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Published: October 26th 2007
Our Rurrenbacca experience had not ended as we wanted to go to the Jungle this time and see a different side of things. After eventually deciding on a tour company, where we were promised that we would be staying on a ranch, were there would be loads of other people- never believe the brochures and the smooth talking sales man.
We set off Sat morning (20 Oct) and the journey only took 45 min to the Ranch. When we arrived, we could see no sign of any other travelers around, so we were not impressed. We also believe the word ´Ranch was a little optimistic. There were horse, goats, pigs and cows and we slept in a barn, but plush it was not, basic it was.
Our morning began with a walk in the jungle, where we were shown all the fruits that they grow and the coco tree and some medicinal plants. Our guides English was not very good, so we had to point out a lot of things and ask what they were. After a hearty lunch and rest, we spent the afternoon horse riding. Steve was not best pleased as there was no way he could get the rugby scores. The ride was great as we really got a feel for the jungle and saw beautiful parrots and went to the new and old forests. Our ride lasted about 3 hrs and we came back sweaty and tired and in need of coffee, which we managed to persuade the cook to make us.
After a lovely cold shower- where the mosquito net had holes in them and we actually showered with flying creatures too, our dinner was ready. As I sat down I looked above me and saw a tarantula on the barn doors.... I was not happy. However dinner was served together with bugs as just as we were given our main course the generator went out and the cook gave us a candle which had hundreds of bugs flying around it, which liked our dinner, needless to say-that was the end of dinner and we went to bed at 8pm wrapped in our sleeping bag liners and bags.
The next day things slightly improved as the bugs only come out at night. We went for a lovely 5 hr walk in the jungle to waterfalls and spent the afternoon making necklaces from seeds from the local trees.
We were very glad to get back to civilization- rurenbacca and hot bug free showers.
On Monday we flew back to La Paz and spent 2 days there, just chilling, going to a few museums and getting laundry done. On Wed (23 Oct) we took a bus to Coco cabana. We met a great Aussie couple on the bus, we both stayed at the same hostel that had amazing views of Lake Titicaca. We spent the day together and planed our following day to the Isle de Sol (island of the sun). The following day we took the boat across the island. When we got there we were collared by a guy who had somewhere for us to stay. But we had to walk for about 40 min up steep stairs; however being at 4000m altitude did make it hard. After checking out about 4 hostels we decided on one at the very top which had views of the sun rise and sun set.
After some coffee we set off on a hike to the north Island as we were staying on the south. It was supposed to be easy to follow the trail, but after about 20 min we lost it and made our own. We walked for about 2 hrs in the heat and altitude. We were hoping to come across a shop/ rest but being of the path did not help. So thank good ness we had made sandwiches from breakfast which we shared with the other couple. We got to one beach and were told it was another 1.5 hrs to the main island, but we were exhausted.
So this women approached us and said she would row us. We thought she would get her husband to do this, but low and behold 10 min later she arrived with a rowing boat. She and a friend rowed us half an hr to the north. There was nothing there, but she told us she could only row us to the north and then she could organize us another boat to the south. However we were surprised when she and her friend were actually going to row us the hr to the south. We were the only boat on the ocean. You can imagine what was going through our minds.
She did not exactly drop us off at the right port and we had to make our way up a mountain to get back to our hostel, but it was quiet an experience. After watching the sun go down with a beer, we had a lovely dinner and an early night.
Today being Friday 26, we left the Sun Island and took a bus from Coco cabana to Puno (Peru). Tom we are off to several little islands with an Irish couple we have met...
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lara glass
non-member comment
sounds wonderful and all part of the adventure
Hey Jan and Steve You always seem a little surprise when things dont go 100%, you are in a 3rd world country and thats what adds character and fun to your trip (but crossing the ocean/lake in a small rowing boat but does sound scary) Enjoy and just think of us leading mundane work, tube, normal lives. xxxx La