Founded in 1571, Cochabamba is Bolivia’s fourth most populous city with a population of around 665,505 and sitting at 8,392 feet high. It is known as the “City of Eternal Spring” as well as the “Gastronomic Capital of Bolivia.” Although according to my Spanish school teacher Gaby, they give you a large quantity of food but the quality isn’t always there; which I found to be true. But I also just ate at cheaper hole in the wall restaurants, so maybe they have some good fine dining establishments. Some of the traditional Bolivian dishes I had been eating throughout the trip such as pique macho and silpancho were invented in Cochabamba. 

The original reason I was going to Cochabamba was because it’s the only way to access Toro Toro National Park. But then after we finished our trek outside Sucre, Mark brought up a good point that the landscape looked very similar to the hike we just completed. So I decided rather than spending a few days going to Toro Toro, my new goal was to ascend Pico Tunari, the highest peak in the Cochabamba department at approximately 16,519 feet. I figured it would be a beautiful high altitude hike and a good way to start acclimatizing for Huayna Potosi. 

Getting In

My bus from Sucre left at 9pm and I arrived in Cochabamba at 4 in the morning. It was stupid early but luckily my hostel gave me a blanket and let me sleep on the couch even though my check in time that day wasn’t until 1pm.

Lodging 

I stayed at Running Chaski hostel which was really nice for the price: it had a good outdoor patio with lots of seating, a big kitchen, and the breakfast included had a solid spread. Plus the woman working the desk, Marta, was super helpful and very chatty. We had a nice Spanish convo about Bolivia and how they live in their own world and aren’t too concerned about affairs in other countries. When stars like Madonna have come to visit, most people don’t even recognize them. 

The People 

I met so many great people and made some strong connections in the hostel, which greatly improved my Cochabamba experience. This British guy Vinay who I explored the city with made a great point: even an average city can be an amazing experience with the right people; and that’s how I felt about Cochabamba.  

I stumbled upon an awesome group to hike Pico Tunari without a guide. The guided tours were quite expensive and the trail was 1.5 hours outside of town so transport was difficult. I figured it would be better to find others to do it with. So I posted in Hostelworld about doing the hike and got three other takers (it turned out two were in my same room in the hostel). We decided to grab dinner together that night to get to know each other better and discuss a plan for the hike. There was an American girl Cecelia who was an interesting off the beaten path traveler and great conversationalist. She was doing a year long project through her studies at Hendrix College studying sexual habits in different cultures and had visited Kenya, India, Thailand, Peru, and Bolivia. She didn’t seem like she was from outside Little Rock and was much wiser than your average 23 year old girl from Arkansas. Then we had Jan, a 31 year old with a classic German dry humor. He was quieter, but when he spoke it was with intention and often hilarious. He had already been traveling 15 months mostly through Asia. And last was Victoria, a 22 year old girl from Norway who had been in military. We all hit it off at dinner and decided to green light the hike.

On my third morning (if you count my 4am arrival), I had a nice breakfast convo with a German girl, Anne Marie, who happened to not only go to Oxapampa (the Peruvian city I went to with Maria during my last travel adventures. I hadn’t met any other backpackers who even knew about it), but she was also at Oxo Fest the same year as me. I don’t remember seeing any other white people when I went. What are the odds? She also gave me some really good recs for Brazil and even for new places in Peru (she spent a year volunteering there). On the last night before my bus, I was back at hostel cracking jokes with Jan and Anne Marie. I love the German sense of humor. They were easy to be silly with. 

Pico Tunari (7.3 miles; 2,231 feet elevation gain)

As I mentioned above, we decided to do this hike without a guide (I acted as the guide as the most experienced hiker and the one who downloaded the AllTrails map…well me and the two farm dogs that led the way). The group was me, Cecelia, Jan, and Victoria. We had great group vibes with lots of talking and laughs. This turned out to be my best day in Bolivia up to this point thanks to the company, the amazing hike that we figured out ourselves, and our adventurous transportation story to get home. 

We could have gotten to the trailhead by taking a couple of trufis, but since we got off to a late start and had four of us, it made more sense just to take a taxi there and wing getting home. The first two taxis didn’t want to drive us the 1.5 hours outside of town, but we finally got lucky with the third one. She drove a Toyota Corolla so she wasn’t going to be able to drive us all the way to the lake; just on the side of the road leading up to the trail. It added about four extra miles round trip and 700 more feet of elevation gain. Fine by me as long as we didn’t finish too late. The road wasn’t too rough, just a little bumpy, but there was one part about halfway through the ride where our taxi couldn’t make it up the hill. Uh oh. We all had to get out of the car to lighten the weight inside and let our taxi driver rev it up the hill without us. Luckily the rest of the ride went smoothly and we ended up giving our driver 50 bolivianos each even though the fare was only 120. Her eyes lit up when she received the 80 boliviano tip. She truly deserved it for driving us that far outside of town with no possibility of getting a ride back. Glad to have made her day.

I was slightly worried since the group wasn’t the biggest hikers but everyone proved their worth. Cecelia and Jan had done Huayna Potosi and Victoria was in the Norwegian army; but she had never done any high altitude hikes. The first mile we walked along the road until we came upon a closed restaurant (I’m guessing it’s open when there’s tours) where two farm dogs joined us and became the leaders of the group. They made it all the way to the summit and back with us; waiting ahead whenever we went slower and taking breaks when we did. One was a puppy and so darn cute.

The next section was uphill through the valley with a few steep pitches before we arrived at the main lake that the guided tours usually start the hike at. It felt so nice being in the mountains soaking in the incredible views and having that feeling of solitude in nature. We didn’t see a single other person on trail the entire day.

We walked around the lake and started a steep uphill section where we took a few short breaks to catch our breath as we were now over 15,000 feet high. The views kept getting more stunning so I had no problems stopping and waiting for the others. There wasn’t a defined trail but our dog guides continued to lead the way and I periodically checked AllTrails to make sure we were heading in the right general direction.

Then came a section that I would consider a class 2 rock scramble as we had to maneuver our way up some big boulders and occasionally use our hands to climb. I was impressed that the puppy was able to make its way up. We had gained 600 feet in a half mile since being at the lake to reach the mountain pass.

The next section was very steep uphill on crushed rock. It was the most challenging part of the hike and I was super glad to have my trekking poles. We all went at our own pace as we slowly made our way up this tough section. This was where the true hiking experience came in handy and I distanced myself quite a bit from the group.

The final push to the summit was short and steep. I was first to reach the top and enjoy the views at 5,030m (16,519 feet). It felt great to summit my first 5000m mountain of the trip and was the third highest I had been at this point. My breathing was heavy but overall the hike wasn’t too bad. It was starting to get a bit cloudy but there were still great 360 views of the surrounding mountains and the massive city of Cochabamba in the distance. And of course there was a cross at the top.

It was nice that we weren’t on a guided tour where you often get to the top and only have 10-15 minutes to enjoy the view. We could stay up there and soak everything in at a leisurely place. I ate my sandwich that I had made. Victoria was silent when we got up there and Cecelia asked if everything was okay. She said no; she was really feeling the altitude. Ten minutes later she puked. But afterwards she perked up and started feeling much better. Phew at least it wasn’t something worse.

After about 30 minutes we started to head down. Instead of going back down the steep, crushed rock path we made a loop and went the other way. Even though the distance was longer, this was much less steep of a decline and more pleasant on the knees. Cecelia was telling us interesting stories from her time in Kenya. The trail was hard to follow but we just diagonally cut our way downhill and ended up in a llama field which had hundreds of llamas. They were all staring at us wondering what we were doing. It made for some great photos.

Finally we linked back up with the dirt road and made our way back to the abandoned restaurant. From there it was less than a mile back to the main road. Now the real fun begins…how long will it take for us to get a ride home? It was almost 4pm so the day was still young. We had seen a couple of trufis heading down on our taxi ride up to the trailhead so that gave us some hope. We sat waiting and a few trufis passed us heading up the hill, but no luck the other way. After 45 minutes of waiting we decided to just start asking any vehicle that came by. One or two passed by us but didn’t give us the time of day. Finally Cecelia flagged down a semi truck and asked if we could get a ride (she spoke great Spanish – studied abroad in Chile, stayed with a family in the jungle of Peru, and had spent the past two months in La Paz). They were hesitant at first as there wasn’t room in the front for four people, but then they decided to open up the back of the truck for us.

We got into the back of the semi truck and were surrounding by gas tanks and bags of potatoes. It was quite the experience! We all felt more secure because there was four of us, but we really had no control over the situation. Luckily there was just one road heading down the hill back toward Cochabamba so we knew that part would go smoothly. We had lots of room to spread out our legs and were loving the current situation. What’s a trip without a little adventure? It was incredibly loud and we had to shout at each other to talk. It was also very dusty, but luckily I had by bandana. 

The drivers took us about an hour down the hill before dropping us off in a random location just outside Quillacollo. We were stoked to be down the hill and threw them some money for their troubles. Then we took a trufi to the main plaza to Quillacollo and another trufi to Cochabamba. Phew now we can breathe easy about making it home. We knew transportation would be the toughest part about doing an unguided tour, but it also made for an amazing story. All’s well that ends well! We were in great spirits after the incredible hike and fun adventure home. Me, Cecelia, and Jan went out for dinner that night and had the giggles after the day we had. We were served what we called the world’s largest silpancho and none of us could finish it even after our long day of hiking.

Wandering Around Town

After getting a few hours of sleep on the couch on my first morning, I went to get a salteño and coffee before exploring town. My first stop was the September 14 Square, the main plaza with lots of street performers and shoe shiners surrounded by colonial architecture and a big cathedral. 

Then I went to Mercado 27 de Mayo for a $0.40 bag of tumbo juice and $3 silpancho at the market. I continued wandering and ended up at the university. I enjoyed walking thru the campus and seeing how the next generation of Bolivian minds are living. It was a pretty campus lined with a tree walkway. Afterwards I walked back toward the hostel and ended up buying a watch off a guy in the streets. I had been wanting to buy a watch and was able to bargain him down from 200 bolivianos to 120 because I was showing hesitancy and he really wanted to make the sale. I’m sure it still cost him a fraction of that.

After chilling at the hostel for a bit, I wasn’t sure what else to do with my day so I decided to go to the movies. It’s always fun to go to the movie theaters internationally and see what the experience is like. This one felt very akin to an AMC, you just had to take an elevator to the tenth floor to get there. I saw Lee Cronin’s The Mummy, it was dark and creepy; not necessarily my style. But I was happy that I understood a majority of the Spanish and followed the entire plot line. It’s always much easier to understand a dubbed English movie than a Spanish film because they are taking American style dialogue and turning it into Spanish. 

On my final day in Cochabamba, I walked around town with Vinay hitting the major highlights of the city that I missed on my first day. Cochabamba isn’t considered the safest place so these were activities best done with another person. I had been considering taking the afternoon bus to La Paz to finally see Bolivian landscapes during the day, but I got along well with Vinay during breakfast and decided to explore the city with him. I’m glad that I did because it turned out to be a great day and gave me greater appreciation for Cochabamba. 

Stairs to Cristo de la Concordia (1.3 miles, 840 feet elevation gain)

Vinay and I started are day by walking up the stairs to Cristo de la Concordia which is commonly cited to have between 1,400 and 2,000 steps (sadly I forgot to count). I had skipped this attraction on day one because the teleférico was closed on Mondays and I had read that there are potential safety risks walking the steps alone, but it turned out to be totally fine. It was quite a leg workout especially after having summited Pico Tunari the day before. Vinay was 33 years old so it was nice to hang with someone my age. We chatted the whole way up. The Cristo de la Concordia is modeled after Christ the Redeemer and is actually even taller than it; sitting at 33.33 meters tall (39.68 meters with its pedestal) making it the second largest Christ statue in the world. It was quite impressive. Jesus would be proud. There were also marvelous views of the city! Cochabamba is a massive city and extends deep into the valley and up the hills. 

La Cancha 

Our next stop was La Cancha, a massive market that sells anything you can possibly imagine. It is recognized as the largest open air market in South America due to its immense size and daily operation. The hostel employee Marta had given us a long spiel to be extra careful with our phones and other possessions because there are pickpockets but we had no issues. I didn’t even bring my wallet out for the day, just a small amount of cash, and I made sure to put my phone in my zipper pocket and never took it out while we walked around the market. It was one of the best markets I’ve been to! The scene was chaotic and there were hundreds, maybe thousands, of vendors. There were hardware supplies stands next to the onion dealer; a woman with a cart of soy sauce bottles; a guy walking around selling a singular frying pan; food, clothes, electronics, and goods of all kinds; they even sold puppies, kittens, rabbits, and chickens. It was truly a one stop shop like no other. We bought a $0.25 carrot juice and a $0.60 coconut drink. Vinay and I were the only tourists that I saw – truly a local experience. I’m so glad we went. I would have loved to capture the scene but obviously I took no photos. That’s a quick way to become a target.