This is just to say a quick so long to all who read out post over the last 3 and a half months. It was a phenominal adventure and a fantastic experience. To quickly update you of our journey home; it was mainly uneventfull, except for the occasional police stoppings. Max was stopped once and asked to enter a private booth with the guard for a more detailed search, which was due to the two pairs of trousers he was wearing so he had more space in his bag. I was stopped twice, once after 30 seconds of entering America, and once just before boarding the plane to Miami, due to the chocolate brownie I had in my pocket. After that we tried to chill in a sweltering Miami, and then caught the last flight home to Heathrow.
So thats it. A big thank you to everyone that read this, and hope you enjoyed it. From Max 'MonsterDog' Taylor, Mateito 'Beaker' Franklin and Alex '**** the **** pot' Devaraj.
P.s. since getting back we have all kept the promises to ourselves by drinking large quantities of cider and doing very little. Cheers!
Welcome to the Jungle
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For the last real event we did on our trip, we spent 3 days in the jungles of Bolivia. This envolved taking a motorised canoe at 9am for an hour, wearing shoddy lifejackets so we wouldn´t be stopped at a checkpoint, then walking for 30 minutes whilst ladened down with 3 days supplies of food and water. On this walk we stopped briefly in a local village, where we tried some local chicha (alcoholic beverage) that tasted like cold chicken soup, and saw some highly unusual animals (a chicken with flares and a MASSIVE duck). At the camp, we immediatly went for a dip in the river nearby, only getting out when we had had enough of the fish and crabs nibbling at our feet. After lunch it was time for a jungle walk, in which we saw not many animals, but impressive scenery and a load of plants. Our guide used the foliage of the jungle to make us a water-bottle-holder (made by brading a large number of vines) and a set of pan pipes. He was also rather adept at cuting down any plants in our path, using his rather large machete. That evening, we relaxed, set up our mosquito nets, and crouched under tarpaulins to avoid the rain. Dinner was provided by our cook called Chubela, who took a shine to our Mr Franklin, calling him her ´Mateito´ (meaning ´little matthew´). The next day we went on a long walk to a large hill in the jungle, with magnificent views of the rainforest and rivers below. Our fuel for the long and tiring walk was chewing coca leaves, a practice we will miss when we return as it is illegal in England. In the afternoon we had a siesta, to be ready for our night walk, where as usual a large number of insects were attracted to our torches. After an uncomfortable nights sleep (due to the wasps, cockroaches and ants that had found my supply of cookies) we had one final walk in the jungle, before heading off back to civilisation. We stopped off in the local village again, where, and I have no idea why, Max accepted another glass of chicha. After our jungle trip, we were destined to La Paz, with me flying in 45 minutes (due to a desire to watch the world cup final) while the others took a 20 hour bus ride. It was on this ride that Max unfortunatly had his camera and phone stolen, but fortunatly he had most of his lost photos on Franklin´s ipod. So, in La Paz Max and I went to the tourism police to report the thefts (as I had lost my ipod - see the earlier post) while Franklin bought some souvenirs. After it was time for the 18 hour bus ride to Santa Cruz, where we have spent the time eating huge ice-creams (4 pounds for a kilo of ice-cream) and wondering why a city with an average temperature of 27 degrees centigrade could be so cold. Seriously it´s been so cold here it´s caused ´confusion in the schools´. Its about 12 degrees centigrade. We fly this evening to Miami, where hopefully it will be warmer, and then that evening to Heathrow, arriving at about 6am. How fun...
"Are we swimming here?" ask Alex, "it´s right next to the alligators". "No", replied Max, "hang on, we´re stopping..."
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After the excitment of the mine tour in Potosí, we ate some pizza with some, quite frankly hilarious Scottish guys, then caught a taxi to Sucre, the Bolivian capital. After exploring the streets of this gorgeous colonial city we found a room, complete with an extra bed and cable tv. The next moning was the England game, so I stayed in the room while Max and Franklin went to explore the central market. After, we visited the mercado campesino, the local market, which stocked everything, from coca leaves to fireworks, from wallets to little bags of fried fish. For the next few days in Sucre, we relaxed, I watched football while Max and Frankin went to museums and did generally bugger all. On Friday, Max and I visited a nearby Dinosaur theme park (about as far away from Jurrasic park as one could hope to get) and bought rather ridiculous and expensive dinosaur figurines, much to the amusment of Mr Franklin. I´ve wraped mine in about 5 wolly hats, while Max used scarfs. I´m not sure of the state of mine, but unfortunaly Max´s has broken into 4 parts. On Sunday there was a weekly market in the nearby (by Bolivian standards) village of Tarabuco. Max and Franklin joined a Dutch and American girl to visit the market, whereas I stayed back to watch the football first, and would join them there. My day started by getting a full english at a dutch cafe and watching England unfortunatly loose. Then, I caught taxi to the bus stop for Tarabuco, at which I could see no buses leaving. In true, South American traveller style, I asked a local truck driver, full of locals and their merchadise, if he was going go Tarabuco. He was, and I hoped onboard for the 2 hour journey to the market. As I arrived, I saw Max and Franklin leaving in a taxi. I explored the market, bought a large amount of gifts, and caught a minibus back, wondering how I was going to carry so many gifts back to England. The next night, we caught a night bus to La Paz, and that day we explored the citys´ Mecardo Negro, all buying some designer jeans. The next day was also filled with trips to the markets of La Paz, with both Max and myself buying so much stuff we needed extra bags to carry it all. That evening we met up with Sam Clarke and Ben Eccles, friends from school, but we couldn´t go out for long as we needed to pack, ready for our 18 hour bus ride the next day to the jungle.
The bus to Rurrenabaque, the town where we are now, takes, according to the guide book ´18 hours at the best of times´. Acoording to the acounts we had heard, the bus took the continuation of the road from La Paz to Corioco, also known as the ´road of death´. Undeterred, we caught a bus leaving at 11am from the villa fatima district of La Paz. All was going fine until at 6pm, just over 1/3 of our trip, the bus broke down, and remaind that way for 2 hours, more or less. Not being mechanics, we were unsure what to make of the fact that they were pouring water into a hole in the bonnet, only for it to bubble out ferociously. After in was fixed (thanks to our driver catching a bus to a nearby town and getting spare parts) we headed of, slowly and having to stop every 15 minutes to let the engine cool and add more cold water to the radiator (we assumed). We stopped in a nearby town where we were told we had 30 minutes to grab some dinner. It was now 10pm, so we hungryly made our way to the nearest cafe. We then switched to a newer, more comfortable bus at about 11.30, but in the switch, or just before, I lost/was robbed of my ipod. We arrived in Rurrenabaque, known locally as Rurre, at about 9.45am, and quickly found a very nice hostal, complete with a ceiling fan and hammocks. That day was spent relaxing in said hammocks, and for me, watching the football. The next day we organised a tour for our trip to the pampas, a swampy part of jungle full of animals. I was keen to go with ´fletcha´tour agencies, because of their very pretty tour orginiser, but insted we went with ´Donato´ who were excellent and we are going to the jungle with them tomorow. Our trip to the Pampas was a 3 day excursion with Elizabeth, a Glaswegian accountant, 3 Frenchies, our guide Daniel and our cook Mercedes. After a 3 hour bumpy and dusty jeep ride to the river, we boarded our motorised canoe and headed off, where immediatly we saw capibara (massive guinea pigs), caiman and alligators, monkeys (which came on to our boat when our guide offered bananas), terrapins which were sunbathing on any surface that was sticking out of the water, and loads of birds. Our camp consisted of lodges, complete with a shower and flushing toilet. After a quick time unpacking and relaxing in the hammocks, we went to a nearby viewpoint to watch the glorious sunset and drink a cerveza. After, it was a buffet dinner, followed by caiman spotting at night, which, although plagued by mosquitos, was a peaceful and relaxing experience. The next day we were up at 5.30 am to go and see the sunrise, then breakfast followed to a trip to the marshland of the pampas, for a session of ´anaconda hunting´. This is where our guide excelled himself. On the surface, Daniel exhibited none of the qualilties you would expect to see from a guide; he was large and wore jeans, trainers and a t-shirt that said ´I´d quit drinking, but I´m no quitter´. By contrast, the other Guides at the marsh wore boots, army jungle camo and carried knives and machetes. However, it was our guide who found the only snake, and who made sure we didn´t touch it, due to the deet repelent we had on our hands. Other guides who came after were about to let their groups touch it, before Daniel stopped them. After, we went looking for cobras, with less luck. Then we returned to camp, for a cold drink and lunch, before a siesta. After that, it was time to go swimming with the dolphins. We wern´t too sure when Daniel stopped the boat at a meander of a river, especially when we could see caiman, before they submerged into the murky water. Daniel told us that the dolphins didn´t like caiman either, and would keep them away. However, we were yet to see any dolphin. Fortunaly, they were there, and eventually we did see some, be it just for a second or two. As we swan in the muddy water, we became aware of the watching eyes of Pedro, the large caiman, about 6 foot, who lived in the water. Clearly he and Daniel were friends, as Daniel went over and tapped him on the nose. I was allowed to try, as long as I didnt aproach him from the side, as you should NEVER aproach from the side. After this, we wen to another mirador to watch the sunset, and then retired for the evening. The final day of our trip started with us being awoken by howler monkeys, who were defacating in the trees above our lodge. After breakfast we went pihrana fishing, where we caught some of the smallest fish you have ever seen (10cm would have been an exaggeration), returned to camp, then headed back to Rurre, a 4 hour journey (3 in jeep). That was yesterday, and today we relaxed (you really can´t do much in this sweltering heat) and I, of course, watched the football. Tomorow we head back out to the jungle, in the penultimate adventure on nuestra historia grande.
The bus to Rurrenabaque, the town where we are now, takes, according to the guide book ´18 hours at the best of times´. Acoording to the acounts we had heard, the bus took the continuation of the road from La Paz to Corioco, also known as the ´road of death´. Undeterred, we caught a bus leaving at 11am from the villa fatima district of La Paz. All was going fine until at 6pm, just over 1/3 of our trip, the bus broke down, and remaind that way for 2 hours, more or less. Not being mechanics, we were unsure what to make of the fact that they were pouring water into a hole in the bonnet, only for it to bubble out ferociously. After in was fixed (thanks to our driver catching a bus to a nearby town and getting spare parts) we headed of, slowly and having to stop every 15 minutes to let the engine cool and add more cold water to the radiator (we assumed). We stopped in a nearby town where we were told we had 30 minutes to grab some dinner. It was now 10pm, so we hungryly made our way to the nearest cafe. We then switched to a newer, more comfortable bus at about 11.30, but in the switch, or just before, I lost/was robbed of my ipod. We arrived in Rurrenabaque, known locally as Rurre, at about 9.45am, and quickly found a very nice hostal, complete with a ceiling fan and hammocks. That day was spent relaxing in said hammocks, and for me, watching the football. The next day we organised a tour for our trip to the pampas, a swampy part of jungle full of animals. I was keen to go with ´fletcha´tour agencies, because of their very pretty tour orginiser, but insted we went with ´Donato´ who were excellent and we are going to the jungle with them tomorow. Our trip to the Pampas was a 3 day excursion with Elizabeth, a Glaswegian accountant, 3 Frenchies, our guide Daniel and our cook Mercedes. After a 3 hour bumpy and dusty jeep ride to the river, we boarded our motorised canoe and headed off, where immediatly we saw capibara (massive guinea pigs), caiman and alligators, monkeys (which came on to our boat when our guide offered bananas), terrapins which were sunbathing on any surface that was sticking out of the water, and loads of birds. Our camp consisted of lodges, complete with a shower and flushing toilet. After a quick time unpacking and relaxing in the hammocks, we went to a nearby viewpoint to watch the glorious sunset and drink a cerveza. After, it was a buffet dinner, followed by caiman spotting at night, which, although plagued by mosquitos, was a peaceful and relaxing experience. The next day we were up at 5.30 am to go and see the sunrise, then breakfast followed to a trip to the marshland of the pampas, for a session of ´anaconda hunting´. This is where our guide excelled himself. On the surface, Daniel exhibited none of the qualilties you would expect to see from a guide; he was large and wore jeans, trainers and a t-shirt that said ´I´d quit drinking, but I´m no quitter´. By contrast, the other Guides at the marsh wore boots, army jungle camo and carried knives and machetes. However, it was our guide who found the only snake, and who made sure we didn´t touch it, due to the deet repelent we had on our hands. Other guides who came after were about to let their groups touch it, before Daniel stopped them. After, we went looking for cobras, with less luck. Then we returned to camp, for a cold drink and lunch, before a siesta. After that, it was time to go swimming with the dolphins. We wern´t too sure when Daniel stopped the boat at a meander of a river, especially when we could see caiman, before they submerged into the murky water. Daniel told us that the dolphins didn´t like caiman either, and would keep them away. However, we were yet to see any dolphin. Fortunaly, they were there, and eventually we did see some, be it just for a second or two. As we swan in the muddy water, we became aware of the watching eyes of Pedro, the large caiman, about 6 foot, who lived in the water. Clearly he and Daniel were friends, as Daniel went over and tapped him on the nose. I was allowed to try, as long as I didnt aproach him from the side, as you should NEVER aproach from the side. After this, we wen to another mirador to watch the sunset, and then retired for the evening. The final day of our trip started with us being awoken by howler monkeys, who were defacating in the trees above our lodge. After breakfast we went pihrana fishing, where we caught some of the smallest fish you have ever seen (10cm would have been an exaggeration), returned to camp, then headed back to Rurre, a 4 hour journey (3 in jeep). That was yesterday, and today we relaxed (you really can´t do much in this sweltering heat) and I, of course, watched the football. Tomorow we head back out to the jungle, in the penultimate adventure on nuestra historia grande.
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