Into the Jungle

After the disappointing Pampas-Tour we are anxious to go into the jungle with a good guide. We had booked a three nights, four days stay at Madidi Ecolodge before and they really did fulfill all our expectations. The lodge was small (4 rooms for up to 8 people) and beautiful, the food was pretty good (best breakfast so far in south america) and the guide had ecological conscience and did heir best to show us as many animals as possible without damaging the environment.

First we were picked up from the hostel and headed to the boats which would take us upstream for about 2.5 hours. After we arrived we had lunch and then went on an afternoon hike with our guide Henry. Unfortunately we didn't see any animals except birds but after we came home there was a big surprise waiting for us: Tonio. In August last year the guides found the little Tapir baby (whose mother has probably been killed by poachers), so they raised it by hand and he's now a juvenile and doesn't need protection anymore, but he still likes to come over and swim with the boys in the river. It's incredibly cute to watch and we even got to scratch him behind his ears a little bit.

On the second day we were very lucky and saw some black spider monkeys and a family of howler monkeys as well. In the afternoon they brought us a little way upstream and we then went down the river sitting in inflated truk tyres which was good fun.

At night we took a night walk were we got to see lots of discustingly big spiders, a little snake, a leach, a funny looking but poisenous caterpiller and lot of other bugs. it was very interesting.

On the third day we did a boat trip to a lake were we went piranha fishing. I didn't catch one, so Raul, one of the guides, caught them for me and I got to pull them out of the water, get the hook out and then release them again. (We had tried piranha one day before already, therefor we didn't want to cause any unnesesary death). Florian caught two but they jumped of the hook before he could pull them in, so I guess you can say, together we would make one good fisherman. Unfortunately if started to rain in the afternoon so the ride back to the lodge was not to pleasent.

On our last day we went on a final hike were we saw some Pecarys (pigs). Unfortunately they are very shy and fast, so we didn't manage to take any pictures.

We stayed one more night in Rurre and then took the bus back to la Paz. We were lucky again, no road blocks or landslides and arrived in the morning. As we didn't want to stay more time in La Paz, we took another bus that took us straight to Copacabana, on the shore of Lake Titicaca and we have surprisingly good internet, so we're uploading lots of pictures at the moment.

-sandra

Pampas Tour

The plan for Rurre was going on a Pampas Tour and afterwards into the Jungle.
After reading lots of reviews on Tripadvisor about Pampas tours, we were exactly at the same level of information as before.
It doesn't really matter which company you choose, because you can end up with the same guide at nearly every company. After having a really bad explaination at Jaguar Tours (he couldn't even explain why they are eco-certified or what exactly is part of the tour) and a really good one at Bala Tours which sadly was too expensive for us we ended up booking with Mogli together with three young british girls.
After a 3 hours car ride to the harbour where all the tours leave, Fernando, the mexican, picked us up with his boat.
We had another 3 hours ride to our home for the next night. We already saw some aligators, monkeys and lots of birds. 

We shared the accomodation with some other groups (about 4 more boats) and because there were only three tables we had to wait for our Breakfast/Lunch/Dinner untill one group had finished. But since we were only five people on the boat and not as all the others about eight we had lots of food because we got the same amount as any other group! And the food was good!
In the evening we went to a "Bar" in the Pampas by boat where all the groups meet, you can play football or volleyball while beeing eaten alive by mosquitos.
After having an expenisive beer we moved on for some aligator spotting at night. We saw quite a lot and also lots of fireflys. The evening ended with lots of toads at the camp and for me with a book in the hammock.

Since we booked only a two day trip we started our last days with a trip to the pink dolphins, where again most of the groups were. So it was pretty full and people jumped in the water while screaming out loudly... I tried to get away from the crowd and after beeing touched by several dolphins at my feet I got back in the boat.

We went back to the camp, had lunch and a shower and then started our way back to the little harbour followed by some dolphins.
In the end it was nice to see all the animals but next time I would pay more and go with Bala Tours (they go some where else) or Mashaquipe...

Rurrenbaque I

Our trip to Rurrenabaque started - let's say - interesting. We decided to take the bus as we have to save money and didn't want to pay 500 boliviano for a 40 minutes flight. Anyways, 20 hours in a fucked up bus on an unpaved road didn't sound too bad for us (and it's only 70B), so off we went.... not. First because the bus was about an hour late. The guy in the office kept telling us that it already left the other bus terminal and that it would be here in "20 minutes". Then all of a sudden we had to grab our bags and run towards the bus which didn't enter the terminal bus stopped on the street where it was probably not supposed to stop. We entered and as soon as we started going the bus driver hid a street sign and had to stop the bus again to discuss the issue with the police. After two hours of driving we heard a weird sound and a few meters later the bus stopped and all men started going outside where they stood around the poor bus driver trying to fix whatever was broke and giving him smart advices. This situation was commented by one bolivian on the bus as such: "Well, we might arrive tomorrow at 3pm, but we will arrive eventually" I decided that that's the attitue to go with and just felt asleep. When I woke up we were standing again. This time because two truck drivers couldn't agree on who would go past a narrow piece of the road first. None of them wanted to back down, so 20 other vehicles had to stop as well. Luckily after about half an hour they agreed on the truck on our side backing down, so we could continue. That was also the last interruption of our trip and we arrived surprisingly puntual at 7am in Rurre, so it seems that all of these things were calculated into the timetable of the bus.

-sandra

La Paz

We arrived in La Paz still sick so in our first days we walked extremely slowly and spent almost no money at all in food (one banana for breakfast and a little bit of rice for dinners), but walking fast isnot recommended in this city anyways. It's steep hills and the altitude (3300-3600m) make it impossible for people with my condition to walk faster than a 90-years-old grandma.

We didn't like La Paz too much as it is pretty dirty and also due to being sick we spent a lot of time in bed and only managed to buy souvenirs and send a big box home to Germany. Actually the only cultural activity we did was when we unintentionally met a group of people on a free walking tour, so we joined them. It was very interesting, but walking 3km in the altitude when you're sick can we really dificult.

After we got better we took a bus out of the city to Tiwanaku which is the biggest arqueological site in Bolivia and we spend a day there.

-sandra

Sucre

Everything went well on our bus ride to Sucre. Just one of our tyres exploded before we reached Sucre, but they changed it very fast and routinated, so it wasn't too much of a problem. Passing the road block was then actually much easier than we imagined. You just get out of the bus, walk three kilometers - sometimes underneath of truck that are parked across the road - and you notice that you are on the other side when you see all the minibuses waiting to take people to the city center. 

We checked into the same hostel as Dirk, the guy we already met in Cafayate and at the border which was a good choice because they had very nice courtyard with nice hammocks and the biggest hummingburds i've ever seen looking for honey in the flowers.

 

Sucre is a beautiful town with white colonial buildings surrounding the plaza and it has some good and cheap eating options (although you should be careful, almost everybody we met while we were there had or has had some digestive problems due to unhygienic food). But in the beginning everything went well for us, we had fruit salad at the market and Käsefrühstück in the KulturcafeBerlin.

We visited two museums and went on a hike some waterfalls nearby. Also we relaxed quite a lot in the warm and pleasent weather and enjoyed being able to walk normally on only 2700m above sealevel. It was only on the last day that we got sick as well (probably pizza), so I think we left Sucre just in time to cure ourselves in La Paz.

-sandra

Drinking with the devil

Our first thoughts after arriving in Potosi, the highest city in the world on 4000 and a little bit meters, were similar to those of most travellers: "Shit, this is ugly, how fast can I leave again?", but when we went into the city center at night we completely changed our opinion and instead of only staying for 2 nights we ended up staying 4 nights. The city center has lovely colonial buildings surrounding a green Plaza where flowers grow and people relax.

On Saturday we visited the Casa de la Moneda (the mint) where all bolivian coins were made until the 1980s. We got a good introduction into the colonial mining and slavery history of the city as it was mostly slaves who were used in the mines and the smelters.

We used the bolivian mentality of not opening their shops and museums on sunday as an excuse to do absoutely nothing for one day and basicly stayed in our extremely comfortable hostel bed the whole day except for eating.

For monday morning we booked a mine tour with a smaller agency that was set up by former miners. At first I was concerned about security standards as the guide told us that the mountain did already loose 400m of altitude because of all the tunnels that have been build into it in the last 480 years since the exploitation of silver started. 

But after a very short time I noticed that breathing was a much more urgent problem than the fear of a colapsing tunnel. Our guide found it particularly funny to offer our help to the miners when they were putting an empty wagon that still weight 2 tons on the track by hand. We all had problems to walk in the tunnels because the air was so thin and physical work was actually impossible.

After having a chat to some of the miners we visited the Tio or and had a little chat with him too. For some reason Flo and I had to ask him for many children, so let's hope that he is not to generous. After only 3km and 2 hours in the mountain we were exhausted and basically spend the whole afternoon sleeping again. 

Tomorrow we'll try to go to Sucre. Since last week the roads to and from Sucre are blocked due to a protest of truck drivers. That happens quite often in Bolivia (sometimes truck drivers, sometimes teachers, or any other profession you can think of) and we were told that it is not very dificult to pass the road block by foot and then take a bus or taxi on the other side. So, that's the plan for tomorrow, we'll let you know how it went.

-Sandra