Choro is a trek along an old Inca trail that goes from 4800m (15,800 feet) down to 1500m (5000 feet). It starts in the high mounatins and finishes in the jungle. The trek cost me $85 USD including guide, transport, and food AND the guide carried my tent. Pretty cushy. We had two guides, Mario and Berlinda, an Aymara couple. There were only 3 of us on the trek- Jessica, a flight attendant from Barcelona and Erin, a doctor from Australia. We had fun together. I think the trek was about 50 km, but I`ll need to fill in the details later. I planned on updating my blog with my guide book, but got caught out in a rain storm in La Paz and ducked inside an internet cafe to wait out the rain.
Day 1:
It was fairly foggy and cloudy so the views of the surrounding mountains were limited. Our trip began with a descent down a wide trail paved with stones. The going was easy, but going downhill on stones takes its toll on the joints. We descended rapidly and reached the town of Chocura where our guide Mario is from.
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| La Cumbre (4800 m), the start of the Choro trek |
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| Traffic jam on the trail; this route is used by the locals to catch the bus to La Paz. I can´t imagine making this journey every time you need supplies. |
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| Choro valley |
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| Posing with Aymara guide Berlinda at the park entrance |
We ate lunch at the park entrance. Berlinda served us cheese, avocado, tomato, and cucumber for a build-your-own sandwich. The trail became more challenging to negotiate as water was running down in rendering the rocks extremely slippery. I carefully picked my way down to camp, but managed to land on my butt 15 minutes efore reaching camp. We walked about 5 hours total including breaks and camped next to the river. The camps are far from secluded campgrounds, but rather are small villages that have 1-5 families living in them. Berlinda and Mario would stay in a cabin and would cook along side the señora of the village. We got camp set up just before a makçjor downpour. I was thankful to be camped under a shelter and to be seated in a covered picnic area sipping tea when the skies opened up. It was the first thundershower I have seen in months. Dinner was pasta which my intestines detest and kept me awake for a good chunk of the evening.
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| On the first day we dropped 2800 m in elevation and the vegetation changed substancially |
Day 2:
I awoke with wet clothes and immediately realized that I had committed a blunder like none other in over 15 years of backpacking- I rolled onto the hose of my camelbak thereby discharging water into my sleeping bag. I was thankful that I had brought along a pack towel and that it was actually fairly warm out (at least by my standards, the otheer girls were chilled). It was a misty morning, broke camp early, and hit the trail. Mario heard I was a fast walker and wanted to try to go further than normal on Day 2. This meant starting by 7:30 a.m. We walked until 5:30 p.m. The wet, cool rainforest turned into hot, humid, tropical rainforest. I enjoyed the flowers, parrots, hummingbirds, and myriad species of butterflies, but didn´t care for the humidity.
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| Jungle slug |
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| lush vegetation in the valley |
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| Aymara girl |
We stopped in a small village high above the valley floor for lunch. There were pigs, ducks, chickens and cats running around that we fed our extra rice to. I took the opportunity to hang my wet clothes and sleeping bag because I knew we wouldn´t reach camp until late.
Our camp for the evening is owned by a Japanese immigrant now in his 70´s. He loves foreigners and had me put an x on the map where I live. The views from camp were stunning. Unfortunately for me, something I ate had its revenge on me during the evening and I got up hourly to use the `bathroom´. Just when my intestines were starting to feel normal again...
Day3
I did manage to walk the 2 hours out to Choiro without incident. From there we took private transport for one hour to Coroico, a resort town on a hilltop, then caught a minivan to La Paz (3 hours). I hung all my gear to dry because everything gets damp in the jungle. It´s funny, but I prefer the thin air of La Paz (3800m) to the thick air of the jungle (1500m).
I ran a few errands and even baught myself a new pair of pants which I had altered within one hour for ($1). Maybe I should have Val´s bridesmaids´dress shipped here for alterations? I did crappy Japanese take out and passed the remainder of the evening in bed fondling my remote control.
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| vibrant flowers grace the trail |
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