So, this one’s a long one. I tried to be brief, but have tried to cram in
almost a month of travel...
Last I wrote we were still in BA, having the time of our lives. We once
again stayed a little longer than we meant to, but eventually got on a bus
straight to Bolivia. Slighty sad about missing more of northern Argentina, but
based on my whole stolen passport thing, also happy to not go back at this
point.
The bus we booked claimed to go straight to Villazon, southern Bolivia.
However, after 28 hours on the bus, once in la Quiaca (northern Argentina) we
were told to get off the bus and walk a number of blocks to the border, to
cross on foot and then find another bus station. And, based on the fact that
they hadn´t provided meals on the bus for over 15 hours I was a little grumpy to
say the least! But, we made it over then hopped on a colourful crowded bus to
Tupiza.
And Tupiza was everything they said it would be - dusty, dry, very wild
west! And surrounded by more beautiful Quebradas. We were pretty excited for
the next day where we were going to tackle the 18km walk through said Quebradas
on our own. So, we got up bright and early and headed off, with no map of
course. After several false starts, we eventually found what we thought was a
path. It was a little dodgy feeling, no sign posts, garbage strewn everywhere,
very `alone` feeling. After passing a massive garbage dump, a cemetery and
running out of water while the very unforgiving sun beat down on us we gave up
and headed back into town with our tails between our legs. But, to our fortune,
a few hours later we ran into a lovely New Zealand couple who had done the
horse back riding version that day and highly recommended it. So - we booked a
guide!
The next morning we showed up at the office only to have the fella who
booked us the trip say `small favour por favor? The horses have run
away, can you come back in an hour!` Fortunately they reappeared and an
hour later we were on our way. It was just the two of us and our guide who
must´ve been all of 16. Neither of us had ridden horses for about 15 years and
without any instruction whatsoever, our horses started trotting along. For the
next 5 hours we walked, trotted and I think cantered through canyons, across
desert, up and down hills and it was magnificent! And doing the whole thing on
horse back absolutely MADE the whole experience!
A few hours later we were on an overnight train to Oruro, having heard
that the train was the way to go. Note to anyone in Bolivia, as terrrrrrribe as
the buses are - the train was worse! It was freezing cold, the `calunkalunka`
sounds felt as though someone was kicking the back of my seat and it was
just impossible. Neither of us got any sleep that night and when we arrived in
Uroro at 6am, we were little grumpy icicles...
We hopped on our next bus to Cochabamba where we were going to stay for the
night before heading off to volunteer for two weeks. Only to find out upon
arrival that the volunteer site was full! Ack! So, over dinner we changed plans
yet again. The 3rd site that Inta Wara Yasi had just set up was in need of
construction help, with only a 3 day minimum, just outside of Rurrenabaque. So,
we hopped on the next bus to LaPaz and booked the 45 minute plane ride to
Rurre. Best plane ride of life - skimming across snow capped mountains, then
landing amidst lush jungle on a runway made of grass!
And, ahhhh Rurre. I have left a piece of my heart there as well. Apparently
I love little jungle towns. There´s something about the attitude, the humidity,
the lush greenness of it all that just agrees with me. But, we didn´t stay as
the volunteer site was a little ways away. We had to take a wee wooden boat
across the river to the `bus stand` which was a little shack where we had to
wait for all the seats to fill in our 14 seat minivan before leaving (no official
departure times - amazing!). So, after about an hour we piled into said van
with luggage and chickens and started off on a crazy bumpy road full of puddles
(well, mini lakes really), potholes and dust. But the scenery was breathtaking;
huge trees, cattle, beautiful flowers and birds. Le sigh.
And we finally arrived at Inta wara yasi´s newest park: Jacj Cuisi. We were
greeted by beautiful butterflies in red, purples and white and a lovely kid
from Denmark who showed us in. And wow were they not kidding about `basic`!
There was a 12 bed dorm with no door, rickety bunk beds and `mattresses` made
from straw and canvass. The bathroom was a little bamboo hut around the corner
and due to a gas shortage in Bolivia all meals were cooked over an open fire
outside. Oh, and no shower - but bathing in the river with butterflies which is
something else entirely! What else? Giant spiders, a wild puma that had been
tracking the two who lived at the site and a coral snake spotted outside the
dorm the night before! Equally terrifying and exciting! Actually, mostly
terrifying. As mentioned before I have an irrational fear of pumas and Helen´s
scared of spiders (And doesn´t like humidity), so it was going to be trying,
that was for sure.
Strangely though, it wasn´t that bad in the least, despite my fears. I think
jungle life agrees with me and hope one day in the future to go back and
volunteer for a rather extended period of time. So, what did we do? The
majority of our days were spent hauling rocks in a canvass sack uphill in the
middle of the jungle. Oh, the sweat...It was a beautiful walk though, as we
went up and down hills, through rivers and creeks with monkeys chattering away
overhead and god knows what else around. The path also happened to pass through
Lishoo`s daily walking path (one of the puma`s), so we were on constant look
out for him and the volunteers. We were told it was unlikely that we´d run into
him, but on our last day, we did. About 5 meters from where we were loading our
sacks we heard a sound and so called out `hola Lishoo` as we were told to do.
And there he was. So large, so magnificent, so less terrifying than I had been
expecting. We stood our ground for a few minutes as he sniffed us out and then
the two volunteers walking him told us to carry on our way. Phew! What else? We
learned how to use machetes; cutting a path to the new watering hole, chopping
fire wood and seeking out an ants nest (and then lighting it on fire - crazy!).
We helped ´fix´ the bathroom, build a bus shelter and...I think that was about
it. It was a blast and I was definitely sad to leave. But when we left, we
managed to hitch a ride on the top of a truck full of gardening equipment which
was definitely another highlight!
Back in Rurre we ran into Sophie, a lovely British girl we´ve been bumping
into since Cafayate. She had just got back from a 3 day Pampas tour which she
highly recommended. The price was right, so before we knew it we were in a
cramped minivan with a broken windshield in the pouring rain heading out to
Madidi National Park. As we arrived the sun came out and we hopped into a crazy
little boat to take us to our lodge for the next few nights. It was adorable!
As was our group. There were 8 of us, and this was Helen and I´s first group
tour and we definitely lucked out, in terms of the people in the group and our
guide. The next three days were spent exploring the pampas looking for
anacondas (none seen), one unfortunate incident involving me falling into a
massive puddle of stinky, muddy swamp water, seeing a rattle snake, jaguar
tracks(!), many sorts of monkeys, beautiful birds, capybaras and crocodiles
EVERYWHERE!
After 3 fun filled days we went back to Rurre to take the (highly UN
recommended) bus back to LaPaz. It´s notorious for being a little dangerous,
particularly bumpy and not too reliable. But, I´ve got to say despite one major
bump that resulted in Helen getting the biggest bruise of
life and the bus breaking down in the middle of nowhere for three
hours it was pretty uneventful and we arrived back in LaPaz safe and sound only
to hop straight on another bus to Coroico.
We had heard lovely things about Coroico and the surrounding area and were
quite excited to arrive. Unfortunately we booked ourselves in the WORST hostel
of our trip; shattered glass doors, a massive hole in the wall of the bathroom
that was full of garbage and bed frames made of metal and cardboard. Ugh. But
the next day we went on a lovely guided tour with a fella named Camillo. His English
was very basic, so the next 5 hours were spent hiking around and chatting in
Spanish. It really hit home how much of the language we’d been able to pick up,
what a great feeling! We learnt all about the local plants and animals,
political situation, farming, etc. – very educational and also full of stunning
scenery. We arrived at some beautiful waterfalls at the bottom of a huge jungle
valley. Camillo let us relax on our own for a bit and Helen had the genius idea
of stripping down and swimming under the falls. It was COLD, but absolutely
wonderful and helped cool us off for the rather strenuous walk back up the
valley. We switched hostels that night and had a relaxing evening at what
turned out to be the best hostel of the entire trip, complete with a lovely,
local breakfast in the morning.
We then headed back to LaPaz for one more night before making our way to
Cuzco, Peru. Our last major stop before heading home.
The bus ride to Cuzco was yet again, another adventure. We boarded a huge
bus to Copacabana, where we were transferred to a minivan to get us to the
border. At the border we were supposed to join another bus, but once arriving
found out that it was full! So, there were about 14 of us, stranded at the
Bolivia/Peru border, 10pm, freezing cold, our tickets gone with some lady who
had disappeared in a taxi to find us an alternate route, laughing our asses
off. Luckily an hour later another minivan appeared and minus the brief stop
where someone had lit a fire across the highway we arrived in Cuzco safe and
sound at 4am.
Cuzco was as delightful as I remember; crazy cobble stone streets, lovely
architecture, cheap drinks and even cheaper markets. We explored a bit, then
had an early night as we were leaving on our 4 day jungle trek to Machu Pichu
the next day.
And what a blast that was. Our second ‘group tour’. And although the actual
group wasn’t as delightful, our guide made up for it and we were incredibly
free to go at our own pace for the majority of the 4 days.
Day one was mountain biking down a gorgeous valley. Turns out I’m a big fan
of mountain biking too, so four hours of going down a crazy steep, windy road
was pure heaven. We covered a fair bit of ground that day and ended up in a
tiny little town where we had a lovely dinner, got to try Chicha, the local
corn brewed beer (pink as they’d added strawberries to it) and watched an event
at the football field that was being held for the local kids. And then slept
like a baby.
Day two was definitely the most strenuous. Breaks included, we were on the
go for just over 10 hours walking up and down steep hills, through jungle, up
and down ancient Incan stone paths with a beautiful clear blue sky above us and
perfectly comfortable temperature.
Day three was more walking, but mostly along the train track that goes from
Cusco to Aguas Calientes. Again, breathtaking scenery, lots of beautiful plants
and birds, waterfalls and rapids, and seeing the outer ruins of Machu Pichu
looming over us from the surrounding mountain. That night over dinner our guide
offered us the option of walking up the mountain at 4am to get to Machu Pichu
for sunrise, or taking the bus. Out of our group of 8, Helen and I were the
only ones who opted to walk!
So, 4am the next morning we packed our day pack and started out in the pitch
black. We were told that there would be plenty of people to follow, but we must’ve
been a ways behind them as it was just the two of us, with our little
flashlights attempting to find our way. We eventually caught up with a few as
we reached the bottom of the mountain. And what a walk. Bloody hell! For an
hour, we went straight up steep stone steps curving back and forth. Thank god
it was dark as I can’t even begin trying to imagine walking up that in the
heat! We were blessed with a fair bit of energy that morning though, and so
just booted it up the hill feeling quite chuffed with ourselves.
Once up there we were among the first to get entrance into Machu Pichu and
it was even more stunning than I remember. I must say that I feel incredibly
blessed to have seen it twice in my lifetime. Helen and I were both feeling a
little emotional due to a) the sacredness of the place and b) the fact that our
trip really was coming to an end So, we spent a while wandering, thinking,
reflecting on the trip and enjoying the beauty of it all. We took a break in a
little field and napped and then early in the afternoon we made our way back
down.
We hopped on the train that night back to Cusco for one last day before
going back to Lima. The next day I was just done. Couldn’t tell if I was sick, exhausted
from the previous 4 days or my body was protesting the fact that we were
returning to Canada so soon. Luckily it passed though and we hopped on our last
bus to Lima, had a great little time in Cusco and left for the airport.
And that’s that. Almost three months of travel summarised in this wee blog
and Helen and I are both back in Canada trying to figure out what comes next. Hands
down the best trip of my life thus far, and not nearly long enough. I’m excited
about heading back to South America as soon as the funds allow. And hope to
travel with Helen again someday as she’s the best travel partner of life!
