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| The Yungas |
So I finally made it Coroico. It is only 3 hours from La Paz but I’ve never
been. I have seen it twice but only from
a distance off through the valleys. Once
after I did the Death Road on bicycle and once after we finished our three day
hike of the Choro Trail. I have always
heard many things about this small city because it is a common vacation point
for many people who live in and around the city of La Paz. But now it was my chance to go and visit for
a few days. Like I said it is only a 3
hour minibus ride away. It takes the
same route as the beginning of the death road.
You cross up and over the Cordilla Real and then wind your way down
through the mountains before entering into the lush green hills and valleys of
the Yungas. It is a very beautiful ride
watching the black snow covered mountains transition into tropical green vegetation.
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| Coroico |
Once arriving
in Coroico it was a bit cloudy and colder than I would have imagined. Apparently a cold front was moving up through
the valleys from Santa Cruz and bringing a bit of rain. But since it was in the evening it was a
good time to relax and get settled in. I
stayed at Hostel Sol and Luna, which is situated high above the main square of
Coroico on the mountain side. It is a
very beautiful and peaceful place to spend a few days. There were hammocks to lie around in and a
nice restaurant to grab a bite to eat.
It is only about a 15-20 minute walk up from the main square. It is surrounded by trees and tropical plants. Also there are plenty of birds that will sing
you a tune no matter what time of the night it is…
The following
day I went on a tour of a coffee plantation.
I have always wanted to see one and figure out where that addictive coffee
bean comes from and how they turn it into that liquid gold. The coffee plantation was owned by a Swiss
guy. So it was pretty orderly and you
could be sure quality was a factor just like all products from
Switzerland. The tour started off
talking about the different kinds of coffee plants. I never knew that they needed shade trees
over them to keep them from getting too much sun. Coffee trees can come in different sizes and
shapes and also have different color berries, but all the coffee beans look the
same. After explaining about how they
grow the bean it was time to see what they do with it after they harvest
it. This was a pretty interesting
process. They had a hand cranked machine
that peels the fruit off of the coffee bean and spits out the beans into a
bucket. The fruit of the coffee bean is
not wasted. It is dried and bagged and
sold as well to make a special tea called Suntana. This tea is used to help lower your blood
pressure and has other good antioxidants.
After the bean has been removed, they wash it off and then spread them
out to dry. A couple of days later it is
put into a greenhouse to continue the drying process. Once it has reached 10% humidity in the bean
it can be bagged and stored. When it is
time to sell the coffee they take the beans out of the bag and roast them. Then the beans are packaged and shipped out
the following day. Once roasted a coffee
bean holds its flavor for about 3 months.
After it has been ground it only holds its flavor for about 1
month. After the tour, was a small taste
testing of coffee which continued to blow my mind. I had always been so curious about how coffee
was produced and after this tour I just wanted to stay and work on the
plantation for a while.
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| Coffee Beans growing on a tree |
Later on
in the main plaza I met a tour guide. He
was willing to give me a good deal on some tours, so I asked him what was
available. One tour really stood out to
me. It was touring one of the black
villages nearby named Tocaña and getting a little background and history on the
culture. You may remember from my
previous blog that many Africans were brought to Potosi as slaves working in
the mines and coin mint. After they were
freed from slavery many moved to the Yungas and started small villages because
it had a nicer climate. So I talked it
over with him and we planned the trip for the next morning.
So the
next morning came around and Rolando came to pick me up from my hostel. I walked with him down to Coroico. It was a nice walk because he was explaining
to me things about the city that I hadn’t known. We then got a taxi that took us down the mountain,
across the river, and up to one of his friends’ house that was a
researcher. He showed us a documentary
about how the people came to the village and about how life was and is for
them. I thoroughly enjoyed it. We then walked up the road and veered off
onto a path that took us through countless orange, banana, tangerine, and grapefruit
trees. We came to a small clearing where
there were a few houses and a yard. In the
center of the yard was a large tarp where they were drying coca leaves. There were also more fruit trees surrounding
the yard as well as cocoa trees for making chocolate. I was seeing some things I had never seen
before in my life. Sitting on the porch
was an old man and lady with a young girl about 3 years old. We sat there and talked to them for a bit
before continuing up the path. We next
passed a house where a lady and her little daughter were hanging up laundry in
the yard. Apparently Rolando knew the
lady because they talked for a bit and Rolando was saying how big the little
girl had gotten. I could really tell how
enthusiastic Rolando was about this community and that he cared about them
deeply. He knew many of the people that
we met and I was so grateful to have a tour from someone who was passionate
about what he was doing. It didn’t feel
as if I was walking around with a tour guide but more like I was walking around
with a friend.
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| Rolando's Friend's house |
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| Path through the jungle |
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| Drying Coca Leaves |
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| One of the houses |
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| Tangerines |
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| View from Tocana looking back at Coroico |
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| Main road (Only Road) through the village |
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| Me Chilling by the river |
We continued
walking and went through the center of the town. It wasn’t that big just a dirt road with a
few buildings and a couple of houses. We
then hopped back into the taxi and made our way down the road. We stopped first at a coca plantation and
then down by the river called Coroico. It
was such a beautiful place. I just sat
there on the bridge for a while watching the water run by and enjoying the warm
sun. Then we rode back up to the
city. Afterwards, I walked back up to
the hostel and just chillaxed in a hammock enjoy the weather trying to figure
out what excuse I could use to stay for a few days longer… I can say that I fell in love with this part
of the country. I would love to move to
Coroico for a while and work in the villages nearby in the Yungas. I think it would be great working to help
with education and planning in the villages and also building some things. I believe that I would truly enjoy doing
that. Also maybe working on that coffee
plantation…
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| Chillaxin' |
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