Following the footsteps of Colonel Fawcett in August of 2002
Our trail from Pelechuco to Apolo
By Mirko Molinari
During
the year of 2002, a small Italian expedition combined by a six-member crew,
was successfully completed following, first the tracks of the official
Bolivian expedition "Expedicion Apolobamba-Madidi, Tras Los Pasos
de Percy Harrison Fawcett" that was commenced and completed within
the year 2000 and second the footsteps of Colonel Percy Harrison Fawcett on
the route from Pelechuco to Apolo. The description of the story is
written by Mirko Molinari, one of the
expedition's members and composed and enriched with the most accurate way by
Emmanouel Laleos, Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. The
members of the expedition Mirko
Molinari
Mirko was
born in Milan, Italy on the 2nd of February, 1981 and studies Industrial
Engineering at the Polytechnic of Milan since 1999. He has also
completed Carlo
Croso
Niccolò
Bencivenni
Gianguido
Furnari
Jacopo
Buora
Davide
Ceper
Davide was born in Milan, Italy on the 11th of March, 1980 and studied economics of financial markets, financial institutions and video production and public speaking c/o University of Massachusetts (1997). He traveled to Argentina (June 2002), Bolivia (Summer of 2002) and Mexico (2001) as a member of an expedition team taking part in three routings within these countries in the years of 2001 and 2002. Argentina (Provincia de Salta y Jujuy:Humahuaca-Hiruya-Yavi-Salar near Purmamarca) Bolivia (Pelechuco-Apolo, southeast: Lagoons, S. Pedro de Atacama, Salar de Uyuniand) Mexico (Oaxaca-Huautla de Jimenez-S. Agustinillo-S. Cristobal-X-Kalak-Punta Allenas) His
activities are in piano (graduated level 8th), djembé (African
percussions), soccer, table tennis (played in the regional
championships),
water polo, snowboarding,
sailing The expeditions equipment-Lightweight
aluminum stove with alcohol fireplace -A
tent every two person -Water
filter pump -Hot
sleeping bag -An
electrical light each -Basic
trekking facilities (shoes, hot and light dresses...)
Our
expedition’s resource was
The website of
the Expedicion
Apolobamba-Madidi 2000 (Tras
Los Pasos de Percy Harrison Fawcett) The publication of Yossi Brain, Andrew North Trekking in Bolivia,
edition Mountaineers 2000
Foreword By Emmanouil Lalaios Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society
This expedition that occurred within the Bolivian territory in the department of La Paz and the Madidi National Park will become known to the world through our website again. The expedition’s team, consisting of six Italian members, has successfully followed the routing from Pelechuco to Apolo in a 10 days time revealing once again both the obsession and the willingness that our new generation explorers continue to have in discovering the unknown and the unexpected. The expedition commenced during the year 2002 and brought to the surface of the surrounding local history more details about the fascinating animals, insects and the flora and fauna of this vast and still unexplored tropical rainforest that exists within the Madidi National Park located in the northern part of the Department of La Paz, and considered to be one of the biggest territories of biological diversity in the world. Once more our
team has uncovered the so many different pathways that once had their own
network to the Spanish lust for gold, mountain ranges with the splendid
beauty of their dramatic sceneries and high passes and felt the remoteness
of the Cordillera Apolobamba's peaks and high based camps and lagoons with
mostly good weather, and the local Indian's culture and life of this
well-known trail. They had also
faced the danger of the surrounding territory against their health and
their own lives. In this story,
the particularity of the expedition's team was in search to discover what is hidden
behind this territory by following the footsteps of the legendary British
explorer Colonel Percy Harrison Fawcett almost a century ahead, and also to
confront by themselves the difficulty of this route that was first
introduced by Colonel Fawcett in his book “Exploration Fawcett” written by his
surviving son Brian. Colonel Fawcett
reported using the trail from Pelechuco to Apolo during his fifth
expedition to the “Roof of the World” in 1911. Since then no other
expedition was heard to follow it until the recent announcement of the two
Bolivian official expeditions “Expedicion Apolobamba - Madidi 2000, Tras
Los Pasos de Percy Harrison Fawcett” and "Madidi XXI" that
went after the tracks of the British explorer, following exactly the same
routing, in September of 2000 and in August of 2001 for the first time
after a period of 90 years. This is an area that has attracted many famous explorers, adventurers, and scientists from all over the world that have dedicated their lives to find important evidence and clues possible connected with the mysterious disappearance of Colonel Fawcett in 1925 in the Brazilian wilderness of Mato Grosso, a region located not far away from this story’s territory. Emmanouel Laleos, FRGS
On the way to Pelechuco
A magnificent view of the valley rising between the Cordilleras of Apolobamba and Real on our way to Pelechuco. Photo by Carlo Croso
Charazani and its valley is also the homeland of the Kallawayas (Calahuayas), the wondering medicine group who are versed in the art of natural healing with herbs, potions, amulets and incantations. While in Charazani, we had the chance to visit and bath in its famous hot springs.
A child in a village on the route to Pelechuco with our driver Giovanni (from La Paz)
A child in Amarete seems to be so happy while eating our biscuit
The name of Pelechuco means “Cloudy Corner” and I think no other name would be more exact to describe this little stone-built settlement lost in the middle of the Cordillera Apolobamba. In fact, even in the dry season, the bright sun of the morning is hidden by a thick “river” of clouds that rise from the narrow and grassy valley that connects the Andes with the Yungas.
Before
people was laughing, children were everywhere; then nobody was
around, faces were melancholic and blues, we heard the sound of the
bells at strange hours; they told us that clouds bring spirits of
death, and according that testimony everyone of us got ill and the
sound of the bells was heard to celebrate the six people of the village
who died .....that's why I was sleeping with the machete next to my
pillow!"
The main square of Pelechuco. Photo by Gianguido Furnari
We lodged in the “Hostal Rumi Llata” in the main square. It has six rooms from two to five beds each; the hostel is not so bad if you ignore the stinking of the dead sheep on the floor in the entrance and the lama skins hanged all around and don’t even be afraid of the human skull abandoned in the yard! There is no meats in the poor tiendas (shops) so the master killed a sheep to cook our dinner. There is another hostel in the main square but we didn’t visit it. We bought all our supplies in La Paz because in Pelechuco’s tiendas there is quite nothing but some (terrible) sardines that they think it’s tuna fish and a bunch of cereals like oats (avena) and corn.
The human skull abandoned in the yard of the Hostel Rumi Llata where we lodged in Pelechuco. Photo by Gianguido Furnari
We had to
wait for three days because Carlo and Davide got ill and we had a little
time to relax and finish our preparation. As far as our guide was concerned, we looked for Freddy Delgado who is a well-experienced guide (he was the guide of Yossi Brain, a British alpinist who explored all the surroundings, reached a lot of peaks and then died two years ago in an ascent to a 6000m there in the Cordillera Apolobamba. When we found Freddy he told us that he couldn’t come with us because he just came back from a long trip so he introduced us his brother-in-law Victor Hugo Berreira who had five mules and could carry us as far as to Mohos, at the middle of the track. We asked him if he needed supplies or the extra tent that we carried, and he refused it.
The expedition's routing - Sketch map 1
From Pelechuco to Queara Day 1 (6 ½ hours)
On
the
5th of August, we met Victor in the main square at 6 a.m. We helped
him to charge the mules and we commenced our trail.
The steep valley on the way up to Queara pass. Photo by Carlo Croso
Starting from the main square going downhill in the street near the hostel and then we cross Rio Pelechuco on the bridge (where the Poncho died in Fawcett’s book) and follow the track, after half an hour of walk we turn left uphill in the steep valley that brings up to Queara pass.
A magnificent view from La Cumbre (Highest point). Photo by Carlo Croso
The landscape passes slowly from down valley bushes to high mountain rocks; after three hours the path begins to climb really hard and a bunch of coca leaves might be useful because of the altitude; it takes another hour to reach the pass with the pile of stones, which mark the division between Pelechuco and Queara districts. The landscape is really sublime with black rocky mountains and white glaciers, we were really exhausted but it was incredible as we climbed at the altitude of 4900m.
Camp 1 is settled
with a magnificent view on another lake
(the
photo shows the landscape from our camp 1 in the mourning and the lake
from which the Rio Queara originates). There is a small derelict farm building and behind a little
wall there is a beautiful stream... our guide asked us for the tent and
his food... It was about time as we begin to think that it wasn’t such a
smart person.... Leaving
Queara to enter Madidi National Park Day 2
(6 ½ hours)
Waking up in a
beautiful fresh and sunny day we are much pleased to see the total disappearance of
the fog and staying on the left bank of the lake down the camp we begun
the steep descent to the little village of Queara;
two and a half hours later we noticed the house where Colonel Fawcett
slept located in the main square but we didn’t meet anybody; the village was
desert, even if along the path we met a man who said he lived in Queara;
at the left side of the path before entering we saw a really strange site
with three rectangular stone formation which we thought it was a cemetery.
After Queara
the path continues descending until it gets into the valley; here it is
irregularly paved with the closely packed stones of the pre-Hispanic
trail. Now we were inside the Madidi National Park. The trail
continues for two more hours with a series of gentle ups and downs until it
passes over a small bridge and begins to climb up in the mountain at left
for 1 ½ hour until it reaches two huts and some fields. An hour and a
half later, the path reaches an open grassy stretch and another one hour
ahead it gets at our camp2, which was a thatched shelter in a clearing on
the left side. It was raining and the terrain was really wet and cold. We
didn’t see the sun for a whole day. There was a stream just near the
campsite.
Within the Madidi National Park Day 3 (7 ½ hours)
The expedition's routing - Sketch map 2
After a terrible night we started walking
early in the morning of the next day; at 7 o’ clock we have already had breakfast, dismounted the camp,
purified 10 litters of water and charged the mules; the trail beard east
with a little descent lasting 40 minutes before becoming a steep climb
that I remember again as one of the hardest; it was made of big and
irregular stone steps and lasted 45 minutes, then we continued rising
again for another 2 hours and the landscape begun to be really rocky, it
was also raining with a little fog, but it wasn’t very cold until we
were up to a ridge. The trail
continued on the other side of the ridge and begun to descent steeply into
a rich cloud forest in a series of colorful and narrow gorges covered of
vegetation, even if I still don’t know how our mules could pass there! After an hour
and half the descent becomes less severe and the trail passes through thick
and muddy jungle; the only problem of this section is the total lack of
water from the ridge uphill. Our guide didn’t care of this and we were
very angry with him because even 3 hours later when we arrived at a
clearing where exhausted we were supposed to camp, there was no water!!!
After a desperate hour of jungle exploration, we arrived at a hole full of
dirty and muddy water that we purified passing it many times in our
filter. When the problem was solved we decided to postpone our arrival at
Mojos at day 5 and explore the jungle by night hoping to hear the sound of
jaguars; we
didn’t, but we discovered the darkness of that wilderness; such a harsh
and powerful world that left us astonished. Also, Davide
and Jacopo were astonished when I put the light against the enormous Apazauca
(I discover only yesterday that it was the terrible mortal spider) that
was climbing their tent; they could see the shadow from the interior.
Davide didn’t believe that it was a true one. He believed it was just a
joke! So I caught it in a pan (that was as big as the spider) and showed it
to Carlo that was claiming to see it and then I threw it as far away as I
could, Then I thought “where the hell will it be NOW???”
Within the Madidi National Park Day 4 (4 hours)
Our team having a moment of rest. Left to right: Gianguido Furnari, Niccolò Bencivenni and Davide Ceper. Photo by Carlo Croso
We woke up in a
gorgeous sunny day. The day before we didn’t noticed the beauty of the
place after the water problem we had and the fog. Victor, our guide, was reeeeally
gentle with us that morning trying to make us forgive him for the case of
the water accident. We started at 11 am after a good sleep and we got again on the
path that descended into thick jungle for 4 hours until we reached a good
campsite just above Rio Queara that forms a beautiful
gorge (The
photo shows our Camp 3 and in the background the mountain with the
snowy cap on the left is the one of the Queara pass, and below the Queara
valley).
On
the way to Mojos Day 5 (3 hours)
We woke up
really happy this morning for having broken 7 ½ hours to Mojos in two
days, we passed the river, then climbing a fifty-minute harsh uphill and
in continuation a 2 ½
hours of easy walk we reached Mohos.
Mojos's main square with the bell tower. Photo by Carlo Croso
Actually we didn’t arrive to Mojos; Mojos really materialized itself after five days of nothing. It’s not the one that Colonel Fawcett called Mojos; it is the one uphill that have a wonderful view of the valley around. Nowadays is inhabited by 50 people of which 11 are men, the others oldies, women and children. When we arrived, to our surprise we discovered that there were no men in the village because they were working at a way to bring water inside the village and right now the water is 15 minute downhill (the photo shows a woman and child of Mojos, the pipes are those they were using to bring water into their village).
We had to look
for a new guide and porters because victor and Clemente (his helper) had
to return back to Pelechuco as his mules couldn’t continue for the
harshness of the trail. The only one
that was happy to see us was the teacher of the little hut they use as
school.
They were very
happy to play this Italian-Bolivian game and even if we lost 3-2 and the
whisky bottle we bet was drunk by the chief of the village, we had gained
their sympathy and were not just strangers for them anymore; they were very kind with us. The problem was that they
needed help for their work and so we could have only three porters and
half of the money we gave them would have been for the whole community.
Rio
Tuichi
Day 6 (7 hours)
The expedition's routing - Sketch map 3
After leaving
Mojos having the entire village outside their houses to say goodbye to us,
we begun to descent downhill with 30 kg on our shoulders in a series of
ups and downs for about 3 hours in the grassland until we got near the
river that now is called Tuichi (born from the Queara and Pelechuco).
While leaving Mojos, the entire village said good-bye to us. Left to right: Gianguido, Jacopo, Carlo, Davide, Niccolo, Mirko and their three porters.
We stopped for a little break along the river and we were literally assaulted by any kind of insects, bees, mosquitoes, and any sort of fly, it was intolerable and we had to run away in panic! Then the path were really difficult to be seen and having a guide has been essential, we were walking in a thick tropical jungle, in the worst track I ever seen, continuously going up and downhill with steep and narrow climbs and descent. I completely lost the orientation and I can’t describe it. We always had to walk over or below fallen trees, open our way with the machetes, and protecting our eyes by the damn rattan thickets that cut our hands and clothes.
Rio Tuichi near our camp 6. Photo by Mirco Molinari Furthermore, we
had lack of supplies and we were really hungry. The only good thing is
that we were full of Mojos oranges, the sweetest ones that I ever tasted,
juicy, fresh and full of sugar and water, that oranges really saved my
life! We
had to cross something like 50 streams and Carlo had problems with his
knee, so we had to slow down and carry part of his luggage. After 4
hours of jungle walk, we camped near the river opening a camping place
with machete and we spoke a little with our guides who were really curious
about us and the outside world as we were of them and their life... so we
spoke a lot in front of the fire and then exhausted, we went to bed. Arriving
at Pata Tuichi
Day 7 (6 hours)
The so-called path continued for the rest of 4 ½ hours and we were tired and hungry but for dinner we could have only a little tuna can divided into six... after we crossed a huge field of terrible rattan thickets and we arrived at two huts at a side of the river, they had mules but couldn’t bring our stuff, so our efforts kept on, from the two huts there is the last big climb which was really hard for me because it was 5 days now that I had wounds on the back on my feet and that day they were incredibly deep and it was very painful on every step I took, it was an hour of suffering but at last I joined the others that were really fast; a brief break and then on the road again for 45 minutes on the rocky side of the hill in a path that was only 10 cm wide and beneath there was only the river 20 meters below.
The little village of Pata Tuichi. Photo by Carlo Croso
Then we arrived
at the little village named Pata
Tuichi (the
photo shows our team in Pata Tuichi with the founder of the village posing
half-naked in the middle), which was established by two families
from the village of Pata that is more uphill, we camped on the soccer
field and we finally could eat chicken! It was wonderful the idea that we
could eat something only asking to someone! They were very friendly and
accepted to accompany us with their mules until to Apolo.
Continuing
to Santa Cruz del Valle Ameno Day 8 (9 hours)
Crossing Rio Tuichi with balsas. Photo by Carlo Croso
The whole transfer took one hour so we started to walk
in the hottest hour. We thought that without our heavy backpacks would be
easier to walk but we faced a 3 hours climb under the sun and with all the
surrounding made of lucid stone that create a solarium effect that was
really heavy to bear. There was water before the climb and then no more
for the next 5 hours, once arrived at the highest point the path arrived
at a soccer field where some men offered some oranges; a part of us stayed
in another path below that passed through the village of Pata. After
another hour we finished the main climb (nearby they told that there was a
spring). Then the path bears down in a wooded valley for 3 hours and a
half when suddenly gets wider. There are bulldozers that are building a
crossable road (I don’t know where should it bring), half an hour of
sweet but long climb and then two hours and a half of descent brought us
down to Santa Cruz Del Valle
Ameno (The
photo shows a magnificent view of the valley
of Santa Cruz del Valle Ameno with the road going to Apolo in the
background). We arrived exhausted at night and we
camped along the road just outside the village. Santa
Cruz del Valle Ameno Day
9
The expedition's routing - Sketch map 4
The picturesque Santa Cruz del Valle Ameno before Apolo
A road in Santa Cruz del Valle Ameno. Photo by Carlo Croso
Apolo
Day 10
We reached Apolo at last after a hard way routing from Pelechuco. Photo by Carlo Croso
Apolo, which is the last outpost of civilization in the area looked as a giant metropolis, the founder of Pata Tuichi who accompanied us until here is now dressed in tie and suit (while in Pata Tuichi was in underwear) there are a lot of military and we felt really good but we were complaining the wilderness lifestyle with its harsh troubles for surviving...so with a little blueness left this red mud city aboard of a Camioneta (truck) to La Paz.
The Chilean-Bolivian borders while searching for gasoline
From Laguna Verde we continued out return trip towards the Chilean town of San Pedro de Atacama located near the borders where we intended to fill up our car's tank with gasoline at the custom. Soon we had the first car breakdown in the Chilean territory while we were on the way to the Bolivian custom. Our next destination was the Salvador Dali Desert where we spent the whole day.
Laguna Colorada
We had faced the second car breakdown while we were on the way to Laguna Colorada. We stayed for the night in Laguna and we woke up in a hostel the next morning after the troubles with the car. Unfortunately, we continued our return routing by taking the wrong path and we finished in Chile in a magnificent volcano valley admiring the natural environment of the area and capturing it in our cameras.
Our team posing in Bolivia's largest salt pan in the Daniel Campos province
Our final stopover before we reach La Paz was the Salar de Uyuni where we camped at a temperature of 28C below zero under a magnificent full moon and we watched a spectacular 360 degrees sunrise (the best one in my life). On the 23rd of August, 2003 we returned to La Paz where we took our plane back to Italy... |
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We arrived in
Pelechuco on the 1st of August 2002 on a 4-wheel drive after a
3 days journey from La Paz through Charazani. Charazani or as otherwise
called Villa General Jose Perez is the administrative town of Bautista
Saavedra Province.
On
our way to Pelechuco, we crossed the 
After
We
lost a lot of time this morning so we could start the river crossing
procedure only at 11 am. We 
We passed the
day in hanging around watching the village while two cows were finishing
the milk that had opened in our supplies bag.... then we took a truck down
to Apolo where our adventure ended.
Our
return to the capital city was really adventurous. First, we drove to
Oruro with our rented 4 wheel-drive car. We had to load the
car on the train to continue our trip to Tupiza.
Then we continued to San Juan de Lipez and finally to Laguna
Verde, a stunning blue green lake at the altitude of 5000 meters where we
enjoyed a wonderful 
Another
misfortune found us with our car's punched tire and we had to go to the
nearest city called 