Chachacomani – Turco – Choquecota – Chuquichambi – La Joya – Eucaliptus – Panduro
Not the most exciting route in Bolivia, but we still thought it a more interesting option than taking on the trucks on the main Tambo Quemado – Patacamaya highway. Most of the route is flat with little scenery of interest, although crossing the Abra Huayllamarca is nice. Despite the lack of scenery, this is a good route for seeing some typical altiplano villages far from any tour groups’ itineraries.
The end of the route near Panduro is only 10kms along the main La Paz to Oruro highway from Konani, the start of a lovely loop to cycle through the south Yungas.
Total dist. | Stage dist. | Description |
0km | Junction below Chachacomani (GPS01). | |
36.8km | Descend 8.5kms on a straight road to a bridge over the Rio Sajama (4,000m). Climb 7.8kms to high point at 4,190m. Descend 9kms then say goodbye to corners and climbs for a while. 10.5kms from the end of descent cross the Rio Cosapa on a big bridge and in a further km arrive in Crucero. | |
36.8km | Crucero (GPS02). Small village with a very basic shop. | |
54.5km | Straight, flat road to Turco. Stick to the main road at junctions. Surface is mostly fine, though there are some bad sections. The road crosses rivers 8.6kms and 28.2kms from Crucero. | |
91.3km | Turco (GPS03). Friendly town with accommodation, shops, restaurants, internet. | |
13.8km | Leave town on main road south to Ancaravi. After 1.1kms there is a 4.7km stretch of tarmac before 8kms of ripio. | |
105.1km | Just before a bridge, turn L onto a smaller road at a junction (GPS04). This would be easy to miss, but after this it is pretty clear all the way to Panduro. | |
29.9km | Climb to high point at 3,980m, 12.7kms from junction. Then descend 100m before road becomes flat. 14.2kms from high point reach a big bridge over a wide river bed. From here it’s 3kms to Choquecota. | |
135.0km | Choquecota (GPS05). Large village with shop and a pension. | |
21.3km | After 13.6kms come to junction to Belen de Choquecota (just L of the road). Then climb gently for 7.7kms to the pass. | |
156.3km | Abra Huayllamarca – 4,214m (GPS06). A nice little pass through the Serrania de Huayllamarca. Good scenery. | |
10.5km | Descend on pretty switchbacks to Chuquichambi. | |
166.8km | Chuquichambi. Village with shops but no accommodation. | |
39.5km | Carry on through Chuquichambi. In 16.2 kms get to Lajma a medium-sized village with a shop. 8.7kms from Lajma is Vilacara, a small village where we saw no one and no facilities. From Vilacara it’s 14.6kms to La Joya. Road is very flat. | |
206.3km | La Joya (GPS07). Large, friendly village. Shops and hot food available. There are 2 roads from here to Eucaliptus – one ‘por el campo‘ that would be more direct but we avoided due to mud, the other is the main road via the bridge over the Rio Desaguadero. | |
26.0km | Continue past/through La Joya on the main road you came in on. After 4kms get to a big bridge over the Rio Desaguadero. Turn L directly after the bridge for flat 22kms to Eucaliptus. | |
232.3km | Eucaliptus (GPS08). Quite large town with accommodation, lots of restaurants and shops. 3 buses a day to La Paz (the latest leaving at 05:30!) and pretty much hourly to Oruro. | |
14.4km | Climb to main road. 11.3kms paved, final 3.1kms unpaved. | |
246.7km | Panduro (GPS09) – very small village on main Oruro – La Paz highway. Turn L to go to Konani (10kms away). Watch out for the trucks and buses! |
Details | |
Time taken – 3 ½ days and amount climbed – 1,690m | 7 hours: Chachacomani – Turco (580m climb). 7 hours: Turco – Chuquichambi (710m climb). 7 hours: Chuquichambi – Panduro (400m climb). |
Traffic | Virtually nothing from Chachacomani to Turco. A few cars an hour from Turco to Eucaliptus. More from there to Panduro. |
When we cycled | Late August 2010. |
Difficulty | 2 |
How much we had to push on this route | Not at all |
GPS Point | Description | Lat/Long/Altitude |
GPS01 | Junction below Chachacomani | 18.3500 S, 68.9459 W, 4,240m. |
GPS02 | Crucero | 18.3424 S, 68.6279 W, 3,840m. |
GPS03 | Turco | 18.1843 S, 68.1894 W, 3,850m. |
GPS04 | Junction before bridge | 18.2253 S, 68.0741 W, 3,840m. |
GPS05 | Choquecota | 18.0987 S, 67.8991 W, 3,870m. |
GPS06 | Abra Huayllamarca | 17.9639 S, 67.8182 W, 4,214m. |
GPS07 | La Joya | 17.7780 S, 67.4979 W, 3,730m. |
GPS08 | Eucaliptus | 17.5969 S, 67.5082 W, 3,730m. |
GPS09 | Panduro | 17.4939 S, 67.4454 W, 3,910m. |
I cycled the Konani-Eucaliptus-Turco Route in Aug/Sept 2019. I was alone. I had just completed the S. Yungas Route from La Paz, which ended in Konani. From there I joined the Pikes’ route (going S instead of N), with a variation at the end to take advantage of the new pavement. I have included detailed daily logs and gpx tracks in my CrazyGuy blog http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/SAm19tim. See Days 168 to 174.
Many thanks, Neil and Harriet, for all the trouble you have taken to create this website. It has helped me both in Peru and Bolivia, and from San Pedro de Atacama to Salta.
Timothy Tower
I cycled this Route in Aug/Sept 2019. I was alone. I started in Konani. I have included detailed daily logs and gpx tracks in my CrazyGuy blog http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/SAm19tim. See my Pros and Cons . (Map is on previous blog page. Click “Prev” link at top left of Pros and Cons page).
Many thanks, Neil and Harriet, for all the trouble you have taken to create this website.