Charobamba is a small village set in magnificent cloudforest a short distance from Coroico, and its main interest is a remarkable piece of history. In the late 1930s Bolivia was one of the very few countries that accepted Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi Germany, on condition that they work the land as farmers. A small agricultural community was founded near Coroico, and Charobamba became one of its centres.
Most of those families left after the war, but one stayed on, and their descendants still live in the valley today. They now run the El Jiri Ecolodge, a beautiful forest hotel that makes an excellent base for hiking the surrounding hills and ridges. The village's large Administration House and the old mule path that crosses the valley are physical reminders of those refugee years, when this remote corner of the Yungas became an unlikely sanctuary.
There is a grim historical irony to the setting: the Nazi war criminal Klaus Barbie, the "Butcher of Lyon," lived for years in Bolivia after fleeing Germany, less than fifty kilometres from the community his victims' compatriots had built. Charobamba itself is quiet and welcoming, wrapped in birdsong and forest, and most visitors come to walk, to stay at the ecolodge, and to take in a story that very few travellers ever hear.
Reach Charobamba on a day trip from Coroico, or stay a night or two at the ecolodge if you want serious time on the trails. The forest here is rich with orchids, butterflies and birds, and the pace is slow even by Yungas standards.