Villagers on their way home

On Friday me and Raquel had decided to travel to Copacabana and stay there for a day, and then reunite with four of our friends on the island Isla del Sol on Saturday.
Getting to Copacabana from La Paz is pretty easy; first you have to get to the cemetery, and right by the cemetery there is a stop for the buses going there. The bus costs 15 Bolivianos, and the standard is alright.
On the way to Copacabana there is a part where you have to cross Titicaca, and here everybody has to pay 1,50 Bolivianos to cross over by a small boat and wait for the bus on the other side (the place where you have to wait is called San Pedro de Tiquina).

After a more or less 3 1/2 hour long drive we arrived in Copacabana, which is a small town by the shore of the lake Lago Titicaca.

A golden statue in the front, and the basilica de la Virgen de la Candelaria in the background

Lady selling things outside the walls of the cathedral

Details from the cathedrals door.

We arrived in Copacabana right next to the big cathedral, so it was easy for us to stop by and take a closer look at it before starting the exploration of the city. And after a quick stop in the cathedral it was time to ensure that we had a place to stay for the night.
It was easy to find a hostel, since there are many hostels but few tourists at this time of the year. We payed 25 Bolivianos each for our room, an set out to explore the area.

The hostel we stayed at was nice enough, at least for 25 Bolivianos. There are a lot of hostels, so it is easy to find a place to stay.

Some details from one of the streets we passed by. The writing says "Workers Union Copacabana"

We went a short trip down to the beach, were we mostly saw empty swan-boats, but also a couple of cute kids:)

The first thing we did, after a short trip down to the beach area, was to climb up one of the mountains surrounding the city.
This place is called Cerro Calvario, or the Calvary Hills, and on the top you can enjoy a nice view of the lake and the city in addition to some Catholic crosses that dates back to the 1950s.

Crosses on top on the Cerro Calvario

Ladies selling their goods on the top of the hill

View from the Calvary Hill

Copacabana seen from the Cerro Calvario

Cholita lady and her friend on their way down

But we weren't finished exploring the city yet, cause we had also planned to climb the other greater mountain there as well, where we had heard  there were supposed to be some stone formations left after the indians living in the area previously. Just belove the summit there is a place called Horca del Inca, which was actually used by the Chiripas some thousand years before the Incas, and apparently the stone formation was used to predict the harvest of the coming year as well as other astronomical purposes.

Raquel relaxing underneath the The Horca del Inca

View towards Copacabana from the hill with the Horca del Inca

 Luckily we just got to check out this place before it became dark, and we even had time to go down to the beach and watch the sunset there. We spent a nice evening in Copacabana visiting some of the local bars, and we did meet some interesting people too. Since we were going to get up early the following day to go to Isla del Sol we didn't stay up too long though..

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Morning on the inca trail

 Though originally our guide Andres (aka Tarzan) had planned for us to use around 3 hours to get to Chairo. he seemed to have changed his mind cause he speeded up to the point it was hard to follow. But still we did have some time for breaks on the way to enjoy the scenery and to stop and look for monkeys in the woods. Unfortunately we didn't see any monkeys on our way, but here are some wild horses we passed by:

Some times you come across some random wild horses walking by themselves down the inca trail.

 Thanks to our last struggles we arrived in Chairo a lot earlier than we had though we would, and here we had breakfast in the local food store. From Chairo we were going by car to Coroico, and in the end we found out that the easiest and cheapest option was to call Andres' lady Carla, who runs Carla's Garden Pub in Coroico and make her pick us up.

Finally in Chairo!! You bet I was glad the walking was over.. Haha:)

While waiting for Carla Andres took us down to the river, where there also is a butterfly conservatory. Unfortunately the conservatory wasn't open, but at least we got the chance to chill out and take a bath in the river..! A bit cold perhaps, but really refreshing! ..The only thing that wasn't too good, was counting my mosquito-bites from the trip just to discover that I had more or less 40 of them on my left leg alone..
Anyway, Carla arrived to pick us up after an hour, and we could continue our trip to Coroico in more comfortable manners.

Our first view of Coroico from the car

Though Coroico is a small city, almost more like a village, it is considered the capital of the North-Yungas. It is situated up in the hillside, and from the city you have a stunning view of the surrounding valleys. When you arrive in the city you'll see a sign that says "welcome to heaven", and they aren't lying, the place is beautiful. And the air is so fresh here too, not like the dirty air in La Paz :p..

View from one of the small streets going down from the main plaza in Coroico

We were heading for Carla's bar; the Carla's Garden Pub, which was situated up one of the small street going up from the bus station to Coroico's main plaza. Here we were going to spend the rest of the afternoon and evening, and thanks to Carla and Andres' kindness we were going to spend the night here as well. Normally the pub isn't open on Sundays, so we were really lucky! And since the place was open only to us, we really got to relax and enjoy the drinks, the food and the beautiful garden to the fullest.

The sign at the enterance to the garden pub.

Andres ready to serve a cold beer or perhaps a fancy drink:)

Our host Carla by the entrance to the pub to the left, and not to mention the garden & view!

Cheers!

 After all the walking it was really great to sit down and have a cold class of beer. The weather was great, and so was the surroundings. In the garden we could see hummingbirds in the daytime, and fireflies in the evening!

Asger got to test out the hammock. Just have to say that Dorte and Asger are such a cute couple:)

In the evening the weather shifted suddently, and it was rainy and stormy. Still, we had a good time, and for dinner Andres showed off with his cooking skills, and I must say I was impressed. It was really great!! (They can also throw birthday-parties etc at Carla's Garden Pub, and if you have the chance this is something you shouldn't miss, so don't hesitate to ask them about it!). Unfortunately he didn't want to share any of his recipes with us though, I would have loved that.. Haha.. :p

Both the drinks and the food was really great. Who would have thougt that Andres is such a good cook?!

The pub by night

The pub by day

Coroico bus station

We originally planned to stay a day extra in Coroico, but there were almost no clean clothes left, and Dortes had some nasty blisters that made it really painfull for her to walk. Besides, or plan for the day had been to hang out by the pool of one of the hotels in town, but it was cloudy and cold. So in the end we decided that we might as well go home earlier. Just down the street from Carla's Garden Pub there is a bus station where the busses leaves more or less every hour. We payed 25 Bolivianos for a ticket to La Paz with one of the more comfortable vans and one Boliviano as a fee for using the station. But because of our luggage they also made us pay for an extra seet to put our luggage on.. Hrmf..
Anyway, the trip back took us about 2 1/2 hours, and we had great views most of the way!

The Choro Trek and the time we spent in Coroico was really great. If I have the chance to come back and spend a day in Coroico when the weather is better I definately will.!

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The Choro Trek 1: La Cumbre to Sandillani

Old man walking down the mountain side with what seemed like an extremely heavy backpack

This weekend me, Dorte and her boyfriend Asger went to check out the Bolivian wildlife through the so-called El Choro-trail. The approximately 53 km long trek starts in La Cumbre, a place which lies 45 minutes by car from La Paz. Our goal was the mountain-side village Coroico, which lies about 3 hours away from La Paz by car. The distance might not seem that long, but you have to cross over rivers, ascend and descend mountains, and not to mention the winding paths will take you zig-zag all the way to Coroico.

Starting out with a break on the top of the mountain.

Going to Coroico takes you through 5 different climate sones, from the cold and naked mountains close to La Cumbre, and a change to low altitude and hot climate when you get closer to Coroico and the Amazon jungle. The big variation definitely made the trek even more amazing.

Ready for the unknown.. Oh yeah.. ;p

We started of fresh at more or less 9 o'clock at Friday, with nothing but ourselves, our backpacks and our local guide Andres (we soon gave him the nickname "Tarzan" because of his toughness..!).
The first thing we did was to climb up one of the mountains close the the lakes in La Cumbre, and from there we had a great view of some inca ruins that Andres told us is more than 500 years old. As we went down towards the ruins we could see condors flying high above us, which actually is quite rare cause they prefer to stay at even higher places. But after we had passed the inca ruins we soon understood why the birds were patrolling the area: a horse cadaver by the side of the road..
We did see a lot of other living animals too though; both wild horses, llamas and sheep were to be found in this area.

Inca ruins that supposedly are more than 500 years old

We had to register before going through Samana Pampa

After some hours of walking we came to the small village Samana Pampa which we just passed through after having registered ourself in a local office on the way.
We did not see many people on our way, and the fog limited our view.

In the village Chucura, which is situated 3600 o.s.l, we had a quick stop to eat lunch. They were celebrating the jubilee of the village, so while eating we could hear sounds of a fiesta in the neighbourhood even though we couldn't see anything.

Our guide walking through the foggy landscape

Asger taking a rest after more or less 4-5 hours of walking

 Our next stop was Challapampa, and this was were we spent the first night. One of the local ladies, who knew our guide, made us dinner, and afterwards we went to bed. I think the clock was around seven or eight in the evening, but all of us were really tired after the long day..

The first toilet we passed on our trip..

First view of Challapampa

The tent is ready for the night..!

Dinner at the house of a local lady living at Challapampa

The second day of our trip we got up before sunrise, an started heading further down the mountainsides. The climate changed quite quickly, and it was a lot more humid than the day before. Most of the day we spent walking through exotic vegetation, we bathed in a river and saw a lot of exotic butterflies. Today we also had to climb the "Cuesta del Diablo" (or the hill of the devil), which is said to be the hardest part of the El Choro track. There was a part after it though, where the guide speeded up so badly that the Cuesta del Diablo seemed like a joke.. Haha..
But also today, we had great views and a lot to see.

The three of us ready for another hard day!

Some interesting plant

Just relaxing by the river

While we were bathing in the river a butterfly used the chance to rest on a pair of  our socks.

Passing the little rest-area called Buena Vista, which means Nice View. And there was certainly a lot of nice view here:)

We passed some gold mines on our way too; here there were 4 men working in the mines. Can't really say they had a lot of security in there though..

With a lot of walking to do you better rest while you can..

But there is also time to enjoy the view!

..Some of the bridges we crossed didn't seem too safe to be honest..

After another long day with 5-6 hours of walking we arrived at a village called Sandillani where there currently wasn't anybody, except for a 80-something year old Japanese man called Hanamura, who lived alone up in the mountains with his dog. Apparently he came to Bolivia from over 60 years ago; I tried to talk to him in Japanese but he didn't really answer a lot. I guess he wasn't used to talking it after all these years. I told him I live in Kyoto, and he started talking about the years Kyoto was the capital, he seemed to have remembered a lot of dates..

A Japanese house in the middle of nowhere - gokk-mokk - Bolivia

The guide cooking some noodles for us for dinner

Our place for the night. According to Dorte there were bats flying around us during the night, probably to catch the mosquitoes that had gathered to get a meal..

Anyway, that night we slept on the ground without the tent, and we could see the fireflies dancing in the forest.
The two first days of our trip was definitely the hardest ones physical since these were the days we walked the most (the third day we had to deal with sore muscles and blisters though..), but we did have some nice experiences the last days too. I'll be back with an update about the last days of our trip tomorrow.!

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