Pacajes Province
Stone Chulpa at Cerro Pirapi
Pacajes is the southwestern-most province in La Paz Department. As such, it borders on Chile, Oruro Department (Sajama and Nor Carangas provinces) and the La Paz Department provinces of Villarroel, Aroma, Ingavi and Pando. Pacajes is almost entirely on the altiplano at altitudes of over 12,000 feet and reaching beyond 18,000 feet at the peaks of some mountains (Cerro Anallajchi, for example, at 18,316 feet).
Pacajes Province has some fascinating sites to visit:
Aliciya and Puya Raimondi
At Comanche you can see the famed Puya Raimondi, a high-altitude Bromeliad with an inflorescence that can reach up to 33 feet in height and contain more than three thousand flowers and six million seeds when it finally flowers after 40 years.
At Caquiaviri visit the chapel of San Antonio Abad, one of the masterworks of sacred architecture on the Altiplano.
Chulpas at Cerro Pirapi
A few miles beyond Caquiaviri is the funeral complex at Cerro Pirapi, with numerous stone chulpas (tombs) with stonework to rival that of Cuzco, and (reportedly) a hilltop fortress.
Chapels in Santiago de Callapa and Caquingora are well worth a look, as is the copper mining town of Corocoro, the necropolis of Rosario, with 35 chulpares, the fortresses of Jachaphasa and Chosi Kani and the City of Stone.
Maps: 250k: SE-19-6 Charaña, SE-19-7 Corocoro, SE-19-3 La Paz
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