Day 32 — recovery in La Paz

I wake up amazingly refreshed this morning. I think a full night’s sleep was really all I needed. It’s only 6:30, breakfast isn’t for 2 hours, and I’m ravenous. I eat a 4-pack of oreos and wish for the umpteenth time these last few days I’d brought non-sugary snacks. It’s relatively warm, definitely above freezing, so I strip naked in my tent and clean myself as thoroughly as possible with baby wipes and get dressed in my least gross clothing. Then i pack my things and take down my tent. I read my kindle for a while and then chat with the Argentinian guys, David and Lucas, who are camping next to us. I get their email addresses and they urge me to say hello when I come to Buenos Aires.

Pash and Adrian wake up, so I talk to them as they pack. Finally it’s breakfast time, but all they serve us is stale bread, margarine, jam, and ducle de leche. I realize we have had basically the same food as I got on the Salar de Uyuni trip, which I remember thinking was inadequate even for sitting in a jeep all day, let alone climbing one of the toughest mountains in the western hemisphere. No wonder I felt so horrible yesterday — a poundcake slice with sugary spread is hardly a breakfast of champions. On Huayna day I remember we had a big bowl of lightly sweetened milk with quinoa, fresh fruit, and boiled eggs. That was far better.

I eat three rolls of the stale bread and feel like my hunger is less pressing. The Canadian guys and I talk about the foods we’re missing, and we think we’ll look for Korean barbecue or a Brazilian steakhouse for lunch as soon as we get to La Paz.

We were supposed to leave at 9 but we actually get going at 10. Adrian and I pass out in the minivan. We wake up when a street vendor sells us B1 ice cream cones. I take one — ostensibly chocolate flavored, but there’s no way a B1 ice cream contains any real chocolate, egg, or dairy, so it’s basically just sweet tasting. I eat it anyway. Traffic arriving in La Paz a couple hours later is brutal — a strike or protest or march blocks one of the major thoroughfares into town, so we need to find an alternate route, and we get in at 2. After unloading all our things and saying goodbye, Adrian, Pash, and I find a decent looking nearby restaurant a block away I order the largest looking meaty entree — a filet of llama in Roquefort sauce with rice and vegetables — and a Coke Zero. While waiting I scrub my hands in the bathroom sink and look bemusedly at my red & peeling nose, eyebrows which could use some grooming, and 4 day unwashed hair. I put my hat back on.

When my rather large meal arrives I devour it in about 1 minute, not saying a word. Then I say “that was a nice appetizer”. Adrian, Pash, and I, still a bit hungry, decide to go to a street vendor of burgers they know nearby. So we pay and leave the restaurant. The burger place is closed, though, so we walk to Wild Rover where Adrian and Pash plan to stay, having heard my description, and I plan to pick up my left luggage. Once there, the guys decide to go back to their quieter hostel across the street, so we say goodbye. I spend about 2 hours in the courtyard there catching up on emails and Facebook messages and WhatsApps and letting people know I survived. I use the nice bathroom to wash my hands and face, and then I get a taxi to Alex’s place, where he’s offered to let me stay and left his keys.

Inside, I take a disappointingly cold shower (he’d talked about how important it was for him, when getting an apartment, that the water be hot and high pressured), dress in city clothes, and put a bit of foundation on my red nose — the first makeup I’ve worn in over a month — and then clean and rebandage my bare toe nail bed. I sort my belongings for laundry etc. I try to get on Alex’s wifi but the one he mentioned doesn’t seem to exist. I talk to my mom on the phone for a while, and still rather hungry, I eat 4 more oreos. I enjoy that I can see Illimani from his 23rd story penthouse apartment.

When Alex comes back we talk for a while, and then I suggest going for food. When I describe my appetite Alex suggests we go to an Argentinian steakhouse around the corner. There we order a massive steak for 2, probably over a kilo, which comes medium rare, juicy, salty, and everything you could want in a steak. There’s also an amazing salad bar where I gorge on spinach and broccoli. I also have a nice glass of Malbec (Alex doesn’t drink). Finishing the steak I feel sated, finally. Over dinner we have an interesting conversation about travel, experience, openness and happiness. After dinner, it’s still early so we hang out and watch TV before bed. Alex makes some hot green tea — despite the meals I’ve described with him, he’s a bit of a health nut — which proves fantastic for my cough, which has subsided today now that I’m not climbing mountains in freezing oxygen-poor air. I fall asleep almost immediately when I go to bed.