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Note: this is taken from emails sent in 2001. Hemi

good morning!
“huayna potosi” is a mountain i paid little attention to when reading about bolivia before coming here. however, since i have arrived, i have heard many people talk about it. it is a beautiful mountain whose foothills are an a hour drive from la paz via dirt road.
it stands boldly at 6088 meters (in feet it is just 24ft shy of the magic 20,000 ft height!). its snow capped summit may be seen from la paz in the morning hours as later on in the day it tens to cloud up there. although not the highest mountain in bolivia (a-name-i-cant-recall at 6500m), it is considered “the easiest 6000m mountain in the world”. this is due to the fact that the climb is not too technical, even though climbing equipment is neccessary, so basically even people with no climbing experience can summit with a guide. the ascent is les than 1500m , as the starting point is at 4800m, so there is not too much to climb (like the kilimangaro for instance). the main problem is the low oxygen level at 6000m, it is about oe half of that at sea level. many people suffer altitude sickness if they are not properly acclimatized before the ascent.

i have been contemplating the 2 day climb for several weeks now, but since i had been in the lowlands for almost 2 weeks before returning to la paz, i thought that i may not be properly acclimitized to attempt the climb. but as the days went on i grew more inclined to go for it. in the worst case i would not ascend. i planed to wait 3 days in la paz before attempting the climb. i also started taking diamox pills, which help the body acclimatize before climbing, but have the unfortunate side effect of excessive need to urinate.

on my first day in la paz, i traversed mt chacaltaya at 5400m, and felt no problems whatsoever. this helped me decide – DO IT. I signed up with one of the many recommended agencies, and on saturday morning we left la paz for huyana potosi. the agency provides a guide, food, and all the climbing equipment which includes: boots, crampons, ice ax, harness for roping, waterproof pants and jacket, a head attached flashlight, a tent, gloves and more.

my group included 2 american girls that have been living in bolivia for 18 monthes as a part of their 2 year peace corps volunteer work. heather, 30, slim and athletic, lives in a village 150km from la paz and helps the locals with agriculture and fruit trees. becky, 24, lives in el alto, the slum part of la paz innudated with campesinos (farm people of indian
descent) which has grown in 15 years from nothing to almost 1 million inhabitants, and helps children in a school. we were supposed to meet at the base camp later on a fourth climber who had been trekking for several days and therefore was already in the mountain area with another guide from the same agency. we set off with our guide, the friendly vicente, in a small suzuki samurai jeep crowded with all our bags and gear and drove off for what i considered my greatest challenge so far in bolivia.

the dirt road provides some great views, both of la paz and of huyana potosi so we stopped on the way for some pictures. we passed a huge artificial lake called lago canada because a canadian company has done all the infrastructure work for providing water from the mountains to la paz. at noon we reached paso zongo (4800m) which is the starting point for the climb. the guide gave us each our equipment and the girls voted me to carry the tent we gringos would share at the base camp (5200m) in the evening. so our packs were quite loaded with all the equipment neccessary for the climb.
it started snowing as we got our packs ready.

as we set off i was feeling pretty good with the load, i guess after a month of trekking i got into good shape. unfortunately, becky seemed to lag more and more behind and complained of feeling ill. but it was not soroche (altitude sickness) as she had stomach problems. the 4 hour hike to the basecamp started off crossing a nice dam and then through some more water pipes and finally pure nature. after about 2 hours we reached the snow line and put our crampons on. becky wasgetting worse but somehow we made it to the camp. there were already 10 tents up, but i saw mostly local guides. it was 4pm and some of the gringos were inside the tents trying to get some rest. it was quite obvious becky would not do the climb the next day, and we felt sorry for her, she looked really bushed.

we met nigel, 36, english banking professional, who had spent the last few days trekking in the area. as he also had a tent, the girls ousted me out of the tent i hd so boldly braved up the mountain for them and shacked me up with nigel. good thing too, because guess what happened at night. both the girls were seriously ill, and as it was so cold outside and they so weak, all the fluids solid and inbetweens that their bodies emitted, remained with them in the tent.

the thing about summiting snowy peaks is that you usually have to start off in the middle of the night in order to make it up early in the morning before it gets all clouded up. in our case, wake up time was at midnight (!!). i went to sleep at aroud 5:30pm but unfortunately could not amass more than a total of 45 minutes of sleep till the guides woke us up. nigel and i talked alot about travel, he has been to many countries all over. his favorite is namibia, and africa in general which is the last authentic continent not spoilt by tourists. it was snowing quite heavily all evening which quite worried me, as i had spoken with someone who could not climb to the summit due to heavy snowfalls the day before his summit attempt. but somewhere near ten pm the snow stopped, and through the fabric of the nylon tent i could see that it was light outside. great ! this was the moon in its fullest glory, round and glistening, reflected by billions of little mirrors called snowfakes.

the hardest thing about waking up in a tent in the middle of the night is having to take the first pee. still groggy from the “sleep”, i put my boots on the wrong way opened the tent flaps and stepping only 2 meteres away from the tent i relieved myself. for the first time i got a glimpse of the beautiful nocturnal landscape. never in my life have i seen a night so bright. going back into the tent i had to turn the flashlight on. i then got dressed and put on all my equipment. luckily we did not need to take anything up the mountain with us except for some snack, water, and of course a camera. vicented the guide informed me that both girls were sick which was quite unfortunate for them, but meant he would be my personal guide, and another guide would take nigel up. vicente kept rushing me, and after a quick drink of mate de coca (a tea made from coca leaves) he and i departed the camp to the summit. several minutes afer us, the rest of the groups started climbing as well.

vicente and i were roped together with him leading the way. the night was so bright that we did not use our flashlights at all. we began climbing at 1:15am and hoped to make the summit aroud sunrise. although vicente had a muchilla with 50m of cord and some other climbing equipment, he was walking quite fast, with me muttering “momentito” every few minutes just to take a few seconds to catch my breath. the cord connecting us was about 5m long and i wanted it to never strech to its full extent. when i had now air to ask vicente to stop, though, the rope simply streched, and the tug tolded mister iron luns that its time to rest.

the view was amazing. it was a beautiful clear nght and with the moon shining so intensely we could see all the surrounding mountains covered with varying shades of snow. after a while we saw 2 more tents. this is campo argentino (5500m) which is seldomly used anymore because some guy died there going to the bathroom at night. he did not notice a hidden ice crevace and plummeted. he ice crevaces are gaping mouthes of nothingness tucked away all over the mounatain. falling into one is most likely lethal. some are big and easy to spot, others are hidden under a thin layer of snow, like animal traps waiting patiently for the next victim. later we passed by a place called “polish ridge” im memory of a polish guy who was killed there a few years back.

after another hour of walk we reached our first big challenge , a 70m wall of ice and snow that had to be traversed. this is where the icepick and the front teeth of the crampons come into use. the technique is simple in theory
– slam the icepick into the snow above the height of your head, and make sureit can hold your weight, then lift one leg and kick the crampons into the snow, procedd with next leg, and now back to the icepick. sounds easy huh ? well, it aint.
slowly but surely we climbed up the steep incline (70 deg to my best
judgement) and when we reached the top i lay exhausted for a few moments.

walking up some more we could see the lights of la paz. as we proceeded, i was starting to feel really tired. i did not know if this is because i practically had not slept or because the oxygen was getting thinner and less abundant. we kept walking though, and hunger also started to set in. as we reached the last few hundred meters, vicente told me that the hardest part was the last 200m of the climb. what a cheerful thought.

since we were the first ones climbing up, we were creating the path for the rest to follow. unfortunately that meant plodding thorough fresh, knee deep snow at some places. in one of these fun spots i felt like i was really depleted of energies. i told vicente i wanted to dtop and eat something and he said yes, a little farther up. we continued another few minutes through this valley of deep snow and seeing there was no end to it i told him that i was going to eat right here.

i first wanted to quench my thirst, and after i got the ice out of the bottleneck i had a nice icy refresco. i then extracted from one of my pockets a 200g pack of dulce de leche (sweetened concentrated milk) which is simply put delicious. after sucking away at most of its contents, i immediately began to feel better.

the skies in the east were beginning to turn lighter, it was around 5am. we proceeded for a bit more in the deep snow and then reached a steep wall which vicente told me is the last bit of climbing left. he suggested we rest for a few minutes before the climb. resting for more than a few minutes is not good because you start to get cold very easily. i began to feel my toes freezing in the boots. wiggling them around was not helping much, so i was really happy when vicente was ready to proceed.

to the east shades of marvelous purple and red began to appear as vicente prepared the ropes for the climb. he would climb 50m with the rope and then secure it with his pick, then i would climb up with him collecting the excess so that if i fall, the rope catches me right away.
vicente started up the beautiful sheer wall just as daylight brought its majestic elegance into full proportions. i could not resist the temptation and though i knew my hands were needed to hold my ice pick to the wall and hold the rope, i took my camera out and started shooting. this neccessitated taking off my gloves, brrrr..
then it was my turn up and it took much longer than it had for vicente.
every few steps i stopped to breath heavily. almost 6000 i consoled myself.
when i reached vicente i was pooped. he then told me we have two similar ascents and we are at the top.

the next ascent was just as hard as the first but i figured that it meant i crossed the magic 6000m line. small victory.

waiting for vicentes next ascent i felt my tortured toes returning to life after they had “frozen” at our break below. the pain is similar to a million little needles from inside and out. since it had happed to me once sevral years ago i knew it would pass withn a few minute, and it also meant my boys are back in business ,with no threat of frostbite or pemanent damage.

the reward for the pain was the most beautiful sunrise i have ever seen in my life. slowly the glowing red ball lifted itself above the mountain chain to my back, and once again, istead of facing the mountain wall , i took some more pictures.

vicente reached the end of the 50m rope and told me to start climbing. i was heaving and coughing a bit, trying to get myself up there. i recalled robert m pirsig and his book “zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance” where the narrator says “when climbing mountains always maintain a balance between lack of patience (to summit) and lack of oxygen”. i finally and truly understood exactly what he meant.

with 10m of rope left between me and vicente i collapsed as i did every few steps to regain my composure, but i could see that he was at the summit, and that there was no hidden climb left. i forgot pirsigs quote and made a rush for it.

i made it!! and guess what, instead of immediately laying down i just stood there and looked at tview 360 degrees around and all i could do was think wow!!! it was 6:44am. the next thing i did was take out the camera and start shooting like crazy. the sunrise was in its last stages and the scenery with all the mountain shadows was changing by the minute. the view was great and the air was crisp and clear. i could see the illimani, a 3 headed moutain which towers over la paz at the other side. in the opposite direction i could see the illampu mountain , whose vicinity in which i trekked a few weeks ago aout of sorata. i could see to the northwest lake titicaca, which borders with peru. simply awesome.

after about 20 minutes the next group eclipsed and then some more. even nigel, who had confided in me that he was not sure his small, childhood sickly, lungs could make it, managed to make it up. i drank a yogurt snack and had a biscuit and was prepared to depart. in fact i was getting chilly.

after around 40 minutes at the top we started our descent. it was great scenery and i took lots of pictures. especially beautiful were all the ice crevaces with their bluish icicles. going down i could not believe how much we had walked and climbed. we reached base camp at around eleven. the girls were still there, waiting for us and the guide to get off the mountain and go home.

when i try to think of superlatives to this fantastic climb all i can think of is someting like “miss universe of all times”, “a 7 course meal at a michelen 4 star french restaraunt, with chateau mouton rothschild served with the main course”, or blah blah…..
although i took many photos, no recording device of any sort existing today can completely convey the beauty of the mountain, the sense of exuberence at the summit, and the amazng moonlight walk to the top.

so now i am a member of the 6000m club, no certificates or medals, just one hell of a great day to tuck away and tell the grandchildren about sometime.
by the way, does anyone know where i find the nearest 7000m club?

ta ta
hemi

Note: this is taken from emails sent in 2001. Hemi

Hi and thanks for staying tuned…
in tonites episode i will tell you about th great trek in the goldiggers trail.
it all started last weekend, in sorata.
prologue:
i was looking for more gringos to come with me on the trek but as nobody was interested, i decided to go solo – with walter the guide and negrito the mule of course.
there were some problems at the guide association which i did not completely understand, they wanted me to take another guide or something to that effect. when i said walter or nada – they agreed.
later walter explained that there are 40 guides and they rotate days at the agencies – 2 days a month. the rest of the time they work in their farms. so if during the 2 day office stint gringos come in for a tour – the guide present wins the prize. since walter had already led us in a tour a few days earlier it was now not his turn since i insisted though, the other guides had no choice but to let me take walter.

the trek:
i woke up early on friday morning and took a last hot shower for the next
few days. i did some final shopping for foods and changed some more cash for
the days after the trek as it does not end back in sorata.
the first hour and a half leaving the village were hard because negrito the
mule was not with us but at walters dads house in a farm up the mountain. we
had wlaters kid brother (18) help us carry the stuff but still, there was a
lot of food.
once we got to negrito things looked better. it was a grewat suny day and we
did not have to walk too much as we planned to stay the night in walters
house in lakatiya – a 30 person pueblito up in the mountains.
after a lazy luch it started getting cloudy and by sheer luck we made it to
walters house the moment it started raining.
house is an exaggeration – it is an edifice consiting of sevral shacks round
a small courtyard. all muddy and dirty of course. looks like a strong enough
wind could tear it all down in an instant.
walter is a farmer- he cultiates potatoes, and also has a variety of
livestock – 4 mules, 13 llamas, 30 sheep, 1 pig , and a dog.
he also has a wife and 3 kids – 10,8,4. when we arrived ata his house only
the little boy was present. the older son is in another village at school,
returning only for the weekend (which in the villages here is 3 days long!).
the middle daughter was out with mom and the sheep and llamas grazing. when
they got back i helped walter herd the llamas into their fenced off area.
that night i slept in a shack all by myself, but the bed was too short so it
was quite uncomfortable. the bolivians in genral are very short, even when
compared to me…
it rained all night but by morning it was clear and sunny. 200 meters above
us it was already snowy.

we set out early for the Abra Illampu – the pass at 4700m from which we
would later descend. the going was easy at first and slowly patches of snow
started appearing on the ground. within minutes it bacame a thin layer which
became deeper and deeper. by the time we reached the pass 3 hours later we
were almost knee deep in snow!. the walking of course became harder, but
walter had only sandals on! he also folded his pants up so they would not
get wet!
the way up was beautiful an in some places i wish i had jad my snowboar with
me…
the Pass itself was very windy and cold. we stayed there for only a few
moments to enjoy the view and began our descent. by this time it was getting
cloudy and our lunch was in worse weather conditions than the day before.
we continued downwards, much easier than climbing, and the small stream that
had accompanied use from the pass joined a larger river which we would now
walk along for the next few days.
after a few hours we passed through a village called Ancoma, where the
children recognized the gringo from a far and came running to me with pleas
of “caramello, caramello” – basically begging for something sweet. as my
policy towards begging in NO!, i had to let them down.
leaving the village i was joined for a while with a 16 yr old boy and we
talked a bit about life in the village.
about an hour past ancoma, we set up our camp for the night.
walter and i set up his tent nad then cooked dinner – soup, and rice with
sauce and tea. all with two pots and one kerosene stove! it takes about 2
hours.
at night walter and i slept in his tent. me with my hitech sleeping bag, he
with the blankets he used to stuff negritos saddle. i am sure he had a
better nights sleep than me.

the third day was hard for the mule because we joined an ancient inca trail
that had many rock stairs. some were very slippery, especially in the
afternoon as it started raining. the wlak was sometimes near the river and
somtimes climbing up 200-300 meters and walking in narrow trails in the
mountains.
our good weather luck had run out. at noon we reach the spot we were
supposed to camp the night in, so we decide to continue walking a bit more.
there is no point to stop when its raining. at 4 we reached a puelo where
there is a school we can sleep in, but the teacher is on vacation and the
school is locked.
with 2.5 hrs of light left we decide to continue further down, to another
pueblo where wlater has a friend that could let us sleep in his house.
we reached the friend near dark, and it was still raining heavily.
If i thought walter was poor, then this guy was super poor. no animals, no
land, no gringos to guide on tours, basically, a hungry family.
the next morning we left them all our spare food – rice, sugar veggies etc.
to this guys kids i also gave some sweets that i had with me.

on the fourth day we set out early and by 8:30 passed the site for our night
camp. so it was obvious we would finish the trek in 4 days instead of five.
it was still raining hard. we had left the mule at the friends house and
walter was carrying my big muchila. our pace was quite fast. walter was
amazing gliding along the slippery rocks like an angel. trying to keep up
was quite hard for me. how oes he do it with those sandals ? i think his
trick is to barely place the foot on a rock and immediately switch weight to
the other foot, doing so rapidly for several steps till he reaches stable
ground. when i tried it – i usually slipped and almost fell…

in the early afternoon it stopped raining and we reached chusi, a 50 person
mining town built of wooden shacks with no electricity save car batteries
hooked to tvs. walter and i had a lunch and a beer on me in a “restaurant”
and then we parted.
thus ended the walking part of camino de oro.
i had hoped to learn lots of spanish on the trek but unfortunately the
language pf the mountains in Aymera, and walter had only 5 years of school
to learn spanish, so actually there were somethings i knew better than him.
but still it was a great trek – the views of the mountains , the change of
colors from snow white to yungas green – fanatastic.
now i had to get to rurrensabaque – and that would take another 2 whole
days…

—HEY WAKE UP – IF THIS EMAIL IS TOO LONG – TOUGH SHIT!!!!!

I waited for 4 hours for “the car” to arrive as it does once a day bringing
passengers, mail, and groceries. at 7pm we left with the car – a toyota
landcruiser with 100s of empty beer bottles in the back and on the roof. the
raod was only a bit wider than the inca trail i just did by foot, and the
driver had a tough job. but it seems he knew the job quite well, because he
drove relly very well. at one point we picked up a fella from another mining
town – he was drunk and especially enjoyed
saying “oh my god fuck you shit” to me every few minutes. but mostly he
conversed in spanish with the driver.
we reached an ugly mining town called chuquini at 10pm and i went to sleep
in the only motel there. unfortunately the hot water shower did not operate
and i had to scrape 4 days of grime off in cold water. brrr….
yesterday morning i took another car to guanay , and from there another one
to caranavi, and from there i took a night bus (12hrs) to here rurrenabaque.
if you are wondering if i missed the bus – dont worry, it arrived 4 hours
late at the station. luckily the time passed quickly for me all day
yesterday because the bolivians are truly very friendly people, so i had
good talks with them.
there was this 68 yr old retired carpenter, whom i talked with alot about
world politics and american imperialism, who even invited me to his house
when i finish with the jugles here.
when i asked what kind of vegetable yuca is, one of the drivers bought me a
lunch of yuca and salted meat. yuca is like a big potato and it tastes like
a regular potato only the texture is a bit more rubbery.

tommorow i set out on a 3 day pampas tour to see snakes, monkees,
crocodiles, pink dolphins, piranahs, and what have you.

take care for now,
hemi

Note: this is taken from emails sent in 2001. Hemi

hi!
I was planning to write a long email about my latest trek, but i have no
time left because my bus leaves shortly for jungle capital – Rurrenabaque.
So just the headlines for now –
– 5 day trek called camino de oro – golddiggers trail.
– me, walter the guide, and negrito the mule.
– snow, rain, jungle weather, all in the same trek.
– 5 days without seeing a single gringo.
– aymera is a much more useful language than spanish in the mountains…

hey uno momemntito, por favor, bus driver, wait for me…..

adios,
hemi

Note: this is taken from emails sent in 2001. Hemi

Hi all!
This morning i went to an interesting place – a mine.
Potosi is a city of 140 thousand people which was founded 500 years ago
next to a mountain known as Cerro Ricoh (rich mountain). ever since, the
digging has not stopped – first silver then other metals and minerals. overall 8
million moners have died digging the mountain !!!!
when i entered the long tunnels i understood why. high altitude (4500m)
dusty air, no safety equipment at all, uncontrolled dynamite explosions
etc etc…
But it was a very interesting tour. the miners chew on coca leaves to relieve the dizziness caused by the bad conditions. it is customary for tourists to bring the miners gifts when arriving, so before we went to the mines we stooped at the dynamite market – little shops where the miner can get all he needs – shovels, dynamite sticks and other explosive
equipments, coca leaves and chewing accessories, pure alcohol 95% – like the kind we clean acne with… so each tourist spent a few bolivianos on gifts. by the way potosi comes from indian potosh – explosion.
Friday is a happy day for the miners because they finish a 24 hour shift that starts thursday morning and when it ends they are allowed to get drunk.
so the first thing we saw when we arrived this morning are some really jolly miners…
at $5 salary a day, i would be drinking too.

how did i get to potosi ?
lets go back a few days to Uyuni (city of lights). I found a really good group and the tour company was ok too. we set out for 4 days of mostly sitting in a 4by4 toyota landcruiser, traveling from one attraction to another. in the group were me, oded Рan israeli student who had already been to south america a few years ago, a swiss couple katherine and rafael whose problems kept chasing them ever since they were robbed in p̩ru due to their own stupidity, and nice married couple paul (irish) and mariannna (dutch) who took 6 monthes off from life to travel the world.
so lthough the rides from one attraction to another were quite long, we had good conversations. marianna also was fluent in spanish so we were able to get much more out of the crew. the crew were juvenal the driver who spent every moment he could under the hood of the car fixing improving and polishing the engine, and his sister inlaw elizabeth the cook for who this was the debut tour.
we also learned of their miserable lives, how they barely get paid (only $10 for 4 days!!), how elis husband died of alcoholism last year leaving her with 3 kids to take care off, and she is only 34 yrs old!
so they were very pleased at the end of the trip when we gave them a tip that doubled their salary !

as for the views – we covered 1000km and saw various geological themes – a salt desert that has “islands” of land in it with ancient cactii – some over a thousand years old. we saw a lagoon called the smelly lagoon which houses hundreds of pink flamingoes! we saw a lagoon that was blood red (magnesium) and another lagoon that is as green as grass due to copper in the water.
we saw weird rock formations that some bolivian decided are similar to salvador dalis figures near barcelona.
we went to a palce full of geysers and boiling hot bubbling mud baths.
we also had a treat. the nights were very cold. minus 10 degrees with no heating in the huts we stayed at. on the third morning we reached a place called agua termales – a lake with a corner that has 40 degrees C water that were great to take a bath in.

food on the sojourn was not a major hit – basic and simple and usually not enough. good thing we brought cookies and stuff with us. yesterday afternoon we returned “home” to Uyuni. After a great shower i said goodbye to my new friends and took a night bus
to Potosi. The way over was interesting because i sat next to a spanosh teacher from barcelona…

We reached Potosi at 3 am. In my broken spanish I had previously reserved a room in a local hostel, but when knocking on the door for 5 minutes without a reply i was beginning to think maybe my spanish is worse than i think. Just then an old man opened the door and let me in.

So far so good. I am enjoying myself, practicing spanish, and every once in a while i try out a new food – today it was saltena – its a dough the size of a lemon filled with cubes of meat and veggies in a very tasty sauce. In a few hours i take another night bus , this time back to la paz (10 hrs) from which i will promptly depart to Sorata in the north (5 hrs) – the hiking capital of bolivia.

hope all is well – though in israel i heard its not. When i see the poverty in bolivia i say that with all our problems – we
are still very fortunate.

bye for now,
Hemi

Note: this is taken from emails sent in 2001. Hemi

hola amigos!
i have always known that “back from tuichi” would be the title of one of my emails from SA. its the title of a book i read about 15 years ago, by yosi ginsberg an israeli gringo that got lost in the jungle and barely survived.
most of the book is filled with exaggerations, if not out and out lies, but still it was good reading and it instilled in me the urge to travel in SA during my tender teenage years…

after that brief literary commentary, i shall update you on the last week or so.

Rurrenabaque
i arrived in “rurre” as it is called by locals at mid morning on aug 22, and got settled in.
this tourist town is the starting point for 2 types of excursions
1 – the jungle – not like africa though.
2 – the pampas – a swamplike savvanah abundant in wildlife the pampas tour is considered easier so i signed for a 3 day excursion set to leave the next day.
in the afternoon i met an old acquaintance from sorata (last week) who is a drummer in seatle ad came to bolivia for 3 weeks with his 15 yr old son.
really interesting guy and we talked for hours. BTW all those looking for a job, there is a shortage of progammers at microsoft in seattle….

PAMPAS
the next morning  i left with a 4by4 to santa maria , a 4 hr dirt road drive to the yacuma river where the pampas tour begins. with me were emma an australian girl that like me signed up for 3 days, and 3 fellas from scotland ireland and germany that came for only 2 days.
our first stroke of luck was midway through the cartrip when our guide adelid screamed at the driver to stop. he ran to the dirt raod, grabbed a 2 meter anaconda snake by its tail and after swinging it in circles for a minute or so told us to come take pictures.
so now i have a picture of an anaconda on my shoulders, shitting on me.
boy o they stink. after everyone took his turn, he put the anaconda in a plastic bag to take to the yacuma river nature reserve.
sitting next to him i was not too happy, more for the stench han anything else…
after arriving at santa maria and having lunch we set off on what would be our vehicle for the next few days – a 12 man motorized canoe.
virtually minutes after setting off we started spotting various wildlife – alligators, river turtles, kapivara (huge rodents the size of sheep!), all sorts of water birds, monkeys that could be bribed to eat bananas from our hands, and more.
we reached a place in the rivr that was a bit wider and in these places there are pink dolphins swimming about. of course we jumped in to swim with them but unfortunately they were shy so it di not quite work out.
by the way there are alligator just 20 metres away but they dont go to the deep water. in the deep water there are pirannahs though…
all this time we were enjoying the sights mostly through the shutter of our cameras – how japanese can you get!
we reached our campsite on the bank of the river and it was quite nice, a big netted hut with each bed having a personal mosquito net as well.
the river is lined with trees but behind this thin line lay vat swamps and grazing fields for cattle. at dusk we took some corny sunset shots.
the evening was quite lovely as there was also another group from the day before there so. when we all retired to our beds jokes were flying around the room for almost 2 hours. no nationality was spared…
the next morning we were woken early by the guides for a quick upriver flight to a great spot for….
sunrise photos !!!!
afer breakfast we set out to the swamp area for anaconda hunting – big ones.
after 3 hours of failed attempts which included getting bogged down in knee deep mud and loss of several sneakers (the mud sucks them off your legs – not to worry , all were retrieved) we were about to give up when one of the guides found a 3 meter anaconda. experienced from the day before, i did not touch the filthy bastard.
after lunch we part from the 2-dayers, and emma and i go pirranah fishing along the river. the fihing device is a piece of wood with several meters of nylon cord attached to it and a hook. the metod is quite simple, attach a piece of raw beef to a hook and the moment you feel a tug – pull hard and virtually yank the fish into the boat. the poor thing does not even bite the hook o its really easy to repeat the process many times. we caught some pirannahs, sardines and a catfish too. none longer than 15 cm. at night we had fried fish but to tell the truth pirannahs have almost no meat on them so its a good thing there was lots of rice.
the next morning we took the boat upriver to look for more animals and it was pretty much the same as the first day. this time when i swam with the dolphins i coul feel litle bites at my birthmarks and nipples – pirannahs!!!! the water in the pamaps rivers is quite muddy so i could not see the little buggers. no worries it hurts less than mosquito bites. as for the insect bites, i really did not get bitten much so i was ready to take on the jungle…..
the way back to rurre was dull except for the driver who was really tired so the intervals between breaks got shorter and shorter.

JUNGLE
the following morning i quickly signed up for a 3 day jungle tour figuring that since anything under 10 days is usually very touristy because you dont get far enough away, and less is not really seeing much and it takes a few hours just to get there and back.
with me were 2 young doctors from england, emma – a family doctor, reserved and very ladylike, and dapu – an anestheasist (puts you to sleep before the
operation) a wild character who is in fact a nigerian who came to england at the age of 8. he had some interesting stories about his country. its the world leader in corruption (bolivia is number 2). his parents live in nigeria where his dad is a businessman. his 70 year old dad has 7 wives, the last wedding this year to a 23 yearold. dapu has brothers and sisters he has never seen.
also with us were the guide and a cook.
we sailed up the Beni river in a motorized canoe for about an hour and a half and then up into the tuichi (!) for an hour more. the Beni has muddy waters but tuichi has a moe green seethru 30 cm water. as this is the dry season, the water level is quite low so we scraped some rocks every once in a while. we even had to get out and push at one point.
the tuich has a very strong flow. it is really difficult to stand even in knee deep water.
we reached the campsite at noon. its about 10 minutes walk into the jugle from the shore. inside there is thick jungle forestry though not as thick as i had imagined. the sun get through only a little so its a bit dark, and for many pictures i took the camera automatically added flash. after lunch and a siesta, we went for an afternoon stroll with the guide. every few minutes he would stop to show us a plant or tree that had some medicinal or culinary talent.
animal are hard to spot in the jugle due to the thicket, but the guide promised us that at night we would see some.
so after dinner at around 9pm we went to beach area with flashlights and some moonlight too and hoped to see something. NADA ! not one animal.
The only animals were the mosquitos and god know what other insects and the dudes were hungry…
the next morning we packed our stuff and food for a day as we were going to hike to another campsite near the shore of the Hondo river were the guide promised more luck.
“weather report – its hot, damn hot, hot and wet, which is good if you are in bed with a lady, but not if you are in the jungle” (good morning vietnam). and so it was – 10 minutes into the 3 hr hike we were dripping wet. never in my life have i sweated so profusely, icluding all the army crap i did.
and the biting insects dont take any lunch breaks at all, they just keep coming at you. (well maybe the people travelling in the jungle are the luch break).
the first thing we did when we reached the rio hondo is go for a swim. the water was great and the flow was ok too. while we chilled the cook, who came with us prepared lunch. we then spread our matresses and sleeping sheets under a makeshift junglew tent, set up the mosquito nets and took a nap. the heat really made me tired.
in the afternoon we went fishing. emma had all the luck. she caught a huge 5 kilo fish 3 minutes after we began. later she caught 2 turtles and a manta ray which we promptly released.
in the evening we had a delicious fish dinner, and at night went looking for the promised animals. guess what – correct – nothing.
in the morning we hiked back to the first camp itching and scratching and sweating. after 2 days with the guide explaining about all the medicinal fauna, the doctors could have set up an operating room for heart transplants in the middle of the jungle.
there were some interesting things like a tree whos sap is so poisonous that when an arrow tipped in the sap hits a person it can paralyze him within minutes. or branches of a certain tree that when cut off contain pure fresh drinking water.
another nice thing was the vines hanging from the huge trees, we used them as swings just like in the tarzan movies.
but no animals.
by the time we returned to the camp i was truly ready to leave the jungle.
after lunch we swam a bit and returned to rurre.
the hilights of the jungle trip were no doubt the good food and the view along the river.
I spent the evening itching and scratching, and had dinner with some new friends i met at the end of the junge trip.
the tourist agency had bought me a flight ticket back to la paz for the next day, but as i unfortunately found out it was for the noon flight not the morning flight.

Getting to La Paz
the flights are with TAM – trans aero militar , the military transport planes. they use fokker (netherlands) planes from the sixties. the company does not exis anymore. i wonder where they get spare parts…
the next morning my friends left on the early flight and we arranged to meet at Catedral San Fransisco at 5pm later that day.
Boy was i optimistic. the morning flight left at 1pm. i wassupposed to leave at 12pm and left at 3pm but to Trinidad – the opposite direction to La Paz!
In trinidad we switched to another plane to La Paz, and finally reached the capital at 7pm.
The good part about the flights was that i asked to sit in the cockpit with the pilots and after showing them my aircrew card, they were actually happy to talk with me. we discussed differences in bolivian pilot life as compared to israel, a bit about the airforces and the wars in israel and in bolivia.
they have lot of missions dealing with stopping drug trafficking. one of the plots had a german name and told me his grandfather emigrated from germany.
i was thinking to myself could this be one of the nazis that escaped to SA after WW2 ?
At the airport i helped a young israeli gringa whose muchila got sent to santa cruz to sort things out and we shared a taxi into town.
She of course went to EL LOBO – the place where all the israelis sleep eat and herd in lapaz. The funny thing is i had met Zeev, the owner in the airport in rurre a few before. he is 60 yrs old, a polish jew formerly living in israel but 25 yrs in bolivia, apparantly had some problems with the israeli authorities and never came back. his daughter and husband run the very uccessful ellobo operation and he looks for new business opportunities. he had just bought some land near rurre and plans to set up EL LOBO 2, i guess.
Back to La paz, of course i had missed my rendezvous with my friends, but i went to the hotel they were staying at and they left me a note inviting me to stay with them in the room.
i then went out to the food stalls on the prado (main street) and for one and a half dollars had 2 skewers (shippudim) of cow hearts and potatoes, an egg filled saltena, a churriso sandwich, and for dessert some cherries.
at 10pm i retured to the hotel and met the friends. its about time to introduce them dont you think ?
christian , german 24, finished a masters in electronics at univ of illinois and will now work in berlin sebastian, german 24, height 204 cm! really stands out in this country. also studied EE in illi, will return to bavaria for work there.
phillipe, 23, french, normal height, also studied with the above two, will also work in germany after the trip.
really nice guys with interesting stories.
yesterday we went on a one day excursion that included valle de luna , right at the edge of la paz, which has a supposedly moonlike landscape, and a climb of mount chacalataya. this is the bolivian ski resort, the highest in the world at 5400meteres. the slopes though are only 700m. some japanese dudes were skiing and at the end of the run there was a local guy waiting for each of them with an oxygen mask. i tried to rent out equipment for an hour but it was impossible. also this is not exactly the ski season. anyway the driver who brought us refused to take us up the road so we walked up for
2 hrs from 4700m to the top at 5400. having arrived from 0m in rurre the day before, i thought i might get a headache or something, but to my plesant surprise, i felt quite good.
in the afternoon my friends, who were not as fortunate as me, all went to sleep in the hotel and i wandered around the city a bit.
I must say that sometimes first impressions can be wrong. I am beginning to like La Paz, it is much more than the filthy tourist area.
in the evening we went to the posh Sopocachi district, which has good restarauts, pubs and clubs (like the rotschild street aree in tel-aviv), with rich locals that look very european in contrast to the indian looking poor folk that account for 80% of bolivias populace.

we interrupt this letter to bring you the following message – there is a radio here and now they are playing the original spanish version of David Brozas famous song “sigaliot”. I asked the lady working here about the lyrics , they are basically the same as in hebrew. neat huh?

so we sat in a french pub with St germain (a french electronic cool funk-jazz band) in the background and very upscale bolivianas at the bar.
this was the first time my friends and i saw a good looking local girl, by western standards.
today my buddies are buying some souvenirs, because tommorow they leave for home. i am contemplating the issue as i dont want to carry anything unneccessary with me in the 6 week left.

tommorow i might go on a 2 day mountain trek not far from la paz and after that i will head out to Peru, to cuzcu the inca capital turned biggest tourist attraction in SA.

forgive me for the typos, the keyboards here are of poor quality.
forgive me for the longevity, i just had to share the stories with you.
forgive me father for i have sinned 🙂

any comments, questions or jokes?
i am always happy to read.
seeya later
hemi

Note: this is taken from emails sent in 2001. Hemi

hi amigos!
anyone who has ever arrived at las vegas after a long drive in the desert
must know what i mean by city of lights.
well uyuni is also a “city” at the end of a “road” in the desert.
but forget the lights.
located in the south of Bolivia with 13000 population, it looks like an
abandoned set of an old western movie. there are no trees or plants – just
dusty streets, unpaved, and unattractive.
unlike american deserts – at 4000 meters this is a cold city – at night well
below 0 celcius.
there is nothing really intereseting in town but everyone comes here to
depart to the SALAR – a four day jeep excursion to various salt deserts,
geysers, volcanoes and other geological anomalies in a small area bordering
with chile on the west.
i arrived early this morning and planned to go on tour today by noon.
unfortunately the agencies here are quite poor at organization so i am
waiting for the tour starting tommorow.
On the bus from la paz i met some new friends and we will be doing the trip
together – 6 gringos in a toyota landcruiser driven by a local guide who
doubles as a cook, nanny and what have you…
temperatures in the Salar at night are minus 20 degrees celcius – a great
opportunity to see if my sleeping bag really retains heat at that temp, or
the guys at the store cheated me. (for those faint at heart dont worry – we
will be sleeping in tents that are supposed to have some source of heat).
Before coming to uyuni i walked around la paz for a day and a half and it
was enough.
although situated in a beautiful place – the downtown area is pretty filthy
and reminds me of gaza. I was all too happy to leave…
The way to uyuni is twofold –
first leg – a good bus on a good road for a short 4 hour ride to a place
called orruru.
the next leg is an all nighter starting at 8pm and ending at 5am in uyuni.
the transfer at orruru was quite a mess, we put our stuff on the bus and
then were told its the wrong one, nobody can really help you out there even
if you speak spanish they mumble things to you like “over there…” , “just
one minute…”, etc…
the fun part of the night ride was not the old dilapitaded bus, nor was it
the dirt road (unpaved – just like for jeeps in the desert in israel)
nor the freezing cold temperature in the bus.
the real action started at 3am when the driver somehow managed to get the
bus stuck in the way. we all had to exit the bus so he and friends could dig
up under the bus and try to get it out.
we spent the next 3 hours freezing our butts off in the 4000m desert,
waiting for the messiah.
someone lit up a bush and we added shrubs from nearby to keep the fire
going while we wait.
finally, with the aid of a passing truck and some rope we managed to get
back on the road and on to uyuni.

tommorow is bolivias independence day so there is a lot of partying going on
outside now, people are dressed fine and there are firecrackers and
fireworks. i guess this is the liveliest evening of the year here in uyuni,
i think i will go join the fun…
good thing i bought a llama sweater today because it is freezing cold
outside.
will write after the return from the salar
hold on in israel
bye
hemi

Note: this is taken from emails sent in 2001. Hemi

hola amigos (hi friends)
i am now in la paz after a slight delay –

my journey started on wednesday morning .
i had to take 4 flights to get to la paz and prayed for only one thing – no
delays.
of course my first flight to brussekls with el-al was delayed for one hour.
lucky for me the flight from brussels to new york was also delyed due to a
strike fo the catering workers. (2 hours).
i did not worry because in new york i had to wait 4 hrs anyway for the
connection to miami.
when i got new york i waited and waited and 30 minute before borading to
miami – guess what ?
a mechanical failure – new plane – 2 hour delay.
this was bad because the connection to la paz from miami was tight.
i was lied to by the airline representatives – we will fly faster they said.
anyway the 2 hr delay became a 4 delay so i got to miami after my flight had
left to bolivia – in spanish we say mierda (shit).
so they gave me a hotel in the airport and vouchers for meals and told me
that next noon there is a flight with LAB (bolivian airlines – what a
scare).
i proceeded to obtain my muchila (suitcase) which of course had got lost.
after talking to the manager and 2 hours waiting – they found it!!!
but then i saw another problem – the new flight ticket was for noon but not
tommorow – only the day after.
this was a breaking point – i had not slept in 36 hours and now this.
there was no representative at the airport – so i called the 1-800 # of
American Airlines and though we had a nice 30 minute talk nothing could be
done.
I went to my crappy room in the hotel (i cant believe it cost 140 dollars a
night toi put me there) and took a shower ( i had some bad BO after running
around all day).
at 5am i went to the AA counter which opened up and after wasting another 2
hours finally got a seat on the same flight that i originally planned but
plus 24 hours.
i had the whole day ahead of me so i planned to visit the miami downtown
area. unfortunately it was raining cats and dogs – “tropical storm barry”
hit the area.
so i stayed in the hotel eating shitting and sleeping.
inbetween i watched the spanish channels on tv and practiced my accent and
vocabulary.
miami is amazing – at leat the airport – the first language spoken is
spanish not english!
miami is a hub to latin america and it is well felt.
back to the flight – finally i got on the flight to lapaz and to my pleasure
i got upgraded to business class!
just before takeoff at midnight i was reviewing the wine list and menu for
the dinner but the complementary champagne as we boarded the plane kind of
knocked me dead. i slept thru most of the flight – with lots of leg room. we
landed in la paz at dawn and the view was spectacular.
la paz is cold in the mirning 0 degrees centigrade. i had a warm hat and
fleece jacket so i did well.
i am staying todaY IN HOTEL MILTON. 13 bucks a night. looks ok. great view
of the city from the roof.
i almost joined a trek 30 minutes after i arrived but deciced to take it
easy for a day or 2 to get accustomed to the high altitude (la paz is at
4000meters very high.
ive been walking around town for the past 2 hours and am getting hungry.
so bye for now,
Hemi

Note: this is taken from emails sent in 2001. Hemi

Hi to all my friends,
Tonite I embark on my new adventure -
     74 days in the southern hemisphere.
I will be back after the Holidays in October.
I'll be careful if you will be too.
Paola will be in Israel til Sept 11, when she'll join me in Peru.
So if there is anything urgent - she may be contacted at our home -
           03-6124207
My email address is
           xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I will be checking it on a regular basis.
Please send only textual messages - no pictures or video clips.
Til Later,
Hemi

Note: this is taken from emails sent in 2001. Hemi

> Hi to All my friends!
> In 2 weeks I depart for a long awaited adventure in the Southern
> hemisphere. 
> I will travel in Bolivia, Peru, and Ecuador for 2.5 months.
> I leave Israel on Aug 1. Paola will join me in September.
> Since my regular hotmail account is full of crap and gets lots of junk
> mail, 
> i opened this new account especially for the trip:
> 
>               xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> 
> If you don't want to receive updates on my adventures in the Bolivian 
> Jungle, the peruvian mountains, or Ecuador's Galapagos Islands, write the 
> aforementioned address and you eill be omitted from the mailing list.
> If you want to keep in touch, please reply with textual mail only - NO 
> PICTURES OR MOVIES PLEASE!!
> 
> If anyone has any tips - call me in the next 2 weeks.
> A farewell party will be held shortly prior to my departure.
> 
> MUCHAS GRACIAS,
> Hasta luegu (see ya later)
> Hemi