Last Days before No Man's Land

Thursday, July 18, 2013

4:03 p.m.

Right now I am hanging out in San Pedro de Atacama, Chile (country 27 of my life and 5 of this journey!). I am a bit under the weather, but am grateful it is much warmer here than in Bolivia. 

To finish my jungle journey....

The van ride home and night in Rurrenbaque were fairly unadventurous.  I had to leave at 12 to catch my flight, so I decided why not take a moto taxi?  I hailed one at the street corner and hopped on the back of what looked like a 15 year old and his bike.  We were off!  After about 2 of the 15 minutes to the airport, my awesome hat fell off!  I asked the driver to stop and go back and saw a man pick up my hat and start running off with it!  What the heck? We caught up to him, I got my hat back, and we were off to the airport.  

I made it to the airport in one piece and chilled for an hour.  As you saw in the pictures from the last post, the airport in Rurrembaque is fairly small and security consisted of a wand being waved and a quick glance in my bag.  It was easier than getting into a Blackhawks game.  I flew back into La Paz and spent the next day and a half relaxing as I wasn't feeling too hot from something I ate.  One thing I have noticed here is when you get sick, it takes much longer to go away.  I know this as I am still not 100% and it has been a week and a day.  

Anyway, Monday I had plans!  I was going horseback riding through some awesome landscapes in the countryside of La Paz.  I still wasn't feeling too hot, but booked this ride a few days ago and I was going!  I took a cab to the meeting spot, made it by 2 (the assigned meeting time) and waited for an hour.  Crazy me to arrive on time.  Waiting here is a bit different as I never carry my phone and have to rely on what few things I carry with me for entertainment.  This meant I was reading the Lonely Planet Latin America Spanish Phrasebook. In Brazil, I would read the Portuguese one.  I kind of like the time away from relying on my phone the entire time for entertainment, although the minute I re-activate my phone, I am sure I will be using that again.

After about an hour, I was told by the person at the desk that my ride was out front waiting for me.  I walked outside, full expecting to see a car or a horse with a person wearing a professional shirt.  Silly me.  Instead, I was flagged down by a man in a beat up truck saying horse to me in Spanish.  In any normal circumstance, I would not go in a beat up truck with a random guy, but this is Bolivia.  I got in, checked that I could open the door from the inside, and was off. 

I arrived safely at the stable, saw some llamas, admired the view and saddled up to my horse, Dinamoca, which meant Dalmatian, as my horse was spotted like one.

After I was surprisingly given a helmet, we were off.  

This is my fourth time on a horse in South America and was the most beautiful ride yet.  (Colombia = most fun, Cuzco = most interesting, Macchu Piccu trek = most necessary).  It was also fun as I was the only one on the tour, so I enjoyed talking to the guide who only spoke Spanish.  I am not sure which language I am better at now, Portuguese or Spanish.  Most likely, Portuguese, but I need to study when I get home as it is slowly turning into Sportuguese.  

Here are some photos of the scenery:

After about 3 hours of riding (I paid for four - another "when in Bolivia moment"), the same guy in the creepy truck picked me up to drop me off at the meeting place where I would go and get a cab home from.  

We tried for about an hour there to get a cab.  No cab would take me back to my hostel as it was in the City Center and there was a massive parade going on for Bolivia Day (or something similar).  He then proceeded to drive me as close as he could to my hostel (another 1.5 hours with the traffic) and dropped me off about 10 blocks from the hostel.  My hostel was surrounded by the parade and I had to push myself through the thickest group of people ever (another hour).  I am not a fan of parades, so this was not fun.  I made it back finally around 10p.m., ate dinner, packed my bag and went to bed as I had to be up at 4 a.m. for my 3 day tour to Salar de la Uyuni!!!

Ok.  I need a nap.  Adios for now!  Hopefully I can catch up on my blog before I am back in Chicago in 3 days!

Kendra

Welcome to the Jungle!

Saturday, July 13, 2013

8:50 A.M.

Right now I am hanging out in a hostel in Rurrenbaque, Bolivia.  I am even so lucky as to be in my own room!  It is so nice to have privacy and alone time for once.  My flight leaves in 4 hours, so I have a nice amount of down time.   After spending the last 3 weeks traveling with someone I was not getting along with, we ended up parting ways, which is absolutely for the best.  Before you decide to travel with someone, make sure expectations are clear and you know them well enough, otherwise you can get very resentful and not enjoy your trip as nearly as much.  I have had a great trip, but would have enjoyed it more solo.  Anyway, now I am enjoying some much needed down time, which means blog time!

Like the Macchu Piccu trek, there was no wi-fi in the jungle, so I journaled along the way and am now updating from that:

Wednesday, July 10, 2013

8:10 A.M. 

I have been up since 4 a.m. today.  Right now I am in Rurrenbaque, Bolivia, about to go on a 3-day tour of the Pampas, or marshland region of the Amazon, that is filled with animals.  The plan today is to take a car, then take a boat, explore some wildlife and eventually take a night boat ride.  Tomorrow, we go anaconda hunting, swim with dolphins, and fish for piranhas.  The last day we see a sunrise and explore some more.  I am so excited!!

It was not east to get here though.  I had reserved a cab for 4:30 from my hostel.  The cab arrived, we had been driving for about 5-10 minutes when all of a sudden the cabbie started to pull over.  He got out of the cab, looked at the car and went to the trunk.  At this point, I was absolutely terrified.  I had my backpack on, purse in hand and was ready to run.  Where I would run to, I had no idea, but I was ready.  I breathed a huge sigh of relief when he pulled out a jack and that thingie that screws the bolts back on.  We had a flat tire.  Thank you I Love Lucy for showing me what those look like!

The cabbie obviously knew what he was doing as it only took him 5 minutes and we were off.  The airport, like many I have seen in South America was tiny.  I was still surprised at how small it was for a city as large as La Paz.  The plane however, I was not prepared for.  This thing was tiny.  It had 19 seats, no cabin crew, and you could see the pilot the entire time. 

Being so tired, I feel asleep for most of the 45 minute flight and we safely landed into the Amazon and into the smallest airport I have ever seen.  One gate, no security machines, and just one room.  The bathroom was outside.  I got off the plane, took the bus to the "town" and checked into my tour company. 

Above: smallest airport ever

9:07p.m.

Right now, the electricity at the "lodge" is turned off.  It only runs from 6p.m. to 9p.m.  I am only able to write for a short while as I am using my headlamp to write and don't want to run out of batteries as that is my only way to see anything after 9 and there are Caymen (alligators) that hang out on the banks of our "lodge".  Thankfully, the lodge is on stilts.  Here is a photo of the lodge:

Below: mosquito net beds

Anyway, my trip that was scheduled to leave at 7:30a.m., ended up leaving at 10a.m.because of road strikes.  It has become the norm for me to see protests now.  The first three hours of the trip was pretty bad. The road was horrendous.  Cars were going in both directions, but you could not stay in a lane due to the holes, rocks, animals and uneven terrain in the way.  It was not a paved road, just dirt, so dust was blowing everywhere.  The windows in the car were open so we wouldn't sweat to death from the heat, so we too were covered with dust.  Also, the drivers seem to aspire to be drag racers so they were speeding trying to pass all the other cars.  It was a hot, bumpy, dirty ride. 

O.k., I have been up since 4, off to bed.

Adios. 

Present time writing.  I did outlines on the trip as I was too occupied during it to really write!

After about an hour we had to stop and get out and walk for 10-15 minutes with all of our stuff and gear in the heat.  Thankfully, I now pack light so the weight wasn't too bad, but the heat was insane.  We had to walk to switch cars due to the strike and part of the road was blocked.  No idea what the strike was about, but pretty lame if you can still cross the road, not that I am complaining.

After we loaded up again, we were off for two more hours of fun.  I was pretty miserable at this point.  I was hot, sitting in the sun, had insanely cramped legs, was a bit carsick and pretty dehydrated.  Often I am dehydrated on these trips is there are not places to stop to use the bathroom, so I drink less.  Stupid, I know, but when in a boat, you can't pullover next to a caymen to pee.  We finally made it to the lunch spot, ate and were off to the boat.  

On the way to the boat, again in the cramped car, I was able to help the guide and our group a bit as he spoke no English and I was the only one who spoke any English.  This was fun for me as I like to help out and feel needed. 

Anyway, we got to the boat, met our guide, and were off for a three hour cruise down the Yacuma River, which feeds into the Amazon.   The boat ride was amazing.  

Along the ride we saw Caymen (alligator type animals), birds, capybara (the world's largest rodent), holler monkeys, squirrel monkeys, and other animals.  Not to brag, but I happen to be quite good at spotting Caymen.  I'd like to think I inherited this skill from my grandfathers, who both were avid hunters.  I also like to think this skill has value as in I could spot them and move quickly if needed.  

Above 3: Caymen

Above: capybara - so cute.  They apparently get eaten by Caymen a lot.  They are also the world's largest rodents.

Above: Bolivian version of Timon and Pumba

Above two: squirrel monkeys!!  They are so friendly and cute.

Above: some pretty velvety bird

After the boat, we arrived at our lodge, unpacked, ate dinner, relaxed, played cards and were off to bed as we had a sunrise to see the next morning!

Thursday morning we were up at 5:30 to see the sun come up.  It was a beautiful sunrise, but not too much else to say.  Usually, I only see the sunrise if I am up that late, so it was kind of neat to see them when I actually woke up for one.  The Mosquitos here are awful and it made the sunrise slight uncomfortable, but still worth it. 

We took the boat back to the lodge, ate breakfast, got sized for rubber boots and were off for some Anaconda hunting.  If you are like me, and did not know, an Anaconda is a snake that kills its victims by strangling them.  Our guide instructed us that if we were to find one, we should pick it up quickly to show our group.  Let me just say, we had the mid range priced tour which came with a mid range guide.  I can't imagine the budget tour'a advice.  Our tour was around $130 usd for three days, and included the van, the boat, the guide, food, water and housing.  The guide apparently was to speak English, but I still needed to do some light translating for basic items, and I am pretty sure he should not have been telling us to pick up Anacondas.  

Anyway, we walked through the marsh, which was quite difficult as it was through water and mud.  Also, we were under the hot sun. I still had a blast though - how often can a girl say she went Anaconda hunting?

So the first snake that was found was a cobra.  Highly poisonous.  Glad I did not pick one up.  

Here is what the inside of a Cobra's mouth looks like:

Here is an anaconda:

After an easy morning of anaconda hunting, it was lunch time followed by a siesta.  The afternoon was an afternoon of dolphin swimming!  It was a total blast swimming with them.  They love to swim with humans and were so cute.  It would have only been better if I could actually swim as I got winded early and had to cling to the boat for dear life. 

Above: Dolphins!!

After the dolphins, we went to a bar, where I drank some wine (surprisingly, Bolivian wine isn't too bad) and played some volleyball.  I watched the sunset and the stars come out (so mesmerized by the stars) and headed back for dinner and bed. 

The third and final day, we slept in a bit and then went fishing for piranhas.  This was ok.  I was a bit annoyed as our guide didn't show me how to catch them and this wasn't the fishing I was used to.  Much more yanking involved. It was o.k., but would have been better if the guide explained what we were doing.  Surprisingly, piranhas are tiny.  No one in our group wanted to eat them, so I had 5 and had maybe 5 bites of fish.  

After lunch, it was back to the boat and and another long bus van rude back to the town.

O.k., well now I am starving so off to find some comida.  

Adios!

Living it up in La Paz

Right now I am chilling in my hostel bed trying to charge all my electronics while listening to "Welcome to the Jungle" on repeat.  Why you may ask?  Well, tomorrow I am heading to the Pampas region in the Amazon!  On the agenda is swimming withnPINK DOLPHINS, piraña fishing and crocodile night time viewing quests!  I am so pumped!

Yesterday was a pretty chilled out day.  As I mentioned, I went to the witch's market.  Here is a bit of a longer explanation and some photos. 

Those are llama fetuses.  Here, when you build a new home, a ceremony must be performed and then the fetus must be buried under the house for good luck.  I learned today that if you have a big house, ideally a human or two is to be buried under the home.  Apparently, this rarely happens, but is more an urban legend.  The market also had fortune tellers, love potions, and cold remedies.  

Do you think Carrie Underwood knows she is on vaginal disinfectant boxes?

Anyway, today I got up, finalized my plans and started packing for my trip today. Living out of a backpack is exhausting.  Basically every place you visit, you need to dump everything out of your bag and restart packing.  Definitely one of the lows of traveling.  But to put a positive spin on it, living with less items is refreshing.  After that, I was off to do a 3 hour walking tour.  The walking tour was not as fun as the one in Medellin, but it was free (well with a tip) and gave great insight into the city.  

We started at Plaza de San Pedro.  If you have ever read the book Marching Powder, you will have heard of the infamous San Pedro Prison.  If you haven't read the book, read it, and here is some insight into the prison.  To live in the prison, you must pay rent. The inmates have several businesses inside the prison such as renting other cells, cafes, barbers, restaurants, crafts, and making cocaine.  There used to be tours inside the prison, but have stopped for the last 6 years.  Additionally, Coca Cola sponsors businesses inside the prison. 

Another interesting thing about the prison is the wives and children of the inmates live inside.  Since in Bolivia the men tend to be the breadwinner and they are paying rent for the cell, it is hard for the woman to support themselves and hard for the families to pay a second rent.  The families also face less discrimination by living inside the prison as well.  The wives and children can come and go as they please.  Often, the wives leave to sell goods their husbands make inside the prison.  Lately, the prison has been in the news as the daughter of an inmate was allegedly raped and is pregnant.  Right now the prison is in the process of being shut down. No new inmates are being admitted and I believe it is in process to release some and move others to different prisons.  

After visiting the prison, we visited some markets, the Presidential Palace, the Spanish side of the city, some churches and a great look out point.  Here are some photos from the day:

Presidential Palace in La Paz (fun fact: Sucre is the capital of Bolivia, not La Paz.  La Paz is just where the action is.)

You can buy anything here!!

Graffiti!  

Spanish architecture

This is sad - Bambi meat store :-(. Poor Bambi's mom

Traditional Bolivian woman selling items.  

One sad thing I learned on the tour was about the shoe shine people.  The shoe shine people wear face masks here (like winter ski hats that cover your face).  I assumed it was due to fumes.  I learned today that it was due to embarrassment.  They don't want anyone to recognize them.  Several of them are young children and others are family men who hide from their very families what they do.  I can't imagine being so embarrassed.  This was another moment that made me feel grateful. 

Some shoe shiners playing soccer.

After that, I had to run some errands.  I needed a new purse as mine broke (30 bolivianos or $4.50 usd), a head torch for the jungle (40 bolivianos or $6usd), and a postcard.  I think one nice thing to do in every place I visit is to send myself a postcard.  One, it is a nice way to document the trip, two, the stamps are fun, and 3, it is always a nice challenge to look for a postcard, stamp and mail it all in a foreign tongue.  

Me and my new headlamp

Tonight, I enjoyed a nice American style cheeseburger, some Bolivian wine, and great conversation with a French guy who spoke French, Spanish and English that was similar to my Portuguese.  I speak what I would call conversational Portuguese, basic Spanish and of course English.  It was fun trying to decipher what we were trying to say and a great reminder of why I love studying languages. 

Well, I'm off to bed. It is 10:15 here and I have to get up at 4!  Eek!!  Adios!

Buenos Noches!

Kendra

Most terrifying / best day of my life

So yesterday I biked along Death Rode in La Paz, Bolivia. I woke up at 6 a.m. as we had to leave at 7 to meet our group at the trek.  I found out that morning that my travel partner lost his debit card for the 3rd time in less than three weeks, so it was just me as he had to deal with that.  I didn't even want to sign up for this in the first place.

I was a bit terrified to do this as I am more of a causal biker.  I enjoy going along the nice, flat, Chicago lakefront at a slow, casual pace.  I also enjoy going fast in cars and such, but only when I am not driving.  Anyway, it appeared I would be an independent woman yet again. 

We met at the meeting point, loaded up in the vans and were off.  Along the ride, we saw heards of llamas.  Way more than Peru, which was a total surprise.

The night before I was instructed to layer, so I was wearing two pair of pants, a tank, a long sleeve top, a sweatshirt and a North Face Fleece.  It was quite toasty in the initial van!  After about an hour of driving, we loaded off the van and were given our gear.  Gear consisted of another pair of pants, a jacket, a scarf type thing, gloves, a helmet and a bike.  The layers were needed as we started near snow covered mountains.  My bike was named Oso, or bear.  I was happy I had a bike with a cute name.

Do I look ready to ride?

After given a brief intro of how to ride the bikes, we were introduced to Paccha Mama.  In the native language, it means Mama Earth.  We were instructed to pour some on the ground, some on our bikes, and some in our mouths for safety on the trail.  It tasted like rubbing alcohol.  The only positive thing I can say about it was it warmed my insides.  

The first part of the journey was absolutely terrifying.  It was not on the official Death Road, but on a paved highway with guard rails in a few select places.  The bikes were some sort of fancy bike, apparently made to handle any speed and terrain at a fast pace.  The retail value of these bikes is $2,500 usd.  For comparison, I have a decent road bike that was $700. Anyway, this bike Oso was speeding so fast.  I was white knuckle driving the entire time with the bike in the highest gear and basically riding the breaks the entire time.  That, combined with cars, trucks, busses, other bikers, and semi trucks passing by made for quite an experience.  I honestly thought I would swerve off and be a goner.

We stopped after about 10 minutes, I somehow managed to start breathing again, and one of the guides pulled me aside and helped me calm down.  He reassured me the bike knew what it was doing and the calmer and less shaky I was, the smoother the ride would be.  That barely helped.  After we took off again, I managed to do some yoga breathing, which kind of helped.  I was repeating to myself over and over again, "just breathe, too young to die".  That also barely helped.  After fifteen more minutes, we stopped again.  I was just able to catch my breathe and we were off again.  Thankfully, at this point there were two other girls in my same position and we huddled in the back. 

During this ride, my guide thought a semi truck in front of me was going too slow and wanted me to pass it.  If I had any breathe left in me, I would have screamed "are you insane?!?"  We were already going around 35mph and he wanted me to go faster on a curvy, twisty, foggy road.  No idea, why, but I did it and it was such a rush!  I was finally getting in the groove of the freeway, albeit a slightly slower groove than the rest of the pack. 

After that exciting adventure, we had to bike through drug patrol.  This consisted of no inspection and just walking through.  For some reason, I was expecting more.

Anyway, after a bit more freeway and narrow escapes from buses and cars crushing me, the freeway part was done.  Which, by the way, Bolivians apparently find it sport to honk and yell at tourists along the road.  Somehow, I didn't like this game.  We then made it on to the gravel. 

The gravel was insane.  If you sat, your body shook and was in pain.  They recommended standing, which put more pressure on my wrists and hands.  I did a combo most of the way.  Thankfully, the bikes were made to handle large rocks and stones.

The view along the way was absolutely gorgeous.  We biked from around 9-3 with several breaks.  It was mainly cloudy, through waterfalls, downhill and very curvy.   I was pretty terrified the whole time, but towards the end I was getting a bit confident and speeding along and zipping through the curves.  It was definitely one of the times I have been most proud of myself. Two girls bailed after the freeway, and as much as I wanted to, I didn't bail.  Often times when in awkward or challenging situations, I cry, flirt or sneak my way out of it.  This time, I faced it head on!!

A little bit about Death Road.  It is 40 miles and is mainly a dirt road with gravel.  It has no guardrails and an estimated 300 people people died annually on the road.  Bolivia is in the process of building a new road, but cars still use the old road as well.  The road is around 10 feet wide and were instructed to ride cliff side to avoid cars.

There were two stories the guides told us that I found interesting.  The first was during the period of a dictator, there was to be an election.  The dictator ordered all opposers to the road and gave them the opportunity to jump or be shot.  They all jumped.

The second story involved a bus crash.  Around 30 people died.  The husbands of some of the deceased quit their jobs, moved to the road and took turns waving flags to signal safety.  They survived off donations from travelers on the road.  

After the bike ride, it was zip line time!  I did it "super chicka" style where you laid spread out like superman and it felt like I was flying.  Simply amazing.  

Overall, the biking was an amazing experience.  Definitely a top ten life day for me.

Today, was much more relaxed.  I went to a witch market (will post photos tomorrow), had a margarita and booked my jungle trek and salt flat tours.  Less than two weeks til I am home, gotta make the most of it!

Adios!

Kendra