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According to Bolivia’s National Park System (SERNAP), the remote (6 hours from La Paz) Apolobamba National Park is classified as a Protected Area and Natural Area of Integrated Management. Initially set up in the 1970’s to protect dwindling (and now recovered) highland populations of the vicuña (one of the two wild relatives of the llama and alpaca), Apolobamba was expanded in the 1990’s extend from the glaciated peaks of the Apolobamba Cordillera to the lowland tropical rainforests bordering Madidi National Park (see map). The protected area is home to the UNESCO-recognized Kallawaya medicinal plant healer communities, whose traditional bases are the villages of Charazani and Curva.
In Apolobamba, La Paz on Foot offers two trekking options, the PachaTrek and the CondorTrek, both of which last 3 nights and 4 days and can be combined into a 5 night-6 day trek.
The following descriptions are summaries. For more detailed information, such as itineraries, costs, and what to bring, please send us an email: info@lapazonfoot.com.
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La Paz on Foot offers the 3-night/4-day PachaTrek in partnership with three local communities from Apolobamba that have developed the trek as a community-based ecotourism company owned and managed by community members. The PachaTrek starts out in the llama and alpaca herding community of Qotapampa, continues to the highland farming community of Kaluyo (ever try gardening at 3800 meters above sea level?), and then on to the Kallawaya community of Chacarapi before finishing in the regional capital of Charazani (renowned for the healing waters of its thermal baths).
In each community, you stay in small, community-run eco-lodges, visit simple museums that interpret the community’s agricultural and spiritual calendars and are accompanied by local guides (as well as llamas and burros that carry your pack and bi-lingual La Paz on Foot guides) as you trek from village to village. Trekking time per day averages about 4 hours and can be increased if desired. Special activities include (according to season) shearing an alpaca, listening to traditional wind-instrument music, visiting the ruins of a pre-Colombian Inca settlement, having your future read with coca leaves, touring agricultural plots and settling down into Charazani’s hot springs at the trek’s end.
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The CondorTrek starts out in the small town of Charazani, located in the center of the Apolobamba Protected Area, about 7 hours from La Paz. From Charazani, you pass through Quiabaya, home to a fascinating restored grain mill on the banks of the Charazani River, then travel on to Niño Corin, renowned for its sophisticated weaving techniques and traditional music. From Niño Corin, you trek onwards (accompanied by local guides, burros for carrying your packs and supplies and La Paz on Foot bi-lingual guides) to the mist-enshrouded villages of Curva and Lagunillas, home to Kallawaya healers and the region’s first combined traditional and Western medicine clinic (you can choose to be treated by a traditional or Western healer). Condor sightings are likely en route to Curva and Lagunillas.
After staying the night in Lagunillas’ community-run lodge, on Day 2 you continue through remote villages to a magnificent campsite in the settlement of Jatunpampa, located at the base of the highest peak of the Apolobamba Cordillera, “Akhmani the Powerful.” On Day 3, from Jatunpampa you continue on a circuit trail through the traditional mining town of Kanisaya before returning to Lagunillas (exhausted and hungry). After staying the night again in the community-run lodge in Lagunillas, you return on Day 4 to Charazani and from there to La Paz (after visiting Charazani’s hot springs, of course. Trekking time per day averages about 6 hours and can be increased if desired.
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