The Choro Inca Trail Hike

The sign on La Cumbre with a simple map of the trail.

Camino de Choro is one of Bolivia's several Inca trails. This trail  is a stunning drop from 5000 meters near arctic at La Cumbre to the tropics at 1200 meters above sea level in the village of Chairo. Hiking the trail takes from 2 to 4 days. 2 days means rushing through very lightly equipped, 3 days is the standard guided tour and 4 days gives time to enjoy swimming in rivers, showers in waterfalls, star gazing and watching fireflies at the camp fire. I planned for 4 days. The other benefit of the 4-day plan is that you are out of sync with the guided 3-day tours and can have the trail and camping spots pretty much to yourself. It's not a crowded trail by any means since even in the peak season of July we met with only 1 or 2 groups per day e.g. 10 people at most.

The trail is quite easy to follow as the valley really doesn't have many other roads or paths. At the starting point on La Cumbre there is a sign with a map and in the first village on the trail a simple map as well. Google or Bing maps are not really useful for this trail. If you want a real map the IGM (Instituto Geografico Militar) sells 1:50000 maps on Avenida Saavedra in Miraflores, La Paz. You'll need Milluni (5945-II) and Unduavi (6045-III). These maps have some inaccuracies and in many places still show glaciers where in fact there is not even snow anymore. Also names of places may be different than the ones on the signs with trail maps.

Now to the trail. The starting point is on La Cumbre - a high (4700 meters) pass on  the road to the Yungas (Coroico/Unduavi). You can get a ride there on a mini-bus from the La Paz bus station for around 10 BOB (1.5 USD). Arriving at La Cumbre there is a registration office next to a small lake. You should register there, but when we arrived at 7 AM it was closed or perhaps the guards were still sleeping.

View back tom La Cumbre and the registration office at the lake side.

Day 1. La Cumbre - Samana Pampa - Chucura

Arriving at La Cumbre we had to climb another 300 meters vertical to the Apacheta Chucura pass leading to the Choro valley.

The road to the pass. The crossing point is a pile of rocks on the right side of the photo.

At this height this is not an easy task if you're not prepared and well acclimated. After all you are climbing higher than Europe's highest mountain the Mont Blanc. It is also cold here in the mornings. In our case the car thermometer showed -5 C on La Cumbre, but the sun was already rising and quickly started to warm us up on our way to the pass. It took us about 1 hour to reach the pass.

The pass. 

And the view to the Choro valley. You can see the trail on the bottom of the valley.

We stopped to drink and have some cookies on the pass before continuing down. This is the steepest down hill on the whole trail. Moreover your backpack is at it's heaviest as you've just started the hike. So we took it easy and stopped for short breaks several  times on the way down.

Almost there! The map marks these Inca ruins as a village called Lama Khuchu, but it's abandoned. 

The Lama Khuchu village ruins and some llamas.

It takes about 1.5 hours to get down to the bottom of the valley. It's a vertical drop of close to 600 meters from the pass before reaching the ruins. We took a break at the ruins to change clothes and take off our thermal underwear since it was significantly warmer already. At night it is still very cold here so we needed to be prepared with some warm clothes for the first night as well.

We met with some sheep and llamas on the way to the first village.

The first village Samana Pampa - well 2-3 houses that is :-)

A view back to where we descended earlier this morning. 

Getting from the ruins to Samana Pampa took us another 1.5 hours about. In Samana Pampa there is another registration office and a little shop. In the shop you'll find some cookies, drinks, toilet paper in case you forgot to bring it :-). There is also a small stone table and seats with a shade so it's a great place to sit down and cook lunch. We cooked some of the dried soup and pasta we brought. Mixed together it makes a nice camping meal. The man at the offitc is friendly and I talked with him for a while. They were in the process of drying some vegetables - tuntas (a type of potato) if I remember right - behind the house. These people live very ascetic lives since there are no other roads than the trail and no services either. If they need something they have to hike up to La Cumbre and take a mini-bus from there to La Paz - in total a one-day trip at least. And this is the nearest village to La Paz...

Before Samana Pampa the trail is mostly an uneven rocky and at times muddy path. But after leaving Samana Pampa behind the trail becomes a real beautifully conserved Inca trail. Next village down the trail is Chucura which is another 1.5 hours away.

Walking on this road is a breeze compared ot the earlier uneven stony and muddy trail. The clouds below separates the mountains from the tropic.  

Chucura school. The bridge looks tempting, but it's the wrong way. The correct way is through the village. 

 
Chucura has about 10 houses in total and a school. There's also another registration "office" in the village. The old man there tries to make us pay for registration. This is typical Bolivian corruption which unfortunately is a pest encountered all over the country.

The trail  continuing down from Chucura towards Challapampa.

The trail continues from Chucura towards Challapampa. The 3-day organized tours usually stay the night in Challapampa, but as we had more time we were looking for camping next to the river before arriving to Challapampa.

Our first camping spot. Jacuzzi and fireplace included int he price :-)  

And we were not disappointed. The trail descended to follow the river and there are plenty of great grassy spots form camping next to the river about 1-1.5 hours from Chucura. We found the ideal spot and decided to relax there and setup camp. The water in the river is very cold and crystal clear, but has some biological activity due to the villages above and the animals. The water can be used for drinking if first boiled or purified with water purification tablets. Later on the trail there are plenty of smaller streams coming down the mountain sides. Add captionThe water in the streams is cleaner, but still requires purification in order to avoid any intestinal problems. You do not want to get sick here - there are no roads or rescue services. And if you get into trouble the locals will mercilessly rip off every penny you have before helping you out.

We found some reasonably dry wood so we could have a camp fire dinner : Chinese noodles, bread, sausage and cheese and biscuits as dessert. It gets dark starting 6.30 PM and by 7 PM it's pitch black. We watched the stars for a while before going to bed. It was a cold night and I woke up a couple of times in the early hours feeling a little cold. I had moved and partially slipped off the insulating mattress. The thermal underwear really saved the night though since without it I think we would have had to get up in the early hours and start walking in order to keep warm.  

Day 2: Chucura - Choro

We got up with sunrise around 8 AM. The valley has steep and high mountains on both sides so the sun rises late on the bottom. We boiled some river water to make tea. We combined this with some bread, salami and cheese for breakfast.  
  

Our camp in the morning. 

We packed up and got up on to the trail. We continued down towards Challapampa passing some beautiful waterfalls.

The trail is still excellent with some soft grass son the stones.

A view point overlooking the valley and Challapampa somewhere down there...

Already before arriving to Challapampa the trail continues in the bush and forest. The change is amazing. Just yesterday's we started on just sand and rock, changed to grass in the bottom of the valley and today we are going into the sub-tropical forest!

 

The trails gets greener. Another of the low-tech bridges made of wood, stone and soil. Sometimes
it looks like the only thing holding them together is the grass growing on them.

What a change in vegetation. These parasitic plants live in trees. When it rains water collects between the leaves and frogs move to live into them. 

A stream coming down the side of the mountain. 

In one day from dry, cold mountain to green, lush forest.  

Challapampa.

Challapampa brigde. The camping is on the grass across the bridge. There's also a small shop here. And the locals will happily sell you firewood.

We stopped for a short break in Challapampa. There are some tables with shades next to the camping place. The only person we saw was an elder woman sitting on the other side of the bridge.

We continued our hike towards Choro. Now the trail turns wetter and the stone paving is now just a mess of very slippery boulders. It rains a lot here so the trail has turned into something different over the past 500 years. But you can also now find some bamboo if you want  to make a light and durable walking stick to help you over the slippery boulders. And if you're here in the right season you might be bale to pick bananas from the trees along the trail.

  

Banana tree flourishing. 2-3 months later and we would have been picking bananas.

Down and the some.

 As the trail is almost all the time in the forest there are hardly any suitable camping places before Choro. We found one about half ways to Choro, but as it was still early we decided to look for a place in or near Choro.

Choro village. 

The organized tours do not normally stay in Choro for the night so it's usually easy to camp there. And there are a few good spots. One is just before arriving to Choro village next to a water fall and 2 others next to the river just before arriving to Choro bridge.

Great camping spots just before Choro bridge. The bridge is visible on the photo. Again a complimentary jacuzzi and a fire place next to the river provided. 

A swim in the river, dinner, camp fire with fire flies lighting up in the trees nearby.  That's life!

Day 3: Choro - San Francisco - Bella Vista

Morning at the camp.  

We got up again around 8 AM. In Choro the clouds stayed thick longer completely blocking the sun. We had some tea with bread, salami and cheese for breakfast before packing up and continuing our journey. The trail continues over the Choro bridge and then climbs up on the other side. We felt lucky having stopped in Choro for the night since there were no suitable places for camping until on the top of the hill.

The trail after Choro bridge. It doesn't resemble the earlier beautifully paved Inca trails at all. 

While climbing up we notice the lack of stone paving. It's not as muddy as between Challapampa and Choro so rain is not the reason. But we soon realize that the path we are following is not the trail built by the Incas. It is the official trail, but the original trail can be seen in the forest at times. It's completely covered by bush and trees and in it's current state impassable.

One of the points where the official path deviates from the original Inca trail. You can see the stone wall on the side of the path which has no meaning for this path. Digging a little in the forest we find that on top of the stone wall is a stone paved  trail zig-zaging into the forest above. Why the path has changed over time is a mystery. 

The "top". Here's the next suitable camp site after Choro. It takes less than an hour to get here from Choro. We spent longer as we were looking for the trail in the forest. 

The trail climbs up for close to an hour and then continues on the hill side towards Buena Vista. Buena Vista is just one house with a camping place in front of it. The view is indeed "buena".

Buean Vista visible. But still another almost 2 hours to go.  

Before Choro we saw the first humming birds and since then they can be seen along the trail. 

Buena Vista camping

Unfortunately the people at Buena Vista dump all their garbage to the side of the trail so if you stop here please don't leave any trash behind.

We stop at Buena Vista to cook some lunch. The people working there are a maybe 12-year-old boy and a toddler. Having seen their garbage dump next to the trail just before arriving we decide to take all our trash with us from here.

We continue towards San Francisco - a potential camp site for the next night.

The trails continues on the side of the mountain.

The bridges are lacking a lot of planking and the existing ones are rotten. We walk stepping carefully on top of the cables running from end to end.  

One of the many waterfalls along the trail.

20 minutes to San Francisco.

As the path is in the open now we can see both San Francisco and Bella Vista on the sides of the next mountains.

San Francisco is the house on  the next mountain side and Bella Vista on the next one. Seems near, but the trail goes between the mountains all the way to the standard stream and waterfall in between. 

We arrive early to San Francisco. Some organized tours spend the night here. We consider to stay the night here and take on the Questa del Diablo (Devil's Quest) first thing in the morning, but we decide to continue towards Bella Vista still this afternoon.

Waterfalls, waterfalls, more watrefalls.

Bridge between San Francisco and Bella Vista. 

The 2 waterfalls between San Francisco and Bell Vista makes the valley between very wet. Later when we are climbing up the slippery stone stairs of Questa del Diablo it starts raining as well. The views over the waterfalls is very nice from the stairs. We arrive to the first house in Bella Vista  at dusk and I ask about camping. The owner wants 10 BOB for camping. We decide to stay and quickly put up our tent to get our things out of the rain. Later I ask if we can cook under a roof somewhere - another 10 BOB is required for this luxury. We cook soup, tuna fish and pasta and go to bed directly after as it is still raining.


Day 4: Bella Vista - Sandillani - Chairo
In the morning we pack up and leave immediately to cook breakfast somewhere else. We discover that Bella Vista has another - apparently abandoned - house and free camping just 5 minutes away. We stop here to have breakfast. We still have some bread left and we finish off the rest of the cheese and salami with it.  

Bella Vista. Good camping here

We pack up again and start towards Sandillani. The trail climbs again before arriving to maybe the only point except Chucura where you could take a wrong turn.

Turn left...

..into this...

We take a short break at the abandoned house and continue through the bush towards Sandillani. It's again very near at about 20 minutes from the abandoned house.

Juts before arriving to Sandillani.

Sandillani. There is another camp site here.

Sandillani was the home of perhaps Bolivia's most famous Japanese - Tamiji Hanamura - or The Hermit. He came here after the second world war in 1958 and stayed ever since. In his own words: "At 2100 meters, always +15 degrees, no malaria. Since Japan I've always lived in the country side - always in the mountains. Here I will stay, this is my destiny." He built a Japanese style garden and his house and the camping site. He passed away in 2013 and is buried in his garden next to his house under a tree as he had requested.   

We stop to have lunch here and take a long break visiting the Japanese garden and the grave of Tamiji.  

From here it's another 2-3 hours to the final village of Chairo. We start walking down the path thinking of The Hermit and his strange life here in the Yungas so far away from his roots in Japan.

Scenery going down towards Chairo. 

Coroico far away on the hill.
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Beautiful butterfly - for once still enough to pose for a photo. 

Chairo.

We arrive to Chairo and have drinks & ice cream in front of a shop.We are told that there are no public transport to Coroico from here and fall for the lie. The only way out is to hire an entire mini-bus just for the 2 of us. in fat juts waking up the road just 5 minutes more is another village where there are plenty of transport available. But this we didn't know so finally we accept the rip-off offer in Chairo and take off towards Coroico for a couple of relaxing days in a hotel with a pool.