Getting to Bolivia (Ally)

After our tour we had to take a good look at what region we were headed next. On our previous planning, we did not take into account the vast distances in Brazil and realised if we went down the Amazon (it would take 3 weeks on the boat) we could not get back to Lima in time for Russel to catch his flight back to Cape Town. So we decided to go to Bolivia instead. We checked visa status and it was fine for Russell.

The worlds biggest salt pans in the far west of Bolivia was our destination and after three plane trips, 2 bus journeys and 1 train ride we arrived. Although our journey was long and arduous, we did have some adventure.

• While waiting for the bus to get the airport in Rio, Graeme and Russel were watching a group of bikini clad girls play volleyball. It was a toss up whether they would actually catch the bus.
• Flying out of Rio airport was spectacular as we got to see Sugar Loaf and Copacabana beach from the air as the sun was setting.
• At Sao Paulo airport we had our picnic outside in the taxi rank and we received very strange looks but they were nothing compared to the looks we received when we slept on the airport floor waiting for our flight. Might also have had something to do with Graeme´s choice of a sitting place. Wally!
• Arriving in Santa Cruz (Bolivia) we duly went through immigration only to be told that South Africans need a special visa to enter. So we all sat aside until everyone went through and then had to try to communicate in our haphazard Spanish that we had checked the internet and the airline had allowed us through. After a little discussion the chap said that we could buy one there for $40. We were suspicious when he put the $40 in his pocket and it was confirmed in our book that the rules change all the time depending on which point you are crossing the border and who you are dealing with. So one Santa Cruz agent is $40 richer!

• We had arrived at 1.30am and it was not safe to go straight through to the bus station so we found ourselves some very comfy seats in the airport to sleep. We were by no means the only people – the only thing is that they insisted on cleaning the floors all night so not much sleep was had.
• Our first bus trip in Bolivia was completely different to any others we have had so far in South America. There was manual air conditioning (i.e. open window policy) and the toilet was padlocked. We stocked up on food before we boarded but we needn’t have bothered as people kept coming in selling everything from fried chicken to newspapers. And the bus stopped every hour so the people could eat again. Needless to say the people here considerably larger than in Brazil or Argentina.
• The buses did have TV’s but they were last used in the 80’s so instead we had the traveling salesman soliloquy. They would stand in the bus and extol the virtues of their miracle cream (curing every aliment under the sun from itchy bites to cancer and burns) for about 45min in Spanish. I could not believe the tolerance of the locals. By the third person I could gleefully have taped their mouths shut but I don’t think that would have done much for foreigner vs local relations.
• A day was spent in Oruro where we got to eat in the best restaurant in town which was delicious. We also walked around the market where you could buy anything from a 50 litre cooking pot to lacey orange underwear. At the market we also saw a few medicine stalls with ingredients which I would imagine would be rather like a songoma would use. I have to admit that the dried calf fetuses did offend my western sensibilities but I guess one of the reasons why we travel is to see how others live and keep an open mind.

• On our train trip we were treated to an 80’s pop show but all the songs were dubbed into Spanish (including songs from Grease) which provided much entertainment for all the backpackers.

Hurtling Down The World’s Most Dangerous Road

We had heard great things about cycling down the world’s most dangerous road so of course we had to do it. At the top of the pass, all kitted out in our safety gear, we had to drink 94% alcohol as a way of paying mother earth to ensure good luck. Tasted worse than Meths (much to Graeme´s evident digust) but warmed the insides. We were warned to watch out for vehicles in the mist and dark tunnels along the pass as the local drivers believe that using lights uses more petrol!! At this point I did wonder what I let myself in for.

We started at 4800m in clouds and icy rain (and ended at 1100 metres!). It was freezing at the top!!! When we hit the dirt track we were told that the sheer cliff drops off the side of the narrow track were a death defying 400m – higher than the empire state building. The road was curvy and very narrow with cliffs towering above us on the right and the sheer drop on the left. Every time a vehicle passed we had to make our way to a wider section of the road so that we did not fall over the edge.

As this pass is so narrow and there are accidents all the time (this truck we came across was one of the lucky ones - it fell off the unsteep side), it was here that the human robot system was invented. In the 1940’s, a man lost his wife and his children due to a truck going over the edge. So he started a system of volunteers waving red or green flags around the most dangerous bends. The same system is still being used today and the only payment they receive are tips from grateful drivers.

But I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed the ride down. There was no need to pedal and we went straight through waterfalls (see photo) and watched the green mountains unfold as we zoomed passed. Some of the corners were a little scary (as long as you did not look down or think too much you were OK). But the scenery was so gorgeous.

We ended at 1100m (a drop of 3700m!) and it was very hot. Our last task was to ride through a river and I wiped out spectacularly. The water nearly washed my bike away but my knight in shinning amour (the G man) rescued me. I now have a series of splendid bruises. It was one of the best days I have had on our trip.
And just to prove how sheer the cliffs were, check out this photo!

Coroico

The village we landed up in (Coroico) was perched on top of a hill and we could see the whole valley from our hotel balcony. It was pure heaven. We got to swim in the pool and lounge in the sauna during a badly needed rest day. The view from our hotel room was idyllic.

Lake Titicaca (Bolivia)

Lake Titikaka is the highest navigable lake in the world at an altitude of over 3800 metres. I was lucky to visit the highest lake in the world (Lake Telicho, 6700 metres) in Nepal in 2001 so was thrilled to add this lake to my list of explored spots.

Lake Titikaka is enormous (190 kms long, 80 kms accross, 180 metres deep) and looks more like a sea than a lake. It is a beautiful area, fringed by snow capped mountains and dotted with Islands.

We visited the city of Copacabana on the shores of the lake, then did a 17 km hike to a nearby village where we caught a boat to the Isla del Sol, famous for being the birth place of the Inca sun.

On out bus trip to Copacabana, we had to catch a ferry across the lake. As you can see, the ferry was barely big enough to carry our bus!

The Virign Mary was spotted in Copacabana some years back, causing a massive sensation and attracting thousands of pilgrims. An impressive cathedral was built on the spot. Each Saturday, the locals bless the vehicles (cars, buses, motorbikes) in the area of the cathedral with flowers and beer. They pour litres of beer on the wheels and bonnets. It was quite painful to see such copious amounts of delicious beer being spilled!

From Copacabana, we did a tiring 17 km hike to another village on the lake shores. It was not a steep hike, but the 3800 metre altitude took its toll. The hike provided gorgeous scenery.

The wildlife along the way was not too wild but the elpacas and sheep were very cute. I felt a bit guilty when I tucked into a huge elpaca steak later. It was too delicious for the guilt to last though. As the saying goes, I didn´t fight my way to the top of the food chain to be a vegetarian!

We did see some birds too including this Swainsons Hawk and American Harrier.

We then caught a boat to the south of Isla del Sol and chatted to friendly fellow backpackers on the way. We also got to a strange local boat made entirely of reeds.

The island is bleak but has a stark beauty and is dotted with Inca ruins (the first we have seen on our trip). We stayed the night in a hostel in the south with a breath taking view. The next day, we did a hike along the length of the island, exploring the vistas and ruins along the way.

We came accross these two kids on our trip - a brother and sister. Very cute.

The Inca ruins were not particularly impressive - but the first we had seen so exciting nevertheless. A good warm up for Machu Pichu to come. The temple at the north of the island was the most impressive - a layrinth of rooms and pathways with great views over the lake.

The locals love their dogs and puppies abound. This little fellow really caught my heart.

And what would a blog posting be without a giant leap.

La Paz

Valley Of The Moon

We spent an enjoyable time exploring this labyrinth of strangely eroded rocks. Neal Armstrong was shown this area by the president of Bolivia in the 70´s and he remarked that it all looked quite similar to the moon. From then on, the area has been known as "The Valley of the Moon".

Bus Journey to the Amazon - near death at every corner (Ally)

We got on the bus to continue our journey – our destination the Amazon Basin. Our bus driver was either a frustrated grand prix driver or he had a VERY hot date waiting for him.

We thought we had finished with dangerous roads but being on the bus was scarier than on the bike. On the right were hard granite cliffs which you could have touched with your hand from the window. And on the left was a drop so sheer that you could hardly see the river in the valley below. There are no barriers on the edge and the road is not wide enough for 2 cars let alone buses and trucks. The warning system appeared to be swift blasts on the hooter as the bus went round the corner – at full speed!!!! I just prayed that both vehicles had good brakes. We kept saying that it had to level out sometime but my life did flash before my eyes a few times.

We did have a cute distraction in the form of a very cute and furry puppy. He loved sitting on our laps being stroked. He was also quite at home wondering between people’s feet despite the bumpy road. Our heads nearly hit to roof a few times and our bums certainly left our seats. My wrist was more sore from and hour of gripping the arm rest in sheer terror than it was from 5 hours of cycling down the world’s most dangerous road. But we arrived in the Amazon Basin a fully hour ahead of schedule so our driver must have been able to go on his hot date.

Trip to the Pampas (Ally)

While Graeme decided to go on a 5 day "get in touch with the jungle tour" Russel and I went on a 3 day pampas tour. It was a long bumpy trip to the river but along the way we got to see a crocodile scampering across the road and a baby sloth high up in a tree.

After a bum numbing 3 hour boat journey, our guide said we could go for a swim. We were not too keen as were in pirhana waters but then we heard the unmistakable sounds of a pink dolphins blowing air. Our guide assured us that dolphins would not be where the pirhanas were so we duly dived in.

Pink dolphins are curious creatures so they bumped Russel on his feet to find out who he was. They would playfully come up for air or slap their tails right by you. It was exciting but also a little scary as the water was dark so you didn´t know where they were. They are unfortunately really hard to photograph as they just come up quickly to breath. We did see one with a stick in its long beak and it was having such fun playing with it from side to side. The bbc website has some good pictures of them . For me this was the highlight of our pampas trip.

The next day it was mission " find anaconda". Booted in Wellingtons, we set off to explore a swamp infested with worms, snails, snail eggs etc in the water. In no time at all my boots had sunk below water level and so it all went in my boot and, being waterproof, not a drop leaked out. To say I was an unhappy camper would have been the understatement of the trip. Everyone else was fine as they don´t have size 4 feet. I tell you, it is feet discrimination that size 4 have a shorter boot!! Then I nearly had a sense of humour failure when the guide admitted to us that we were very unlikely indeed to see an anaconda as it is the rainly season and they could be anywhere in about a 4000km radius (between Peru, Brazil and Boliva).

That afternoon was fun as went went pirhana fishing. We were given a hook in the end of a line with fresh meat and let it dangle in the water. Cleverly they would nibble at the meat so that you constantly had to replace it in the hope of catching something. Russel caught one whose simply could not resist a big chomp but it was just a tiny one. I think that section is a tad overfished. I felt something pull on mine and I just simply don´t have the heart to yank hard to secure the hook. As I brought my line up I saw that there was a turtle at the end of it and I was so glad that I had not hooked it.

We got fed so well and they even made us a cake with "welcome to the pampas" written on it. It went down a real treat. Graeme did not fair so well as his guide told him that he was not hungry so did he not get fed for 24hours. Graeme took it as one of his personal tests of the jungle. I have to admit that as pleased as I was that he survived the Amazon jungle, he smelt so bad (any bergie would have been proud to have been able to create such a smell) that all affectionate hugs were delayed until after a very long hot shower!!

Russel´s mighty catch!

The squirrel monkeys came very close

The Pampas was very social and we had a great group (Mostly Australians, we are picking up contacts galore)

Fruitlessly searching for annacondas in "wellies"

A lovely rainbow

Jungle bashing in Madidi National Park

Bolivia's slice of the Amazon Basin encompasses half of the countries entire territory and, being relatively undeveloped, is renowned as a prime (and somewhat wild) place to experience pristine rain forest.

The jewel of this region is the Madidi National park. More plant and animal species grace this park than any other preserve in South America (including an astounding 1100 bird species, over 10% of the world's total).

I read about the park in an amazing National Geographic article in 2001 and have been eager to explore the park ever since. I opted for a 5 day hike into the jungle with a local guide.

Ally and Russel who were not quite as passionate as me about clambering around in humid, sticky, bug infested jungle (what is wrong with them!) chose to do a one night camp over with me in Madidi and spend the rest of the time exploring the Pampas swamps nearby from the relative comfort of a river boat. There were times I wished I was with them (see last photo in this post!)

To get into the park, we had to take a 3 and a half hour boat trip from the small town of Rurrenabaque. Our travel companion in the photo is Michelle, an adventurous lass from Ireland. We also had a guide (Mario), boat driver and a cook so it was a full party. The cook and boat navigator left with Russel and Ally after the first night, and Mario and I were left to fend for ourselves.

The jungle was absolutely gorgeous - wild, overgrown, pristine and literally humming with life. Many of the trees had grown enormously tall in their frantic effort to reach the light and thick vines twisted from their branches like giant snakes. There were some simple paths that aided our entry into the deep overgrowth but Mario was regularly forced to use his enormous machete to open up areas that the vines and ferns constantly reclaimed.

Although Madidi is crawling in mammals and bird species, I soon realised I was unlikely to see a large number of them. They tend to be secretive and hide away in the tall canopy or deep ground thickets. You can hear them clambering about (particularly during our night walks) but actually seeing and identifying them is a whole new challenge. Photography is also difficult as, in a ddition to the wildlife being hard to see, the light tends to be poor.

Having said that, we did pretty well. I got to see countless species of insects (some of which were alarmingly oversized and creepy, though always fascinating). I saw 8 new species of birds including two gorgeous macaws and the strange, primitive Hoatzin bird that regurgitates its food like a cow and can only fly 20 metres at a time. We also saw 7 mammal species including 3 different monkeys, racoons, marsupial mice (very cute) and wild pigs. The jaguars, tapirs and giant armodillos stayed well hidden.

Fungi and mushrooms thrived everwhere, as you would expect in a hot, damp jungle. Many were absolutely beautiful.

Spiders, locusts, ants, catterpillars, butterflies and moths. They were everywhere. Many advertised themselves with their enormous size and beautiful colours. Others, like this spider, opted for a more shy and camouflaged approach. 

I loved the leaf-cutter ants. They cut the leaves into such myriad different shapes and their trails went on for miles. Sometimes an ant will not only carry a leaf many times its size, but also several lazy ants taking a ride on the leaf too.

The butterflies were very impressive too - though hard to photograph at times due to their restless nature. This one obliged though.

Toucans are amongst my favourite birds. There is omething absolutely irresistable about their outrageousaly oversized bills and flambouyantly coloured feathers. They also tend to be very playful although the ones in Madidi were challengingly secretive.

We saw this very cute little fellow on a night walk with torches strapped to our heads. It was very surreal to be in a jungle at night, particularly when we switched our torches off. Thankfully no critters took the opportunity to attack us in the dark, save for some pesky mosquitos.

I was thrilled to see this turtle in a side river but the feeling was not mutual. It cantered off as fast as a turtle can move.

Swimming in the river was a highlight after the sticky days and as we ventured deeper into the jungle and our water supply ran ouit, we even drank from the river. At times, we also drank from vines. It is amazing how much water they store (up to 4 litres). You simply cut off a length of it and let the water splash into your mouth. Tasted deliciously fresh too.

On the 3rd day, we scaled a small mountain in the jungle and emerged up and out to this great view of the park. It was quite a relief to regain a sense of space (and feel the sun) after the claustrophobic dankness of the undergrowth.

On my last day, after several days of just me and Mario, we met up with some more backpackers and had lots of fun. Here I am introducing them to the joys of mud.

I managed to avoid the mosquitos and sand flies most of the time. Then on the final day, I got carerless and they got me big time! Bastards... I am still scratching 3 days later.

New birds seen

• Black Skimmer
• Blue and Yellow Macaw
• Blue-crowned Parakeet
• Hoatzin
• Cuviers Toucan
• Razor-billed Curassow