Yungas

The Yungas descend from the snowy Bolivian Andes into warm, humid valleys east of La Paz. Cloud forest covers steep slopes, and rivers cut deep gorges on their way towards the Amazon basin. The varied elevations allow plants of the tropical valleys to grow within reach of the cold and exposed high plateau above.

Coca was cultivated in these valleys before Spanish rule and became increasingly important to colonial markets. Its leaves supplied mining districts and other highland communities. Colonial estates also used the labour of enslaved Africans and their descendants, who were brought to the Yungas under the hacienda system. Their work and the cultivation of coca became part of the history of communities around Coroico and neighbouring valleys.