Photo: Bridge crossing on Choro Trail
The next day, we followed the trail in the heavy vegetation of the Yungas. An noon we stopped at a rocky cascading river, and took a plunge in the cold water. In the afternoon it rained, but we made it to the Japanese man s house. His name is Tamiji Hanamura.
We camped in his garden below his Japanese style house. He had hundreds, if not thousands of postcards that other travelers had left. I gave him a postcard of Mt Rushmore and he immediately found Mt Rushmore postcards from previous visitors. We all signed the guestbook he had. Since the Israelis were out of food, (they forgot & left half of it at the hotel) we ate the rest of my instant potatoes and beans.
Photo: Slash & burn on Choro Trail
The 4th day of the hike was, initially, a short and pleasant 2 hour hike to Chairo. We were told that a truck would be leaving for La Paz at 2:30 PM. A very lucky break, but while we were below the town sunning on the river bank, the truck left at 2:00 without us. We now had a 4 hour hike to the main road were we would have to then hitch a ride.
As we were leaving Chairo, the Israelis met a man with a truck parked in his driveway and asked him what he would charge for a ride to the road. He wanted about $30, too much. When we were 1/2 mile down the trail, two of the Israelis decided to go back and bargain with the man. But the man was still insistent on the price.
Photo: Bridge & houses on trail
Two of the Israeli men went on without us, but the rest of us decided to take the truck because two of the other Israeli s, the woman who was initially carried to La Cumbre and her boyfriend, were physically hurting. When they went back to talk to the man, they argued over the price some more, and then found out the man had no gas, so we had to walk after all.
For the two weak Israelis the last few hours were very difficult. I stayed behind them to ensure they would not be left behind. The hardest part for me was deciding to give my last Oreo clone cookie to the woman Israeli, rather than eat it myself. It picked up her energy level, at least for awhile. That was the last of our food.
We reached the road as the sun was going down, but had to wait hours for a ride. This was not any road. Our route back to La Paz was on the Road of Death. At 12:30 AM we got on a bus, which stopped after a few minutes. At 3:15 AM we caught a final bus that got us to La Paz at 6:15 AM. I checked into the Max Paredes Hotel, where Israeli travelers stayed.
Photo: Ralph at Japanese house, Choro Trail
Photo: Japanese man's house
Map: La Paz Area Treks
Map of Choro Trail
