Go to the "base camp" on calle Illampu, above the chicken seller. There is a Swiss man, who has been living in La Paz for a long time, who rents all kinds of equipment for the mountains. This shop, a veritable bazar of trekking, climbing and bivouac equipment, that only the initiated know, testifies to the culture of trekking and the great adventure carried by the Cordillera Real.
We take the road alongside the muleteers, with whom we will take our caravan of mules for a crossing of the Andes. We set off in search of wide open spaces, in search of encounters, discovery and self-discovery. We dare to expose ourselves to the unexpected.
For ten years the elders of Terra Bolivia made the "Transcordillera" from Sorata to Huyana Potosi, that is to say the longitudinal of the Royal Cordillera. It offers an impressive collection of passes at more than 5,000 meters above sea level, with frequent passages from the Yungas slope (wet, steep, vegetal) to the Altiplano slope (dry, not very steep, mineral). A demanding trek, of high performance, that we would like to call "Daddy's trek".
So today, we evolve, we make the crossing of the Andes with a simple curve of altitude and a single pass. The Royal Cordillera is first of all a territory, "people and mountains" and, better than a series of sporting feats, we tell you the history of this massif.
Guided by our caravan of mules, faithful companions on the road and ancient means of transport of the Aymaras and Incas who used to trade their dried llama meat and dehydrated potatoes for fruits and products from the Amazon, we walk on the high plateaus, at the foot of the snowy glaciers of the Royal Mountain Range. We challenge a 6,000 meter high peak, Huayna Potosi, with the real feeling of being at the crossroads of worlds: the Andes mountain range stretching as far as the eye can see to the West, the illuminated city of La Paz to the South, and on a clear day the summit of Sajama as a backdrop, and the beginnings of the Amazon to the North. We descend to the lush vegetation of the Yungas. The temperature rises, the air is humid and the landscapes are green.
On the way, we will stop for a while to share the Andean life with the ambition to feel and understand this territory so unique in the world, crossroads of the Aymara, Quechua and Spanish worlds. We will be welcomed by our guides, our muleteers, our fellow travellers. We will meet the fishermen of the minor part of Lake Titicaca, who knew how to make their environment a wealth by making boats in Totora, reeds of the banks of the lake. We will learn how to cultivate the fields of the Altiplano and how to live at more than 4,000 meters above sea level. Jaime and his son Denys, natives of the Cordillera, are experts in fishing with their bare hands in the frozen streams and in the potato dehydration technique. The history of the massif will be told to us by our guides: a region, a guide. At each place, a local person of the area will accompany us.
On the way, we will exchange, share and, like a meditative ritual, we will rediscover what surrounds us. While walking, we will surprise ourselves dreaming, reinventing ourselves, as if carried by the magic of the Altiplano. We may miss a little sleep, but nothing else. We will try to live a simpler and more sober life, centered on the Earth, and on the need to rethink our environment and our daily life.