Monday, May 18, 2026 - 6:13 pm PT

Yesterday took the team to several unique sights around the south end of La Paz, all while breathing the thin air and preparing our bodies for the high peaks that lie ahead. First up was Valle de la Luna, a bizarre collection of rain-eroded rock towers in the middle of the suburbs not far from our hotel. From there we drove uphill a few minutes before hiking to Muela del Diablo, a striking rock tower overlooking the city. After taking some time to enjoy the views it was on to a longer hike to a stunning viewpoint a little above 13000', where we enjoyed a picnic lunch and made a traditional Bolivian offering to honor the mountains we came here to climb. Yesterday in the Witch's Market we acquired an offering pallet of sorts, made up of various chalk and sugar pieces each inscribed with imagery asking for blessings of various parts of our travels, topped with a generous helping of coca leaves. Javier, our local liaison and logistics coordinator, explained the significance of each part of the offering before setting fire to it all on the mountain top where we found ourselves enjoying lunch, complete with great views of Huayna Potosi to the north and Illimani to the south. This important ritual complete, it was on to another short hike past more stunning columns of eroded conglomerate, these ones several hundreds of feet high!

Today we ventured a little higher with an acclimatization hike near Cerro Saturno on the northeastern edge of the city. It was a lunar-like landscape of near-black sand, loose shale and the occasional picturesque lagoon. We topped out at just over 16000', a new altitude record for some in the group! We returned to the hotel by mid-afternoon to organize and pack our gear for the coming week of climbing. After a leisurely few days of acclimatization, it is finally time to head to the big mountains! We're making an early start for Rinconada tomorrow, and will spend the next several days climbing in the Condoriri group. The team is feeling strong, psyched and ready to get up high! 

RMI Guide Henry Coppolillo