Coroico, Los Yungas

I was posting 2 photos, but this stupid connection screwed up after a LOOONG wait. I am quite frustrated, but I will get some pics up here once I get back to La Paz.

Since the town (Coroico) is perched on the shoulder of a mountain, the views anywhere here are stunning. We walk around a lot, and have gone on two incredible hikes, one which took a day, where we hiked down to a river and went swimming. This hike involved a BIG descent and ascent, two and a half hours down and three and a half hours back. The whole way back we were followed by a friendly dog, who served as our tour guide. We walked through dry brush areas and jungle, and we passed many fields of bananas, oranges, coffee, coca, and several other tropical fruits.

The second hike we took was to a set of waterfalls, but thankfully it followed a very high mountain path, which meant that the walk was pretty flat, although you had to be very careful where you stepped because the slope ranged from being steep, to sheer drops beside us. We passed through a much drier area, which was primarily scrub, and we walked past and through many coca fields. At one point we were walking through a coca field, and we thought we had lost the path. However, as soon as we started backtracking a friendly, old cocalera (female coca farmer) told us we were going in the right direction. The waterfalls were not as nice a destination as the river, as we could not swim because the waterfalls were dammed and used as a source of drinking water for nearby mountain villages. However, they were surrounded by cool, damp jungle which offered a pleasant respite from the hot walk.

We have been relaxing our aching legs today, and we will be heading back to La Paz tomorrow, where we will be for a few days before heading to Copacabana, on Lake Titicaca.