Day 13 - The Trans-Apolobamba Trek (Day 5 - Lagunillas to Charazani)

We were up early for our last days hike together, we had breakfast of porridge again and we headed off at about 7:30am. It was a pleasant walk through the outskirts of the town, passing quite a few thatched cottages along the way. It was a relatively easy hike although I think we were both a little tired from the last 4 days. We stopped at a nearby bridge and stream for a rest, before we had to climb a little further and from here it was relatively flat but quite lush with a few large cactus plants along the way. Eventually we spotted Charazani in the distance and as usual Freddie did not want to take the long way round into town and so we set off into the valley, which made for quite a tough final ascent into Charazani!

Lagunillas to Charazani (Lagunillas)

Lagunillas to Charazani (Lagunillas)

Lagunillas to Charazani (Lagunillas)

Lagunillas to Charazani (Lagunillas)

Lagunillas to Charazani

Lagunillas to Charazani

Lagunillas to Charazani

Lagunillas to Charazani

Lagunillas to Charazani

Lagunillas to Charazani

Lagunillas to Charazani

Lagunillas to Charazani (Approaching Charazani)

We arrived in Charazani a little after 11:00am and I was feeling really hungry and suggested to Freddie we find a restaurant. Freddie then did his normal stuff and told me to sit in the plaza while he hunted for a restaurant! He eventually came back to say he had found one and took me to one of the food stalls in the plaza, I am assuming because they were cheap! It was fine by me and I would have paid anyway, we had fried chicken and potatoes which was very nice. I never did see money exchange hands but I assume Freddie had paid for it.

Lagunillas to Charazani (Charazani)

Lagunillas to Charazani (Charazani)

After we had something to eat I mentioned to Freddie that we should look for a hotel for the night (as I thought this was the plan from day one?), however Freddie announced there was a bus to La Paz at 3pm and that he was going to catch it (our tickets were for today at 10am!?). I suggested this would be great for me, as I could spend a few hours looking around Charazani and then both of us could then go to La Paz. (I was a little confused as I thought there were two buses to La Paz on a Friday, Saturday and a Sunday at 10am and 12am and today was Thursday?) It wasn't long before Freddie came rushing to find me whilst I was walking around the plaza to announce there was a bus leaving for La Paz straight away! This was obviously the 12am one!

I managed to grab some provisions for the journey and we jumped on board and we finally left at 12:20pm. Both of us fell asleep during a rather uneventful trip with it also being rather cloudy and misty during the journey. I was a little disappointed we did not stop for something to eat; only a few minutes for a toilet break. The highlight of the trip was when the bus conductor asked to see Freddie's ticket (and mine), where there was clearly something wrong as there was a bit of an argument and every time we stopped to let people off Freddie was looking out of the window to make sure our bags were not offloaded! I assumed because the tickets had said 10am on them and we were on the 12am bus! (I never did find out why Freddie had booked the tickets for today, when the original plan was to leave Charazani on Friday?) I later thought if I was on my own travelling back to La Paz with the ticket Freddie had bought I would have been in all sorts of bother!

We arrived in La Paz at 7pm, it wasn't the ‘cemetery district’ (as Freddie had said it would be), but I could see we were close to the centre. Freddie suggested we catch a taxi to my hotel and I was more than happy with this. I let Freddie flag one down, but unfortunately after some discussion the taxi drove away? (Freddie bargaining hard again!?) Freddie then flagged another down and this time we were good to go. After arriving at my hotel, Freddie dropped off his bag of camping gear and I bid him farewell, we gave each other a hug and I gave him 100 Bolivianos. I was actually going to give him 200 Bolivianos, but after the 'bus incident' I decided against it, however he did have a big smile on his face when I gave him the 100 Boliviano note so this made me happy! I shall miss him.

Back at the hotel reception I told the staff some of the stories over the last 7 days and they found it all very amusing! I had already decided I did not want to waste another day in La Paz, so I asked if they could book me a flight to Sucre for the following day. Within an hour they had organised this at a cost of 500 Bolivianos (compared to the night bus service of 160 Bolivianos I think?). I thought I would treat myself and avoid another long bus journey, at least for a while. They also organised my taxi pick-up to the airport for 60 Bolivianos in the morning.

I later realised, that in my first 7 days in Bolivia I had seen hundreds of backpackers, and over the last 7 days I hadn't seen any!