Has anyobdy taken public transaportation from La Paz to climb Illimani from the Normal Route? I've read the route desription on SP to find a bus from Mercado Rodriguez to Quilihuaya but couldn't find it. I also asked about 20 people if they know where Quilihuaya is but noone seems to know. Thanks for any help!

I've never heard of Quilihuaya either. In 1999 we hired a van to take us from LaPaz to Estancia Una and the last village of Pinaya. There we hired a couple of mules, got rocks thrown at us by little girls, and went in to the BC for the normal route. I'm not sure if a public bus goes to Pinaya, but maybe Estancia Una?

To get out, we hiked with full packs, in plastic boots, for several hours down to the village of Cohoni. No one threw rocks at us, we sat in the plaza drinking big bottles of cold beer and got the public bus back to LaPaz. I think there was only one a day and it was in the afternoon? From memory, it took a bit to find the way at first, but at least the second half of the hike was on a decent track.

I seem to recall that people were hiring vehicles to use the mining road to drive straight into the BC for the normal route, no mules or hiking, but I think this was out of our budget back then.

Cohoni, Pinaya etc are all noted in the Brain guidebook.

As Damien said. Cohoni is the best option to my (maybe outdated) knowledge. You should easily find bus to/from Cohoni.

thanks guys. i'll check out those other villages.