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After a few days in La Paz, I decided to cross the Andes to get a glimpse of the Amazonian watershed on the other side. My mini bus took a very narrow dirt road that first climbed to the "La Cumbre" pass at 4725 meters before dropping down to the town of Coroico at only 1525 meters elevation.
The ride was hair raising and the views spectacular as you can see below.
In many places the road had been carved out of a sheer vertical face and it sometimes passed under waterfalls like in the photo above on the left.
It was a unique experience. The rules of the road were also unique. Vehicles going downhill had to stay on the outside edge of the road far enough to let those going uphill pass on the inside without having to stop. It made sense but edging close to the abyss to let a big truck pass was worth an adrenaline rush every time...
I heartily recommend Coroico not only for the exiting trip over the Andes but also for its climate and for its friendly, relaxed atmosphere.
At 1525 metres, it is warmer than La Paz but not steaming hot like the Amazonian jungle below.
This charming town has been adopted by tourists but there are not too many of them, thanks to the terrible road that had to be negotiated to get here.
I class Coroico as one of the highlights of my South American trip.
I had a nice room with a tremendous view at the Kory hotel for 4.40 US$.
The Kory was a friendly place with a fine restaurant and a swimming pool. A good place to meet fellow tourists such as congenial Raquel from Santiago and her daughter Inez from Arica Chile.
Here, I also met Fabio marchessini from Buenos Aires who was as fascinated by the fabulous history of the Tiahuanaco civilisation and the Huari Empire as I was.
As all nice events come to an end, I made it back to La Paz over the same bad road and got the same adrenaline rush doing it. A couple of days later I took this ferrobus to Arica in the northern tip of Chile.
We were delayed because there had been a derailment on the line the day before so it took 15 hours to cover of the 450 km distance to the Pacific coast at Arica.
It was a long trip but a pleasant one with a group of friendly backpackers to chat with and beautiful views of the altiplano to enjoy on the way.
It was still light when we pulled into Visviri at 4100 metres after crossing the border into Chile but we were delayed here again and nightfall made us miss the spectacular 4200 metre descent from the Altiplano to sea level west of Puquios station.
