Cochabamba

In case you are wondering what the question mark shape is that appears on all my photos from now on, let me explain.  On my last day in Madidi National Park a small hair (or scratch?) appeared inside the lens of my camera.  I don´t know how it got there or how to remove it – I didn´t fancy opening up my camera myself, nor taking it to a Bolivian camera shop, nor trying to buy a new (decent) camera in Bolivia.  Hopefully the power of Photoshop will fix them when I get home.

After leaving Madidi National Park I flew back to La Paz and then caught a super cheap (7 hours for 2 pounds) but quite comfortable bus to Cochabamba.  After I eventually found a place to stay (the first three places I tried were full!) I spent a couple of days exploring the city and enjoying (more) delicious food.

Mini buses on strike (this one was called Emmanuel)

The first day all of the colourful micro buses were on strike and blockading the roads in the city centre.  There is always some kind of protest, march, blockade happening in Bolivia but it meant that the city centre was blissfully traffic free.

The north and south of Cochabamba were a real contrast.  The south side by the bus station was full of mainly indigenous people and a big and super busy market, while the north was very americanised with more of a mixture of people driving around in nice cars.  The north end reminded me a bit of Maracaibo.

Cheese empanadas in Cochabamba

I visited a not very good museum but did eat the most delicious empanadas ever!  First cheese ones, baked in the oven and full of delicious mashed potatoes and salty Bolivian cheese and then vegetable ones (though not on the same day).  I also discovered chirrimoya (an exotic fruit called custard apple in English) ice cream and at that point knew I couldn´t stay in Cochabamba too long otherwise I would get fat (and sick) from eating too many cheese empanadas and ice cream! I also got my first proper coffee in Bolivia in Cochabamba, so I was very happy.

My photocopy business in Cochabamba

It turned out my other life is running a photocopy business in Cochabamba.

Alongside the bus station was a series of market stalls, which only seemed to offer sunglasses, fortune-telling, or road-side tattoos.  I certainly wasn´t tempted to get a tattoo on the side of a busy, dirty road in Bolivia!

The Jesus Christ statue in Cochabamba

Cochabamba is proud to boast the tallest Jesus Christ statue in the world, beating the one in Brazil by a few centimetres or so. According to the signs it was too dangerous to walk up and down to the statue so I took the cable car.

Statue stats

Madidi National Park (Mashaquipe)

Can´t believe that I actually ummed and ahhed about going to the Bolivian rain forest! In the end, another traveller in the hostel in La Paz recommended it so enthusiastically that I booked it straight after talking to her. Just as well because it was fantastic!

The small plane to Rurre

Rather than take the bus, which is very cheap but takes (at least) 20 hours and is considered the worst bus journey in Bolivia, I decided to spend some money on the 45 minute flight from La Paz to Rurrenabaque (Rurre).

The plane only had a row of seats down each side, maybe 18 passengers in total, and we could see through to the cockpit and the pilots and out through the front windscreen. The flight was a bit bumpy so I just kept telling myself that it was safer than the bus and it would be over in 45 minutes. The whole way I held onto my seat with one hand and onto the seat in front with the other. The view (through the scratched and dirty windows) was pretty spectacular. At first we passed over the snow-capped mountains close to La Paz, then up into the clouds before descending down into lush green rain forest. All within a 45 minute flight. The runway in Rurre was a strip of land in a green field surrounded by trees.

 

 

The runway in Rurre

 

Compared with La Paz and Copacabana, Rurre seemed like another country. In many ways it reminded me of Venezuela because it was so hot and humid. There weren´t really any cars and everyone was zooming around on motorbikes and scooters (without helmets, of course) and everyone was dressed for the hot weather in shorts, vests and flip-flops.

 

 

Madidi National Park

My tour to Madidi National Park started the next morning. I wasn´t really sure what to expect because in the office the day before they couldn´t really tell me much about the group I would be in. So that morning we all set off in a couple of boats, first to go and get our tickets for the National Park and then onto the Mashaquipe camp. The journey up the river was spectacular with lush rainforest on each side. Again it reminded me of the journey up the river to see Angel Falls.

The boats

The sugar cane press

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the way to the camp we stopped to visit a local family to see the sugar cane growing and try some sugar cane juice. I tried a piece of raw sugar cane and when I bit into it all the delicious sweet juice came out. Then we had to help process some of the sugar cane so that we could all drink the juice. The canes are put through a type of mill that is powered by a horse (or tourists) pushing a giant lever round in a circle. As the juice came out of the cane it was filtered through a cloth into a bucket. We were then given cups made of some kind of giant seed shell to scoop out a cup full and add a squeeze of lemon/lime before drinking it. It was one of the most delicious drinks I´ve ever tasted!  I am still none the wiser about lemons and limes though – what is called a lemon here looks like a lime and vice versa.

Drinking fresh sugar cane juice - delicious!

Crossing the little river to the Zurita family to make and drink sugar cane juice

The Mashaquipe camp was lovely and we were invited to lounge in the hammocks for a while before having the first of many super delicious meals. It turned out I was in a spanish speaking group of 3 people plus the guide – Ana (from Canary Islands), Theepan (English) and Reinaldo (our Bolivian guide). This turned out to be great as I got to practice my spanish and learn loads of new words (that might only be useful in the rain forest or a zoo but nevermind). I was staying one extra day than Theepan and Ana so I was in another (spanish speaking) group with a guy from Switzerland and a guy from Australia the last day.

 

 

 

One of many yummy breakfasts cooked by Ellie

The 4 days of the tour were spent walking through different parts of the forest. We went to primary and secondary forest, flat forests and all sorts of parts of the forest. Reinaldo explained what the native plants were and how many of them could be used as natural medicines. There seemed to be a plant or tree bark to help every kind of health problem. We also saw the biggest trees in this part of the forest which are hundreds of years old and considered to be the spirits of the forest. The bottom part of the tree has folds which you can sleep in if you get lost in the forest. They say that if you sleep by the tree you can hear all sorts of sounds and voices, which is sometimes good and sometimes bad. The first day we saw butterflies, a pair of tortoises and chanchos (pigs).

Walking, walking, walking (and a little bit of resting)

The next day we set off with our packs, sleeping equipment and food to sleep out in the forest. We were accompanied by Wilson who cooked delicious food for us and kept us laughing with his jokes. We saw a few small monkeys, more chanchos and butterflies and more amazing plants and trees. At one point we had to cross a bridge that consisted of a log with a small branch on one side to steady ourselves. I managed the bridge but wasn´t quite so good at crossing the muddy areas without sticking my feet in the mud!

 

 

 

 

Camping in the forest

By lunchtime we arrived at our basic camp site.  We slept in mosquito nets set up under some tarpaulin and there was also a tarpaulin tent for the kitchen/dining room and even a toilet (of the eco-style glastonbury type). After eating our delicious (and massive) packed lunches we had a little siesta before setting of to the macaw lookout point.

 

 

Macaw mirador

 

 

 

The mirador had an amazing view of the river and forest and we saw loads of macaws and parakeets flying below us. It was also the spot where an Israeli tourist died a few years ago when he fell off the edge of the mirador! We sat there for ages enjoying the spectacular view before heading back to camp for dinner and our night walk.

 

 

 

 

 

Ana, Theepan, me (L - R) at the macaw mirador

During the night walk we had to turn off our torches a lot of the time to have a better chance of seeing some animals. In the end we saw the crazy ants (hormigas casadores, I think) that carry leaves to make their nests and travel in long lines as far as the eye can see, lots of fire flies and a spider. I’m glad I wasn’t at the front when we discovered the spider because its web was as wide as the path. As a moth landed in the web we watched as it ran down, spun it in silk and then carried it back to the middle of the web to eat it later.  It was like being in a David Attenborough program – completely fascinating to watch close up (even though I don´t like spiders).  I had some romantic notion that I would fall asleep listening to the sounds of the forest that night but instead it was an orchestra of snoring!

 

On our last morning we got up at 5am (!!!) to go to see from below where the macaw parrots nest.  The live in holes in the side of the steep banks of the forest. There were also lots of tarantula nests here but luckily we didn´t see any! I also found a macaw feather which got a bit grubby by the time I got it back to La Paz and posted it home.

Ready to go rafting

After a huge and yummy breakfast we had to walk to the river to build a raft to float back to the camp on. The raft was made from balsa wood tree trunks so it was super floaty and this is a traditional form of transport from this part of Bolivia. I thought we might only have to float half an hour or so to get back but it turned out to be a couple of hours and I had to steer most of the way while Ana and Theepan enjoyed the view and while Reinaldo had a siesta and occasionally told me to steer right or left a bit.  Despite getting totally wet, we all arrived back in one piece.

Rafting down the Rio Tuichi

 

 

 

Of course, there was more yummy food consumed and on the last day I got to do arts and crafts in the morning and go for another walk in the afternoon. I made a necklace from seeds that I´m sure Australian customs will want to confiscate of fumigate.  It was cool to make something from local materials with traditional techniques.

Going down the Rio Beni (or is this still the Rio Tuichi?) to Rurre

I was totally sad to leave Madidi Mational Park but enjoyed my last trip back down the river to Rurre and back to civilisation.

Biking the World´s Most Dangerous Road

The fog is masking a massive vertical drop!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ready to ride!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What a totally awesome day!

Before the ride, for good luck, we had to spill some 97% alcohol on the front bike tyre, a bit on the ground for Pachamama and then we were supposed to put a bit on our lips. From my face you can see that I accidentally swallowed some and it burnt my insides!

So I survived biking down the World’s Most Dangerous Road thanks to Gravity Assisted Mountain Biking.  We were a group of 14 and the day started off well until the torrential rain started.  I have never been so wet in my life without going swimming.  By half way down the road I was soaked through to my underwear.  Fortunately, I remembered to put my camera in the van before it got too wet.  I forgot about my money belt though and ended up with some soggy dollars.

Still smiling...

The ride was totally awesome, even if we couldn´t see much of the massive cliff drops for all the fog and rain.  I had a smile on my face the whole way down!  I later learnt that most companies dont´t encourage riding the road in the rainy season, and if they do run trips, they don´t encourage beginners to go.  I was certainly not one of the people right behind our crazy guide, Cody, but neither was I with the girl from NZ at the back that shouted “jesus fucking christ” every time she arrived at a stopping point.

Near the start of the ride. The people in ponchos are protestors who have been marching from the Beni province in Bolivia to La Paz since August. They were protesting against the construction of a 185-mile road through the Isiboro Secure National Park and Indigenous Territory (Tipnis).

I was fine on the asphalted roads but somewhat slower when it came to riding down on the rocky, narrow road.  I don´t think I´ll be taking up mountain biking any time soon.  Think I´ll stick to my touring bike, thanks!

 

 

 

Me concentrating on the wet and rocky road

We ended the day at an animal rescue centre for dinner where we showered, got fed, and saw amazing animals like spider monkeys and parrots.

We were supposed to go back up the World´s Most Dangerous Road to get back to La Paz but with all the rain there had been landslides on the road after we left.  So we took the ´new`road (which was still quite rough and unpaved in parts) and got back quite late to La Paz.

 

We all survived!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Celebrating with a beer (and a muddy face and sopping wet clothes)

 

La Paz

La Paz

So I ended up staying in La Paz longer than I expected.  After some small cities and towns, it was a bit of a shock to be in a big city again.  I consoled myself with a sag paneer aloo curry from La Paz´s only British-owned curry house.  It was delicious!

I arrived on Thursday to learn that there would be judicial elections taking place on Sunday, which meant EVERYTHING (including public transport) would be closed.  So I opted for a day in the city on Friday, biking down the world{s most dangerous road on Saturday, a lazy day on Sunday, a trip to Tiwanaku ruins on Monday, then off to Rurrenabaque and Madidi Mational Park from Tuesday for 5 days and then back to La Paz for another day.

La Paz is a crazy busy city with a million taxis, mini buses, cars etc all spouting out major fumes.  It´s a very polluted city but you can walk around the central parts during the day and early evening and taxis are cheap for longer distances and late at night.  Coming in and out of the city is impressive because it sits in  valley with sprawling houses up each side with a massive snow-capped mountain also visible from most parts of town.

I visited the excellent Museo de Textiles Andinos Bolivianos to marvel at the exquisite textiles and weavings from all over Bolivia.  As usual, I was the only visitor.  I´d taken a taxi to get there but decided to walk back to the centre.  After asking at a kiosk for directions, and after much hilarity that I would want to walk any great distance, the kiosk lady sent me off with her Cholita friend (a traditionally dressed Bolivian women wearing a bowler hat) who was going in the same directions.  We had a bit of a chat and the woman thought it was hilarious that I would be interested in weavings and textiles and had come all this way to the museum.  Like all local people in Peru and Bolivia, she warned me to be careful on my travels! 

The Museum of Contemporary Art was also quite interesting (again, I was the only visitor) with a variety of works by mainly Bolivian artists in a beautiful building.

I did many of the obvious tourist things – got my shoes cleaned by a shoeshine boy after they got covered in mud in the jungle, bought some lucky charms carved in stone from the Witches Market, bought a wooly hat for Rebecca (work colleague) from a weaving/knitting co-operative, and bought delicious (and very cheap) Bolivian chocolates.  I also did some less obvious things like learning to play poker at the hostel, being on the winning team for the pub quiz, and having a really good and authentic Japanese meal.

La Paz on the day of the elections.

On the day of the elections, La Paz was like a different city.  I woke up to silence rather than car horns honking.  The streets were empty apart from people on bikes and families had brough their kids out for the day on bikes and trikes.  It was great!  Sylvie, Alexandra and me spent the day walking around the city, having a girly chat over coffee and cake, and walking up to one of the view points.  Monday morning everything was back to normal and the car horns and fumes were back in full force.

La Paz with Huayna Potosi in the background.

Sun Gate at Tiwanaku

The ruins at Tiwanaku were quite impressive, if not quite Machu Picchu.  The site is considered one of the most important pre-Inca sites in South America.  It was amazing to see the ruins still be excavated and one of the main sculptures had been moved to its own museum in a dramatic setting.  There wwere also some surving stones within the complex that worked like loud speakers – you spoke from outside the temple inwards and your voice was aplified really loudly.  The bus ride there and back was scenic, with great views of the mountain ranges around La Paz and Lake Titicaca.  Of course, we weren´t even out of the ruins complex when we got a puncture and the driver and guide had to change the tire.

One of a few surviving sculptures. One hand faces in and the other faces out as if it belongs to someone else. This shows duality in giving and taking.Stone sculpture at Tiwanaku.

 

The stone sculpture with its own museum

 After not liking La Paz all that much at first, I ended up really liking it!

Copacabana (Bolivia)

So it took me about 5 weeks to get to Bolivia!  Of course, I had to change my ticket ao now I am supposed to fly from Buenos Aires to Sydney on the 30 November.  I suspect I might have to push it back another week if I can manage to extend my visa for Bolivia.

Crossing the border into Bolivia

So I made my first border crossing without incident.  We had to get off the bus, get our exits stamps for Peru, change money, get entry stamps for Bolivia, then get back on the bus for the short drive to Copacabana.

 

 

 

Parade in Copacabana

There was some glitz and glamour in the Bolivian Copacabana in the way of some street parade just after I arrived.  I´ve no idea what it was for but everyone got on a bus after they had finished.

 

 

 

 

Copacabana is a lake side town on Lake Titicaca.  Too many hippies for my liking trying to sell you home-made sandwiches before your trip to Isla del Sol.

How to steer a boat of seasick passengers with your foot

Luckily I met another girl at the hostel who also planned to go to Isla del Sol.  Her name was Courtney and she´s studying neuroscience!  We bought one-way tickets and hopped on a boat that would probably not be seaworthy in any other country.  No sign of life jackets and the captain steered the boat with his foot.  The weather was raining and windy so it was a long and rough 1.5 hour crossing.  Courtney and I speculated who would puke first but no-one did.  Given half an hour more, I might well have puked.

 

 

 

 

One of many beautiful bays on Isla del Sol

We arrived at the south end of Isla del Sol and set off to walk to the other side where we would stay the night.  The walk was amazing – up and down the mountains of the island, through little villages and beautiful bays and beaches.  We passed lots of kids walking home from school who thought we were hilarious for some reason?  They would all giggle as they went past and the boys would confer before one of them was nominated to shout “Hola mi amor” (hello love) as we walked past.  The smaller children (not at school) were much more upfront about asking for stuff (regalame! = give me a present or dame algo! = give me something).  We didn´t give them anything as we didn´t want to encourage begging (not easy to do).  The small childern in Peru were not this upfront about begging.

My feet in the clear water of Lake Titicaca

We found a little place to stay on the north side of the Island and ran into two Australian guys (Ben and Tom) also looking for dinner.  Fresh trout from the lake is the best thing to eat unless you are vegetarian like me and then it´s omelette, chips and vegetables.  The restaurant closed early so we found another one open late to have a drink and play cards.  Now I know two card games – Shit Head and Black Bitch (the latter refers to the Queen of Spades before you ask).

View of the ruins from the highest point on the north of the island

The next day Courtney took the first boat back to head off to La Paz and I spent the morning walking to the Inca ruins, which area labyrinth of walls and rooms with a well that was supposed to be used for cleansing rituals in Inca times.  I also climbed up to the highest point on the north side of the island to enjoy amazing views and peace and quiet (apart from some man who I could hear playing the flute somewhere).  As I set of early, I had the place to myself before the first boats arrived.  It was amazing!

Fortunately the lake was calm for the return journey back to Copacabana.