Bolivia Apr23

The Perse School Summit 12 Expedition to Bolivia (1-16 April23): 12 kids, 5 staff

Courtesy of Avianca, we had a 17 hour layover in Bogota in each direction

So we took a city tour (Sacred Holy Temple Metropolitan Cathedral Basilica and Primate of the Immaculate Conception of Mary and Saint Peter)

Reed crosses (biodegradable)

friendly militia

colourful streets

Gold Museum (the mythical El Dorado is nearby)

This gondola public transport system was opened in 2018

It links in the colourful favela (slums) of Ciudad Bolívar into Bogota.

We learned how Ciudad Bolívar is now swiftly gentrifying

and met some of the locals

And admired the graffiti art

and met some of the artists

we even created our our own

And then continued on to La Paz, Bolivia (at 3,800m, the highest capital city in the world) ©fb

Lots of shopping opportunities ©fb

Kids got some new threads ©fb

We then headed out to Santiago de Okola, a small community on the shores of Lake Titikaka (Peru is in the bakground).

The village relies on herding sheep

and, yes, tourism

We did some short hikes here to aclimate at 4,000m ©fb

And then we headed off higher

past some simple hamlets

To a 4,500m plateau

where we stopped off for a film night

and then settled in to Tarija Base Camp

From where we set off at 3am

To reach the 5,150m summit of Tarija ©fb

It was a great view

the local children were impressed

But without delay, we set off toward our next target: Huayna Potosí

setting off again just after midnight ©fb

it was big mountain

and at 6,088m, it was a long way up ©fb

and cast a long shadow

It was the hardest thing I've ever done

But we made it!

it was a long way down too ©fb

dodging crevasses ©fb