Las Yungas, Bolivia

Las Yungas, Bolivia

Yungas: Chulumani, Irupana, Pasto Grande, Coroico

Renting a 4wd vehicle and driver, we head over the mountains east of La Paz City and descend down winding dirt roads into Yungas– steep slopes of highland jungle and dry forest ranging from 2,300' to 6,000', in search of the Yungas achuma. Just past the low point of Puente Villa, we come across our first Anadenanthera tree, and shortly there after the first fields of coca etched into the slopes below us. Yungas has produced some of the finest quality coca leaf for thousands of years. After brief stops in the towns of Chulumani and Irupana, we come into dryland forest of Anadenathera and columnar cacti. Late in the day we arrive at a small and very rustic hostel at the ruins of Pasto Grande. Built around 500 AD or earlier by the Tiwanaku culture and later inhabited by the Inca, Pasto Grande covers an area of over 1000 hectares with terracing, irrigation and towns. Believed to be of great strategic importance- it was the gateway to coca cultivation and vilca, the ruins are largely overgrown and very minimally excavated. After a day in Pasto Grande we head back through Irupana during a jubilant coca harvest then spend the night in Chulumani. The local market is booming the next day, after stocking up on goods we move on to the nearby cloudforest preserve of Apa Apa, then through the extensive coca plantations of Coripata and end the night in the tourist town of Coroico. A Yungas achuma remains elusive and unlikely.