{"id":3978,"date":"2015-02-20T17:25:00","date_gmt":"2015-02-20T21:25:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/?p=3978"},"modified":"2015-02-20T14:49:53","modified_gmt":"2015-02-20T18:49:53","slug":"cerro-pirapi-and-pirapi-chico-necropolis-and-fortress","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/2015\/02\/20\/cerro-pirapi-and-pirapi-chico-necropolis-and-fortress\/","title":{"rendered":"Cerro Pirapi and Pirapi Chico Necropolis and Fortress"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Chulpa<\/a>

Chulpa near trailhead<\/p><\/div>\n

About halfway between Caquiaviri<\/a> and the Bolivia\/Chile border at Chara\u00f1a are two hills on which the ancients chose to build a necropolis and a fortress. \u00a0I haven’t had the chance to fully explore these hills, but even the short visits I\u00a0have made to this area have been very interesting.<\/p>\n

\"Flamingos<\/a>

Flamingos on Laguna Achiri<\/p><\/div>\n

Even without climbing the hills you can visit some beautifully constructed stone chulpas (tombs) and nearby is a lagoon which, at least when we were there, was brimming with flamingos and surrounded by llamas and alpacas.<\/p>\n

\"Alpacas<\/a>

Alpacas Near Laguna Achiri<\/p><\/div>\n

Pirapi Hill and Little Pirapi Hill are located just south of\u00a0Achiri. \u00a0They can be reached either from Achiri or from Coro Coro, allowing for an interesting loop trip out across the altiplano to the southwest of Viacha. \u00a0In later posts I will cover some of the other stops along the way. \u00a0For now, it is worth noting that other possible stops on this circuit include the Century Plants at Comanche<\/a>, the \u00a0Colonial Chapel in Caquiaviri<\/a> and the post-independence chapel in Achiri.<\/p>\n

\"Various<\/a>

Various Loops Through Pacajes<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Outtake<\/a>

Outtake from 5842-III<\/p><\/div>\n

To visit Cerro Pirapi, follow the directions in Caquiaviri and Pacajes Province<\/a>. \u00a0Those directions take you well beyond Caquiaviri on the road to Achiri. \u00a0From Caquiaviri, it is another 30 miles to Achiri. \u00a0In Achiri, you take two lefts to get onto the road to Cerro Pirapi. \u00a0The two trailheads are about 5.5 miles form Achiri, and there are two entry roads, forming a triangle. \u00a0Map 5842-III Cerro Pirapi (which you can find online at http:\/\/www.igmbolivia.gob.bo\/<\/a>) covers the area around the hills at the 1:50,000 scale. \u00a0You can find larger scale topo maps of the area at the same site. \u00a0You can use the attached .gdb file<\/a> in your gps or in Google Earth. \u00a0Here is an outtake from the map, with the gps information plotted on it and the trailheads marked.<\/p>\n

\"Alex<\/a>

Alex Up Against the Chulpa. As you can see, it’s pretty big. Take a look at the quality of the stone work.<\/p><\/div>\n

I’ve taken short hikes up the hill from the Cerro Pirapi trailhead. \u00a0I included the routes on the .gpd file, but they are not necessary, you can set out in any direction. \u00a0The top of the hill looks to be a difficult climb, depending on the direction from which it is approached. \u00a0A local guide might be helpful if you want to make it to the top of either or both hills. \u00a0In any case, the chulpas are quite accessible, from very close to the trailhead, and there are quite a variety of stone chulpas, round and square and in various states of deterioration. \u00a0The stonework on some of them seems to approach Cuzco quality, with stones set together permanently without the use of mortar.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Landscape<\/a>

Landscape with Chulpas<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Round<\/a>

Round and Square Chulpas.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Tatyana<\/a>

Tatyana with Chulpa in the Background<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Take<\/a>

Take a look at the hill behind the Chulpa. That is Cerro Pirapi. As you can see, to get on top you will need to find a way up that escarpment.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Another<\/a>

Another nice landscape with chulpas<\/p><\/div>\n

\"And<\/a>

And a lone chulpa with the incredible azure sky of the altiplano in the background.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

About halfway between Caquiaviri and the Bolivia\/Chile border at Chara\u00f1a are two hills on which the ancients chose to build a necropolis and a fortress. \u00a0I haven’t had the chance to fully explore these hills, but even the short visits I\u00a0have made to this area have been very interesting. Even without climbing the hills you […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[101,125,115,92,102,61,60,58,63,100,57,91,59],"tags":[21,190,187,104,172,171,169,173,189,23,168,14,170],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3978"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3978"}],"version-history":[{"count":29,"href":"http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3978\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4720,"href":"http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3978\/revisions\/4720"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3978"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3978"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/memmott.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3978"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}