Cordillera Real

Bolivia is a land of strong sun and cold shadows. You are always going either up or down, nothing in the middle. Cordillera Real (Bolivia) is a preparation for Cordillera Blanca (Peru). Traversing ridges always puts me in a pensive mode - more walking, less talking, but the mind follows its emotional landscape. The parallel is that life at every point should be a preparation for something greater, harder, higher. Even going to the highest peak doesn´t mean it´s the end of the road. If there is no higher peak then one can always make it for a better time, harsher weather, or with less luggage on the back and in the head. We are currently traversing Cohoni - Sorata on and off. On La Cumbre a snow storm caught up with us so we improvised going down on a very popular trek - the precolumbino camino El Choro which drops 4000m in 2 days - see pics below which are made in two consequitive days. On the first one I´m freezing my butt on La Cumbre, and on the second one we are chilling out with a beer in a tent pitched on a improvised football field.
We are now back to La Paz to add 30 more days to my visa, and then going up to Illampu - the north circle of the traverse.
Some personal discoveries (not sure if they can be of any use for you):

1. wash socks above 4500m in the afternoon because in the morning they freeze to the stones and employing the ice pick leaves holes in them;
2. the lamas pin their ears back (like a hissing cat) before spitting at you;
3. there is this very inviting tuft of green grass above 4000m that procreates by shooting up in your ass millions of needles. Can be useful at the end of the day when you think you don´t have what it takes to finish the last 200m. Just sit down on one of them and you are halfway up to the top.