El Choro Trek - From the Altiplano to the Sub Tropical Yungas

I hired a guide and a tent and we got a taxi to take us up to La Cumbre at 4800m to begin the trek. At this height its very barren, just black rock and not much else - the trail drops steeply into the valley and there are fine views looking towards a higher ridge of snow capped peaks. We descended quite rapidly passing a few old inca settlements and reached the first village after a few hours, a small farming settlement of stone houses where llamas graze on scrub grass, one of the few plants to grow at this elevation. The people here speak Aymara first and foremost and are only likely to speak Spanish if they travel outside the valley - its quite an isolated spot.

The trail continued downwards along some well preserved inca stone paving, plants and trees slowly began to appear as we reached the valleys main village around lunchtime. Already we had descended almost a thousand metres and it was now a pleasant 25C. Sergio, my guide, popped into the village to visit his parents (it was his birthday!) and we continued descending steeply into the first signs of forest, with brambles and spiky grasses lining the trail. By mid-afternoon colourful tropical birds had appeared and the valley sides were thickly forested with dense vegetation. We reached camp around 4pm, at a small hamlet by the rivers edge having descended 2km vertically. All day we had hardly seen any other people on the trail, but soon after a few Belgians arrived and Sergio had soon knocked up a tasty soup and main meal. Darkness descended quickly and the temperature dropped sharply - it was to be a cold restless night. I am not a great camper and was glad to see the sun rise and continue with the trek.


The second day was tougher, after a brief climb, the trail plunged sharply downhill again and the inca paving was very slippery. Gradually the rainforest vegetation began to dominate, the insects came out to bite and it soon became quite hot and humid. Nevertheless it was thoroughly enjoyable and good to be able to trek through the rainforest without having to hack out a path as was the case in Amboro. Nevertheless, the weight of the pack with the tent gradually took its toll and the final uphill section was tough going - the scenery a blur of green and purple mayflower bushes. The path finally levelled off and we came to a pleasant banana grove where there were a few basic local dwellings. Sergio decided this was the place to set up camp and I quickly pitched my tent and put my feet up to relax with a good book.



I had a much better nights sleep and we set off in good spirits - the first two hours was mostly uphill through a section aptly named el puesta del diablo, it took a while to get a rythym up through what was probably the hardest part of the trek. This section of the trail is rich in tropical birds - oropendola, parrots and hummingbirds were just a few of those spotted. We took a coca cola break at the house of the eccentric Japanese man and were invited to take a look at his amazing tropical garden. He has achieved a fame of sorts by insisting that every traveller who passes through sign his guestbook, while he rattles through the more unusual visitor entries in his bizarre collection. From there it was all downhill to the finish but with a catch - a forest fire last year has destroyed the forest cover over this final section and the sun was merciless. The first sight of mandarin and lime trees - exotic species in these parts, signalled our arrival in Chairo. Indeed, the diversity of vegetation and landscapes over the three days had been quite staggering. Sergio haggled for ages with the driver who runs the only real transport option to Corioco and we bumped our way along the broken road.


This laid back yungas town has a great location perched on the hillside at 1700m - it has a great climate in which everything from coca to coffee grows and aside from tourism this is how the locals make their money. Here a much needed shower awaited me and I spent the rest of the day lazing by the pool in the hotels lush tropical garden, listening to the calls of the many exotic bird species who frequent it. Theres not much to do in Corioco other than enjoy the ambience, so I whiled away another day in a similar fashion, then got the bus back to La Paz - over 3000m up what is better known as The Worlds Most Dangerous Road.