84 CultureShock! Bolivia
If you have a phobia about looking down into precipices
from moving vehicles, one alternative is the 3-day, cold-to-hot
La Cumbre to Coroico trek, which begins in a mountain pass
north-east of La Paz, 4,859 m (16,035 ft) high, descending
over 3,000 m (9,900 ft). Also travelling to Los Yungas, at a
higher arrival point, is the old Inca or Taquesi trail, a walk of
about 14 hours over pre-Inca paving.Tips for Trekking
Maps for trekking are available in La Paz from Instituto Geográfi co
Militar (IGM), Calle Juan XXIII 100 and tour agencies specialising
in trekking, such as Magri Tourism and Calle Montevideo.Gravity-Assisted Bicyclers
With a new highway cutting down to Coroico (it separates
from the old road not far down from the checkpoint
at Unduavi), the old road is less transited and free for
adventurers. Anticipating this new function, this author
along with his wife and son actually walked from Unduavi
at about 3,400 m (11,154 ft) above sea level to Yoloso at
1,100 m (3,608 ft) above sea level, just below Coroico. It
took us seven hours.
Several tour companies now specialise in this trip by
mountain bike, with solid bikes, accessory equipment and
guides furnished, including Gravity Assisted Mountain Biking,
(http://gravitybolivia.com). Mainly tourists take the escorted
trip but Bolivian youth are apt to do it on their own.The Guaraní: Cowboys vs Indians
Bolivians travelling to the lowlands rarely get as far as the
Chaco, where 125,000 Guaraní are dispersed through the
large region of dry, tropical scrubland. More than 30 different
indigenous languages and/or cultures survive in today’s
Bolivia, but the Guaraní grab more attention than their
numbers because they live in oil territory.
The Chaco War with Paraguay in the 1930s cost Bolivia
most of its Chaco territory but left her with a rich, oil-
producing region.