Tiwanaku, Lake Titicaca and Coroico (TE05-01-TLC)

Day 4 - Page 4

12:30-13:45 Chacaltaya – Manquilisani (25 km – 15.5 mi)

We will leave Chacaltaya along the same road we have came and once on the Altiplano plateau we shall drive south towards La Paz , and start to descent into the La Paz valley. Solitary adobe houses start to appear along the way, and small fields are again in evidence. However after several kilometres we will turn east and descent down to the Kalyuo river (which eventually becomes river La Paz ). We cross the river and start gentle ascent along its valley northwards. Here there are usually herds of llamas and alpacas in evidence. We pass several abandoned mining operations, and then we will arrive to the area where locals mine the earth “turba” from the valley floor, to be sold for La Paz gardens. Eventually we'll arrive to Chacaltaya communityy, we'll pass it and keep going along the now no more then a stream of Kalyuo river, until we arrive to the end of the road. Here we take a short hike to a small lagoon hidden at the base of the valley, and we will appreciate beautiful views of glacier covered Mt. Manquilisani (5324 m -17468 f)


13:45-15:00 Chacaltaya Community - Apacheta Chucura pass (30 km – 18.6 mi)

We shall return several kilometres along the road we have came, and then we turn off the main road and start climbing up again along a dusty curvy little used road towards the high pass over the Cordillera Real. We arrive to another plateau, doted with several lagoons. This is where the Cotapata national park starts, we’ll climb bit more to the Apacheta Chucura pass, where the Choro inca trail starts at 4880 m (16010 f). The views from the pass are unforgettable, the peaks of Cordillera Real are all around us. For those who feel well in this altitude and want to have some truly amazing view we can follow the ridgeline, for a while and climb to 4990 m (16371 f), from where we will have beautiful views of the surrounding mountains and valleys.

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