Andean, mountaineer, himalayan, rescuer
From the highest mountain in the Cordillera Real range
"When I was a child I couldn't understand what those foreigners who passed through my community and climbed Illimani were doing. I would ask my mother and she didn't know what to say". Hugo was born in Una, an Aymara community located in the lower valleys of Illimani. The highest mountain in the Cordillera Real of the Andes in Bolivia.
The village of Una was where the mountaineers who wanted to try to climb the mountain arrived. The villagers helped them by carrying their equipment on mules to the place called Puente Roto (Broken Bridge), which served as their base camp. From there, the younger ones worked as porters up to the high camp. Then they would return to do the same work on the descent. Sometimes they did not go down at all. No one understood why the foreigners, of their own free will, exposed themselves to cold, fatigue and death. "Surely they are looking for gold, or an Inca treasure or a Spanish tapado" were the explanations they gave each other.
Hugo watched them pass by and apart from asking himself the same questions, he did not give much importance to the strangers dressed in colorful clothes.
Una's village has a small school. So small that it only goes up to the third grade. The children barely learn to read and basic arithmetic. Only families with enough money can send their children to continue their studies in a bigger school. To finish elementary school, you have to go to the village of Quilihuaya, walk 4 kilometers and descend 600 meters. The Ayaviri Quispe family did not have the means. Hugo had to help with housework and farming. Their economy was subsistence, barely enough to support the three of them, but the Señora felt that education was very important. So she forced Hugo to continue in school, even if he had to repeat the third grade two or three times.
The first time he went to the city of La Paz he was stunned by the sheer size of it all. The cars were what attracted him the most. He went with his mother in a truck carrying a load of corn. As soon as they arrived they sold it and with the money they bought things they needed. Since then he thought about going to the city to find work and help his mother.
In rural areas, the chances of getting out of the circle of poverty are almost nil, and children are condemned to repeat the same fate as their parents. That is why many go to the big city where life is not much better.
He did not meet his father until he was thirteen years old. At that time he moved to the city and continued his education; he had to work in various trades and activities. The pay was minimal, he worked during the day and studied at night. In between his studies he learns a few words and phrases in English. He finally finishes high school and tries to enter college, but is unable to pass the entrance exams. Disappointed at not finding a way out of his life, he dedicates himself to working and drinking.
In a revelation of lucidity he decides to leave the bad path and returns to Una to work with his mother. Then he starts working as a porter in the mountains. He makes himself known because with the rudiments of English he knows, he can communicate with the tourists. Little by little, his love for the mountain grows and he slowly begins to feel its call. A transformation that he cannot understand is brewing in his being. An inexplicable attraction, which although he does not fully understand, explains to him why foreigners go in search of the summits.
So he decides to look for a way to train himself to work with tourists, he continues portering. He learns to cook and moves up in the expeditions; it helps him a lot to speak English. He manages to climb a few mountains and finally enters guide school. His ultimate goal is to achieve his international UIAGM certification.
Hugo has acquired a vision and a way of life that is very foreign to traditional Bolivian society. His love of the mountains goes much further than just work. He has ambitions that are not reduced to money or wealth. He wants to climb mountains. K2 appears as a distant dream, so distant that it feels almost impossible.
At work he meets a lot of people. Hundreds of mountaineers come here every year, and he makes it his job to make their dreams come true. He takes them to the summits, especially those over 6000 m. On one of the trips he meets Anne. It was then that a new personal path began to take shape.
The Covid19 will be the end for world tourism. Most of the companies went bankrupt. Very few were able to survive. Despite the lack of income and uncertainty, the confinement and quarantine, the couple grew closer. K2 went from being a wild dream to a real possibility. Despite not having been able to make a single penny for over a year and a half, they decide to take the plunge into Pakistan.
The return to civilization comes as a surprise. He is named a National Hero in Pakistan for what he has done on K2. He is in the press and on television, and overnight he finds himself in a position he never sought: he is a celebrity.
José Camarlinghi
More: https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugo_Ayaviri