Blogs from Coroico, La Paz Department, Bolivia, South America

Suzanne here... The flight from Rurrenbaque to La Paz was great. We were in a tiny little propeller plane, with single seats each side of the aisle. Our obsession with arriving at airports early paid off too, as we were on the front seats, just inches away from the cockpit, which was fun. Landing in La Paz, we decided to ignore the taxi drivers and try the colectivo service. Minibus no. 212 left from just outside arrivals and took us all the way to Plaza Isabel la Católica, a two minute walk from our hotel. At 2bs each (about 23p) it was a great saving compared to the 70bs going-rate for a taxi. We felt quite pleased with ourselves. Our hotel was Casa Hermanos Manchego. This was a last minute change from Casa Skyways B&B, who ... read more

Coroico y el 'Camino de la Muerte'. Con pocas ganas de arriesgarnos a morir en este viaje en sur América, nos unimos al plan que nuestro amigo alemán Hans, junto con su amigo visitante y compatriota Anselmo. La idea era, esperar que el clima pareciera apropiado y salir temprano en la mañana en un vehículo que nos llevaría arriba a la cabecera del camino de la muerte, de allí empezar a caminar bajando y avanzar a pie lo que mas pudiera, son unos 35 kilómetros la parte más peligrosa del camino. Empezamos a caminar en la parte norte del camino, unos 3.500 mts. Nublado, frío y solitario. Nos acompañaba también el perro de Hans, Sami, empezamos la marcha y enseguida entramos en una carretera serpentesca y muy angosta, con un gran y gigantesco precipicio. Muy profundo. ... read more

At breakfast we learned that the transformer which delivers electricity to this town carries electricity all the way from Cochabamba, Ronald’s home town and is susceptible to getting damaged any where along the line due to bad weather. This time there had been a strong wind in one of the regions and the transformer had burnt out. Somebody heard on the radio that at 6pm this evening it will be turned on again. Of course all the electricians were in bed, drunk after celebrating carnival so couldn't fix it any sooner. We ate well today. Breakfast was included at the hostel – banana and papaya, bread with butter and jam, nescafe with hot milk. Then, we went down to the local market for lunch and ate eggs, meat, rice, bread and fried banana. We climbed up ... read more

It all started when a lorry driver brought them a monkey he'd run over. The owners of Sende Verde agreed to keep it, and now they have over four hundred animals, some rescued from illegal trafficking, some abandoned pets - all rescued from lives of misery. Visitors can see black spider, orange howler and capuchin monkeys at close quarters. Dangling from thin branches, bodies elongated, swinging hand over hand, snapping twigs, catapulting, somersaulting, scratching; the original bungy jumpers. Guests are discouraged from touching. 'We try to minimise contact with humans. 'Monkey parents' (human surrogates) get to touch, we don't', explained Jenny, a volunteer from Greece. Some monkeys are free to roam, others are caged, some tethered – depending on their psychological state. Watching two baby black spider monkeys play we can see why people find them ... read more

Hi all, Long time... so here is the story of the Choro trek... After renting all our camping equipment from La Paz we set off on a 71Kms journey over 3 days. Choro starts from near La Cumbre at 4800 to end up at 1800 - making its way through Cordillera Real from dramatic altiplanos sceneries to quickly descent into immense valleys with dense vegetation. Although it sounds like a straight walk down it's not as it sounds - Choro is a lot of going up and just a bit more of going down :) What made this trek so enjoyable was the fact that only us and 4 other trekkers shared the route while we were there which meant we were able to appreciate and take in the immensity of the sceneries we witnessed as ... read more