Bolivia

Death Road to Rurrenabaque

Ahhhh this is a much over due blog, very sorry - Bolivia was a fantastic break, and since being back we´ve become closer to the boys even still, for example last night Tanya and I acted as godmother´s for Dante´s graduation ceremony from school! (Each child brought their parents). He would never have asked us this honour a couple of months ago...

So Bolivia!! After the eventful journey down we had a couple of days in La Paz just with the other PT volunteers in the Arco Iris charity run "Ninas Obrajes" orphanage. We ate chinese and had a day looking around La Paz, the San Francisco church in the centre being one part. It was hard to adjust to the currency - there are 11 bolivianos to the pound, whereas only 4.45 peruvian soles to a pound, so everything seemed really expensive!

Next we began the 17 hour bus ride north out of La Paz to the chilled town of Rurrenabaque. The roads were like a grid, it was hot and humid and everyone gets around on motorbike taxis! Kinda how I imagine Hawaii to be like. We arrived very early in the morning, pleased to be alive after the heights and bends of what the Bolivian´s calmly call the Calle de Muerto "Death Road" (not the one everyone cycles down). It was sheer cliffs and thin dusty tracks all through the night, interrupted by elderly women getting on with huge bags of coca leaves. As soon as we reachede Rurrenabaque we had a 3 hour boat ride into the jungle to what felt like the middle of nowhere - when we got off we ambled into the thick shrubbery of the AMAZON woo and found 3 lodging houses, an eating lodge thing and guide areas. We had 3 hour walks/treks into the jungle from there and saw all kinds of monkeys, wild boars, spiders, termites and medicinal plants. On the last day of the 3 we substituted the walk for an (unsuccessful) fishing trip and made necklaces out of jungle-floor seeds.

Unsuccessfully fishing

Rurrenabaque

Jungle Lodgings

We had one night in Rurrenabaque nursing mosquito bites before heading for the pampas by a four hour jeep ride on the bumpiest road ever, serving through the determined dust to dodge the pit holes. We arrived at a different river completely swarming with mosquitoes and got eaten alive on our way to the next lodge, seeing literally hundreds of alligators, caiman, capibanas (??) and yeah, mosquitoes...

Anaconda searching

Over three days again we saw spider monkeys, and other species of monkey I didn´t know in Spanish, searched with success for anacondas (over 2ms long!), fished, highly unecological this... what has A level biology taught me?, for pirahnas and catfish. We caught 1 p and 2 c and ate them that evening. Our guides for both parts were amazing, the second one had even been to France and Spain while the first was half native from the tribe fo the jungle area we were in. After finishing the tours we had a day in Rurrenabaque, spent at the roof top pool and bar overlooking the Amazon canopy with the mountains in the distance, it was actually idyllic, the most amazing place I have ever been.

Boat trip to the "selva"

Back in La Paz (we flew with the Bolivian military service, but not having enough money (no ATMs in Rurre´) that morning for a motorbike taxi to the airport we trekked our bitten bodies and backpacks the sweaty 1 and a half hour walk to the airport out of town first) Tanya and I did some work with Su, Toby and Tim, which was great to get ideas for Azul Wasi, such as the advent calender (going well, yay!).

Lake Titicaca on the way from Cusco to La Paz

Su with the anaconda

The bus journey back was much less eventful, just more lying bus companies - "yes, it´s a fantastic bus"- not sure if we were naive or you just get conned however many precautions you take... oh well, it was an amazing and unforgettable trip, just looking forwards to seeing Shakira in Lima in March and hopefully heading up to Ecuador afterwards for the next visa run (we both DEFINITLY got 120 days), waahhaahahahahaaaaaaah this year gets better and better. We are staying here for New Years to sample the Cusquenans tradition of yellow underpants and burning things for a "prospero nuevo ano", taking a few friends from Oropesa in too (the cake lady, Maritza).

LOVE TO ALL, especially Ma, Pa, Chloe and Iona (get well soon!) over Christmas, going to miss you all so much, it will be so strange not to be with family or even to speak to them but my thoughts are with you guys, waaaaaaaah :´(

Rach xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx