Feb 9, 2018
About an hour away from Tarija is a little village in the valley, famously known as valle de Los Condores or Condor Valley. The owners of the tour company, Vincent and Julia, have a farm house there where I spent my 1st night. The view was beautiful, with mountains all around. It was a very relaxed night, with Vincent talking about his life and why he moved from Belgium to Bolivia with his wife. Not only do they run the tours but they also run a school, after school program and a place to live for girls who come from poor or abusive families. Their project is affiliated to an NGO and has now been running for 20 years!
There were 2 cows on the farm which we got to milk. Turns out it is extremely hard to milk them even though Carmen, the cook, made it look so easy. I got to try a cocktail of a hard liquor with sugar, cinnamon and fresh milk that was directly from the cow. The milk being fresh, it was still warm and the cocktail is supposed to be enjoyed warm.
Feb 10, 2018
Next day was the hike up the mountain. It was led by a local guide Alex, who was my age. He was extremely nice and always smiling, thoroughly enjoying what he was doing. Along the way, he would point out different plants and of course the condors. It was nice to see that he was just as excited to see the condors as we were! All the way up to the camp site, the weather was perfect as the sun shined brightly. It was lunch time and our camp site being someone’s land for cows, we were shortly joined by a herd of them. There were even 2 baby cows who were around 8 or 9 days old.
After lunch and mounting the tents, it was time for the next part of the hike up to the top of the mountain. This took another hour and a half to reach the top. However, by the time we had reached the top, it was all foggy and nothing could be seen. When we decided to leave a bit later, everything started clearing up. There were so many condors flying around. They are very curious animals and would fly right above us. With their 3-meter wingspan, we could hear the wind when they flew near enough.
When looking from below, they are all black. When looking from above, some of them are brown while others are white. The colors are for young and adult condors respectively. Male condors also have a crest on its head. There were at least 5 condors flying around and others perched on the cliffs. Alex even laid down pretending to be dead to attract the condors.
Feb 11, 2018
It rained all night and into the morning. This was not unexpected as it was currently the rainy season. We started our hike down in the rain and it stopped shortly after. Sadly, because of the rain, we did not take the trail that passes through a waterfall. It would be very slippery and dangerous so we took the same way that we hiked up from. Once back at the farm house, there was a barbecue before heading back to the city.