Bolivia Highlights & Trekking Tour

Start your adventure tour in La Paz.

This is one of the world’s most dramatically located cities, situated in a deep canyon at the foot of the giant snow-covered mountain of Illimani (6,440m/21,129ft).

The city has a high proportion of indigenous Indians and is a fascinating place to wander about, with many street markets, museums and plenty of opportunity for shopping.

At 3,600m/11,811ft you’ll notice the altitude in La Paz, so take it easy and drink plenty of water while you acclimatise.

Leaving La Paz early in the morning you travel by bus southwards to the mining town of Oruro where we connect with the train to Uyuni.

An eight-hour journey takes you across the high altitude plain known as the altiplano, home to Bolivia’s Aymara speaking Indians, who scrape a living from farming small plots or herding their flocks of sheep, alpaca and llamas.

Today you join up with other people to embark on the 3-day jeep expedition through the starkly beautiful landscapes of southern Bolivia. This is Bolivia’s poorest region where the land is inhospitable and sparsely settled, survival for the few inhabitants is a daily battle. The scenery is wild and dramatic with salt lakes, volcanic peaks and windswept high desert landscapes.

On the first day you cross the world’s largest salt lake, the Salar de Uyuni. The salt lake of Uyuni is immense, covering an area of 11,000km2 at 3,650m/11,975ft.

It stretches in a blinding white haze as far as the eye can see, with shimmering seemingly floating islands and in the far distance, conical volcanoes.

You may stop at Colchani to see salt being processed. The whole town survives on this small industry. Out on the Salar itself you may see local people digging up the salt and packing it into large sacks to take back to be processed. The first night is spent in one of the scattered adobe villages on the altiplano. Accommodation is either camping or in small local houses in bunk beds with basic facilities, such as running water and blankets provided.

The following day drive on through the beautiful desert landscape, stopping to look at salty lagoons full of flamingoes, past the still active volcano of Ollagua to Laguna Colorada, situated inside the Reserva Eduardo Avaroa. The contrast of the red-coloured laguna filled with feeding birds, the banks of sharp white salts around the water and hazy mountains behind is unique.

The typical, though sparse, vegetation of the reserve is the very slow-growing yareta in distinctive bright green hard clumps, and the red-barked queñua tree. Both of these plants have been endangered because of over use by miners of borax. The plants are burnt to dry out the borax.

The local birdlife is also threatened by people stealing eggs and feathers to sell. If we’re lucky we may catch sight of viscachas, vicuña and ñandu, native fauna of this high altitude desert.

On the third day of the tour you reach Sol de la Mañana, spouting geysers and steaming, bubbling mud pools, continuing to Laguna Verde backed by the volcano of Llicanbur on the Chilean border.

You will be driven back to Uyuni. From there travel back to La Paz by bus and our hotel.

Either relax and enjoy a free day in La Paz, or join our Tiahuanaco tour.

Tiahuanaco

The pre-Inca site of Tiahuanaco is definitely worth a visit. It was the centre of the Tiahuanaco culture, a flourishing altiplano civilisation, who were expert stone masons and farmers. The Tiahuanaco culture was at its most powerful between AD 400-700 and then, for some unknown reason, it lost its power and began to sub-divide into smaller groups of Aymara kingdoms.

The site of Tiahuanaco covers an area of 10km2 and is thought to have housed a population of between thirty and sixty thousand people at its grandest. The original name for the site was Taypikhala, an Aymara word meaning stone in the centre. The city is in the centre of the altiplano, with the mountains of the Cordillera Real to the east dominated by Illimani.

Through the mountains are the paths to the fertile lowlands. To the west lies Lake Titicaca and the pasture lands for llamas and alpaca. The location was undoubtedly considered sacred, being in a central position geographically and with clear views of the rising and setting sun. Such large populations were sustained through innovative agricultural irrigation practice.

Water was channelled from the lake to a system of raised fields. You can still see this raised field system on parts of the altiplano today. The idea is that the earth is dug out to create long ditches on either side of a mound. The salt from the brackish water then leeches out and the water content of the soil remains constant. The soils resist frost and the silt from the ditches is periodically spread on the mounds.

The high quality stone work at Tiahuanaco is its most striking feature. There are all sorts of buildings within the site, but there are three principal temples. The main ceremonial building is a pyramid construction called Akapana, maybe constructed to reflect the shape of the Andes in the distance. This structure was 17m high and over 200m along each side. It was made of earth and clay and faced with large stone slabs, the higher levels also having carved feline and human tenon heads.

Within the pyramid cut from the top layer was a sunken courtyard with what is presumed to be priest’s houses inside. Burial remains have been found in the pyramid. A complex network of drains and fountains ran within the whole pyramid, some say this reflects the water courses on the mountain of Illimani. On the north side of Akapana there is a sunken courtyard, a semi-subterranean temple, and nearby the huge enclosure of the Kalasasaya temple. The sunken courtyard is lined with stones studded with further tenon heads, mostly human.

This courtyard contained a number of stone sculptures within it including one of a figure known now as the Bennett Monolith. The area was probably used for ritualistic meetings. The Bennet Monolith was over 7m tall and an impressive sight. It, together with the Ponce Monolith is typical of Tiahuanaco figure carving. The decoration on the stonework is finely detailed, with similar patterns to those found on textiles from the same time.

The Kalasasaya Temple has at its entrance the great doorway seen from the sunken courtyard, now reconstructed, made from tremendous blocks of stone. This was a large courtyard for mass meetings. In a corner of this temple is the intricately carved monolithic portal known as the Sun Gate. It isn’t known where this gate would originally have stood, possibly at the Puma Punku temple 1km south of its present day location.

Today travel by bus across the altiplano to Copacabana and Lake Titicaca, the snow-capped peaks of the Cordillera Real a dramatic backdrop to your journey.

Lake Titicaca is a truly amazing sight, a huge inland sea covering an area of over 8,500 square kilometres, 176km from end to end and on average 50km from one side to the other.

Set at 3,810m/12,500ft in the Peruvian and Bolivian altiplano lake Titicaca is divided by a narrow strait into two bodies of water.

The smaller in the southeast called Lago Huiñaimarca and the larger in the northwest is Lago Chucuito. From the northeast shore of the lake some of the highest peaks of the Andes, the Cordillera Real, rise to over 6,000m/19,685ft.

The lake averages 100m in depth, the bottom tips sharply towards the Bolivian side. More than 25 rivers empty into the Lake but only one small river flows out at the southern end, the Desaguadero.

There are forty-one islands, some of which, like the Island of the Sun, are densely populated. Archaeological remains around the shores attest to the many ancient civilisations that have thrived here. The ancient tribe of the Uros, the influential Tiahuanaco, Pucaras, and Kollas, and their desendents who live their lives around the lake today.

The Aymara Indians still practice their ancient farming methods on the stepped terraces that pre-date the Incas. They grow quinoa and the potato, endemic crops, and graze llamas and alpaca. Lake Titicaca itself is still highly respected and worshipped as the giver of life, the sacred mother, Mama Qota, the provider of fish and birds.

After lunch a small boat takes you to Pilcokaina on the Island of the Sun, legendary birthplace of the first Incas, Manco Capac son of the sun, and Mama Oclla daughter of the moon.

You will explore the island, hiking past the Inca Garden and the Inca Spring, to the village of Challa.

In the afternoon walk to the most impressive ruins on the island, Chincana and the Labyrinth, returning to Challa for the night. (1 night camping or basic accommodation, all meals)

Leaving the Island of the Sun, stop off on the Island of the Moon before returning to Copacabana and on to La Paz for the night.

Four day supported trek

This four-day trek takes us through the heart of the Cordillera Real.

We walk beneath the 13 dramatic peaks of the Condoriri massif, peaks between 5,100-5,648m/16,732-18,530ft, the highest of which is Cabeza del Condor. As its name suggests this peak has a condor like form and is a prominent feature on the Cordillera Real skyline.

The highlights of the trek are the remote Aymara speaking highland communities, herds of grazing llamas, awe-inspiring mountain scenery, mountain lakes often with flamingos feeding and stunning Andean views. There is also a possibility of seeing soaring Andean condors and the rabbit like viscachas.

We use donkeys or llamas to carry all our camping equipment.

We set off from La Paz early in the morning heading toward Lake Titicaca. After around 1.5 hours, we turn off the main route and head into the heart of the Cordillera Real, following a dirt road for another hour.

We arrive at Rinconada (4,400 meters), the starting point of our trek. As we progress, the terrain becomes slightly steeper but remains manageable, with amazing views of the surrounding peaks.

After about three hours walk, we reach Jurikhota Pass (4,850 meters) and our first panoramic views of the Cordillera Real. From the pass, we descend into the valley to Jurikhota Lagoon (4,680 meters) where we set up camp for the night.

Distance walked: 9.2 km/5.7 miles

After breakfast, we begin hiking along the edge of the lagoon until we reach the Glacier Lagoon (4,800 meters).

The path is rocky and occasionally goes above the snow line. The trail becomes more challenging, typical of high-altitude terrain, but the views are exceptional. We arrive at Austria Pass (5,140 meters) and sweeping views of the Cordillera Real.

From here, the final push takes us to the summit of Pico Austria (5,350 meters), a challenging but non-technical climb. From the summit, we have a 360-degree view of the Andes.

We descend toward Chiarkhota Lagoon (4,650 meters) where we set up camp. (4,650 meters).

Distance walked: 6.2 km/3.8 miles

Today we continue towards the Jistana Pass (4,900 meters) then descend into the area near the historic Racachas mine.

From there, we continue trekking toward Huayna Potosí. Along the way, we encounter small streams and the occasional sighting of wildlife, such as llamas or alpacas grazing nearby. We might even see a condor soar above.

By late afternoon, we reach the campsite at the foot of Huayna Potosí’s west face.

Distance walked: 15.8 km/9.8 miles

After breakfast, we set off early for the final leg of our trek.

The ascent to the Huallatani Pass (4,850 meters) is challenging. The trail meanders through high-altitude terrain. As we get closer to the pass, stunning views of the Huayna Potosí massif come into full view.

From here, we begin our descent along a trail that passes through valleys dotted with native flora. We reach the pick-up point by mid-afternoon, where our vehicle back to La Paz is waiting for us.

Distance walked: 8.9 km/5.5 miles

Tour ends La Paz. Fly home or extend your trip in Bolivia / South America.