Welcome to the Jungle

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...