru at this altitude it can get pretty warm with 20°.
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  • On the road Lima - Abancay

    July 23, 2023 in Peru

    After some days in the mountains we went back to the sea. Lima we crossed by night and didn't see much except of the traffic - patience was needed. Quick stop at a surf hostal where we slept like a baby, took a good shower and had a short talk with some other overlanders (they wanted to spend 1 night at the hostal but are now staying there for 6 weeks already 😅). But except from surfing there is not much to see or do in this town. As we lost our surfboard on the highway in Ecuador (we forgot to check on it after many km on dirt roads - it got loose and flew away of the roof🙈) there was nothing to do for us and we continued our journey. Next stop was the national reserv of Paracas where the beautiful desert meets the ocean. Highlight of the visit were the flamingos 🦩🦩(first ones we've seen on our trip!).
    After some more km and traffic jams (there was a big one because a truck with oversize load couldn't pass below the traffic light 🚦and they had to take off the signals so that it could pass - only problem, there was a signal every 500m😂) we stoped near Nazca (famous city for the misterious lines made by indigenous people many years ago). Only in the morning we saw that we parked right next to one of these drawings. So we started our morning with some sightseeing at 6.30 😁 That same day we drove another 10h direction Cusco, much of it above 4000m with beautiful views of the pampas.
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  • Ruinas Incas

    July 24, 2023 in Peru ⋅ ☀️ 13 °C

    Machu Picchu was supposed to be our next destination. Everything was perfectly planned - how to get there with Vanbora, dog friendly hotel booked, ticket availability checked.
    Only when we arrived at the campground in Abancay our host told us that all the tickets have been sold out until end of august! At first we didn't believe it because when we checked 2 days ago there were many tickets available for the afternoon entries. So we checked again and indeed, everything sold out 😒 we still don't know why we saw tickets available the other day but we knew that we had to change our plans..
    New plan: visiting other inca ruins in the sacred valley.
    Maybe they were not as impressiv or famous but still beautiful and interesting to visit. And we saved some money and time 😉
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  • Cusco

    July 28, 2023 in Peru ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C

    *Cusco*

    *Beautiful city
    *Great campground
    *Making new friends (met a climber couple 🇧🇷🇳🇱)
    *Too much talking & no ✔️ on the to do list
    *Self made Caipirinhas 🍹 🇧🇷🤩
    *Amazing (cheap) food options for vegetarians
    *Ceviche 🐟
    *Picarones 🍩 (local desert, see picture)
    *Good coffee
    *Interesting free walking tour
    *Enjoying the market
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  • Pitumarca

    July 30, 2023 in Peru ⋅ ☁️ 8 °C

    After some city life we went back to the mountains and climbing. The valley above the village Pitumarca is very beautiful and has not much beside rocks and hundreds of Lamas and Alpacas. I think they are our new favourite animals, they are just too cute☺️ Leki didn't know if he should like them, be afraid or chase them 😅. Because of some incidences between dogs and Lamas it's mandatory to have dogs on the leash. That meant boring days for Leki but it was way better for the animals and more peacful for us..
    There is a big amount of rock and many bolted routes with some pretty nice lines but in general we were a bit disapointed of the rock quality. Nevertheless we had fun climbing and spent good days up there.
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  • 🌈⛰️ / 👙🩳 / 🗻

    July 31, 2023 in Peru ⋅ ☁️ 9 °C

    On our way from Peru to Bolivia we explored the incredible Andean landscapes!

    Rainbow Mountain 🧡💛💚💙💜

    Hot Springs including mud treatment. There were only local people and we paid only 1.50$ per person. It was located at 4000m in a remote place with views of the mountains.

    Titicaca lake
    We skipped the extremly touristy islands where the indigenous people live and make an exhibition of their home but we enjoyed some nice views of the lake.

    New country 🇧🇴
    We entered Bolivia on a holiday of the border city Copacabana. Which meant many people crossing the border, a big line and many hours waiting. The process itself was fast and easy.
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  • La Paz

    August 2, 2023 in Bolivia ⋅ ☀️ 14 °C

    What an interesting city! We felt a bit like at a ski station in Switzerland with this Gondulas 😁 poor country but top modern Teleférico!
    It's a great solution for such a big and steep city!
    Our first night we slept at El Alto at 4000m. The next morning we had an early appointment with Leki at the dog hotel in south of La Paz at 3400m. Crazy drive with Vanbora 600m downhill on steep & narrow streets😅 At the doghotel Leki got checked by a vet & a dog coach in order to see if he can stay there for one night meanwhile we go on an adventure🙂
    He got accepted but had to stay there the whole at the daily dogsitting to get used to the place. Leki free day meant exploring the city, taking many cable cars, go shopping at the market and the mountain hardware stores 😁
    The rest of our stay we spent at the camping Las Lomas with other Overlanders 🇫🇮🇩🇪🇪🇨 and only went to the center to visit a small but cozy climbing gym!
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  • Huayana Potosi 🏔️

    August 5, 2023 in Bolivia ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C

    At 8 in the morning our Taxi picked us up at the camping to start our adventure. First stop at the dog hotel droping off Leki with everything he needed for 2 days and then we rushed to the center of La Paz to meet all the other people joining us on our tour.
    Our big backpacks got fixed on the rooftop of the minivan (miracle they didn't fall off) and off we were direction Huayana Potosi. We arrived around noon at base camp at 4700m. Before lunch we repacked our backpacks, adding our renting equipment from the agency. After a big lunch Vini and I had to say good bye to our group as we were the only ones doing the 2 days tour and had to continue our way up to high camp (the others spent 1 night at base camp, practiced ice climbing and only went up to high camp the following day). After 2h hiking we reached high camp at 5200m. Still full from lunch we were offered many snacks which of course we had to try. In this refuge we met Niek & Tom 2 dutch guys who would join us on the tour at night.
    At 5pm dinner got served (we had to force us to eat 🙈) and at 6pm we were already in bed. The altitude and excitement made it very difficult to sleep. When we had to get up at 1am it was almost a relief. Putting on all the clothes and equipments, preparing our small backpacks, short breakfast and then the tour started.
    In the dark with big boots it was not easy to climb/walk on the big steps/rocks to get to the glaciar. After 30min we reached the glaciar, put on the crampons and the fun began. For Vini it was easy to walk with them, for me it felt a bit strange as it was the first time. All the guys of the group were chewing coca leaves non stop (they are good for altitude and give you energy). I only tried to chew them once when I started to get tired but I didn't like the chewing and walking at the same time. We made good progress and passed many groups until after a vertical climb I suddendly couldn't breath anymore and panicked at the height of 5700m. The mix between panick, frozen feet, tiredness and no encouragement of the guide to continue made me turn around at this point. The guys continued the ascent with one guide and made it to the summit at 6088m 😁🥳💪
    It was an incredible experience and we were both happy & tired (and a little sad for not standing at the top together).
    Leki meanwhile was playing with his dog friends and seemed to have spent a good time at the hotel. But of course he was very happy to see us 😁
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  • Tunupa

    August 7, 2023 in Bolivia ⋅ ☀️ 15 °C

    The day after Huayana Potosi we drove direction salt flats. We passed beautiful landscapes, saw many wind swirls and even camped at a meteorite crate. The following day (after endless dirtroads) we reached the saltflats and with it the start of our next hike, the Tunupa volcano. When we entered the tourist office to buy the ticket for the hike we got in a bad mood. You're only allowed to hike on your own to the first view point. If you want to hike to the following two viewpoints or want to climb to the top you have to hire a guide and pay 80$. We decided to go on our own and check the situation up there. As there was nobody at the viewpoint and the hike looked very easy we decided to continue. Not wanting to raise any suspect for being away too long we started running/walking very fast with our still tired legs from Huayana Potosi 🙈 At least we had no problems with the altitude, 4900m felt quite low this time 😂. It was totally worth to continue, the views were incredible from the 2nd lookout! As it was not possible to climb on the top anyway (rock climbing with gear would have been necessary, rock was loose and we didn't know the route.. ) we decided to stop there and not going to the 3rd lookout at the colourful pyramid next to us.
    Great hike, spectacular views, visiting a cave with mummies and finally a place where Leki was allowed to join us 😌
    PS. There was definitely no guide needed for this hike! Super safe and very easy to find the path..
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  • Salar

    August 8, 2023 in Bolivia ⋅ ☀️ 14 °C

    One of the craziest places we have been so far, Salar de Uyuni.
    We expected rough roads and dificulties for Vanbora but that was not the case at all. Driving at 100km/h through the salt flats and then arriving to an islands full of cactus, incredible! Night temps below zero, 1000 stars and a milkyway, as soon as the sun hits the car in the morning, temperature rises fast and sun glasses are needed immediately other wise you get blind!Read more

  • Edén/Churata

    August 10, 2023 in Bolivia ⋅ ☀️ 5 °C

    Last stop in Bolivia and only climbing place we visited. We spent 2 nights in the climbing refuge together with french siblings, playing games, cooking dinner and sharing stories. One of the best refuges we have seen so far which works only on a donation base. We also had the pleasure to meet the owner and his family and got invited to their house for coffee & tea. The place itself really was a paradise but we got a bit disappointed by the climbing and rock quality.Read more

  • Corumbá - Cipó

    August 15, 2023 in Brazil ⋅ 🌩️ 28 °C

    Finally in Brazil, feeling at home 😌
    At the border crossing in Corumbá we had to wait all day for the customs inspector to arrive at 19.45 to sign the import papers of our car. At least we were allowed to cross the border while waiting and could already taste the brazilian air & food.
    From the border to our destination (serra do cipo) it was still a 24h drive. Our first stop was in Campo Grande where we met a friend from the south of Brazil who is building a climbing gym there. Brazil feels like an island in South America. Different language, better infrastructure, more modern cities, and also the people and culture is very different from the rest of South America. Campo Grande has a huge & beautiful park with Capivaras and other exotic animals in it.

    Many kilometrs to drive trough the Pantanal but it was never boring as the landscapes were changing all the time and we could observe many animals including "domesticated" alligators next to the road.

    We also got to touch the first brazilian rock of the trip in serra da Bocaina . Not the best rock but it felt good to climb and have a break from driving. After the detour to Bocaina (50km dusty dirt roads) our van was completely covered in red dust inside & outside. Our sheets were no longer white but red 😂 it took us one entire day to clean Vanbora from all this dust 😅
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  • Serra do Cipó / 🌽

    September 17, 2023 in Brazil ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

    Vida boa do Cipó

    Climbing 🧗
    Friends 👫👫👫
    Barbecue🔥🍻
    Samba 💃🎶🕺
    Natural pools 🏞️🏊

    Feels good to be at one place among friends after so much travelling and mostly being just the 3 of us. There is no boring day in Cipó. Always some event or gathering with friends 😌
    Let's see how much longer we can stay here. Temperature is raising, rain is coming soon and a special event is waiting for us at our next destination.
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  • São Paulo/São José dos Campos

    Oct 5–10, 2023 in Brazil ⋅ ☁️ 24 °C

    Short stop over in two cities. Not for sightseeing but to meet Vinis family (cousin & aunt) and to take part in a bouldering competition.
    So no tourist pictures 😉

    Good days with a lot of food, climbing, laughters, wellness and even a working day for Vini in the climbing gym.

    Leki was brave, spending some days & nights without us in São José dos Campos while we were in São Paulo at the competition 😌
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  • Passa Vinte

    October 11, 2023 in Brazil

    10 days of detox in Passa Vinte.
    Nowhere to spend money or buy beer and very limited internet due to storms which cut of the wifi and the phone signal. Just surrounded by rock, grass, forest, cows and good people.
    The weather was not the best but it's normal for this season to rain a lot and be very fogy. Luckily the cave protects the routes from the rain and the holds are mostly big. So climbing is still possible.
    Not climbing days were spent with watching movies, solving puzzles, yoga, editing photos and movies. The owners of the camping are super chill people and it was a pleasure to spend time with them. We almost adopted their kid, who was a huge fan of our van and spent every possible minute in it 😂
    Dificulties of this place: walking to the crag and back without slipping and falling into cow shit. Leaving this place with a huge van without having to call the tractor which pulls you on the top of the hill. Heavy rain and steep dirt roads are not a good combination🙈 luckily we made it without the tractor but it was a close call 😅
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  • Itatiaia

    Oct 14–16, 2023 in Brazil ⋅ 🌩️ 10 °C

    Vinis Cousin Leandro showed us the beautiful Itatiaia Nationalpark which is sharing the border with 3 different states: Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo & Minas Gerais.
    This weekend we had a little bit of climbing, hiking & scrambling on top of "Agulhas negras" 2791m the 5th highest mountain of Brazil.
    Normally a guide would be required to climb on top of it. But with Leandro knowing the path & Vini as climbing guide it was not necessary for us. Not a difficult hike/scrambling but you are better not afraid of heights. While Vini and Leandro went on top of the neighbouring peak, I had to climb down fast because of my problem with heights/peaks 😅
    The weather was a bit of everything: cloudy, sunny, windy, cold, warm, foggy.. 2 days with 2 different views.

    It was great to have Vinis Cousin with us. A short but intense weekend!
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