New Page 2

The trailhead for the Mapiri Trail actually begins in the town of Ingenio, a small, gold mining town about 4 hours by 4-wheel drive from Sorata.

It was raining by the time we left Ingenio. Fortunately, the weather cleared during the less-than-an-hour's walk we took that afternoon.

Early the next morning, we climbed up and over a mountain pass and entered a different world. Up to this time, we had been surrounded by mountains. Now, suddenly, we could look out across spurs of Andes reaching down into the distant Amazon basin far off at the horizon. For the next day-and-a-half we walked along mountain trails that took us first east and then bent to the northeast onto the ridge leading in a near straight line to Mapiri.

	Eusebio and Anne at our first mountain pass.


There is debate about the origins of the Mapiri Trail - did it carry pre-Incan or Incan gold, or was it merely the route for a short-lived 18th century quinine boom? Whatever the case, although the first day-and-a-half was tiring, the trail was well made and the footing firm. To the right - some "Incan" steps.


Like the Altiplano, the high Andes are sparsely covered with tuffs of coarse grass and minute, ground-hugging plants that seem engraved into the earth. The color variations are austere and subtle. The Bulls left to pasture in this stark beauty are the only signs of a permanent human presence along the Mapiri Trail.


We were high above the tree-line; the clouds were below us. At times, they seemed a vast, foamy sea - the mountains, an Andean archipelago. Often, however, tufts of cloud would race swiftly and silently up the valleys into the the higher mountains. We would be engulfed in a wet, opaque mist. Then, as quickly, the sun would shine again as the clouds left us to climb even higher up the slopes of the Illampu Massif.

	The journey to Ingenio took us over mountain passes that reached 4,800 mts. (15,800 ft.). It rained and snowed during the drive. Ingenio was fogged in when we arrived.


We spent a pleasant evening in a narrow valley with a fast-running brook, a herd of bulls, and many flowers. .

Bolivia, 2001