La Senda Verde - Paradise on earth

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Well, it took me two months to finally loose something. Unfortunately it happened to be my Ipod, which I left on the bus from Copacabana to La Paz. Bummer….
After arriving in La Paz I checked into a really cool hostel called the Adventure Brew Hostel. It is the highest micro brewery in the world, and I must say it is pretty good stuff - especially after drinking all this South American beer.

At the hostel I meet up with the Irish girls from Copacabana and the next day we set off to book a mountain bike trip down the world’s most dangerous road and also check out if it was worth going into the Jungle. Well it seems that wet season in the jungle just isn’t worth doing so we decided to skip the mozzies and delayed flights and stay a night at an animal refuge after we had finished riding the world’s most dangerous road (and any way its close enough to jungle).After booking our bike ride we checked out a bit of La Paz. La Paz is apparently the highest capital city in the world, and I must say it is dizzying so at 3660m. Just wandering around, we were all huffing and puffing trying to catch our breaths. First up on Anna’s self guided tour of La Paz was the Coca museum, which was really really interesting. It went though the whole history of the coca leaf; from indigenous use to harvesting and of course cocaine production. After our history lesson it was time for a bit of shopping at the witches market. We weren’t really up to buying Lama Fetuses’ or weird potions so we decided to head to the electronics area where I bought another Ipod. Thank goodness, I have tunes once again…….After another couple of hour wandering around town we headed back to the hostel to drink more good beer, and have an early night before our big bike ride.

The next morning we got up early to start our crazy adventure down the worlds’ most dangerous road. I must say, I was absolutely peaking. All I could think about was loosing it going around a corner and then falling 800m down a shear cliff face. There were some sweaty palms before I started that’s for sure. We had booked with a really good company so we knew we were getting good guides and excellent equipment - and we weren’t disappointed. We got a really good briefing before we started so I think that settled a few nerves, and once we were on our bikes there weren’t any dramas. Like they say it’s just like riding a bike…..The first part of the ride is all on cement roads, mostly down hill and it was so much fun to be cruising along with the wind rushing past. Then we got to the worlds most dangerous road…..it is all dirt track, and at times its only a couple of meters wide with sheer cliff on one side. I certainly used my brakes a fair bit and I tried my hardest not to look down…….. Once we got through the worst bit the track widened up, and I started to let loose a little. As scared as I was at the start, I had an absolute blast. It was a really cool ride and I would love to do it again…...maybe next trip.

At the end of the road we stopped for lunch at an Animal Refuge called La Senda Verde. I and two of the Irish girls, Suzanne and Adel, had already decided that we were going to stay the night here. And I’m so glad we did. La Senda Verde is heaven on earth - a Garden of Eden - and the most relaxing place I have ever been too. It is lush and tropical and so quiet. And the animals they have there are the bomb. Well after one night I just couldn’t leave so I decided to stay for a week and volunteer my time and work with the animals. Wow, what a week. I had so much fun with all the animals. Each one has their own personality and I got an endless supply of hugs and cuddles from the monkeys.

Here is a quick run down of the animals.

The Monkeys (my favorite):

Lilly - The little baby capuchin who has the cutest little face on her.
Martin - The prettiest of all the monkeys, and he always loves to give you cuddles. Pity he sometimes doesn’t want to let you go……
Cervesa - This one will unzip everything, even your fly and steal everything out of your pockets.
Danelle - A bit of a crazing monkey who will jump all over you.
Suegelo - The big male Capuchin. One to avoid unless you taking him food.
Peanut - A psycho little howler monkey of two months. Wears a little dipper and will chew your fingers off if you’re not careful.
Chica - The big Howler monkey. You have to watch you food around her, especially your pasta if you want to keep it on your plate.
Wara - The baby spider money. Such a cuttie. I became surrogate mother for a week, changing nappies, wiping bums and carrying the little tacker around. I want to put her in my bag and take her home….
Sambo - The cheeky spider money. Always getting into everything and anything and cops such a hard time from the kitchen staff. He would always run to me for a cuddle after getting into trouble.
Maruka - The big spider money. She has liver disease so she has this big belly. You don’t see he very much as she’s a bit scared to people.

The Others:

Cantuta - She’s a Coati, and kind of looks like a raccoon. Another animal that you have to shelter your food from; otherwise it is gone gone gone…

Willy and Stumpy - Cute lorikeets (I don’t think I spelt that right), Willy can’t fly and stumpy only has one leg! What a pair.

Nogal - He’s the donkey, and can make quite a racket when he wants to.

Sacha - She is a beautiful Osolote (looks like a small cheetah). We were in the process of building her a big new enclosure, unfortunately me and Mike (one of the other volunteer) weren’t that good at construction. We ended up leaving it to the local experts.

Koda - The cutest baby Andean Bear. La Senda Verde is in the process of building a massive enclosure for him up in the hills. When it is completed, he will have a magnificent home.

Well a week went far too quickly and I was extremely sad to leave (there were even a few tears). This is one place I will definitely coming back to. With amazing scenery, fantastic food, friendly animals and the warmest of people, how could I not.

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