GPS Track Details
Difficulty: 3/5 - Medium
Track length: 8.6 Kilometers
Total Ascent: 384 Meters
Total Descent: 400 Meters

D-4.1 Vilcabamba – Quebrada Puliche – Tumianuma

Distance          8.8 km

Time                3.0 hours

Altitude          1515m - 1910m

Ascent             410m

Descent           430m

Rating             Medium  3/5

Start                Vilcabamba tourist office

End                  Tumianuma

This trail presents the ancient connection between Vilcabamba and Tumianuma and was frequently used before the construction of the roads, which nowadays connect the villages around the Mandango-massif.

Route: From the Tourist-Office, head to the main road (AV. Eterna Juventud) turn south and follow the road for 800 meters to the small Shrine. By taking the gravel road to the left at the Shrine, you avoid hiking along the highway. 600 meters along this road you come across a little creek (Quebrada Puliche) and a concrete bridge at the hamlet of Cuba Libre. Follow the creek for 350 meters to a tunnel, which under cuts the main road. 30 minutes further along the creek, you will reach a junction of two gullies. Follow the trail along the gully to the right. Zigzagging uphill for the next 45 minutes, you will climb 200 altitude meters and pass a black iron fence-gate on your right. This joining trail is the one coming from the Mandango/Malaca-access as described in trek D-4.0. We continue straight, and twenty minutes later, pass a fence gate, which divides the farmlands & pastures of Vilcabamba & Tumianuma.  From this gate it’s a 250 meter elevation drop into Quebrada Mosquera. Decades of horse & donkey traffic have worn this rocky downhill trail into corridors up to 3 meters deep in places. At the bottom of the descent, the trail follows the riverbed. Cross the canal road and continue along the riverbed, which you have to cross shortly after. (Normally there is very little water). Across the river, you get onto a driveway, which intersects some minutes later with the Quinara-Tumianuma road at a concrete bridge. Turn right at the bridge, from there its 500 meters to the center of Tumianuma. From Tumianuma get a Bus or shared Taxi back to Vilcabamba ($1.-). Normally there is a scheduled bus at 12 O’clock midday.

The hiker with excess energy could still connect to hike D-5.0, the old road from Tumianuma to Linderos, another 9.5 kilometers.

 

 

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