adventure of a lifetime

the perfect end of this trip. i couldnt ask for anything more.

the last few days of la paz were lovely (aside from the hostel situation). a few of us had formed a little group that tried to stay away from the party scene in la paz. the family gordo: amanda, shawn, olaf & i: plus mike, who i am pretty sure can be considered part of the family by now. on saturday night, we all enjoyed a wonderful meal at a dutch restaurant near the witches market in el centro, much to amanda´s delight (she was finally recovered from a bit of food sickness).

later that night, the family gordo, plus mike´s traveling buddy cal, and the rest of room 26 (andrew and evan, our crazy australians roommates and our awesome israeli roommate dori) all decided to go out for a night on the town. it was great to get away from loki, wonderful to walk among the revelers in the streets (the festival was still raging), and a perfect last night for amanda and i.

mongos club turned out to be just what we needed. a mixture of bolivians and hostel kids, and the music was on one of those magical playlists in which every song makes everyone scream and whoop, "ahh this song is amazing!" we sang and danced and sweated the night away. i think the recent accident was definitely on everyones mind still though. most of us sipped at one, maybe two drinks at the most the whole night.

by 4 the bar closed down and we all returned to loki (room 26 of course, our little sanctuary) to talk and laugh for several more hours. we finally all drifted to our beds and slept in a bit the next day. amanda and i had to pack and check out by 1, and catch our little flight to rurrenabaque by 4. after hugs for all our boys (AND we convinced mike to join us in rurre!), us girls got a cab to the airport.

the flight was a quick 2 hours in a tiny plane, pleasant enough for me but an ordeal for amanda (even after a happy pill and me telling funny stories to distract her). we arrived on a grassy runway in the midst of the most gorgeous place i have EVER seen in my entire life. stepping off the plane we felt this hot, humid wind and we were drenched in this delicious jungle smell. exotic birds chirped and called and squawked for miles around. the sky was a shocking blue and the mountains surrounding us were pure jungle. we walked to the small hut that was the airport and found a taxi to town. the town itself was a slice of paradise. small huts and little buildings, all with abundant hammocks and seemingly no windows or doors. dark brown children played in the dusty streets and smiled at us. motorbikes with shoeless women and shirtless men zipped around. tropical plants spilled over garden walls and there were parrots everywhere. at santa ana hostel, we were shown through a large, lush garden to a small room with neat beds and nice big fan. amanda and i quickly shed our cold weather clothes for bathing suit tops, flowy skirts and flip flops. this was vacation.

rurrenabaque is amazing. the people are ten times friendlier than in la paz. life is slow. since amanda and i had a while until the boys (shawn, olaf and mike) arrived by their long 18 hour bus ride, we explored the town. and by explore, i mean deciding to take 3 hour siestas in hammocks, working on on tans, sitting at bamboo cafes sipping caiparinas, reading for hours and drinking milkshakes. so great.

on tuesday, the boys arrived, bringing a new member of the group: jamie. apparantly they met the austalian guy on the bus and all four guys hit it off. within a few hours, we all (minus shawn, he wanted to take a different tour later on) booked a 3 day tour of the pampas with a small guide company. perfect.

olaf and i decided to rent a motor bike for a while. for 25 bolivianos an hour (3 US dollars. ridiculously amazing) we found ourselves zipping all over town, me on the back riding side saddle with my flowy white skirt and snapping amazing photos.

wednesday we packed up all over things and headed to the pampas. our two guides, donato (an old amazing bolivian man) and ronny (this tiny, tough, 20-something bolivian dude who carried, at all times, a huge knife at his side with his name carved in it), loaded our stuff on top of an old jeep and we piled in for the 3 hour ride to the river. joining the five of us loki kids was an australian couple and a canadian paralegal. the eight of us were soon joking around and getting excited for the trip.

at the river, we unloaded the vehicle and reloaded everything into a long, thin, canoe-type boat. we sat on benches two wide and surveyed our surroundings. a natural mud-brown river flowed serenely through a thick, untamable mass of jungle trees. as we started off down the river, we were greeted by an endless succession of alligators, coral monkeys, howler monkeys, caimens, turtles, pink river dolphins, and of course, all the birds: large birds, noisy birds, fast birds and plain old weird birds. ronny kept pointing out the different species and we snapped photos like crazy. it was so unbelievable.

after 3 or 4 hours we arrived at our campsite. it was a small cabin with eight beds and mosquito nets. the other hut on the property was for the preparation of our meals, which we would come to enjoy greatly.

the next two days consisted of activities i never would have dreamed i would someday do. midnight alligator spotting (their eyes glow red), hiking through the pampas looking for anacondas, fishing for pirhanas, getting up close with coral monkeys, feeling the brush of bat wings across your cheek, and swimming with pink river dolphins. the scenery was breathe-taking too. one night, we took our little boat up the river to a small hut that sold cold beverages. we sat on the balcony and watched the sun set over the jungle. amazing.

on friday, we woke up at dawn to watch the sun rise over the pampas. after a bit of pirhana fishing and a subsequent lunch of pirhanas, i swam a bit in the river (yes, i swam in alligator and pirhana infested waters), covered myself in mud one last time (yes, maybe there were times when i ran around in just a bathing suit and covered myself in mud like an amazon woman. it felt great and kept the mosquitos away) and then we packed up. we loaded up the boats, sounded the horn, and set off for rurrenabaque. the last afternoon and evening in rurrenabaque i was pretty tired and actually turned in early. saturday morning we all enjoyed a quick breakfast together before jamie and i had to head to the bus station. because i have to get back to buenos aires by wednesday and jamie had a commitment in la paz on sunday, us two were taking the first mode of transportation of rurre: the 18 hour bus ride, part of which goes over the most dangerous road in the world.

the whole group walked to the bus station to say goodbye to us. man, it was hard to say farewell to these people. amanda, who i traveled with for so many weeks. shawn, my "dad" of the trip. mike, my bitish buddy, always good for a great conversation and some laughs. and olaf, well of course it was hard to say goodbye to that dutch boy. they all stood outside the bus as it pulled away and i just wanted to cry.

and then there was the 18 hour bus ride. well, needless to say i survived. i was so nervous before the bus ride that jamie (being a medical student and all, i trust his advice) showed me a particular pill that would just calm me down a bit on the trip. it certainly did, and i slept a good four hours, right through the death road bit. by 2 in the morning, i was freezing and feeling not so hot. every time i eat road side food... man, any food in bolivia should be avoided. about half the time i have eaten food in bolivia i have had a stomachache or worse. yuck.

but we made it. jamie and i dragged ourselves to a little hostel this morning at 6 and slept on the floor in the lobby until reception opened for the morning. today i am planning on just strolling around, napping, and preparing for my 23 hour bus journey to the border of bolivia, and the many bus trips beyond that. one day down, three to go.

words / concepts of the day:

transportation in bolivia: once again, it never ceases to amaze me. for flights, you can take a tiny single engine plane out of the military airport. a bit sketch, but they actually serve you crackers on board. once you land in rurre, its just a grassy strip. the only bus to rurre, though, is an 18 hour ride, 3 of which go through the death road.
the death road: pretty self explanatory. the most dangerous road in the world, according to some census that i am shamelessly not citing right now. officially known as the north yungas road, it leads from la paz to coroico, and estimates quote 200-300 deaths a year. the road is ridiculously narrow, unpaved, with cliffs hundreds of feet steep on either side. tired bus drivers loom around curves and often collide with oncoming vehicles.
the death ride: if riding in a bus isnt scary enough for you, many people attempt to mountain bike down this 65 kilometer stretch of downhill road. the result: a t-shirt to prove you did it, possibly quite a beating, and possibly death (a girl from england died on the road a few weeks before i arrived). olaf did the death road, and the guy in front of him fell so he fell too.