Well isn’t Bolivia the land of backpacking opportunity. We have mountain biked, canyoned, ate and drank like kings. More, I want more I tell you. So more it was. We booked a 5 day adventure tour that would take us from La Paz to Rurrenabaque in the Amazon jungle. The tour was a little more expensive than we had originally hoped (and been told by our Lonely Planet guide book, grrr!) but it had 2 days of downhill mountain biking and 3 days of camping on the Beni river which flows into the Amazon basin. How could we say no?
To fill in the time until our departure, we decided to fit in a spot of local Cholita wrestling. For $10 each we were picked up from our hostel and driven by bus to the arena where the pain was to be brought. The wrestling was a brilliant affair, totally ridiculous but thoroughly entertaining. The crowd participation at these events is huge. You can throw food, yell, taunt and even have a wrestler thrown atop of you. Really cool!
Cholita
One crazy fan!
With grins ear to ear the wrestling finished and we prepared for the next days adventure into the Amazon. Catching a local minibus to Sorata, we met up with our tour group at a local eco lodge. The place itself was something to be seen, it came complete with a myriad of animals including a charging cow, cranky turkey and dogs, ducks, geese galore. The owner was super friendly and the food he provided for us was absolutely delicious. Good food = good start.
The tour group was 12 people in total plus our 2 tour guides Maritcio and Alehandro. Maritcio was our guide for the mountain biking segment and little did we know the best rider in Bolivia on the downhill racing scene while Alehandro was our guide for the entire tour. Both guys spoke English and were very easy to get along with.
The next day they packed us and our gear into two four wheel drives and we were ferried up 4,800m to the top of our first days downhill run. Kitted up with brand new downhill bikes and some armor we were thrust back into the mountain biking scene once again.
The ride was fun and the scenery just breath taking. At the end of the first day everyone was thoroughly happy to be off the bikes and away from the shake and rattle of the dirt roads. At our hostel for the night, the guides cooked up a big feed and brought us some beers. An excellent social bonding recipe fellas. On our tour we had only couples, one a piece from England, Ireland, Austria, Switzerland and Spain/France. This was a good mix and immediately everyone clicked.
The following day we were back on the bikes and back on the downhill slopes. This day we had graduated from the more arid highlands to the tropical jungles. With this came humidity, rain and the unfortunate scourge of this part of the world, gold mining. This part of the country is in its mining infancy with many backyard operators tearing apart the local hillsides and river banks in search of a golden dream. It really is disturbing to see how they scar the land, pollute the rivers with runoff and poison nature with their use of mercury as a gold fossicking agent.
Making up for the first days lack of incidents, day two saw two people come off their bikes. Nothing too serious though, just some cuts and bruises. When day 2 finally came to an end it was fair to say we were all happy to be off the bikes and wrapping our hands around another cold beer rather than some handle bars. To spice up the night a little more, a fist fight broke out between our guide Maritcio and one of the jeep drivers over the drivers plans to get drunk and crack onto some local women rather than work. Dids being present for this event managed to mediate a solution and relax the night back down to a more social occasion. Ahh, touring Bolivia!
The following day we were in a boat and bouncing along the rapids down towards our first nights jungle stay. The ride and scenery were awesome and a dip in a crystal clear waterfall for our nightly shower was brilliant. The food on this leg was a step up from the other nights with our boat bringing along a dedicated local lady to cook. Camping was interesting too, there are some crazy animals here, even for an Australian. There are ants called bullet ants which are large enough to nearly move a car. They are heuuuuge! And apparently they can cause fever if they bite you. This didn’t happen to the hyperactive Irishman (Ronan) though who with great Irish pride was the first to step on one and feel its wrath. Ahh the Irish, they definitely are not meant for the wilderness.
Two motorised canoes acting as a local car ferry. Crazy Bolivians...
Local hut on the river bank.
Less posh local accommodation.
Local river transport.
The unfortunate reality of gold mining along the river. This was a large operation, much smaller ones litter the banks nearly everywhere you can see.
Continuing our jungle education we learned about many different plants, herbal remedies and whacky creatures. There is a snake that sings like a bird, ants that eat your tent and cloths, ants that can devour a person in 6 hours and a spider that can jump, sting you with its fangs or tail as well as shot its hairs at you. Who comes up with this stuff! Seriously! All this was explained to us by our guide who was just brilliant.
All in all the jungle was eventful. I fell 2m from a vine when it broke as I was swinging along, got bit by a fire ant and saw some cool nature. The trip finished up in Rurrenabaque during a torrent of unseasonal rain and now we sit in a hostel planning our next move. We had a great time on our tour and met some awesome people who we are hoping to keep traveling with in the short term. As the Irish would say, they all have good crack (fun/banter).
The second nights camp ground.
Leisurely dip in a waterfall
Some boisterous Macaws
My 2m jungle drop
The entry into the Madidi National Park
The river entry at Madidi National Park
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