In the Footsteps of the Incas
Date of trip: 17-18 October 2009
The Inca Trail that most people have heard of is the one leading to Machu Picchu in Peru. And because of this very popularity, it is also quite crowded (or so I have heard). Well, Bolivia also has quite a few Inca trails of its own. Few people know this. I only realized this once I arrived in Bolivia. But the beauty of these Inca trails is that they are largely free of traffic. Or so we’d heard. So, we decided to tackle one of them, supposedly the easiest one, which runs mostly downhill – the Takesi trek. I would subsequently learn that downhill isn’t always good. But that comes later.
We started out early on Saturday morning – the two of us, two Danes we had met in La Paz, a guide, and a cook. (The cook was almost an hour late in the end, but I guess that should not be surprising at this point. We enjoyed a cup of tea while we waited.) The 2-hour drive to the beginning of the trek passes through several communities, the Palca canyon, and offers some great views of Mount Illimani. By the time we reached Mina San Francisco – the starting point of the trek – I was itching to get out of the car. The air was cold and it was quite windy. The first part of the trek is uphill for about 1.5 hours (depending on your pace it could be done in as little as 40 minutes, but at that altitude, approximately 4,000m or 12,000ft, it was hard for us to walk fast). I was somewhat out-of-breath, but for the first time I felt that my body had adapted somewhat to the thin air. The views around us were pretty similar to the other ones we had seen at that altitude – plenty of rocks and brown, barren space. It seemed like a moon landscape. By the time we got up to 4600m, all that seemed to surround us were piles of rocks. From that peak we started the descent on a mostly preserved “paved” Inca trail into the valley.
The Inca Trail that most people have heard of is the one leading to Machu Picchu in Peru. And because of this very popularity, it is also quite crowded (or so I have heard). Well, Bolivia also has quite a few Inca trails of its own. Few people know this. I only realized this once I arrived in Bolivia. But the beauty of these Inca trails is that they are largely free of traffic. Or so we’d heard. So, we decided to tackle one of them, supposedly the easiest one, which runs mostly downhill – the Takesi trek. I would subsequently learn that downhill isn’t always good. But that comes later.
We started out early on Saturday morning – the two of us, two Danes we had met in La Paz, a guide, and a cook. (The cook was almost an hour late in the end, but I guess that should not be surprising at this point. We enjoyed a cup of tea while we waited.) The 2-hour drive to the beginning of the trek passes through several communities, the Palca canyon, and offers some great views of Mount Illimani. By the time we reached Mina San Francisco – the starting point of the trek – I was itching to get out of the car. The air was cold and it was quite windy. The first part of the trek is uphill for about 1.5 hours (depending on your pace it could be done in as little as 40 minutes, but at that altitude, approximately 4,000m or 12,000ft, it was hard for us to walk fast). I was somewhat out-of-breath, but for the first time I felt that my body had adapted somewhat to the thin air. The views around us were pretty similar to the other ones we had seen at that altitude – plenty of rocks and brown, barren space. It seemed like a moon landscape. By the time we got up to 4600m, all that seemed to surround us were piles of rocks. From that peak we started the descent on a mostly preserved “paved” Inca trail into the valley.
We had lunch in the village of Takesi. A sign at the entrance to the village informed us that 20 women and 22 men lived there. It was probably fairly outdated, since we saw only one woman (and very few houses). One of the most striking things about the Takesi Inca Trail is that it descends to approximately 2200m over 30+ kms. The landscape changes many times over, from barren peaks to lush valleys, from dense tropical forest to wide open plains. The contrasts are phenomenal. Over the two days of our hike, we didn’t come across a single other tourist and we saw very few locals. You really have the feeling that you have that space all to yourself and can fully immerse yourself in its energy. Over the course of the first day, we trekked for 8 hours. At the 7th hour, my knees were starting to hate the downhill and I couldn’t help but keep asking myself, “Are we there yet?” That was the point at which I noticed that the dense tropical vegetation was giving way to more tame varieties – flowers started appearing; the dirt path underneath our feet was quickly replaced by a thick carpet of green grass. It felt like I had entered some fairy tale world. I almost expected to see the witch’s house from Hansel and Gretel appear at any second. We were nearing Kakapi – a community where we set up camp for the night. We camped on a ridge overlooking a green valley. It was quite amazing to wake up to that view the following morning. We were a four-hour hike from civilization in either direction. Remote and free.
It was difficult to get up the following day, especially because my knees were still quite sore and I knew that more downhill awaited us. (I had already started wishing that the trek would continue uphill. It felt much easier to walk uphill than downhill at that point.) But at least I knew that the trek would be shorter – only four hours or so – until we reached the end of the trail at the Chojlla mine. We passed two more communities, a hydroelectric station, an aqueduct, and had to cross a river via a makeshift “bridge” consisting of a pile of logs, as the real suspension bridge had collapsed a few years back under the weight of a group of kids on a school outing (sadly, a couple of them had died in the accident). My favorite part of the trek that day was the last 1.5 hours or so on a smooth, even path with a slight upward incline. It felt great on the tired knees.
The adventure didn’t quite end with the end of the trail. After a quick lunch, we started the drive back to La Paz (the driver who had dropped us off the day before at the start of the trail had come to pick us up). To my dismay, the first 30 kms or so were on something very much resembling the Death Road (a narrow, gravel road winding along the side of the mountain), except it was probably not known as such given the lower volume of traffic. It also started raining pretty heavily. My heart stopped for a second at the prospect of having to squeeze by another vehicle every time I saw a bus or truck head towards us from the opposite direction. I was on the edge of my seat the whole time, especially since our driver (experienced as he may have been) would gesticulate to his companions or turn over to talk to them in the middle of a curve. My relief was immense once we joined the main, paved road. Back to El Cumbre, and back to La Paz.
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