TREK DE L’INCA DU TAKESI
This is the easiest and most accessible of the Inca trails. Porters are sometimes available near the Mina San Francisco. If you rent the equipment and go with several people, this trek will not be a problem. Be careful, it is not a simple pleasure walk, you must be in good physical condition.
Difficulty: moderate. A pass at 4 650 m of altitude, to be crossed after the mine of San Francisco. Then, a descent of 2 to 3 hours.
Duration: two to three days. In fact, the duration depends on your pace.
Transportation: the best way to get to Ventilla, the starting point of the trek, is to rent the services of a radio-taxi (count 50 US$ for the rental). Some agencies offer a service to Ventilla, but it is better to negotiate directly with the radio-taxi companies.
Lodging : possible in Takesi (the village) and in Yanacachi, in the Yungas.
Water points: you will have a water point at the beginning of the trek, another one in the village of Takesi and, finally, when your route goes along the rivers. Be careful when taking river water not to slip on wet stones.
Final destination: Yanacachi. A beautiful town with a colonial feel, 1 hour walk from the Chojlla mine. Here you can take a bus or truck out of town to La Paz.
Itinerary: the Takesi trail, as its nickname of "Inca trail" does not indicate, probably dates from the great Tiwanaku era. The engineering works in general, and the pavement of the path in particular, are in much better condition than the existing roads in Peru.
The starting point is the San Francisco mine. If you arrive in Choquekota in the afternoon, we recommend camping in the village school and crossing the pass early the next morning. Then follows one of the most beautiful aspects of the route: the descent to the Yungas. After about 4 hours, we arrive at Takesi, where we can camp or sleep with the locals. This pre-Columbian path is the best preserved in Latin America. The descent is very steep until a river that must be crossed. Then we arrive at Chima: from there begins a long winding path that runs along a large precipice. After about 2 hours, the descent to the Sochikachi begins, where you can have something to eat. You have to cross the Takesi bridge and then follow the aqueduct that leads you to the mine. Once at the Chojlla, you join a dirt road, which leads to Yanacachi in about 1 hour walk.