BERNARDO GUARACHI, Bolivian. With 30 years of professional expirience. EVEREST, MCKINSLEY, MAKALU, ACONCAGUA. ALPES, CORDILLERA REAL, TEAM LEADER.

Bernardo Guarachi , Bolivian mountain climber. An Aymara Indian, he was born and raised near the windswept Altiplano village of Patacamaya, 95 miles south of La Paz, at an altitude of around 13,200 feet. His father still tends the family's sheep and llama herds there. As a student, he spent several years in neighboring Chile. Upon his return, he was hired by a trekking company as a guide, a job that has sustained him, his wife and two children. Since his first climb up a Bolivian peak in 1974, he has reached the 21,201-foot summit of Illimani 170 times. He has climbed Aconcagua, Latin America's highest mountain at 22,831 feet, three times. Guarachi's most dramatic climb up Illimani, which overlooks La Paz, Bolivia's capital, was in early 1985. He was hired by Eastern Airlines to locate the wreckage of an airliner that crashed on New Year's Day, killing all 33 people aboard. Guarachi was first to reach the site. Over the years he has participated in several rescue operations in the high Andes. In 1992, he recovered the bodies of six Chileans who died trying to reach the summit of Illimani on their own. All climbers he has guided up Bolivia's peaks have returned safely. On May 25th 1998 Bernardo Guarachi fulfilled a lifetime dream of reaching the highest point on earth. When he gained the summit of Mount Everest at 6 that morning, he became the first Bolivian and the first Native South American Indian to do so. He was greatly admired by his companions on the mountain. Climber Swee Chiow said this about Mr. Guarachi, "Bernardo is a superman. He moves like the Sherpas. He's the most courteous guy I've ever met. I saw him sitting outside his tent alone everyday, looking at the mountains. That's how he sat out the bad weather. His inner strength and patience shows." - Bolivia BOL1999. Biographies from philately.com (contact him)