La Paz & Las Pampas

The journey from Copacabana to La Paz was interesting to say the least. The definite highlight was when we were told to get off the bus while it was loaded onto a ¨ferry¨ for a crossing of Lake Titicaca. We stood on the same ¨ferry¨ for the duration of the crossing and were very surprised that the vessel actually made it across to the opposite shore given that there were almost more holes in the floor of this thing than there were intact pieces of wood!

Safe travel in Bolivia

Somehow, we arrived safe & dry in La Paz hoping that it would remain true to it´s name (¨The Peace¨) while we were there. As you may have heard, in recent weeks there has been a fair amount of upheaval in Bolivia. Five of the countries ¨departments¨ (or states) want to separate from the rest of Bolivia and there have been frequent strikes, bloquades and episodes of looting etc with deaths occcuring as a result. The Departments that want to separate are apparently those with the richest supply of silver in the nation & no one seems happy with how the country is being run at present.
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Our taxi driver took us to the most abismal hostel. Renee´s foot got stuck in the floorboards and they broke when she walked on them and fell partially through to the floor below. All three of us avoided drinking anything for the night so as to avoid having to go to the toilets. We also resorted to eating Pringles and Snickers for our evening meal as the surrounding streets were far to dodgy to attempt to find a restaurant in the dark. Within about 15m of our hostel door Marie and Renee were almost urinated upon by a local on the street.

The next day we found a more tourist friendly area located near the Mercado de las Brujas (Witches Market). The markets themselves are disgusting with such things as dried llama feutus, stuffed armadillos, feet and hands from unrecognisable animals (monkeys?) and the skins of Pumas and Osollots. They are apparently part of the local superstitions and are believed to ward off evil spirits.
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Mercado de las brujas (Witches Markets)

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There are lots of things to do in La Paz if you want to smoke lots of drugs, visit drug dealers in the prison or go to the Coca Museum. We attempted to visit the famous prison featured in the book ¨Marching Powder¨ but the jail was heavily guarded as there is a prisoner currently encarcerated that has many enemies on the outside, many (over 50) of whom have set up camp in the park opposite to inflict their own punishment when they get an opportunity.

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We took a military flight from La Paz to Rurrenabaque which is the town used as a base for Jungle and Pampas tours. The landing in Rurrenabaque was spectacular down wind, onto an unsealed airstrip with a mountain at the end of the runway. Our Pampas tour started out badly as our bomb of a Jeep had no petrol. This wouldn´t be a problem except for the fact that fuel only arrives in the town sporadically and the date is always unknown. Every petrol station has a long line of unattended cars parked waiting for fuel when it finally arrives. We eventually ended up buying some fuel on the black market for 10 Bolivianos a litre (instead of the standard 3 Bolivianos per litre) and off we went.... until we hit our next obstacle. Road works were being undertaken on the only access road and someone had dumped massive piles of rocks in the centre of the road for the length of several kilometers causing the traffic to be banked up behind them waiting for the tractors to level them out.

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We soon found out that our lovely Guide (Juan) who was supposed to speak good spanish and basic english... really only spoke good spanish and a handful of words in english. No one else in our group could speak any Spanish so Tim ended up being the unofficial translator. He should really have been the one to receive tips at the end of the tour!

The ¨Pampas¨ are flat grassy low lands of South America that are rich in animal and bird life. As it is the end of the dry season there was very little water in the rivers, with our boat being in less than half a meter of water at most times during the 3 hour journey to our camp site. The region is definitely rich in Caimen & Alligators! Without exaggeration we saw several thousand of them along the banks of the river as we putted along. Most were happy just to keep an eye on us as we cruised by, but the occassional one decided to take issue with the boat. During a night safari with our torches scanning the shoreline, hundreds of their red eyes could be seen at a time.

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For some reason we were all convinced to try swimming with the pink river dolphins in the same river. This area of the river was a bit wider and deeper than the rest of the waterway and the dolphins were therefore trapped here until the water level rose again during the wet season. Juan claimed that the Alligators would keep their distance as they didn´t like the noises and movement of the dolphins in the water. The presence of a large alligator on the shore whilst we were swimming did not lend much weight to his theory.

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Some of our Swimming Companions

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We were taken on a long, dry walk through the Pampas in search of Anacondas (of which we found three). We were most unimpressed with the attitude and actions of the other groups guide who would pull the snakes out of their holes in the tree and pick up baby alligators etc. All of us were disgusted and made it known that we did not want the animals disturbed, but he did not care in the slightest. Needless to say, his group did not give him any form of tip!

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Largest rodents in the world

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The highlight of the tour was waking up another morning at 5am to the cries of Howler Monkeys... not that we knew what was making the noise at the time. If anyone has ever heard the sound they make they would know what I mean! For such a small monkey it is an impressive achievement. The directors of an alien movie could literally take a recording of this animal and splice it directly into their soundtrack for when the beasts from outerspace attack. All of us were laying in our beds half terrorised and half amazed at what we could hear... all of us having absolutley no idea what could possibly be creating it.

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The journey back to Rurrenabaque was also an adventure. As it had been raining for the past two days, the unsealed clay road was a complete mess. The poor condition of the road slowed us down a lot so the journey took longer than expected. As dark was closing in, the Jeep started making even worse noises than it had the rest of the way. Then it stopped. The problem was soon found to be lack of petrol. Eventually we flagged down a vehicle which just happened to be a petrol tanker... which was empty. He tried to empty his last few drops into a bottle for us - charging a fortune for his efforts. With our renewed 400mL supply of fuel we continued down the road a few more kilometers until we again ran out. Our driver decided to head off in the dark, down the muddy road to reach the next town for help. Meanwhile we all waited in the jeep being passed by other vehicles being towed (due to lack of fuel) and other groups of people on foot who were also headed to the next town in search of fuel. Eventually, someone returned with another vehicle to take us into Rurrenabaque... although no sign was ever seen of our driver again!

When we arrived into the town of Rurrenabaque we learned that we were again stranded. This time it was as a result of being cut off from the surrounding towns. Due to the two days of rain, the airport had been closed and the road between Rurrenabaque and La Paz had become even more dangerous (it is already known in this area as ¨the most dangerous road in the world¨due to the number of fatalities. It is only one lane wide, scales the mountains on the edge of a cliff, is unsealed and climbs from 150m altitude to over 4000m with a single driver for the 18-22 hour journey!).

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We waited for three days for the airport to open and the rain to clear... however neither of the two occurred. As a result we decided to brave the bus trip back to La Paz as Marie had to get back to organise her flights back home. Once again, the journey was an adventure...

Main Road back to La Paz

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The main road back to La Paz!

Why there is a massive hole in the middle of it no one seemed to know!

Once back in La Paz, we explored the city a little more on a visit to the ¨Valle de la Luna¨. After this trip we had a better appreciation of the city having seen some really beautiful, modern (and expensive) looking suburban areas. The Valley of the Moon itself was a great place to visit, not only for the interesting rock formations created by erosion of the volcanic materials, but also to get a fantastic view of the city nestled between the looming snow capped mountains.