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11-LaPaz (Again) and Rurrenabaque, Bolivia
October
28, 2003
Buenos dias folks,
Let me interrupt
the regularly scheduled program to let you know that I just got back from
the Galapagos and all I can say is WOW!!!! Tons of fearless wildlife- sea
lions that swim right up to you, iguanas, giant tortoses, and probably most
impressive of all was the sealife. I had the wonderful opportunity to go diving
four times while there and in the final dive I saw a hammerhead shark from
about 20 feet away and a huge school of sharks a little bit further away.
Seeing a shark in the water is a humbling
experience! I just had to give that shout out before I digressed back to Wed
Oct 1, down in Uyuni, Bolivia.
As soon as we arrived
in Uyuni, Jim and I went to get a much need dulche (shower). We had some time
to kill before the 8pm FREAKIN NIGHT BUS, so we headed to the internet shop.
While typing up another long-winded group e-mail (ha, ha) there was a really
large disturbance on the streets outside. A large group of young adults had
gathered together in the main area of town for what appeared like a very big
demonstration. Their chants kept getting louder and louder until the police
arrived in full riot gear with sheilds, dogs, clubs, the whole enchalata.
I was getting a little ancy and asked the internet manager what was going
on. She replied not to worry and then the streets broke out into a full scale
confrontation bt the demonstrators and the police. The odd thing was that
everyone had a funny grin on their faces. After a few minutes, it became apparrent
that it was only a practice drill. I was relieved. Only to find a few minutes
later, during a late lunch, the tv news showed that LaPaz was getting much
worse and the police were using tear gas and demonstrators were throwing matolv
coctails. I was really looking foward the the FREAKING NIGHT BUS to LaPaz
now. Right before we hopped on the bus, I grabbed a sandwich for the 11 hour
bus ride. In the cafe, Jim ran into an Argentine friend that he had met earlier.
Martin was a ski instructor that worked in Aspen, CO so he spoke perfect American
English and was a lot of fun to hang out with bc of his use of American slang.
I hadn't been called a dude in about 3 months! The bus ride was what I expected-crammed,
uncomfortable, and cold. I barely got any sleep. Maybe it was due to the large
Bolvian indigenus lady with twenty layers of dress that took almost two seats
and reeked of something unspeakable that sat beside me or the fact that the
bus was so crowded that people stood in the center isle the entire evening.
Whatever the reason, I was extactic when we reached LaPaz at 6am without any
issues with the blockade. Martin seemed a little inexpienced at this third
world traveling thing, so we let him tag along to the Copacabana Hostel that
Jim had reccommended with cable tv-yeah. Yes, I know you do not travel to
watch the bloody boob tube, but we'll see how you feel about it after two
and a
half months on the road. That sparked the idea of hanging out in LaPaz for
a few extra days until Monday. I could go check out Tihuancu (the ruins on
Lake Titicaca that I had been waiting to see), take a bike ride on the
"World's Most Dangerous Road" the following day, and finally get
to check out a soccer game. Martin, being Argentine, was all about seeing
a football game at the world's highest olympic stadium. That would go thru
Sunday and with the cable tv, I could also check out the other football game
and see my beloved Steelers on ESPN! It seemed like a good plan at the time
and Jim was game bc his Chicago Cubs were in the playoffs and he could see
them. I got some much needed sleep and Martin and I decided to go that afternoon
on a city tour of LaPaz. The tour was called "touch the sky" but
should have been dubbed "careful, don't touch the electrical lines,"
due to the double-decker, bright red, open-top bus that would narrowly avoid
and
sometimes skim the low phone and electrical lines over the streets. LaPaz
has some modern amenities, but is very backward in many ways, expecially when
it comes to electricity. It was also kind of awkward driving around the let's
say"charged" city streets in this bright red target as the demonstrators
were rallying around the SF plaza. The tour was pretty good in spite of this.
They had audio presentations and you would simply plug headphones into the
language of your choice. The highlight of the tour was the bizarre land formations
at the Valle De Luna that reminded of the badlands of the Dakotas. I also
learned something interesting about why most of the indigenous woman of Bolvia
wear those boiler hats and have such thick dresses. The dresses are a remnent
of the colonial era and were quite fasionable in the 1700's. Bolivia is really
with it, huh? The hats had a good story behind them. In the late 1800's an
Englishman came to LaPaz with an overstock of the boiler hats and told the
locals that they were all the rave back in Europe. So they sold like hotcakes.
"That's fascinating, wild, wacky stuff, eh?" Jim and I indulged
in the sole Mexican restaurant in LaPaz which was spendy for Bolivian standards
at $10 including mandatory magaritas!
Friday morning started
on a low note when Aldolfo called and left a message saying that the trip
to Tihuanco was cancelled bc of the blockade and we would try again tomorrow.
I had heard that before. Not much happenened Fri, so I won't bore you all
with the details (for once). I did see "Bad Boys II" which was a
lot better than I predicted. I met up with Jim and Martin at Mongo's that
night for some drinks and baseball only to find out the Cubs game wasn't on
tv down here. That night we hung out at the hostel watching HBO and trying
to ignore the roudy festival that would go on all hours of the night directly
in front of the hostel. There were a ton of
drunks and fighting outside so we decided to stay in.
Saturday pretty much
was a carbon copy of Friday. The tour got cancelled again. Martin and I went
to book for the World's Most Dangerous Road only to discover that was now
blockaded as well. The streets of LaPaz were getting more tense and the demonstrations
were becoming more common. Even El Prado was closed to traffic for the weekend
to detour any problems. Jim hung out at the hostel while me and Martin walked
around the streets and checked out the Witch's Market which was very close
to our hostel. They sell all sorts
of weird knicknacks and herbal remmodies but the most disturbing was the llama
fetuses that were used to ward off evil spirits. Then the hail poured down
and Martin backed out of going to the soccer game. I was definately not going
to go by myself. Jim was dissinterested bc of the conflict in schedule with
the Cubs game (that was also never televised). So instead, I walked around
the impressive colonial streets and plazas of LaPaz. In spite of the increasing
hostilities, normal life in the city was going on as usual. I walked by a
wedding with traditional Bolivian dress. Although I did enjoy LaPaz, I was
becoming increasingly frustrated with the blockade situation and the weekend
appeared to be a complete waste of time. Now, I was definately due for a tourista
break, but I was really feeling like I was spinning my wheels and getting
nowhere. That afternoon the festival in front of our hostel turned into a
huge parade with elaborate costumes and traditional outfits. The lady at the
front desk explained that it was for the Virgin Mary or something. Jim and
I went out for a much needed drink while Martin crashed early bc he was flying
out early the next day to do a Jungle tour in Rurrenabaque. Jim and I had
already committed to an extra day, besides I was going to see the Steelers
for the first time this year.
Sunday, Andolfo did not even bother calling bc we both knew that the blockades were getting much worse. Sunday was about a lazy of a day that I have had for my entire trip. Sat around watching HBO. You know you are lazy if you actually will sit thru the entire remake of "Brian's Song." That night was a bust too. The Steelers got destroyed at home by the lowely Browns. So to sum up the weekend, it was mostly a complete waist of time. I never left Lapaz for the two tours that I had planned and didn't get to see the soccer game. I guess that's just the way things happen some time. You can't always see everything you want, you know. Or traveling would not be so rewarding when you do check out stuff on your wish list. We went to sleep early bc of the plane to the jungle manana.
Monday morning, the
taxi that the hostel called for us arrived at 530am sharp for our 730 flight.
I did not want to say anything to jinx the flight, remember I spent the night
in LaPaz airport last time I tried to go to Rurrenabaque. But I had heard
from a few tourists that a nationwide general strike was going to start on
Mon. So I wasn´t sure if we would get to the airport, much less actually
fly to Rurre that day. I was happy to
report no problems and the flight took off in perfect weather, on time. It
was a little single engine plane with only 12 passengers. The route was perhaps
the most scenic flight I have ever had. We flew over Huana Potosi
and the mountains that I had hiked thu a few weeks earlier on the Choro trek.
The landing on the grass runway was a little rough and as soon as we stepped
out of the tiny plane, the humidity hit us like a ton of bricks. I
think I worked up a sweat just walking into the miniscule terminal. Rurrenabaque
enjoys an advantagous location. It sits smack in the the center of the most
pristine jungles of Mandidi Nat'l Park to the west and to the
east is the pampas. The pampas are huge sprawling swamps and grasslands. But
the draw to the area are the tours of the pampas on the Rio Beni. Due to the
massive and treeless pampas, the animals are concentrated in the trees and
within a few meters of the river. Jill, the girl from Seattle who we met in
Uyuni, and others had raved about the pampas. It was much cheaper ($15 a day)
and we would see a lot more animals, so it was an easy decision. As we were
collecting our luggage, a Bolvian lady who spoke
pefect English, approached us and asked us if we wanted a Pampas tour started
that day. Jim was flexible and I was interested bc we waisted so much time
in LaPaz ,so we let her take us to her office. Ironically enough, it was Amazonicas
Tours, the one that Jill had reccommended and with the plethera of reccommendation
letters in Hebrew on the office wall, I knew this was the place. She also
had polished computer presentation as well ,and two British girls who were
waiting to go. Who was I to let them down?
We agreed and took off immediately. On the way to gather supplies, I walked
by this American ex-pat who was selling banana bread. I asked him where he
was from and he said near Lynchburg VA, only about an hour or so where I am
from. Then he handed me a letter on what he termed "globalization."
In true VA style, it was actually a letter on Jesus and the Appacolypse. Great,
I come 4000 miles and still can't get far enough away from people like that!
It was a bumpy 3 hour truck ride to the river and lunch. If lunch was any
indication of what the food was going to be like, I was going to be pleasantly
surprised. The British girls: Sarah and Trish were a
little standoffish at first, but started to loosen up on the 3 hour canoe
ride. Our guide, Diego was awesome! He had a great, happy disposition and
was always laughing and pulling practical jokes. Within 10 minutes of being
on the river, we ran into a family of capybaras only about 10 feet away. Much
closer than the ones I saw in Manu. Then we saw the famous pink dolphins several
meters off of the boat. Somehow there are really pink
dolphins that are in the freshwaters of the Amazonas tributaries. They are
rather shy and do not get very close or far out of the river. But they are
definately there. About an hour later, Antonio pulls the canoe over and
starts wistling at the cluster of trees on the riverbank. A huge family of
squirrel monkeys come out and he feeds them bananas. I know it is not a good
idea, but it was really cool seeing them jump into the boat just to eat bananas.
A short time later, we saw that largest birdnest in the world with a huge
heron in the treetop. We finally arrived at the jungle lodge that we would
be spending the next three days and two nights at. It was
simple with beds and mosquito nets which would prove to not be enough with
the man-eating mosquitos that devoured us all except for Jim. As we were laying
in the hammocks waiting for dinner, the other group from Amazonicas that was
on it´s 2nd night arrived. I heard a familiar voice- it was Spence,
the British doctor Jim and I hung out with in Potosi. He was as excited and
surprised to have run into us on the opposite side of Bolivia (and the middle
of nowhere) as we were. Small world, huh?? Before dinner, Diego intoduced
us to Antonio- a 4 meter long aligator that had befriended the camp and swims
beside the lodge all day. Diego throws scraps to the massive reptile so it
was kind of like a pet. The other pet of the camp was a nice white kitty that
had just given birth to an adorable snowwhite baby a few days prior. Diego
had to spray the dining room due to huge jungle cockroaches about 3 inches
in diameter- yuk.... That evening we went out on
the canoe and Diego flashed lights at all of the aligators and caimen that
were on the riverbanks. He grabbed two small caimen who red eyes had lit up
like traffic signals. It was cool being able to touch them and see them so
close. The night was horrible. I could feel myself being eaten alive by the
bloodsucking mossies.
Tuesday was going
to be difficult in improving on the previous day. I had already seem more
animals than in 6 days in Manu. The only exception was the birdlife in Manu
was more abundant. The moring was brought in with a very loud rainstorm. For
desayuno, we had homemade doughnuts and yogurt. Not bad for in the middle
of the pampas. We took off in the canoe in the drenching rain. Diego really
knew what he was doing and promised we would see some sloths and sure enough,
we saw three sloths moving maticulously thru the tree branches. After lunch
came the hightlight of the trip. The rains subsided for a little bit and we
took a hike into the pampas grasslands in search of an anaconda. The anacanda
grows up to 15 meters long in the swamps and needless to say, I watched where
I was walking. Diego and the boat driver and cook were using long staffs to
dig thu the deeper bogs in search of the constrictors. After about 20 minutes
of poking around the cook, who was a woman by the way, shouted and the other
two ran to give her assistance. Sure enough, she had caught a 3.5 meter anacanda.
The Brit girls were keen to have Diego place the snake around their necks
so I nervously followed suite. I am not the biggest snake person, but there
is no way you cannot admire the creatures, especially when a huge one is rapped
around your neck! We continued up to a lake where there was some dolphins
and Jim went in for a swim. I wasn´t hot enough, plus the fact that
I knew there were caimen and pirranhas in the area was a good detourant for
jumping in. Late in the afternoon, we returned to camp and Diego caught some
red pirranhas from the river. He held one and showed off the huge razor sharp
teeth that they are famous for. The red pirranha are the most aggressive and
have been know to attack people. In fact, Diego got bit pretty good by the
fish. Locals say that they are good eating too, but I did not care to try
any. The mosquitos were unbearable and no one got much sleep that night.
Wednesday morning
we got up early for the sunrise, but the clouds were in the way. It was a
four hour canoe ride back to Santa Cruz where we originally disembarked. The
girls were pretty moody and sick for the trip
back. Another 3 hour truckride back to Rurre with our driving slamming down
liquor at every stop wasn't that reasuring, but at least there wasn't any
traffic for him to run into. As soon as we arrive in Rurre, we said our
fairwells to the girls and checked into the hostel that Cynthia, the owner
of Amazonicas runs. We also hightailed it to the beautiful swimming pool in
town with crystal blue, clorine waters that soothed our bite coverd bodies.
There was also a Tucan and a Macaw there that sadly had their wings clipped.
I took a well deserved siesta in the afternoon and that evening, Jim and I
went to the Mosquito bar for happy hour. We ran into Martin there and bought
a ton of fruity drinks like the Moquito Bite which really packed a punch.
Cynthia the owner of Amazonicas showed up as well and flirted with Jim considerably.
Jim recipicated and we played pool with this Aussie couple and had a grand
ol time. I´m not sure what time I got back to the hostel.
I had Cynthia reserve
my return flight to LaPaz for Thurs morning. But before departure, Jim and
I stopped by the immigration office and got extensions on our Visas. Actually,
Jim was really lucky bc he was already
10 days past his Visa expiration. We said our goodbyes and exchanged e-mails.
Jim was stoked to discover that the Cubs had made it to the Nat´l League
Championships. It was great traveling with Jim over the past two weeks. Although
he was about fifteen years older than me, we had a lot of rapore and I joked
around with him all of the time about being older. The flight back to LaPaz
was pretty cloudy. I shared a collectivo with the
British girls who had also flown back to the capital. As soon as I got back
to the tourist area, I checked into Aldolfo´s and his wife told me that
things have gotten much worse. The blockade had become more vigilant and the
general strike had put the country into a national crisis. There had already
been about 60 deaths in confrontations bt the compensenos and the military.
She said there was one bus leaving in about an hour to go to Peru and it might
be the last to get out. I made a quick decision to take it and she made the
reservation. Caught a taxi to the bus terminal for the 3pm bus. In predictable
LaPaz fasion, 30 min delays turned into an hour, turned into 12 hours. All
of the passangers hung out in the bus station. Several buses had returned
to the station with broken windows. Then as we were hanging out in the cafe
watching the local news we realized that the bus terminal was on the news
bc all of the buses in Bolivia had been cancelled. A nat´l emergency
was being called and it was becoming apparrent that I would be stuck in LaPaz
a long time. Things were getting desperate! As we waited we played cards and
I played chess with a Turkish guy, who killed me of course. Finally as 1 am
rolled around and the entire bus terminal was deserted, the phone in the bus
office rang. WE WERE GOING TO RUN THE BLOCKADE. Earlier in the day , there
had been a talk of a military escort to get out, but we would just wait until
the blockade was asleep. Everyone anxiously filled up the bus. I think this
was one of the few times that I have been really scared of traveling and was
putting myself in harm's way. But I really did not have any choice in the
matter. This would prove to be the last and only bus to get out of LaPaz for
the next few weeks and it was best to get the Hell out of Dodge! You could
cut the tension in the bus
with a knife as we approached El Alto, the ghetto area that surrounds LAPaz
that had the majority of roadblocks and conflict. I nervously peaked out of
my window. Most of the passangers had their curtains pulled in fear of rocks
and god knows what being thrown at them. The bus took the back way out, making
crazy turns and going off the road to avoid obstacles. We must had made the
right route and time bc we did not face any resistance. But the road was like
an obstacle course full of junk, old cars, rocks, and other
burning debris to impeed traffic. It was insane and reminded me of a war zone.
The trip to the Peruvian border should had takes 2 hours but took 6. There
must had been tons and tons of rocks on the road for miles. I had
never seen anything like it. The entire bus clapped and cheered as we pulled
into the Peruvian border and I was happy to be alive. Later I found out that
the entire country of Bolvia had shut down and LaPaz was almost in civil war.
Even the int'l airport had closed for several days and the president of Bolvia
finally stepped down. There were mixed reports to what the blockade was all
about. Unfair elections and corrupt politicians, natural gas, and coca were
the main reasons. I had a lot of mixed emotions of the entire event. Bolivians
are really poor and were taking a stand and apparrently they got what they
were fighting for. I empathize with their plite but it certainly did not make
my life for the past month any easier....
Happy Trails,
Talbot