For those who love the outdoors and for the birdwatcher in particular, the experience of accompanying a biologist for a couple of days in the subtropical forest, alternating 5 hours of easy walking with nature interpretation and camping in the cloud forest, this is a journey rich in sights and encounters with the ecosystem’s flora and fauna. The trail lies at 2100 to 2450 meters above sea level, from Las Lauras Valley to the tree fern forest all along the ridge and including the peak of the La Mina Hills.

Day 1: From Samaipata we head out for a one hour ride in a 4x4 jeep. After a snack, we take our packs and head out for only 1½ hour hike up the hillside past Las Lauras, identifying along the way the names of jays and parakeets hidden amongst the sotos, erythrinas and lapachos. We continue past the La Mina Pass until we reach our campsite Quetzal where we will pitch our tents next to a natural spring. Here a tree-fern forest nourishes itself with the humidity of the clouds which wind their way through the canopy of weinmannias, bolivian pines, bolivian cedars, and myrtaceaes. After lunch we spend 3½ hours on the eastern outskirts of these hills. Here the fairy-tale like forest, is covered with epiphytes and curtains of moss. With a little luck we will cross paths with a capuchin monkey´s aerial route or hear the song of quetzals and trogons, tinamous and guans, thrushes, antpittas, etc. Then we will head back to Quetzal camp in time for the magic of eating our evening meal beside the campfire, alone in the forest and attentive to all the calls of nocturnal animals. Due to the altitude anti-malaria medication are not necessary. Bring a rain jacket.

Day 2: We have breakfast and pack up at dawn, while listening to mountain solitaires, guans y furnariids. In ½ hour we carry our packs to the next pass, where we will leave them well guarded, in order to continue with lighter loads. In 2 hours we will arrive at the top of La Mina Hill where a lookout offers us a 360degree view towards: the Cincho de Los Loros, The Devils Tooth, the Chafral range, and the San Rafael , Las Lauras, Mairana, and Samaipata valleys, as well as the far-off mountains of El Alegre, Parabanó, etc. It’s an excellent site to take a break and observe Black and Chestnut Eagles, Swallow-tailed Kites, King Vultures, and tinamous. We return in two hours to pick up our backpacks, all the while photographing the sights with 200 or 400 ISO film. We lunch between the mojinos and boldos trees and from there head down with packs for a ½ hour until reaching the vehicle waiting to take us back to Samaipata on a 1 hour trip down a dirt road.