July 5, 2007

We received the following dispatch from guide Danny Uhlmann today at 4pm:

Team Mabunga is back in La Paz after the final two days of the Taquesi trek. The third day of the trek, July 4th, began from camp began on a beautiful and clear morning. (The previous night, July 3rd, ended abrubtly after I took one of the team members, Kurt Gusinde, to town in a long game of gin rummy. Kurt insists I won due to was beginners luck - he just recently taught me how to play - but I maintain that it was my Jedi-like powers that ruled the game. We have set a rematch for the first night we're in the Condoriri.) We breakfasted on Martin's delicious eggs, potatoes, and peppers, wrapped up American-style as breakfast burritos with tortillas and salsa picante. The clear morning air thickened with oxygen as we descended the old Inca road, sometimes wide and cobbled, sometimes narrow and rocky, into the Amazon Basin jungle beneath. Kurt's boots, wet from a fall into the creek the day before, were the only reminder of the previous camp. We moved from 11,200 feet to approximately 6,200 feet, where we camped at a guard station for a small dam. Earlier in the day, we stopped for lunch at the most beautiful house in Bolivia, owned by a friend of guide Juan Churra's, which stuck out like a beautiful thumb from the dense jungle surrounding it. The owner, Primo, sold us coca-colas while we ate tuna, cheese, avocado, tomato, cucumber sandwiches and watched his cute 4-year-old play with their dog. Meanwhile, Primo was harvesting a special leaf from one of his trees, which he sells and is used for reducing inflammation. We left with memories of a tuna-loving puppy and cute children, all perched among Primo's gorgeous flowers and stunning views into the deep jungle valley beneath.

It took another two hours from the lunch spot to reach our camp, where we set up camp and made dinner. We had a fabulous meal: corn and rice soup for an appetizer, followed by spaghetti with fresh veggie marinara sauce, then a dessert of vanilla pudding. Thoughts of the previous night's vigorous, two-hour card game of B.S. were in my head, during which Michele ruined my plan to win by calling B.S. on Steve, which then allowed the next move of Rob's to be the winning move. I haven't had enough time to plot my revenge on Michele yet, but am reading up on The Count of Monte Cristo to find some inspiration.

This morning (July 5), we had cereal for breakfast at 7:30am, then departed on the one-hour walk to the roadhead where German, our trusty bus driver (who in my opinion has no equal among U.S. bus drivers in terms of skill or calm in the face of danger), met us for the 3.5 hour drive to La Paz.

Now in La Paz, we are residing at the luxurious Hotel Rey (the King Hotel), where we are in great striking distance of all the good restaurants and bars. Tomorrow we will set out for the Condoriri Valley to begin making ascents! Until tomorrow, Team Mabunga.