Are You Experienced? J&J Are…
5th of May: Camina De Muerte
Down the Camina De Muerte (Death Road) for the second time, however it was Jimmy’s first trip. This time I went with a company called B-Side, at $55 they are more expensive than Pacha (last time) and a good deal cheaper than Gravity (biggest company). However their bikes are superb, at least the same quality as Gravity, the bikes of both company are priced at $2500.
We got up much earlier than Jimmy liked (he is NOT a morning person), and went to the B-Side office, sat down and wait, met our companions for the day (Susie and Gavin from Ireland), so only four people, a very small group, what luxury. After a few minutes, a van stopped next to us, and Simon, our guide, jumped out, introduced himself and picked us up. So we drove to the top of the road (4800 meters), were given our super deluxe bikes, with a wonderful suspension system. When you see a big rock in your way, you prepare for the jump, brace yourself etc, but with these bikes, nothing happened, the bike would take the entire shock.
We started rolling down, and everything was fine, except for the fact that I couldn’t keep up, I had the disadvantage of being too light, so I never could gain the momentum of the others, so I had to use my brakes a lot less to gain speed, whereas Jimmy had to use his brakes, in order not to go to quick. The ride was exactly the same as the last time, all the way down to the payment area. Now that the road isn’t used for actual traffic, but only for tourists (a professional asphalt road has been built around it), there is now a 24 bolivianos ($3) entrance fee, for maintaining the road. At this point on the last trip, we all got picked up in the van, and taken to the beginning of the Death Road, it should also be mentioned that on this trip, we were the first to make it to the payment checkpoint, meaning we would have the road exclusively to ourselves.
This time we got to bicycle up the hill, a long and arduous trip, which meant that after my initial attempt, I surrendered and climbed into the van. I was the only person to do so, but I didn’t mind much, I just couldn’t get up. After a short break at the flat level we had stopped, I picked up my bike, and managed to last small climb to the top. From here it was mostly downhill, down the fantastically beautiful Camina de Muerte, and this time I had brought my camera, knowing now how dangerous the road actually is, I felt like it wouldn’t be a problem to bring it, and it was a gorgeous day. We got a cloud cover below us from a fantastic point, and our guide who had been doing the tour for years, told us that it was only the second time he had seen it, and for him, it was the most beautiful view he had ever had; the pictures don’t really show exactly how good it was, but at least it was an attempt. (I provided a link at the top for all the Death Road picture, and thus won’t be linking them separately)
We continued down, this trip was also a lot more fun, not just the better company (all 3 others and the guide), but also the guide was a lot better, and was always in front, with the van following behind us. He (the guide) set a good (fast, but not dangerous) pace, and Jimmy and I tried to keep up, Jimmy did a very good job, but he sent a lot of dust into my eyes on the flat pieces, where I would then fall behind, and then try to catch up when it was going downhill. I am writing this with all my limbs intact, so I made the trip down fine, although once (at a very broad point in the road), my rear wheel suddenly flew out, and I almost crashed. I would like to say that my catlike reflexes saved me, but truly, I lucked out.
By and by, we made it down, were loaded into the van, and taken to a luxury hotel, where we each got a room for taking a shower, and changing into some fresh clothes, and then had a most wonderful late lunch, with some extraordinary salted pork. For dinner, Jimmy and I went back to the pizzeria from the previous day, where Jimmy had a gargantuan pizza, which he in ways I can’t comprehend, managed to finish.
This was however also a very bad day, when I returned to my bed from the Death Road trip, the cleaning crew (two witnesses in the room) had stolen my glasses and my Lonely Planet book, something which greatly upsets me, but there is unfortunately nothing I can do.
!Pampas/Jungle pictures!
6th of May:
I woke up at 3.30 (I have no watch and thus no alarm anymore, so I do this by going early to bed), I then spent 30 minutes leaving the hostel, as the nightguards couldn’t figure out that I had already paid. I then woke up Jimmy, and Jimmy not being a morning person, wasn’t happy about it being 4 in the morning, but we had to go and catch our flight to Rurrenabaque, a small 19 seater from the company Amaszonas, a rather bumpy ride.
We made it to Rurrenabaque in one piece, and went to the office of the agency we were going with (Indigena), registered and had breakfast. Went back and were off on a wonderful 3 hour carride that kills any organ you might have inside yourself, kills your eyes and throat with dust and generally just tear you to pieces. I should also mention that the car (Toyota Landcruiser) stopped very frequently to pour water into the engine, it leaked like a broken colander on a rainy day. We stopped for a spot of lunch, and then went into our boat, and had a beautiful sightseeing tour to our lodge, where we saw a lot of different animals, squirrel monkeys, pink dolphins, alligators, cayman crocodiles, a plethora of birds and a huge animal, that I have no idea what is called. We eventually arrived at our ecolodge and had popcorn, crackers and some serious hammock action, those were just… Sublime for the place. For sunset we were sailed to a sunset place, where I at first played some football with Jimmy, but soon after a lot of people arrived, and it didn’t take long before I was involved in a hilarious volleyball game.
After the sunset, we want back for a wonderful dinner, and I then went to bed and read my latest craze, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, a book which started out slow, but really has picked up and redeemed itself for a bad beginning.
7th of May:
Got up at 8, picked out a pair of wellies (rubber boots), but since I had slept so late, there were only size 39 left, so trying to force them on, I broke the sole off. When I went back to put them in their place, someone had left a size 43, which I could fit into. Ate breakfast and then we were off on Anaconda/Cobra hunting, where out guide Toño, really showed us what a man from Bolivia can do, when Anthony (an Aussie) found a Cobra, and Toño just came running towards it, dived headfirst in an attempt to grab it (Cobra’s are fast), but missed, jumped up like a frog, and went for it again, catching the tail, coming out of a bush, swinging it everywhere, it then goes for his leg, but hits his boot, digging its fangs so deep into the boot, that he had to wait until it had relaxed enough, before he could pull it out; this all mainly happened while I was trying to swap my lens around, to get the lens for close pictures (I had my telezoom lens on). We later found an anaconda, a small specimen, but an anaconda none the less (somewhere around 2 metres), and a second Cobra, where Toño put up a similar struggle, without being bitten. Of which there are plenty of pictures at the above link, although I will bring the best one here.
Toño then took us (Anthony & Michelle, Gil & Nicky, Laia, Jimmy and I) on a walk through the surrounding area (we had been walking around looking for the snakes, they live in lagoons where the water sinks down in the day, revealing a lot of mud to walk in, hence the wellies), where we walked through some countryside and he explained different things to us about the snakes, alligators and crocodiles, how they live and what to do in case you are attacked. Gil then noticed a crocodile in the water, some 3 or 4 metres from us. Toño threw some sticks towards it, suddenly got up running away screaming (get away, get away, it is coming), which didn’t fool anyone except Michelle.
After lunch at the ecolodge, we sailed out to swim with pink dolphins, which is considered safe, as there are never alligators or crocodiles around in the water, when there are dolphins swimming about. I didn’t go in the water (as I never do), but everyone else except for Laia had a dip, and especially Gil spent a lot of time swimming. Most thrilling time, was when a lot of sardines made an incredible splashing noise, right next to the shore, making everyone (except Toño I expect) think a crocodile or alligator had entered the water, spreading incredible panic, especially for Gil who was by far the closest. Taking a picture didn’t enter my mind, because we all thought it was a real danger, I did however get one picture of Gil, just at the moment he realised it was sardines, and not an alligator. We sailed around to some different locations to find more dolphins, which was partly successful, but taking a picture of one, is next to impossible. They surface for such a short time, that the only one who got anything was Jimmy, who recorded a video, where one by chance surfaced. After the swimming, we went back for a little snack (popcorn and crackers) and then went for a sunset in a different location, and this time the sunset was a lot more gorgeous, it was stunning. There I also met Cameron & Monica from Potosi, Eyal and Amit from Salar de Uyuni and struck up conversation, with a Canadian called Kent. After the sunset, we sailed back in the dark, where the eyes of alligators shine up red, if lighted upon, it was a very beautiful sight. Back at the lodge we ate dinner, and I was back at my book, how does a person write so well? The book is almost as enchanting as the Aubrey-Maturin books I have read 2 of on this trip.
8th of May:
Piranha fishing, after breakfast. However we got up at 5, and sailed around in the complete darkness to listen to howler monkeys primarily, but other animals as well. It was a good experience, and the sunrise we saw out there was stunning. We went back for our breakfast, and then went piranha hunting, we each got a long fishing line, with a hook at the end, and a small pile of meat cut into tiny pieces (bait), and then set about catching. We moved around to different locations, to try and get the best results, fishing both from the boat and from the shore. I managed to catch the biggest piranha, the biggest black salmon and just two more fish, whereas Anthony kept pulling them in, and Jimmy kept loosing them when he tried to pull them in. Just before we want back, Toño held one piranha up to another one, and the first one immediately, started eating the second one, the crunching sound was especially appalling.
We went back for lunch, where we ate the fish we had caught (amongst other things), and then headed back towards Rurrenabaque, which was a long boatride in the opposite direction from which we had come (surprise), and then the 3 hour carride. This time was a lot better however, we didn’t stop once to pour water into the car or anything similar, the only problem that arose, was that Jimmy had forgotten his boots. Something which was really bad, as he and I would go on the jungle tour the following day, but we couldn’t go back for them, as everyone else would miss their flight.
We made it back to Rurrenabaque, just to be told that our jungle tour was cancelled, so we went with 3 Irish girls to another agency, and book it there. We then called our travel agency (Viacha tours), to tell them of the change of plans. About 10 minutes later they called our hostel, and told us that Indigena had not cancelled our tour, and that we had to go with them, or forfeit our 100 dollars, paid for the tour.
So this all arranged we went out for dinner, and then went back and went to sleep. The place we ate was quite nice, although the portions was quite small, the music played was amazingly good.
9th of May:
Our big jungle tour, Jimmy had borrowed some wellies a size too small (biggest they had), and we met up with the other person going, Stephanie from Montreal, Quebec. We set out on a 3,5 hour boatride (infinitely more comfortable than the carride), after about an hour we made it to the entrance of the Madidi park, and sailed on for 2,5 hours to our lodge for the night (during which I finished The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and started reading Wild Swans). Once we arrived there, we had some lunch cooked by our chef Jesus (nicknamed Jesusito, meaning Little Jesus), and then Antonio took us on the first jungle excursion, where we saw trees with self defence mechanisms (huge spikes sticking out), and other random assorted things, including lots of insects and ants, including a very interesting tree called “The Devil’s Tree”, called so because the devil dances around it, which is why nothing grows within a metre of it; in reality the fire ants that live on it, spread acid around it, preventing anything from growing.
Back at the lodge we had a popcorn/crackers snack and later dinner, before we went out on a night trip, completely engulfed in darkness, except for our torches (and I don’t have one). On this night trip, I took what might be my best picture of the trip, and scared the living daylights out of Jimmy, when I (intending to scare him, just for fun) touched him gently on the back with a flat hand, making him scream, jump around and curse in Dutch. However we all had the feeling, that at some point Antonio (our amazing guide), would try and scare us all to death, but he never did so.
10th of May:
111 days in South America, what a wonderful number. I didn’t mention it, but my day number 100, was the day I had food poisoning, and tried to make it from Uyuni to Sucre but failed. This was the day of the most extensive jungle tour, so after breakfast we set out around 9 or 9.30, and didn’t come back to the camp until 12.30. We crossed a river twice (going there, and coming back at another place), saw a tree with a diameter of 6 meters, we swung on lians, and saw more amazing trees, insects etc.
We made it out after a very long walk, where the vegetation had grown so thick, that Antonio had to bring out his machete and chop his way through the trail, with us walking behind. Eventually we made it out, and Jesus had amazing food waiting for us, before we began our 3 hour boatride back down to Rurrenabaque, where due to the rain, out flight had been canceled. So we settled into the hostel we had stayed at before, and went out for dinner at a different place, and this time received decent sized pizza’s. We also had our flight rescheduled to 18 o’clock the following day. And thus ended our Death Road/Pampas/Jungle tour.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 13th, 2008 at 18:01. It is filed under Bolivia.
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