THE HIGHEST MATCH IN THE WORLD
Two amusing reports about two surreal events: the president of Bolivia organizes a soccer match at 19,455 feet above sea level, on the snows of the volcano Sajama, and another at 17,000 feet on Mount Chacaltaya to protest against FIFA.
A shrill sound chases dreams away. Six silhouettes start moving in the shadows. Someone fumbles for the alarm: it's 3.30 in the morning. The bodyguards of the president of Bolivia, Evo Morales, stretch and yawn, shivering on the camp beds in the Lagunas military outpost, in the Oruro Altiplano. Within the refuge, a hangar with high domed ceilings that rises up above the sandy wasteland, it is zero degrees fahrenheit. There is not electricity, nor water. The generator is broken, the water has frozen in the pipes. Nobody is in the mood to talk. Morales' men put their stuff in backpacks and take them to the 4x4s. There is a sack full of soccer balls in one of the boots at the back. We start off towards the base of the snowy Sajama volcano. I am the only journalist with them…
