Changes to the itinerary

Small changes:

A week ago I was planning to leave La Paz and head west to the heights of Lauca National Park in Chile and then go down to Iquique for a day of paragliding. Through San Pedro de Atacama I thought to return back to Bolivia. But then I changed my mind. Lauca N.P. is above 4500 m, off season (read - freezing). The idea of walking alone in the cold with my now 15 kg backpack and a 7 kg daypack was slightly too adventurous for me. So I left La Paz last Sunday for Oruro, still thinking of going to Lauca NP. Then on a bus I decided to go to Uyuni (luckily there was a Sunday train from Oruro to Uyuni), cross the Chilean border with a 3-day tour of Salar de Uyuni and return to Bolivia through the northwestern part of Argentina (Salta area).

Big changes:

I decided NOT to return to New York in August, but fly directly to South Africa from South America. So far I found a direct flight from Buenos Aires with Malaysia Airlines. It means I am celebrating my birthday and getting visas in Buenos Aires. It also means I am changing my route in South America. I am going up from Salta to Bolivia through Tupiza, Potosi, Sucre and Santa Cruz. Then I am taking a 17-hour train through soy plantations to the Brazilian border (off gringo trail!). In Brazil I hope to visit Bonito, maybe do another tour of wetlands near Campo Grande and then fly across Brazil to Salvador. From Salvador I would work my way down by the coast (sandals? shorts? temperature above 10C? - ahhh) to Rio de Janeiro, then the Iguaz
u Falls, maybe Uruguay and finally Buenos Aires. Two and half months to go.

Finally, I found a way to map my route (from La Paz):

Granddad

I just learnt that my great-great-great granddad passed away yesterday...

Ten minutes before that I put a 100 pesos coin away for him. The last time we spoke he asked me to collect a coin from each country I visit. I remember our almost 2-hour conversation - I was in New York walking around Union square, shopping for goat cheese on the Sunday market. The last time he emailed me was on May 15 about my Machu Micchu hike. His heart pacemaker stopped on May 16 and now he is gone. But thousands of fantastic memories I keep to myself. I will never forget.

My perfect trip into Las Pampas

[there are 122 pictures in the Pampas set. please take a look!]

Starting from chocolate croissant delivered to the doors of our tour company by a French baker (there was also an American guy selling banana-nut bread and granola bars) I was in love with my trip to Las Pampas (wetlands).

We were 7 in a large jeep heading for 3 hours to Santa Rosa de Yacuma where a boat was awaiting us. The road was the worst I´ve seen so far and I loved it! The scenery and basic villages is exactly how I imagined my trip to be in South America. Only now in Bolivia I found it! I felt the movie Motorcycle´s Diaries could have been filmed here yesterday. Wetlands started to dominate the landscape and I could not stare enough at very green everything with a few trees. I felt I was driving through Africa where I´ve never been before. Too many movies...

Before heading to the river we had lunch in Santa Rose. That day Bolivians were celebrating Mother´s Day and the restaurant was packed with families with kids. Also there was a black monkey - the cutest thing I have ever seen in my life! It was moving between branches using its tail as the fifth arm. Once I saw the monkey got close to the back buildings, I gave up my soup and grabbed my camera. I reached for the monkey and it jumped on my head. I extended my arm to take a picture of us two, but the monkey stick its head into the lens. Perfect size - 67 mm. So there was - I was playing-fighting with the monkey, kids were surrounding me, jumping to touch the monkey, others wanted to see pictures and at the same time monkey was jumping on my head. Given the loud band in the background it most probably looked like a circus performance. I cannot stop smiling looking at my pictures.

Las Pampas

Animals everywhere. Absolutely amazing. Alligators, tons of birds, turtles, monkeys, dolphins, capybaras, the river and funky trees with crazy roots above the ground - you just have to open your eyes and take it in. I always felt we were going to fast. I just wanted to float in the river and watch every colorful bird for a couple of minutes. One of the birds (name?) would jump into the water (and under), fish, get out, spread the wings for them to dry.

A chichilo monkey jumped into our boat and stole a banana. Then it could not decide what to do - whether to eat the banana or jump to the tree that was slowing getting away. Pure monkey jumped too late (who would give up banana???), fell into the water, but somehow managed to get to the bush.

After unpacking and a welcome tea, we headed to see the sunset and then return to the lodge in the dark. We were searching for the eyes of alligators with our torches. The light reflects in their red-orangy eyes. But this is not the best part. Floating in the boat with lights off, staring into the dark, listening to the pampas sounds under bright starry skies was overwhelming. This place is breathtaking.

Day 2

I woke at sunrise, took a cold shower and jumped into a hammock until breakfast. I would have never thought I would find such peace of mind here just by listening to birds and watching the river. I could totally see myself staying here for a week, taking slow boat rides, napping in a hammock.

But the program did not allow us doing nothing. We were told to put on rubber boots and get ready for "anaconda walk". We went to actual pampas to search for snakes. They don´t call it wetlands for nothing - there was hardly any dry soil. We were soaking in the mud. I even managed to fall on my butt, thankful I put my camera away 3 seconds ago. The hike through swaps with flowers was worth the dirt and heat! But we also found one anaconda. The guide said it was 7-8 years old, male, about 2 meter long.

When walking back to the river we were crossing little ponds instead of walking around. A lot of fun - walking in the rubber boots full of water.

After lunch we finally got our long awaited siesta - 2 hours in a hammock. Later another beautiful boat ride.

The next morning we went swimming with pink dolphins and piranhas fishing.

After lunch we went back to Rurrenabaque. The same night the weather changed - temperature cooled down from 30C to 16C. It rained and our flight got cancelled (runway is not paved...). I could not be happier. Rurrenabaque is such a cute place between the jungle and pampas!

Now I am back in La Paz, wearing everything I have and still cold.

Boat trip through the jungle

After extensive tour shopping and bargaining in La Paz, I decided to go first to the jungle and las pampas (lowlands). I also decided to get to Rurrenabaque by boat. That way I could visit shortly the Madidi National Park and hike in the Bolivian jungle. I bought the tour at 7 pm on Friday. At 5:30 am the next morning I was picked up at my hostel.

The first 2.5 hour drive was amazing. At high altitude we were close to the mountains to enjoy the stunning rock formations. After breakfast in Coroico we were driving on unpaved gravel road at maximum speed of 40 km/h. Sometimes the road was so narrow only one car at a time could pass. You wonder how buses make it here. The dust from the road has changed the color of plants and trees from green to grey. In the front seat of four-wheel drive I felt I was in for a real adventure.


Our lunch stop was in the town called Guanay where we were watching the acrobatic movements of colorful parrots.


In the afternoon we were finally on the boat, going up on Mapiri river in a dugout canoe. We are 15, two guides and a chef. The first camp site met us with the tropical rain, which was the highlight of the day for me.





the morning after
On Day 2 we visited a small town of Mayaya, which I felt was still unspoiled by tourists (there was only one tour company in La Paz organizing the river trip). In a group of 6 people we went up the village to wander around simple stores. I liked reactions of people. They were smiling, teenagers were curious, kids were shy. Some stores still sell and buy gold. We were told this region was hit by the largest gold rush 35 years ago. The banks of the river saw some 50,000 gold hunters, which today is very hard to imagine. To this day there are people working on the river. They say it takes 14-16 hours of hard work in the water to get 1 gram of gold.

At lunch we visited no-name community where we played with some kid´s monkey. Kids´ attention was stolen by a polaroid camera of a French girl. I think all kids of the village got a personal photograph. The eldest kid of 12 years old was curiously looking through any picture British guys had in their diaries.



Later we did a 3-hour hike into the jungle. Ajo tree (ajo is garlic in Spanish) gave a beautiful smell through the forest. At the small pond we were piranha fishing. At night we did a night walk through the jungle to listen to the sounds of birds and insects. Quite interesting.

On Day 3 we did a walk through Madidi National Park. We saw a couple of gigantic trees, and one of them I climbed - a hanging root reminded me my school sport activities. Somehow I was disappointed - the rainforest was not thick enough, huge enough, exotic enough.

The rest of the day we were on the boat, making our way up to Rurrenabaque.



By 6 pm we arrived to the jungle town of Rurrenabaque, a very quite and relaxing warm place. The next morning I was leaving for Las Pampas tour.

The tour set on flickr.

Copacabana & Isla del Sol

Copacabana is a very cute town, touristy only along the main street leading to the docks. Since I missed the morning boat to Isla del Sol (Island of the Sun) - I forgot about the time difference between Peru and Bolivia, I had a chance to walk around simple streets of Copacabana accompanied by two homeless dogs.

In the afternoon I headed to Isla del Sol, where according to Inca legends the sun was born. Climb steep Inca stairs from the tiny port to the top of the island (4000 m) left me breathless. I could tell immediately I was hiking in high altitude.

The rest of the day I spent walking through the southern part of the island, enjoying the views from both west and east. I was after a very specific sight - I saw snow peaks in the sunset´s pink light when I was driving to Bolivia the night before.







The morning cristal clear views:


At 1:30 pm I boarded a bus to La Paz. Even by that bus ride I could tell I liked Bolivia the most so far. Look at these mountains (shot from the bus window):




Many more pictures on flickr.