Departamento de Cochabamba

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 😁Baca lagi