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Published: July 15th 2008
Hello,
We had a nice long bus journey into Bolivia. We left San Pedro de Atacama at 8.30pm on an 11 hour overnight journey to Arica. I managed to get the only seat on the bus that was broken and didn´t recline which was not good and to top it all off I was right at the back next to the disgusting smelly toilet which made me feel sick pretty much the whole night. Not the best of journeys!!! We arrived in Arica at 7am where Deaks and I hopped straight onto another bus heading to La Paz - the capital city of Bolivia and the highest capital city in the world. This journey was to be another 10 hours long. It was a bit of a shambles, the driver assigned some people to particular seats and just let others get on which meant people had to move about - ridiculous! We set off and 4 hours later arrived at the border. I had visions of carnage like it was when we crossed the Laos and Cambodian borders but thankfully it was fine and very quick and well organised. 10 minutes later we were in Bolivia where we got stamped
in hassle free too.
We carried on with our journey stopping a few times to drop people off and Deaks and I started to panic as it looked like we were back in Cambodia and particularly Pnom Penh which we hated. There were nutty drivers tooting their horns non stop and millions of near crashes and random old ladies on market stalls selling things in the middle of the road - so random! We looked at each other and just thought "oooohh nnooooooooo"!! At 6pm we finally arrived at the bus station in La Paz which completed our 21 hour bus journey. We quickly found a cashpoint and then headed outside to find a cab driver and were thrilled to find out it only cost just 10 bolivianos (65p) to get into the main centre. Cheap as chips!! The cab driver didn´t speak any English so we just picked out a random place in the Lonely Planet for him to take us to and we set off. He started rambling on in Spanish and eventually I worked out that he was asking if we had a reservation and I said no and then he suggested somewhere that was good
and showed us a leaflet. It looked good so I agreed we would go there. This place was actually a hotel and we got a double room with en suite bathroom for just over eight pounds - how cheap is that!! God knows how cheap the dorm beds in the hostels must be but Deaks and I decided we could be flashpackers at these prices!!! We got to our room and it was luxurious and warm. Heaven!
Later that evening we headed out for dinner and were, again, simply amazed at how cheap everything was (I won´t go on about it anymore - you get the picture!). By this point Deaks and I were both suffering from a bit of altitude sickness, being 3,500 metres above sea level. Deaks was worse than I and had a permanent headache but we both generally felt out of sorts and just not quite right.
The next day we went exploring around La Paz looking in all the shops and on all the market stalls. All the women here walk around with their children on their backs tied up in blankets and they all wear the same long skirts just in different
colours. The cobbled streets are nice but dangerous and very slippery - haven´t broken a limb yet but have had a few near misses!! That afternoon we planned our itinerary for the next 5-6 days involving getting a flight to Rurrenabaque to access the Amazon Basic and doing a 1 day jungle trek and a 3 day Pampas tour before flying back to La Paz.
Our flight to Rurrenabaque was very scary. It was only a 19 seater plane and only took 37 minutes but it was really bumpy and dropped a few times which had my stomach lurching and Deaks looking more scared than I have ever seen before!! Very cool views though and it was so random landing in the jungle on a little grass runway and Rurrenabaque airport was just a little wooden hut! A sweet Bolivian girl was there to meet us and took us to the tour shop to sign in for our trips and then showed us to our accommodation. It was amazing how much the climate changed in just that short time. We went from an altitude of 3,500 metres to just 105 metres so the altitude sickness instantly disappeared but along
came the humidity and mosquitoes!! Rurrenabaque is a small and very basic town. We were promised hot water but that didn´t happen. Deaks had a shower and it set alight whilst she was under it and she ran out screaming and they had to send a man in to fix it. What a nightmare!
We got up early the next morning for our jungle tour and almost didn´t make it after the we had a row with the woman at our hotel who wouldn´t let us leave without paying even though we´d paid for the whole trip, including accommodation, when we were in La Paz. Luckily a guy who could speak English came and diffused the situation and explained to her that we´d already paid but she still wasn´t happy and sent a little boy to escort us to the tour shop to make sure we weren´t lying!!!
Once the situation was sorted we set off in a group of 6. As well as us 2 there was 1 girl and 3 guys from Bristol who were really nice. We walked down to the River Tuichi and boarded a little wooden boat and set off for a 3
hour journey to the jungle. We stopped half way at a little jungle community with a population of 80 people (25 families) and had a look around the school which was shut for winter. I still can´t believe how some people live but they all seem so happy as they don´t know any different and their lives are so simple.
We got back on the boat and carried on with our journey. It was then that the heavens opened and along came torrential rain. Our little boat did have a bit of a roof that covered half of the boat but Deaks and I were at the front and got absolutely drenched for an hour and a half. It was horrendous. We had our waterproof jackets on but they didn´t help much. The rain was so fierce I had to sit with my head in my lap as it was cutting my face and had to take off my life jacket and put it around my bag to stop all of my stuff getting soaked and by the time we arrived I had a bad back!!
We arrived at our camp in the afternoon and ran straight to
our hut for cover and to try and dry off which is impossible in the humidity. Thankfully a couple of hours later the rain had stopped so we headed out after lunch to do a trek which involved getting back on the drenched boat but only for 15 minutes this time! The ground was one big mud pit so we were absolutely filthy. The trek was good though and our tour guide, Nelson, explained all about the wildlife in the area which was cool. Something must have dropped into my hair though and stung/bit me as it fell down my back. It was so painful and left a big red blotch but Nelson couldn´t work out what it was which was comforting.
We had a nice candlelit dinner in the evening. None of the kids that live there are afraid of the dark as they don´t know any different not having any electricity. They just run around loving it. I would have been terrified when I was a kid. After dinner Nelson decided we were heading back into the jungle for a night trek. Eeeek! I got kitted up, very sexily, in jogging bottoms tucked into my socks, jacket
on with the hood up and my glasses on - no little buggers were going to touch my skin! I was the only one without a torch too, mine is really big and I couldn´t fit it in my bag. We set off and within about 5 seconds something jumped across mine and Deaks´s feet and we both screamed and started jumping around not knowing what it was. Nelson and the rest of the group came running back wondering what had happened to us and shone their torches on the ground to find a very cute little toad!!! How embarrassing but everyone else thought it was hilarious!!!!! I set off, very quietly, after that and had to control myself at the sight of the massive spiders chilling out in their webs and the baby boa that we came across. The jungle is so scary at night especially listening to all of the creepy noises but it was good fun and luckily I avoided getting bitten but Deaks wasn´t so lucky. She hadn´t tucked her trousers into her socks like my bright idea and got bitten all around her ankles by huge ants which wasn´t pleasant.
Had a bite free
night tucked into my mozzie net but it was so horrible not being able to wash after getting so filthy and being in the humidity all day and by now all our clothes were damp and starting to smell - nice! Still can´t get used to living like a tramp - give me my bath back!!!
We left the jungle early the next morning and headed back to Rurrenabaque which took only half the time (and wasn´t raining!) as the river was flowing in the right direction. We got back and jumped straight into a jeep to take us for our 3 day Pampas tour. There was only 5 in our group this time - a nice guy and girl from Switzerland and a very annoying, young American girl who thought she knew everthing. The journey was supposed to take 3 hours but we soon realised that wasn´t going to be the case! The road to Santa Rosa was one big long and extremely bumpy dirt track and due to the heavy rainfall had turned into one huge mudfest and all the cars that weren´t off-road vehicles were getting stuck. Luckily ours was off-road but we had to wait
for 40 minutes for another van to catch up with us so that we could tow it through the mud as it would never have made it. It actually turned out to be really funny. We got through about 6 ropes until we had one strong enough to pull the weight of the van. Obviously there are no seatbelts in these vehicles so we were all holding on for dear life and being thrown around everytime the rope snapped! The Bolivians thought the whole thing was hilarous and nothing seemed to phase them. I would have given up and left the other van after an hour of trying but they always seemed to have another idea up their sleeves. They emptied all the people out of the van that we were towing to make it lighter and they had to take their shoes off and trek through the mud that was ankle deep slipping and sliding everywhere. Everyone was in good spirits though and laughing about it with other people that had to abandon their cars. Eventually we got the van moving and then managed to get our jeep stuck in a particularly deep bit of mud and then we
had a problem with one of our wheels so the driver stripped off, got out his tool kit and got down in the mud to fix it - still with a big smile on his face at this point! I was in the jeep on my own at this point, the other 3 had got bored and started trekking through the mud and Deaks had to go to the toilet and took her shoes off and attempted to cross the mudfest and find a bush. She came back covered in mud and decided to start trekking with all the others now that she was that dirty. Throughout all this I managed to stay clean :o)
Eventually we got through the mud to a huge round of applause from the muddy people waiting for us down the road and we all carried on for another 2 hours to Santa Rosa. We arrived and met our guide for the 3 days, Yoyo, and set straight off on our Pampas boat which was tiny. The weather was really hot and it was lovely being on the Yacuma River. It was like being in wildlife heaven. Within minutes we were surrounded on this
narrow river by literally hundreds of alligators (I counted over 200 in just an hour), capybaras which are the world´s largest rodents, lots of cool birds, monkeys and millions of turtles that were sitting on branches hanging over the water all piled on each others backs and then every now and then one would slip and they´d all fall into the water! It was amazing. I couldn´t get over how many alligators there were. Literally every second you saw 5 more and they were just chilling on the banks or lurking in the water right next to the boat which was quite scary. For 2 and a half hours I sat there in awe of my surroundings until we reached our camp for the next 2 nights. The conditions were slightly better than in the jungle and they even had a generator so there was electricity for a couple of hours each evening but sadly still disgusting toilets and a trickle of cold water to try and wash in :o(
That evening we headed out on the boat again down the river and stopped at a random bar on the side of the river and watched the sunset and
then came back after dark with our torches looking for alligator eyes which was really creepy. Spent that night fighting to get all the mosquitoes out of my mozzie net so that I could sleep in peace. I only had a few bites at this point so was doing quite well and intended to keep it that way!
The next morning we headed back out to find a hungry looking alligator lurking in the water right next to our boat staring at us! I managed to get bitten twice on the face in about 10 seconds and ended up with a swollen eye which was very attractive! We set off and ten minutes later arrived at our anaconda destination. We had wellies on thankfully and set off traipsing through the swamps looking for them. It was quite scary as they camouflage well and I was terrified of stepping on one and everytime you took a step you didn´t know how deep you were going to sink in the mud. Luckily after about 20 minutes Yoyo found one and picked it up (mad man!) and we went over to look and take pictures. He then put it down and it
looked very angry and was going for him which didn't bother him as he does this sort of thing every day. I ran to a safe distance once it started slithering away as you couldn´t see where it went. After that we headed back for lunch and then Deaks and I had a few hours to ourselves as Yoyo had to take the other 3 in our group back as they were only doing a 2 day tour. We chilled out in the hammocks all afternoon and chatted to the other group of people that we were sharing the camp with - American and Bolivian students that were on vacation after a month of studying in La Paz. They were all really nice.
When Yoyo returned Deaks and I headed back out with him and went searching for dolphins in the river. You are actually allowed to get in and swim with them but there was no way on earth I was getting in that alligator infested murky water!! I can´t believe people did!! We were assured that the alligators don´t venture into the dolphin areas of the river but Deaks and I saw loads just a few metres
away from the dolphins so I don´t know who they were kidding!! That aside the water was disgusting and no doubt full of disease! It was all good though and we saw loads of pink dolphins but it was hard to get a picture of them which was a shame. After that Yoyo took us to another bar on the side of the river. It was like tubing in Laos again but this time it was boats parked on the side of the river and not rubber rings!! The sunset there was amazing and I had yet another "moment". We were in such a beautiful place and I felt so lucky to be there and surrounded by such lovely local people who all wanted to chat (which has vastly improved my Spanish which is another bonus point). Yoyo was lovely too and so funny and I learnt loads from him bombarding him with questions all day. I´m surprised he didn´t get sick of me! After dark the tour guides and some of the locals started singing and playing drums and other instruments - it was such good fun. On the way back we searched for alligator eyes in the pitch
black again.
The next morning Yoyo came to wake us up at 5.30am as he wanted to take us out on the boat for sunrise. It was extremely difficult getting ready in the dark but we managed and then set off on our boat once Deaks had checked for alligators that were on the hunt for breakfast! Sadly it was cloudy so we didn´t get to see the sunrise but being out at that time of the morning was brilliant. It was amazing listening to all the noises that the animals make in the morning - apparently it´s their happy noise and their way of saying good morning to each other! The monkeys were the worst - so loud and sounded like zombie noises you would hear in a horror movie!
We went back to camp for breakfast and then Yoyo took us back out for phirrana fishing. Clearly there was no way Deaks wanted to do it and escaped to the other end of the boat but I wanted to give it a go so Yoyo and I sat for an hour doing it. It was good fun and eventually I caught one. They´re ugly things with
razor sharp teeth and sent Deaks into despair everytime we had one on the boat! After lunch it was sadly time to end our Pampas trip. Yoyo made us both necklaces which was really sweet, mine was an alligator tooth! We said goodbye to the other group and our cook who was really sweet and started our 2 hour journey back to Santa Rosa. I was at the front of the boat, Deaks in the middle and Yoyo steering at the end and I was so relaxed sitting in the sunshine looking at all the animals when all of a sudden Yoyo swerved to avoid hitting an alligator and sent us crashing into a huge bush. Being at the front I took the force of it and got caught in all the branches and ended up dangling by my feet in this tree all grazed up and terrified that an alligator was lurking underneath ready to bite off my feet. Deaks burst into laughter at the sorry state of me and Yoyo came running down the boat screaming "sorry, sorry, no want to kill the alligator"!!! Never mind about killing me!!!!! Yoyo untangled me from the bush and we set
off again. My legs were stinging and the branches had aggravated the mass of mosquito bites that I had managed to get that morning. I must have tasted good that day!
We arrived safely back to Santa Rosa and boarded one of the jeeps to take us back on the evil road back to Rurrenabaque. Luckily the roads had dried up and the journey back was uneventful (but still very bumpy) for me in the front. Poor Deaks was stuck in the back with a Bolivian family who encouraged their children to wee in a plastic bottle when they couldn´t wait any longer - nice!! Once we´d arrived we grabbed our backpacks from the tour shop and checked back into our hotel from the first night with no trouble this time. It was sooo good to see a shower again after 4 days but to my dismay it was still cold!!! By this point the anti malaria tablets had kicked in too and were making Deaks and I ill (her worse than me). It was after about 5 days in Laos/Cambodia that they started to have this effect on me so not looking forward to the next week still
having to take them!
That evening we headed out to Monkey Bar for a decent meal and some delicious frozen strawberry daiquiris which I had been dreaming about every night in the jungle and cost only 85p each!!!
The next day we headed back to the little hut that was Rurrenabaque airport and waited for the plane to come in from La Paz. The noise was deafening as it came in and nearly burst my eardrums but it was cool to watch. The flight back was a lot better than the way in. It´s really strange taking off on a grass runway but once we were up it was a lot smoother. Before we took off Deaks demanded I get out my Saint Christopher in the hope that it would protect us from crashing and it obviously did the trick (thanks again Sue!). She held onto it for the whole flight whilst I sat there laughing!
We got back to the centre of La Paz and checked back into the hotel we were at before knowing that this would guarantee us our first hot shower in 6 days!! We went walking around the markets again to get
some stuff we needed. It´s so sad seeing the people begging for money on the street. They seem a lot more genuine here as well than they were in Bangkok. There you would see a man laying across the floor moaning like he was at deaths door and then someone would put some money in his hat and he would sit up, right as rain, count his money with a smile on his face and then fling himself back on the ground ready for the next unsuspecting victim!
The next day we headed off on a tour which involved going to Copacabana and staying a night on Isla del Sol on Lake Titicaca before returning to Copacabana and heading to Peru. Our tour guide, David, picked us up at 7.30am and we headed off. We hadn´t expected to get our own personal tour guide for the 2 days but that was what we got! David was so lovely and had been learning English for 2 years and was really good. We arrived in Copacabana at midday. It was quite a cool place with a hippie feel to it. We had lunch and boarded our boat which took an hour
and a half to get to Isla del Sol. Once there we were greeted with shock to discover that our hotel was at the very top of this island which was 1km above the lake and would take over an hour to climb - with backpacks!!! We started the slow climb stopping every few minutes when we were about to collapse and to let the llamas and donkeys pass by! Deaks was suffering really badly from altitude sickness and bad effects from our malaria tablets so had absolutely no energy at all so David ended up carrying her backpack but I wasn´t so lucky!
We eventually got to the top and to our hotel and were greeted with the most amazing views of Lake Titicaca - the world´s highest lake at an altitude of just over 3,800 metres. Half of the lake is in Bolivian territory and the other half in Peru. Both countries likes to think they own more of the lake and have the better views! After allowing us 20 minutes to relax David took us off on another trek on the island down to see the Pilcocaima Ruins which were quite cool. Obviously going back down
the island was the easy part (but still difficult in altitude as it leaves you really out of breath) but coming back up was horrendous. We had absolutely no energy and it was so hard - I think I sweat about a stone off just in that day! We managed to get back up to the top just in time for sunset which was beautiful (I will never tire of seeing them!). We had a nice candlelit dinner with David and spent the evening teaching each other Spanish and English. It is so interesting meeting people in these countries who can only ever dream of getting so see countries other than their own. We are so lucky.
After a VERY cold night we set off the next morning on the long climb down the island to catch a boat back to Copacabana. We had a farewell lunch with David and then he waved us off on our bus to Puno in Peru and he headed back to La Paz hoping, one day, that he´ll get to go too.
Bye for now
xx
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Ms Simpson
Lisa Phillips
Malaria Pills
Hi. Thanks for your kind email. It is so nice to know that people other than family and friends are enjoying reading my blog. I am flying to USA on Wed night which will be the final part of my trip. What malaria pills were you taking? We were taking Malerone - the newest ones on the market and v expensive! When we first took them in Laos we didn't suffer too badly but had to stay near a toilet! I also got mouth ulcers but I can live with that! The second time, which was only 2 weeks ago I didn´t really get any side effects but my friend had a severe reaction and came out in a very angry looking rash all over her body and had to stop taking them immediately which was strange as she suffered no side effects the first time we took them. We had a role reversal! Lisa