The Bolivian Amazon

Originally uploaded by louise_parmenter

I´ve just returned from the part of my travels that I was most nervous about. The journey started with a very bumpy bus journey of 20 hours (including the Most Dangerous Road in the World) from La Paz at 3,660m.a.s.l and about 10degrees to the jungle town of Rurrenabaque at sea level and arriving at 6am to 28degrees of heat and lots of enormous bugs and mosquitos. Midday temperatures reached 38degrees of infernal heat that day, which was pretty unbearable. I organised my Pampas (wetland savannas wildlife tour) and the jungle excursions, walked around this very typical jungle town of pretty houses and tropical vegetation until the heat became unbearable then took a 4 hour siesta in one of the many hammocks in my hotel garden. Here are the photos of Rurrenabaque.

Thankfully that night it rained heavily and cleared the muggy air and left us with a very bearable 20 to 25 degrees for the Pampas tour. Here my tour group and I managed to see many caimans, capybaras, kingfishers, storks, cranes, jabirus, squirrel monkeys, howler monkeys, piranhas, and finally my whole reason for going….PINK RIVER DOLPHINS! The dolphins are actually very difficult to see as the water is so murky and they barely emerge above the surface, but we got a few glimpses of their beaks, their dorsal finless backs, their tails and their lovely pinkish grey colour. I even got to jump in and swim with them for a while, which was a little scary, given that there were caiman nearby and given that the previous day we´d been fishing for piranhas in the same river, and had eaten them for dinner! The dolphins were quite playful, but didn´t get close, only to tease me into following them, at which point they swam further away! Here are the photos of the Pampas.

I then headed off for the jungle for 2 days and one night, equipped with 2 bottles of repellent (to which I owe having got just 2 single bites) a big hat (to stop spiders and ticks falling on my head) and lots of water. The moment we got there and started walking through the very dense jungle I became so very nervous, what with spiders´ webs in my face every few seconds! But I had come to the jungle to try to overcome my arachnophobia, or at least to prove to myself that I can control it. I managed not to complain too much and battled through, and found myself completely relieved to be back in camp. I asked to see some tarantulas that the guides told me live in the camp and was happy to shine my torch and at tarantulas living in trees, etc., but then I was told that one lives in the camp toilet, which of course freaked me out completely!

The second day I was a lot calmer, especially having surprised myself in the early morning when we heard monkeys nearby and went for a quick dash through the jungle to catch up with them. Not only was I wearing sandals and no hat and no long sleeved tshirt but also no glasses, so was less able to spot spiders´ webs! But all in all it was an interesting jungle tour, understanding more about the medicinal purposes of the plants, how they grow, etc. There were very few animals to be seen though, just some beautiful butterflies and a large venomous spider. Here are the pictures of the jungle.

DISTANCE TRAVELED SINCE USHUAIA: 20,342KM

Lago Titicaca (Peruvian Side) – Puno, Sillustani & The Floating Reed Islands of the Uros

Reed Island
Originally uploaded by louise_parmenter

Arriving in Puno I discovered a town that was far more attractive and safe than I had been lead to believe by other travellers. I spent a day visiting Sillustani, one of the largest necropolises in the world, comprising many stone “Chullpas” or stone funerary towers of the pre-Inca Kolla culture (1200-1450AD). This was quite impressive, although I felt the information given by the guide was a bit dubious.

I then headed of on an excursion to the Floading Reed Islands of the Uros, just beyond the bay of Puno. The Uros people made their floating homes on Lake Titicaca to avoid being dominated by the expansionist Tiwanakus and Incas and then the Conquistadores. We visited some islands, received an explanation about how the islands are constructed: in shallow waters the “Quile”, earth dense with totora reed roots, is cut in large thick sections, which surprisingly float, and are bound together and then anchored with rocks, above which is placed layer upon layer of totora reeds. The houses, furniture (beds, benches, tables etc) and boats are constructed purely of totora reed. The islands last about 40 years, with plenty of upkeep, replacing the surface, after which they must start afresh, letting the previous island sink to the bottom of the lake. Dispite living from tourism they still continue the traditional self-sufficient subsistance living of their ancesters, consisting of fishing, collecting Coot eggs, hunting ducks (salting and drying them for preservation). Once a week they take their wares to a market near Puno where they exchange them for rice, potatoes, etc. Each island holds an entire family, i.e. the chief, his wife, his children and their families and his siblings and their families. (Until recently they were very incestuous community, until the outside world encourage them to interbreed with other Uros familes and even with the Aymara speaking mainlanders.) The first sign of modern life infiltrating their islands were the solar panels (allowing them electricity, TVs and radios) a hospital and school, all gifts from former President, Fujimori, now facing extradition from Chile to Peru to face charges for crimes against humanity during his rule. The inhabitants of the Islands are of course very big fans of Fujimori for having – in their eyes - improved their lifestyles.

So, now to my personal experience during my 24 hours on the island of “Taypi Quile” (Aymara for: central “quile”, or floating island base) with my hosts, Efraín and Elsa, and their relatives. They automatically made me feel welcome, showing me my accommodation, one of the older traditional house types (pointed), as they are more waterproof, and the whole family came out to greet me, curious to ask questions, find out my name and where I´m from, what I think of their island, etc. We spoke for a few hours, me asking many questions about their way of life, etc. I shared my enormous, watermelon-sized papaya with the family and delivered my gifts of rice and sugar. I was surprised to discover that they had never tried papaya and the other delicious fruits of the mainland – this is because they only eat the calcium-rich white lower part of the reed as fruit. I helped Rob improve his very basic English with a gramma lesson and some useful phrases to help in his dealings with tourists. Then suddenly the island seemed abandoned. I presumed they were out fishing but actually most were in their houses watching TV! It took a turn around the small island, finding out that there was not much more to discover, well, apart from the reason for them going barefoot: some parts of the island are very spongy and your foot sinks and gets wet. Anyway I was left to play with the children who were very entertained with the games on my fosil of a mobile phone, my torch (which Harry tried to make off with!), my playing cards, etc. Suddenly it dawned on me that it was getting dark (5.30pm) and I hadn´t eaten. Although I´d been promised meals when arranging the visit from the mainland, it seemed that that was not going to be possible. I was very hungry, having had nothing but a few chocolate biscuits for lunch, so went to Efrain´s house to ask if he could take me to another island where I could get food (as he promised), but he and the family were already tucked away in bed for the night. I returned to my house in semi-darkness, ate the remaining half pack of oatmeal crackers and went to bed. This was obviously a cultural incident and my fault – I had no idea that they would go to bed so early, given that they prefer to fish at night.

After a fairly cold night on a very comfortable reed bed, the new day was heralded by the sunrise at 5.30am. I spent a few hours playing with the children, before they went off to school, and chatting with one of the older members of the community, who perched herself at my door. After constantly being called “amigo” by the children and correcting them (“amiga”) to no avail I discovered that without a skirt and no plaited hair I looked more like a man to them, so I plaited my hair, borrowed the attractive, but heavy wollen pompoms for my plaits and suddenly I seemed to make more sense to the kids! The ladies of the island invited me to join them for a coca tea with lots of sugar which did wonders for my hunger! They spoke in Aymara together, so I was a little shut out of the conversations, but I was promised lunch of rice and chips, which I was very happy for, and managed to survive until then! I observed my hosts as the tourists arrived, I helped watch little Alex while his parents dealt with the tourists and made myself useful translating for them to tourists interested in their crafts. I even taught the community a song in English that they could sing to the tourists as they leave – I thought “Row, Row, Row Your Boat” was an apt choice! I then said a quick goodbye as the tourist boat came to collect me and returned me abruptly to the familiar world of the backpacker!

Here are the photos. Enjoy!

DISTANCE TRAVELED SINCE USHUAIA: 19,220KM

Lake Titicaca (Bolivian Side) - Copacabana & Isla Del Sol

Challa´pampa, mi paradise on Isla Del Sol
Originally uploaded by louise_parmenter

It was such a pleasure leaving polluted La Paz for Lake Titicaca, passing tiny adobe and straw house villages along the waterfront and arriving in the pretty lakeside village of Copacabana, with its Greek style church and beautiful views. I stayed a couple of days to adapt to the calm, albeit rather too touristy, lifestyle, eating rainbow trout and kingfish and enjoying some live Afro-Jazz-Funk. Some types of Bolivian music have been quite grating, so this was such pleasure!

I then headed off for the even more remote and tranquil Isla Del Sol, where I spent 3 wonderful days, especially in the north part, visiting Inca and pre-Inca sites, talking to the locals, reading on the beach and watching beautiful sunrises and sunsets. Click here for the photos.

DISTANCE TRAVELED SINCE USHUAIA: 19,075KM

La Paz and Tiwanaku Ruins

La Paz
Originally uploaded by louise_parmenter

Arriving in La Paz I was shocked to discover that the scale of the City was nothing like what I´d imagined. La Paz is at an altitude of 3,900m.a.s.l with its centre covering the tiny valley floor and the hills surrounding it. The rest of the city sprawls out for miles in all directions up hills and down into valleys. It is incredibly difficult to get around the narrow, steep roads full of traffic, pollution and with barely enough pavement for one big gringo like me. It is also not a particularly attractive town, with a mix of architectural styles. My hostel was close to the witches market, so had to pass it a number of times, each time cringing at the dead armadillos, llama foetus´ and other strange things hanging up for all to see. There are a few photos for those of you that are curious!

For me the best thing about La Paz was the excursion to Tiwanaku, the pre-Inca ruins of the Tiwanaku indians (1500BC-1200AD). Ruins is not really a apt term, as there is virtually nothing left but a well-restored subterranean hall with stone faces representing the cultures dominated by the Tiwanaku and a museum of monoliths, but despite its small scale it made for a very informative excursion. Click here for the photos.

DISTANCE TRAVELED SINCE USHUAIA: 18.920KM

Sucre

DSC01880
Originally uploaded by louise_parmenter

I arrived in Sucre, Bolivia´s official capital, knowing that in 6 day´s time the new (and first indiginous) president, Evo Morales, was rumoured to be ´sending´ 10,000 of his coca-growing countrymen to Sucre in retaliation to a recent quite riotous demonstration of the people of Sucre. This demonstration was in reaction to the government´s apparent unwillingness to discuss the possible return of parliament to Sucre while they rewrite the Bolivian Constitution – people of Sucre believe this refusal signals a step away from democracy.

So in this context I presumed I had a day or two in Sucre before things heated up. I was wrong! I spend a peaceful first day wandering this well-preserved Colonial city, which felt more like a little town, with plenty of ladies in traditional dress, everything within walking distance, etc. Early evening I even listened to a folklore concert in the main square before heading off for an early night. At about 11pm the nearby churchbells started ringing continuously (finally stopping a 8am!) which was shortly followed by the sound of chanting demonstrators, bangers exploding and a whole lot of shouting. I spent a sleepless night (even with my ear plugs in) hoping that this demonstration was getting them somewhere. I awoke and discovered from my two Belgian friends that the bangers had in fact been dinamite and tear gas and that full blown riots had been going on right in front of my hostel! The streets were still smoking from the burning tyres located at pretty much every road junction. The town, including the airport, had been blockaded to stop all incoming and outgoing traffic and various locals warned that we might be here for a number of days.

Grabbing the first opportunity to escape that was offered to me, I took a taxi with my two Belgian friends, Tomas and Laurent, towards La Paz. After getting past the blockages we spent 10hours snug and warm in our air-conditioned taxi travelling through altiplano snow blizzards! Here are the photos.

DISTANCE TRAVELED SINCE USHUAIA: 18,200KM

Potosí

Potosí, with San Fransisco Church and the Cerro Rico in the background
Originally uploaded by louise_parmenter

From Uyuni I continued on with the group from my excursion to Potosí. They recommended that I joined them at their hostel, a former convent, which turned out to be one of the nicest places I´ve stayed, in terms of helpful owners, location, amenities and price. Potosí is an attractive town, where the evidence of its former colonial wealth is found in the many beautiful churches and colonial buildings. It was so tranquil that I was happy to spend 4 days there.

The main attraction in Potosí is the Cerro Rico, the mountain where historically (colonial times) the silver mined there made both Bolivia and Spain quite rich, to the detriment of the slaves that mined it, many of which died due to the terrible conditions and poor safety. But times have changed, and silver is still mined there. The miners are by no means slaves, some even make quite a packet depending on their situation and whether the quality, or ´veins´, are good, but the conditions are impressively poor. I know because I entered the mines – I did a tour, fortunately with actual miners as guides. The first thing that affected me was the size of the tunnels, so very narrow and low that bent over double I couldn´t even get through, secondly the smell of sulphur, thirdly the densely dusty air and finally the intense heat once you get further in. Thankfully I don´t suffer from claustrophobia (my mum wouldn´t have been able to do the tour!) but still, the closeness and depth to which we entered, together with all of the other factors mentioned, made for a pretty uncomfortable stay inside the mines.

Another point regarding conditions: legally boys of 15 are allowed to be miners and there are supposedly some 200 minors working for the Cooperative (a law they´re looking to amend, which has its positives and negatives for the mining community. Some of these boys are the only breadwinners in their families). The minors we saw were generally pretty happy down there (apparently after their 12-24hr shifts some miners don´t even want to leave). We first met them outside having their 4-hourly break (which they time based on the moment in which the coca leaves they are ´chewing´ turn bitter. This, apparently, is an almost minute-perfect timer). They were happily drinking their pure alcohol and teasing me about my height – I suppose they already knew what was coming to me. While in the mine two of the guys sped past us in a mining cart, both hanging out of the cart and grinning from ear to ear, cheeks stuffed with leaves. Despite the stories of some big earner miners, I can only say that I would sooner clean toilets than do their job – my back and neck is still suffering from my short experience! We finished the tour by detonating some dynamite outside the mine. Click here to see the pictures, including that of me with the lit dynamite in my hands!

DISTANCE TRAVELED SINCE USHUAIA: 18,035KM

Uyuni Salt Flats and Lagunas

My Jamiroquai jump!
Originally uploaded by louise_parmenter

After literally dragging myself away from Esteban and travelling 1,325km (26hrs) to familiar San Pedro de Atacama I booked myself on an excursion to the coloured lagunas and Uyuni Salt Flats in Bolivia. Despite having left my heart in Santiago I was excited to discover some as yet unknown landscapes and wildlife. The tour took us to the White Laguna (coloured by borax), the Green Laguna (coloured by copper and arsenic) and the flamingo filled Red Laguna (algae) all at between 3,000-4,500m.a.s.l. We spent a freezing night (I without sleep) at a refuge without heating or hot water and then moved on towards the Uyuni Salt Flats; a day of desert landscapes, passing many strange, dalíesque views and formations including the stone tree (see photo). The following day we went to the Salt Flats, and drove across this seemingly never-ending expanse of whiteness, where the white salt meets the perfect blue sky at the horizon. This uniform white and blue environment offered ideal conditions for some pretty funny photos.

Here they are.

DISTANCE TRAVELED SINCE USHUAIA: 17,875KM