La Paz and Chorro trail

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The bus dropped us off in the city centre of La Paz so it was relativley easy to find somewhere to stay. La paz is a amazing place it is the highest capital city in the world. Set in a huge valley the rich live at the bottom the poor live at the top (In the cold and snow).
Sprawling markets and cobbled streetsline the tourist areas, you can anything from a calculator to a LLama foetus(for good luck).
We spent 3 days in La Paz before setting off to hike the Chorro trail.
The chorro trail is an old Inca cobbled rd, which starts in the mtns and ends up in the Yungas Valley.
Day 1: After the bus dropped us off at La Cumbre at 4600m we hiked up to the highest point of the trek at 4895m it was bitterley cold the Icy winds were a killer. We set off early, due to this we saw no one all day. After the high pass it was a knee breaking decent all the way to our own little camp by the side of the Rio Cuchura. There was enough room for 1 tent plenty of fire wood and an endless supply of water. For the first half of the night we watched the stars, then the mist rolled up the valley and we couldn't see a thing so went to bed.

Day 2: More cobbles and more decent. One good thing is that you won't get altitude sickness on this trek but you will need a knee transplant. We passed through the village of Callampampa (6 Houses) after about 2 hrs. The path now was getting damp and very slippy, not good with our heavy ruck sacs. We rounded one hill side and it was like entering a different world, about 10deg hotter and the humidity was unbearable. After an hour walking in this we both looked like Ribena Berries ready to explode.
After the next village of Chorro the trail headed slightly uphill ( according to the guide book ).
Slightly My Ass!! 2 hrs later we were still climbing in the heat and humidity it was a killer.
The Jungle views more than made up for it and the fact that we were totally on our own with no guide made it all the more worth while.
A final corner was rounder an the trail decended for about 30 mins to the Rio Jucumarini.
This was to be our home for the night. After shifting a few rocks about we had our small gravel patch to pitch the tent on (MMM Cumfy). As the sun went down and we tucked into our pasta and soup eyes glinted round the fire side. No not our eyes big spiders fat, hairy and not scarred. As you can guess we went to bed early that night.

Day 3: More up hill to start, pretty steep at times, we could see smoke in the distance but thought nothing of it. About 2 hrs later we met a park ranger who explained that a farmer had been doing a bit of Slash and Burn, this had got out of control and had been burning for 5 days. The trail was scorched on either side and certain parts just next to us were still on fire, Great!!
No major problems with the fire though just a real shame that it had happened, after 5 hrs we arrived at Casa Sandillani, which is the house for a Japannese man who moved there over 40 years ago. His Gardens offer a great camping ground and fantastic views of the valley.

Day 4: Down hill all the way to Chairo, after the 3 hrs to chairo we jumped in an old truck to Corioco to spend the night in a hotel great!!

The next day was a bus ride up the infamous death road, as we rounded the first corner we came across a bus in a ditch ( no one hurt ) but it confirms its reputation as the worlds most dangerous rd.
After a nerve wracking 3 hrs we were back in La Paz where our adventure had begun, straight to a cheesy resturant for burgers ice cream and beer. Its grat slumming it!!

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Photos

Chorro Trail
Freezing cold Walk to the Summit

Chorro Trail
Just to show how high we were and because I could

Camp one
Who needs an MSR when you can Make Fire!!

Jungle trail
Walking through a forest fire was a bit scary.

Comments

[Nicci]

Hope your both well. Russ passed his open water and nitrox course and for someone who "don't like diving prefer fishing" is lovin it!! Love the blog, keep it up. NIcci

[Alex]

Hello adrenalin junkie kids....spider camp followed by a trip down notorious death route, bloomin eck. I imagine that beer tasted good! Sounds like you're having the best time - and your blog's ace, keep living the dream honey pies! Lots of love xx

[Rod]

great use of an MSR
So you carried it all that way to use a match! and then a farmer beat you to it! Fiona graduated last week she was well chuffed. has a job in france for winter season. Weather changed here cold so hope sales will improve. Keep enjoying yourselves- as if you can do anything else.Keep blogging! Rod