Cristo de la Concordia

My friends from work and I climbed the Cristo. This is no small feat, seeing as how the Cristo is 869 feet above the city, and 9,317 feet above sea level. Climbing it was the first time I actually noticed the altitude change...I had to take some pretty serious resting breaks to catch my breath!

The stairs felt like they went on forever - it took us about 45 minutes to climb.

This Cristo is actually the tallest statue of Jesus in the world, and the largest statue in the Southern Hemisphere. While the Cristo in Rio de Janiero, Brazil is still marked as one of the wonders of the world, Cochabamba's beats theirs by about a meter. Of course, ours was completed in 1994 and theirs in 1931, but that's beside the point!

The people I work with: Back:Maia (England), Freddy (Bolivia), Michael (England), Peter (England)
Front: James (England), Rocio (Bolivia), Henry (Bolivia) and I

This is my city!

This is another friend that I work with. Her name is Wani ("Shadow" in Quechua), and Freddy found her on the street when she was about a month old. We decided to take the natural trail back down the Cristo, and Wani was rather scared, but we all made it down alive!

The next day I hiked up the Cristo again with my Bolivia sister Andrea - my legs were shaking by the time we made it back down. It's quite the hike! The Cristo is visible from most places within the city, and even in the suburbs. I have a great view of him from my window. He looks particularly nice at night!