Blogs from Coroico, La Paz Department, Bolivia, South America
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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
The Worlds Most Dangerous Road
Published: December 7th 2012South America » Bolivia » La Paz Department » CoroicoAfter a day recovering from the night before and some time spent exploring the city, wandering through the countless markets, steep windy streets and taking in the sights and sounds it was time for some adrenalin. It was time to saddle up and ride death road. The road from La Cumbre to Coroico in Bolivia is known as ‘The World’s Most dangerous Road’, the 64km narrow (just over 3.2meters wide) gravel road runs downhill along precipitous cliffs with up to 600m drops and few safety barriers. In March 2007 a new replacement road opened, this means the old road (the one we would be riding) is now used almost exclusively for cyclists, support vehicles and the odd tourist bus. Prior to this, the roads nickname was well deserved: an average of 26 vehicles per year disappeared ... read more
Am nächsten Morgen weckt die Sonne meinen gesundeten Körper. Nach einem Frühstück auf der Yunga-Tal-Terasse wandere ich noch ziemlich geschafft hinunter ins Dorf und suche mir eine schöne Bleibe für die nächsten Tage. Es gibt entweder Ranz oder gleich mit Pool und Wifi, der Luxusbackpacker setzt sich durch. Am Abend speise ich mexikanisch in amerikanisch-italienisch-österreichischer Begleitung zu französischer Jazzmusik. Wir laden den Amerikaner am Nebentisch zu uns ein, er will aber nicht, da wir spanisch reden. Fünf Minuten später. Der Nebentisch-Amerikaner unterhält sich mit unserem Amerikaner quer durchs Restaurant auf Englisch, wir sitzen stumm daneben: Sprachimperialismus. Schließlich schließt er sich aber doch an und wir fahren in Spanglish fort und verabreden uns für den Wasserfall-Trek am nächsten Tag. Der fällt für mich dann prompt ins Wasser, ein Tag Ru... read more
Deathroad - Camino del Muerte a Coroico
Published: August 5th 2012South America » Bolivia » La Paz Department » CoroicoHola mi amigos, vor lauter Herumreisen, habe ich die letzten 10 Tage kaum Zeit gefunden um meine Reiseberichte auf dem aktuellsten Stand zu halten. Zunachest mal einiges zur Deathroad. Vorletzten Sonntag bin ich frueh aufgestanden und habe mich mental auf die "Todesstrasse" vorbereitet. Zunachest war mir nicht klar, ob die Tour nun tatsachelich stattfindet, da mich der Touroperator erst 45 Minuten zu spaet vom Hostal abgeholt hat. Mit einem lauten "Hola Amigos" begruesste ich beim Einsteigen in den Mikrobus die anderen 8 waghalsigen Radabenteurer. Die Amigos im Bus antworteten mit einem noch lauteren Hola Amigo! Die Chemie passte von Anfang an. Es waren 8 super Chilenen, welche gemeinsam durch Bolivien reisten. Zunachest fuhren wir ca. 1 h lang mit dem Bus bergaufwaerts bis wir schliesslich auf einer Hoehe von ca. 4900 m ankamen. An der Bergspitze ... read more
Los Yungas and finalities in La Paz
Published: June 16th 2012South America » Bolivia » La Paz Department » CoroicoHi folks, Been a great week or so since my last blog! Had a tour round La Paz with Dany on Thursday - good to see a few different parts of the city before leaving after this weekend. Wandered round a couple of crazy markets and headed up to El Alto for more spectacular views over La Paz. Went to see Matamba (one of Bolivia's biggest reggae bands) supporting Los Pericos on Friday, the latter being the biggest reggae band and perhaps the biggest musical export to come out of Argentina. In an open air venue, the atmosphere was awesome, and Matamba certainly got the crowd going with their funky beats, rocky solos and stage presence. During the cross-over between bands the rain started falling, followed by heavier rain and hail stones!! Everyone went crazy for ... read more
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Few days since my last blog as I have been away. Spent the weekend at La Senda Verde animal sanctuary...more on that in a bit. On thursday, had my first photography class with Joseph, a professional photographer. Learnt a few excellent tips that I'm looking forward to putting into practice as well as an insight into the history of photography and having a gander through Joseph's own work. Spent the afternoon at the witches market in La Paz - a maze of streets where a vast network of shops offer buyers an bizarre assortment of goods including potions, amulets, dried sknakes, protection charms and other unusal items, none more notorious that the dried Llama fetus' which are used for Aymara rituals. Bought myself some traditional clothing, and travelling protection statue and a charango!! IOAB soon to ... read more
Road of Death Takes it's Toll
Published: March 29th 2012South America » Bolivia » La Paz Department » CoroicoWell we did all survive the Road of Death, well sort of, as we were returning from Coroico back to La Paz, Allan hit a big hole and snapped the front assembly on his car, which dropped the front left down to about 60mm off the road? We pulled off the busy road as it was getting dark after such a big day. What can we do now??? Well it took Cory about ten minutes to locate a welder about 100metres up the road, so we greased the front drive shaft as it was rubbing on the suspension arm and he drove up to the welder fellow to re weld the broken component. Cory stayed with him and I led the rest of us back to the hotel, with a little help from Karen (my GPS). ... read more
Walking, drinking and a huge case of food poisioning!
Published: March 8th 2012South America » Bolivia » La Paz Department » CoroicoSo, after the crazy day we had on the World’s most dangerous road, we decided to take it easy for a couple of nights and take in the picturesque views in the town of Coroico. We were still in our group of 5 people consisting of Donna, Helen, Troy, Adrian and myself and the plans for the coming days were pretty simple, to chill, relax and maybe even get some laundry done! The night we arrived was pretty much taken up by trying to find a suitable hostel at a good rate, as well as getting ourselves a nice but cheap dinner. Luckily enough for us, we managed both. The next day, we decided to do some washing as most of us had clothes that pretty much wanted to walk in to the wash due the ... read more
Cotapata (ou comment affronter la Death Road)
Published: February 26th 2012South America » Bolivia » La Paz Department » Coroico25 février 2012 Info générales: Il y a plusieurs années, il existait qu´une route qui reliait La Paz au Brésil. Tous les bus, voitures et surtout les camions de marchandises devaient affronter cette route: Cotapata. La route corniche. La route qui tue. Les véhicules se croisaient sur cette voie unique, en gravier, sans garde-fous, longeant des précipices de plus de trois cent mètres. Suicidaire. (Allez voir sur Youtube. C´est à tomber sur le cul). La route la plus dangereuse au monde. 1500 morts par année. Death Road. Elle mérite bien son surnom, croyez-moi. Heureusement, le gouvernement a mit un terme à cette folie en construisant une route plus sécuritaire (mais beaucoup plus longue). Donc, le raccourcit de la Death Road a finalement été fermé aux véhicules. Rapidement, les amateurs de Mountain Bike ont sentie la belle ... read more
Coroico - My Kind of Place
Published: September 9th 2011South America » Bolivia » La Paz Department » CoroicoAt the end of the Death Road trip the town of Coroico was visible on the edge of a mountain, it looked like the kind of place that would require a further look and so Ciaran and I took a micro to the town. On arrival we headed towards a German owned hostel that had been reported as fantastic. Unfortunately, it had not been reported to me as being at the top of the town, up a hefty dirt road. The climate in Coroico, in the Yungas, is wonderful compared to La Paz. Set at 1525m the increased level of oxygen is a wonder and the heat can be felt everywhere, there is no need to carry a fleece for the shadows, it is hot everywhere. We climbed the steep cobbles road to the hostel only ... read more
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