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.

Arrival in Los Yungas

Last night we had a rapid (& somewhat nervewracking) experience getting our bus from Cochabamba to La Paz, but it worked out and the bus was a semi cama, which meant that the seats reclined almost all the way back, so we were able to catch a little sleep during the drive.

We arrived at the La Paz terminal at 5:30, and took a cab around 6:30 to Villa Fatima, the neighbourhood where the buses leave for Coroico. We caught a micro (bus), and our seats were right in the front, which made for breathtaking views. The government built road has now opened, and so we did not have to take the world´s most dangerous road. I can´t really describe the trip, pictures don´t even do it justice. The road begins by going higher than La Paz (which is at 12 000 ft). The landscape is the huge mountains of the Cordillera Real range in the Andes, and it drops more than 3 000 metres in less than 80 kilometres.

Coroico has a semi-tropical climate, and I believe it is classified as a cloud forest. The jungle flora and fauna are beautiful, just as Emily and I went for a walk this afternoon we saw three large, multicolored parrots sitting by the pool. We have decided we will be staying in Coroico for five days, as there is plenty of hiking, swimming, and exploring to do here. Right now were are in a fairly impressive hostel with a gorgeous location overlooking a huge canyon/valley, but tomorrow we will be moving to a hostel on the other side of the mountain ridge, where we will have a private cabana. I have been a taking pictures almost obsessively here, but I´m not posting any today because the internet connection is slow.