El Alto – Achiri – Charaña – Visviri – Tocora – Alcerreca – Paso Chungara/Tambo Quemado – Sajama
A route we greatly enjoyed from La Paz to Sajama National Park, via Lauca National Park in Chile. The first couple of days are quite flat and the scenery isn’t particularly interesting, but after Achiri it is a very nice cycle. The best scenery is on the Chilean section of the ride – the stunning Quebrada Allane and Abra Taapaca, and then the area around Lago Chungara on the way to the Bolivian border. Some sections of the road in Chile are very steep, but the views make it worth the effort. There is very little traffic from Achiri to the main road after Abra Taapaca, but there are villages every now and then, so we never carried a huge deal of water. We saw nowhere to buy food from Charaña to Tambo Quemado, so ensure you have enough for this stretch, which took us 3 days.
| Total dist. | Stage dist. | Description |
| 0 km | Autopista peaje (toll booth) – La Ceja, El Alto. At the top of the autopista. | |
| 1.8km | Busy on main road to Oruro. Tarmac. | |
| 1.8 km | Junction. Turn R to Viacha. | |
| 22.0km | Less busy, quite wide road. Tarmac. | |
| 23.8km | Viacha main square. Town with lots of internets, restaurants, an enormous cement factory, a good cake shop on the square but no accommodation (though a place was being built on the square). | |
| 29.8km | Go through Viacha, then continue, still on tarmac, to a junction. | |
| 53.6km | Junction. L to Corocoro, straight to Charaña. | |
| 33.8km | Go straight at junction, then immediately after cross a small footbridge (GPS01) over a river. Tarmac ends after 1.9kms, then climb 3.9kms to 4,180m. About 16kms further on is Laura Lloka Lloka, a small village with a basic shop. Continue straight to Caquiaviri. | |
| 87.4km | Caquiaviri (GPS02). Big village with basic accommodation, shops, restaurants. | |
| 23.0km | Road quite flat, though overall descent. Surface ok though some corrugations. | |
| 110.4km | Vichaya. Village and bridge over Rio Desaguadero. Looked big enough to have shops, but we didn’t investigate. | |
| 26.7km | Road quite corrugated for 8kms to Chocorosi (medium sized village, probably had shops), so we rode on bike tracks by the road. Surface remains not very good to Achiri. | |
| 137.1km | Achiri (GPS03). Big village with shops and basic restaurants. No accommodation but if you ask around you should find something. Water is a big problem in the village (i.e. there isn’t any), so no toilets anywhere. | |
| 19.3km | Reach small village of Pucamaya after 12kms. No shop. Then climb to pass. The last few kms are steep. | |
| 156.4km | Abra Pucamaya – 4,288m (GPS04). Nice little pass. | |
| 8.4km | Descend steeply for 3.5kms to a stream crossing at 4,050m. Then climb on ok surface for 3.7kms to next high point at 4,170m. Descend 1.2kms to Berenguela. | |
| 164.8km | Berenguela. Small village with a very basic shop (and women selling alpaca steaks if you time your visit to coincide with the daily bus to La Paz). | |
| 28.9km | Climb steeply from the village for 1.2kms to high point at 4,230m. Then lots of ups and downs to stream crossing 18.9kms from Berenguela. Surface pretty good, with some corrugations. For next 10kms there are more ups and downs, and the surface is a bit worse. | |
| 193.7km | Bridge over Rio Mauri. | |
| 19.4km | Road is flatter. Surface not too bad. | |
| 213.1km | Charaña (GPS05). Large village. Accommodation, restaurants, shops. If heading to Chile, both Bolivian and Chilean immigration are in Visviri. | |
| 4.8km | Climb, then descend to Visviri on bad surface. | |
| 217.9km | Visviri (GPS06). Small village. Didn’t really look around, but saw no accommodation, shops or restaurants. Do Bolivian and Chilean immigration here. | |
| 1.8km | Ok surface. | |
| 219.7km | Junction (GPS07). Signposted. We went R to Tacora, straight/L on the main road goes to Parinacota. | |
| 13.2km | Bad surface for 8.8kms (sandy, corrugated), until meet bigger track at a junction. Go straight. For 1.2kms to another junction road is ok. Go L at this junction (less steep and roads soon meet up). Climb to a top at 4,160m. 1.8kms after last junction (11.8km from signposted junction), road splits again. R is less steep, but still 10-15%. Climb steeply for 1.4kms to a high point, on an ok surface. | |
| 232.9km | High point at 4,310m. | |
| 5.9km | Join Arica-Santa Cruz gas pipeline 3kms after high point. More steep descents and ascents on an ok surface, with overall climb to a pass. | |
| 238.8km | Abra Chapoco – 4,397m (GPS08). End of steep climbs for a while. At Abra Chapoco we turned R/north (downhill) to General Lagos on the main track. | |
| 23.0km | Descend 4.6kms to Estancia General Lagos (no facilities, but inhabited), road is then quite flat for 8.4kms to the small village of Chislluma (didn’t see any facilities). From Chislluma it is 3.7kms to Ancara a tiny village where we saw no residents. From Ancara it is 6.1 flattish kms to Tacora. The surface on this whole section is sometimes ok, sometimes corrugated and bad. | |
| 261.8km | Tacora (GPS09). Small village. No accommodation or restaurants. Didn’t see any shops. Friendly caretaker let us stay the night in the village hall. | |
| 29.0km | Descend 2kms to Villa Industrial (no facilities, 1 family in residence). Then rubbish surface for 2.5kms to Surapalca II (tiny, no facilities). Road ok for next 4.1kms to Humapalca (small, saw no facilities). There is a junction in Humapalca – L to Ancolacane, straight to Alcerreca. We went straight. In 1.6kms more have to wade a stream, then surface is ok for 13.3kms to another junction, where the road from Ancolacane rejoins. Then 5.5kms to the junction just before Alcerreca on ok surface. | |
| 290.8km | Junction just before Alcerreca – 3,930m (GPS10). L to carry on to Abra Taapaca, R to Alcerreca (0.6kms away – water available from Carabineros but no other facilities). | |
| 8.2km | Descend to river at bottom of Quebrada Allane. Stunning scenery. | |
| 299.0km | Ford the big river at the base of Quebrada Allane (3,600m – low point of the whole route). Would be impossible/suicidal to ford if the river is high. | |
| 21.4km | Long climb out of Quebrada Allane then up to the pass. Some steep sections but the surface is fine. About 3 kms before the pass stay right (signposted Putre) at a junction. | |
| 320.4km | Abra Taapaca – (4,802m – GPS11) and the top of a beautiful climb. Two ’5,250msnm’ signs mark the pass! | |
| 15.4km | Descend to main Arica – Bolivia highway. Surface generally ok, some corrugations. | |
| 335.8km | Junction with main highway – 4,210m (GPS12). R to Putre. We went L for the lovely climb to Bolivia. | |
| 29.4km | Climb steadily to Guarderia Las Cuevas (4,490m and 9.5kms from the junction). Continue climbing to 4,580m then descend to the Carabineros (4,400m, 23.5kms from junction). In 3kms more come to Chucuyu, a tiny village with restaurants, then climb to a junction (L to Parinacota (4kms), Visviri (90kms)) 29.4kms from where you join the main road. | |
| 365.2km | Junction to Parinacota, Visviri. | |
| 25.5km | Climb to 4,670m in 6.4kms, then descend to Interpretation Centre at Lago Chungara in a further 5.9kms. Customs/immigration post for those entering Chile is a further 6.1kms, then comes the climb to Paso Chungara/Tambo Quemado. Tarmac on highway in Chile is in bad condition – but there are fantastic views of altiplano lakes and 6,000m volcanoes. | |
| 390.7km | Paso Chungara/Tambo Quemado – 4,686m (GPS13). | |
| 7.9km | Descend at speed on a great surface to the village of Tambo Quemado. Chilean and Bolivian immigration are both just before the village. | |
| 398.6km | Tambo Quemado village. Accommodation, restaurants, shops. | |
| 9.3km | Descend on good tarmac to the Rio Sajama (4,140m), then continue 0.4kms to a small junction just before an army post. | |
| 407.9km | Junction (GPS14) – turn L. This isn’t the main road to Sajama (this turns off after Lagunas in a few kms time), but the surface on this smaller track is much better and less sandy than the main road. | |
| 11.3km | Follow track to Sajama village. Surface is a bit corrugated and sandy but much better than the main ‘road’. | |
| 419.2km | Sajama village (GPS15). Tourist facilities – accommodation, restaurants, shops, internet, plus mountain guides available to hire for the volcanoes in the national park. We thought Ignacio Pacaje was good. |
| Details | |
| Time taken – 6 ½ days and amount climbed – 5,300m | 6 hours: El Alto – Caquiaviri (780m climb). 4 hours: Caquiaviri – Achiri (270m climb). 8 hours: Achiri – Charaña (headwind) (1,250m climb). 5 hours: Charaña – Tacora (headwind) (630m climb). 3 hours: Tacora – River in Quebrada Allane (130m climb). 4 hours: River – Abra Taapaca (headwind) (1,200m climb). 1 hour: Abra Taapaca – Main road (50m climb). 4 hours: Main road – Tambo Quemado village (tailwind) (870m climb). 1 hour: Tambo Quemado – Sajama (120m climb). |
| Traffic | Lots to Viacha. Plenty from Viacha to Achiri, but little from Achiri to Charaña. 2 cars in 2 days from Visviri to Abra Taapaca and the main road. Lots from there to the turn off to Sajama. |
| When we cycled | Mid August 2010. |
| Difficulty | 3/4 |
| How much we had to push on this route | Not at all |
| GPS Point | Description | Lat/Long/Altitude |
| GPS01 | Footbridge near jn | 16.8581 S, 68.4262 W, 3,970m. |
| GPS02 | Caquiaviri | 17.0220 S, 68.6045 W, 3,950m. |
| GPS03 | Achiri | 17.2124 S, 69.0005 W, 3,890m. |
| GPS04 | Abra Pucamaya | 17.2624 S, 69.1590 W, 4,288m. |
| GPS05 | Charaña | 17.5940 S, 69.4456 W, 4,060m. |
| GPS06 | Visviri | 17.5950 S, 69.4774 W, 4,090m. |
| GPS07 | Junction | 17.5963 S, 69.4917 W, 4,090m. |
| GPS08 | Abra Chapoco | 17.6906 S, 69.6114 W, 4,397m. |
| GPS09 | Tacora | 17.7733 S, 69.7241 W, 4,090m. |
| GPS10 | Junction before Alcerreca | 17.9871 S, 69.6604 W, 3,930m. |
| GPS11 | Abra Taapaca | 18.0972 S, 69.5421 W, 4,802m. |
| GPS12 | Junction with main highway | 18.1773 S, 69.5024 W, 4,210m. |
| GPS13 | Paso Chungara/Tambo Quemado | 18.2847 S, 69.0748 W, 4,686m. |
| GPS14 | Junction – turn L | 18.2208 S, 68.9437 W, 4,140m. |
| GPS15 | Sajama | 18.1348 S, 68.9759 W, 4,250m. |
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