Kara Collo climb to the top last Friday

Friday 03 April, Bryam Sardon and I started hiking to the base of the hill, called in Aymara, Kara Collo. (I am unsure of any of the spellings of Aymara). We realized at some point that we had taken a wrong road, but I liked the view from there, so I took a picture looking mostly west, into the sun. It would have been better, photographically, to go in the morning, but that was not an option. I also wanted a picture of Sapa Collo that we climbed last month, and this seemed a good place to take it from.

This shot is looking southwest to the highest hill of the four surrounding Juli, which is called Pukara. There is a legend about Pukara that some prospectors started looking for gold that had been hidden in caves or tunnels by the ancients to hide it from the Spanish. The prospectors were met by "demons" who told them to stop looking for the gold, because it was theirs, and they would protect it. The thought came into my mind when I heard this legend: Perhaps this is the hill Cumorah, and those "demons" were actually angels protecting sacred records. :) Of course, that is purely fantasy on my part.

We went back and found the right road which took us to the base of the hill. We began the climb. About the time I looked over and saw that we were even with the top of Sapa Collo, I started getting a little dizzy, so I took a bit of a rest. I looked up and saw the moon above us, so I took a picture to show how close it seemed, but the picture turned out making it look far away.

When we got to the top, there was a shrine, so I took a couple of pictures of the inside.

It seemed a little bit in need of repairs.

It had a stone wall enclosure in front. The scenery was well worth the effort of the climb. This shot is looking north across Juli and Sapa Collo and Lake Titicaca.

This looking west.

And this one is east across Cerro San Bartolome and across Lake Titicaca to Bolivia.

And this is to the south across the lake to the towns of Yunguyo, Peru and Copacabana, Bolivia.

This is looking northeast across the Juli Harbor, with Pilcuyo across the bay.

I was trying to get the snow covered peaks across the lake in Bolivia to the southeast, but they don't seem to have been very cooperative in this shot.

Here is a shot of the front of the shrine with Pukara off to the southwest.

Then I had to get this of Bryam standing on the stone wall looking down on his hometown.

Then we left the shrine and went to the summit, which was about 50 yards (meters) distant and only about ten or twenty feet higher. I took this picture of the mountains to the south.

... and then off toward the southwest. Bryam told me his grandmother lives in those mountains.

We started down, heading towards Pukara, because it seemed less steep. We came across this rock construction. It looks like an oven, but there is no sign of it ever having been used for that purpose--no ashes or soot. Maybe it is just a place for shepherds to take shelter during a storm.

Here is another rock construction that I have no very good idea what it is for. It looks just big enough for a person to stand in.

And that is the end of the pictures. It was getting late and we just walked on down the hill to the road and went home. It was a wonderful adventure with a fascinating hiking companion.

Sapa Collo (Sleeping Lion) Hill

Yesterday I took Bryam Sardon up on a previous offer to accompany me and we climbed to the top of Sapa Collo hill. All during the climb up and down we talked of gospel things. He is a really deep thinker and loves to delve into scholarly gospel subjects. He is in the process of submitting his papers to serve a mission.

It was a hard climb for me, since the altitude is about 13,000 feet. I had to stop and pant a number of times, but Bryam was patient.

When we got to the top I took pictures and two videos that I want to share.

This is a picture of Sapa Collo taken from Collo Bartolo (St. Bartholomew Hill) that I took a month ago when we took a taxi to the top of that hill.

I took this of Sapa Collo from the city pier the same day

This shot of it is from our living room window.

This is from the top of the hill, looking east.

This is looking southeast over the north half of the city.

And this is looking southeast over the south half of the city.

This is northwest towards Ilave.

And this is looking north. Beyond Bryam, across the bay of the lake is the farming community of Pilcuyo, which is politically part of Ilave. If you enlarge, you can probably see the tin roofs of the farmhouses shining in the sun.

And heading back, this is the road at the base of the hill, looking towards another hill I want to climb--Cara Collo. But I will save that for another time.

Finally I took two videos panning from northwest to southeast...

... and then southeast to north.

Monday 12
We spent the morning working on the form letters. We both revised, and I translated.
Bishop Oscar Ribera, the handyman, told us about Juli and Yunguyu and Aymara.
President and Sister Davis arrived late. They were both sick with colds.
And they gave a policeman a ride, which meant they had to go the speed limit (90 kph/55 mph).
They traded cars and headed to Juliaca, but that car didn’t work right.
They came back and traded, but this car’s windshield wipers were worn out and rain is promised.
They canceled the trip and rested the rest of the afternoon and evening.
Jackie and I continued to revise form letters.
FHE—Jackie—Farkle.

Sunday 11
I read the priesthood manual, Lesson 25, on the internet.
I worked on putting my diary onto my blog, covering since we left home.
We walked to church. It was only a few blocks away, but required a lot of stair climbing.
We arrived in plenty of time, were warmly greeted, and enjoyed the meetings.
Sister Davis called twice about when they are coming home.
They will spend the night in Tacna and come home tomorrow morning.
We watched Music & the Spoken Word.
We are back to spotty reception, but it was still very good.

Saturday 10
We spent most of the day revising mission form letters per President Davis’ request.
We had lunch in the back yard patio and watched birds.

Friday 09
At 1430 we called the office elders to see if they needed us.
They came and got us with Panchito, the other mission driver.
Jackie copied their office form letters onto a memory stick to work on at home.
Panchito took me to get my hair cut.
I helped Elder Garcia figure out an Excel problem.
I helped his comp by calling moribund elders/sisters’ families and stake presidents.
Moribund means that their mission in Peru is almost over and they are about to cross over to the other side.

Thursday 08
President Davis assigned us to work in Juli on Lake Titicaca.
We go there in two weeks after we get our residence permits in Lima.
He and Sister Davis took us to the office en route to interviews in other cities.
Jackie and I installed their new photocopier and their new temple recommend scanner.
Mission driverr, Obispito, drove us to Franco (a grocery store) and to the mission home.
I had a long talk with Bishop Oscar, the gardener, during his lunch break.
When a missionary, he and his companion were taken by terrorists. Quite a hair raising tale!
We took a long nap.
We set up our laptops in the president’s office and caught up on diary entries, facebooks, etc.