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Published: January 8th 2007
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Bolivia - Bolivia has been one of the highlights against all expectations because we were just expecting it to be a poor, run down place without much to offer. La Paz (the capital) is bizzarre, most people make their living selling things on the street. You wouldn´t believe the way the old women look here. They wear about ten dresses on top of each other giving them the appearance of a walking ball! They have these thick wooly socks, waist length plaits, and an impossibly small bowler hat perched on top of their heads. Their faces look like they are made of polished mahogany or tanned leather and are more wrinkled than you would imagine possible. I can see why they called the indians red indians because they really are kind of redish brown.
La paz is the only capital city we´ve ever seen where there is nobody even remotely scary or shifty looking. Not one scumbag (just like Dublin!!!). It´s a very poor, ramshakle, crowded city but nobody shows any interest in robbing you! The people are lovely and friendly. They´re like rural Irish people in the old days (the days when people still had the time to lean
on a pitch fork and watch the world go by!) The city is all steep streets with little shops, shacks & kiosks where people sell things and repair things. It´s like going back in time about 150 years! It´s in a basin (an extinct volcano) and is surrounded by snow capped mountains. This area is called the altiplano (highlands) and the people here are very distinctive because the high altitude has given them short limbs. The altitude causes you to be out of breath after just climbing a few stairs. It´s like being a geriatric who smokes 60 fags a day!
From La Paz we took a trip to the worlds biggest salt desert, Salar de Ayuni. That was very strange. They had a hotel there made completely of salt, even the furniture. We tasted a wall and a table and they were definitely salt! From the salt desert we took a hike up a hill where there was a cave that was a family home a few hundred years ago. Apparently they all died of cold but their skeletons are still there in their death throes. Very disturbing to see, especially the small baby. From there back to
La Paz.
La Paz is a city that grows on you more and more. Spent about 5 days there then flew down to a charming little village called Rrurunabaque, the launching point for a trip into the Bolivian Amazon. Flew from a military airport in La Paz. We needed a cash point when we were in the airport but it was too small so we asked some air force guys if there would be one in the airport in Rurrunabaque and they just cracked up laughing. We found out why when we landed-the "airport" was a strip of grass cleared in the jungle! The flight over the Amazon was incredible, the river is ENORMOUS! Even from a plane it stretches as far as the eye can see in both directions. The forest is so thick that from above it looks like never ending broccolli! The only exception is the nice neat empty squares where the naughty human beings have been at work with their chainsaws!
Went on a three day guided trip up the river into the pampas. Saw amazing wildlife - crocs, alligators, amazing birds (toucans, birds of paradise, eagles, storks, parrots etc) snakes (held an anaconda)
Train Cemetry
...where shoot out scene from Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid was filmed... swam with pink bottle nosed dolphins, fished for pirahna and caught one - vicious little thing he was!, saw capybaras (worlds largest rodents - they're about as large as a big pig). Took a night trip along the river to see crocodile eyes in the light of a torch. The huts where we stayed had an alligator that used to hang around on the banks and in the water. One day we got a bit brave/stupid and pissed him off by pulling his tail. He wasn´t a happy camper. More of a snappy camper!
Scenery was stunning. On the last night there was an almighty storm signalling the start of the rain season. It was terrifying! Our hut on the river bank had no windows so there was no sound insulation. The noise was unbelievable. The thunder didn't just bang, it roared and growled for a long time and then exploded. It was like the world was about to end. We never seen such heavy rain. About a foot of rainfall in a few hours. All along the banks of the amazon there are burned trees that have been struck by lightning. We didn't know if we'd be able
to leave cos our little dugout canoe kept filling up with water and looked like it might sink! Anyway, managed to make it out of there in the rain next day.
Back to La Paz again and then on to Chile.
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