Between Uyuni and Argentina - Cochabamba, Santa Cruz, Samaipata and the border

At this point in the trip were were moving fast, which was not our original plan, and we were getting a little Bolivia'd out.  The country is super cool but is also a little tough to get around in and was getting HOT.  We arrived in Cochabamba from Potosi and decided we would just chill out.  We ate a great Korean meal for lunch and then fried chicken for dinner.  The next day we had horrible computer problems and in order not to lose some of our pictures we had to sit at a computer for 8 hours, taking shifts.  It was shite.  That night we saw a movie, Contagion.  Good flick.  Cochabamba doesn´t really have any 'sights' anyways but had a nice feel and decent central square.  A real working town.  It is also the city and region that supports the current president and is strongly pushing for the aforementioned road to go ahead.

À ce point de notre voyage, nous commencions à avoir envie de changement. La Bolivie est un pays très intéressant mais la chaleur et les difficultés de voyagements commençaient à nous énerver. Nous nous sommes donc rendus à Cochabamba pour quelques jours. Nous y avons bien mangé et avons vu un film dans un super cinéma. Nous avons passé une journée d'horreur à minimiser des problèmes d'ordi et de photos, par chance, il pleuvait! Cochabamba n'est pas la ville la plus attrayante côté tourisme mais c'est la région qui soutient la présidence de Morales vous les champs de coca des alentours.

 

The bus station in Cochabamba.  Looks like most of the other ones.  The buses were always on time.  We never had any of the horror stories that some do with regard to overcrowding or the lights going out in the middle of the night on a mountain pass.  The roads were a mix of pavement and gravel.  The gravel ones usually hung to the sides of mountains.



Just about the best thing we saw in Cochabamba - a sign saying ¨put garbage in the garbage¨.  Urban Bolivians have little respect for the environment and as a result most of the country, especially around roads and river banks, is littered with garbage.

Two nights in Cochabamba under our belt we left on a 12 hour day bus for the biggest city in Bolivia, Santa Cruz, which is in Southeast part of the country called the ´Chaco´.  We crossed over a tropical mountain range and the bus was searched twice by counter drug police looking for illegal coca products being smuggled out.  We had our passports checked and Elise´s small backpack was searched.  When we told some people about this, mainly other travelers, they were suspicious as to the sincerity of the attempt.  It is widely known that a large portion of Bolivia´s coca leave production goes to the production of cocaine.  Once we made it into the Chaco proper two things changed almost immediately.  First, there were no more mountains and everything went flat as a pancake.  Second, the farms began to look a lot more prosperous and as we approached Santa Cruz we saw signs of actual industry - at one point there was a tobacco plant, a farm machinery distributer and a milk factor all side by side; this we didn´t see anywhere else in Bolivia.  The province of Santa Cruz has long held a grudge against the rest of Bolivia, especially La Paz, because it is the real economic engine of the country.  There is a strong independence movement in Santa Cruz and the word ¨Autonomia¨ was all over the place, usually alongside the province´s flag without the Bolivian one.  The city is obviously much richer than the rest of the country´s cities and we soon learned it felt like it had more in common with Argentina than it does with Bolivia.  It was cool to see the menonites in their suspenders and meshbacks cruising around the town too.  Santa Cruz was also HOT so we decided to head into the mountains some 100km to the south for a couple of days at Samaipata. 

Samaipata is set in very pretty mountain valleys at about 5,000ft altitude.  Our driver on the way out tried to do a Mario Andretti impression, badly.  He was terrifying.  The place was noticeably cooler.  The town has lots to offer but we were just interested in heading out to the El Fuerte site.  El Fuerte was built around 2000 years ago and is believed to be the furthest west that Amazonian peoples made it.  Nobody really knows what is was for, but the best theory seems to imply a religious site.  The Incans then used it as, essentially, the terminus of their extent into the Amazon from their bases in the Andes mountains.  Then the Spanish used it for a while, not to do much it appears.  The site wasn´t really that mind boggling, especially when it cost about $10 each.  I thought the signifance of what it represented meant something.  However, what was fun, was touring it with a couple of young women from France.  One of them had sailed to Venezuela as crew on a boat, then made her way to Lima where she met the other woman and they bought bikes and were in the midst of riding to Santiago Chile.  We toured the site, then walked the 8km back to town, and then got very drunk drinking beer at a small stand.  Next day we went back to Santa Cruz (in a much safer ride), watched a movie (the one with Anna Farris about ex boyfriends, terrible) and got ready to take an early bus to the border with Argentina the next day.  The most exciting thing that happened in Santa Cruz was that a bank machine ate Elise´s card.  We were later shown that it had expired - you think you think of everything eh?  We had a friend´s address in Buenos Aires and her bank agreed to send it right away.

Après deux nuits à Cochabamba, nous quittons sur un bus de 12 heures pour la plus grande ville de Bolivie, Santa Cruz dans la région surnommée le «Chaco». Nous avons traversé une chaîne de montagnes tropicales et le bus a été fouillé à deux reprises par la police antidrogue recherchant des produits illicites de coca en contrebande. Nos passeports ont été vérifiés et mon petit sac à dos fouillé.  Il est bien connu qu'une grande partie de la production de coca en Bolivie va à la production de cocaïne. Une fois arrivé dans le Chaco deux choses ont immédiatement changées. D'abord, il n'y avait plus de montagnes et tout était plat comme une crêpe. Deuxièmement, les fermes ont commencé à paraitre plus prospères. La province de Santa Cruz a longtemps tenu à rancune le reste de la Bolivie, La Paz en particulier, parce qu'il est le véritable moteur économique du pays. Il y a un mouvement indépendantiste fort à Santa Cruz et le mot "Autonomia" est un peu partout, généralement aux côtés du drapeau de la province bolivienne. La ville est évidemment beaucoup plus riche que le reste des villes du pays et nous avons vite appris qu'elle avait plus en commun avec l'Argentine qu'avec le reste de la Bolivie. C'était cool de voir le menonites dans leurs bretelles, salopettes et chapeau marchant autour de la ville. Comme il faisait de plus en plus chaud à Santa Cruz, nous avons décidé d'aller dans les montagnes à 100 km au sud à Samaipata. 

Samaipata est située dans une vallée a près de 200m d'altitude. L'endroit était sensiblement plus frais. La ville a beaucoup à offrir mais nous étions tout simplement intéressé par le site d'El Fuerte. El Fuerte a été construit il y a envorion 2000 ans. Personne ne sait vraiment pourquoi on a construit un tel site tant à l'est,  mais la meilleure théorie semble expliquer que c'était un site religieux. Le site n'était pas vraiment éblouissant, surtout parce que la visite nous a coûté 10 $ chacun. Nous avons visité le site avec deux françaises très sympatiques et pleines d'aventures et avec qui nous avons trinqués après la marche de retour de 8km. Le lendemain, nous sommes retournés à Santa Cruz, regardés un film et préparés notre départ vers la frontière argentaine. La chose la plus excitante qui est arrivée à Santa Cruz est que le guichet a mangé ma carte bancaire. Nous avions pensé à tout, mais pas à vérifier la date d'expiration de ma carte bancaire.(Merci aux amis d'Argentine, j'ai maintenant ma carte)

In the main square in Santa Cruz.  The sign reads something like ¨Always free, Cruceños (i.e. people from Santa Cruz province) know it¨/Quelques signes d'indépendantisme.

The scenery from El Fuerte, near Samaipata./La vue d'El Fuerte

El Fuerte.  These indents were carved out by the Incas./ Tombeaux où ont plaçaient les momies Incas.

Potosi

After being stuck in Uyuni for one extra night due to a strike we caught a bus to the famous city of Potosi the following day.  Potosi, in my humble opinion, is the most important location in all of the western hemisphere when thinking about european conquest of the continent.  This is all because of the enormous silver mine located there that was discovered by chance by an Incan traveler around 1545, shortly after the Spanish had invaded and conquered Quito and Cusco.  The farmer had made a fire on what is now known as ´Cerro Rico´or ´Rich Hill´ and found silver bubbling at his feet.  When the Spanish discovered this they figured they´d found the pot of silver at the end of the rainbow and began exploiting it quickly with no regard for loss of human life.  Potosi quickly because the richest and biggest city in the Americas, some 100,000 people.  The mine, which is still active though producing much less than in the spanish times, funded spain´s domination of south america for some 270 years, has claimed over 8 million lives and has dropped over 400 meters since first being tapped.  At one point the slaves who worked the mine would do a 4 month shift without seeing the sun.  When they came out they´d have to protect their eyes for a while for fear of going blind.  Think about that next time you want to complain about your job.

Eventually the rich in Bolivia didn´t want to live near Potosi because of the cold and altitude (over 12,000ft) and had their families instead live in Sucre.  Sucre then became, along with Lima, the most prosperous and influential city in south america during spain´s early colonial times.  It was there that the best colonial lawyers and thinkers first thought about becoming independent from Spain in the early 1800s.  It is telling that Bolivia was in fact the last country to gain independence, in 1825, because the mine at Potosi was so important that Spain didn´t want to lose it and in the meantime saw the rest of its South American colonies claim and maintain independence.  It is also ironic that what was once the richest of spain´s south american colonies, with outrageous wealth concentrated in Potosi, Sucre and later La Paz, is now the continent´s poorest country.  The mine´s riches went beyond spain though as many of the pirates of English and Dutch fame preyed on Spanish silver mined at Potosi.  Eventually in the 1800s, when Spain was reeling (partly due to flooding the world´s silver market thus devaluing their precious resource), British and American banks and companies got into the act.  Would Spain have stuck around so long in South America had they not had this mine? 

We took a tour of the mine with a company called ¨The Real Deal¨ tours which is owned and run by a group of young ex miners.  They were hilarious (¨no ´chooky chooky´ tonight you two¨ - Pedro, our guide, meant having sex) - and convincing; Elise was adamant all trip that she wouldn´t go into the mine, but Pedro got her to go in.  I don´t think she´d go back but is happy she did it.  They first took us to the miners quarter of Potosi where we bought gifts for miners - you know the usual stuff like water, juice, cigarettes, coca leaves and DYNAMITE - then to a processing plant where we saw the ore being cleaned out with a multitude of nasty chemicals.  We, including two Dutch fellows we met who are riding bamboo bikes from Barrow Alaska to Ushaia Argentina to raise water awareness (http://www.cycleforwater.com/), were suspicious of where those chemicals actually wound up despite assurances from the guide that the rivers were not being polluted ¨anymore¨.  The guide also had no idea how much money the mine´s owners made and how much the government actually knew about.  From there we went to the working part of the mine, stuping through dark damp tunnels (some of which were 400 years old and being held up by ancient wood supports) and dodging fully loaded carts on flimsy rails.  It was both awe-inspiring and sad to see these workers, most of whom toiled everyday in the mine for very little money and who died early.  Our guide talked with no sadness about how his father had died at 47 and that living to see 50 was considered a good life.  This is because of the constant breathing of dust which causes chronic scoliosis.  Didn´t help that the miners drank like fish too:  ¨When the mind isn´t producing we drink to Tio (god of the mine - down there you don´t pray to Jesus but to Tio because Jesus and God don´t exist in the mines) to keep him happy and when the mine isn´t producing enough we drink more to him to try and make him happy¨.  Before taking a swig of the typical alcohol the two bikers said ¨this is the stuff we cook with¨ and after I drank some I figured my insides were pretty well cooked.  97% booze will do that to you.

Après avoir été coincé à Uyuni pour une nuit supplémentaire en raison d'une grève nous avons pris un bus pour la célèbre ville de Potosi. Potosi est l'endroit le plus important dans tout l'hémisphère occidental lors de la conquête européenne du continent. Et ce à cause du montagne riche en argent qui a été découverte par un Inca en 1545, peu après la conquête de Cusco et Quito par les Espagnols. Le fermier Inca avait fait un feu au sommet du Cerro Rico et l'argent s'était mis à bouillonner sous ses pieds. Les Espagnols ont débuté l'exploitation de la montagne peu après en sacrifiant la vie de plusieurs esclaves et autochtones. Potosi est devenue rapidement la ville la plus riche et la plus grande des Amériques, quelques 100 000 personnes y vivaient. La mine, qui est toujours active, produit beaucoup moins qu'à l'époque lorsqu'elle était financée par la domination espagnole en Amérique du Sud durant près de 270 ans. Elle a fait plus de 8 millions de morts et a chuté de plus de 400 mètres depuis le début de son exploitation. À l'époque, les esclaves travaillaient  dans la mine pour quatre mois sans voir le soleil. Quand ils en sortaient enfin on devait protéger leurs yeux pour un moment de peur qu'ils deviennent aveugle. Pensez-y la prochaine fois que vous voudrez vous plaindre de votre travail!

Les riches en Bolivie n'avaient pas envie de vivre près de Potosi en raison de l'altitude et le froid (plus de 3600m) et ils ont donc installé leur famille à Sucre. Sucre est alors devenue, avec Lima, la ville la plus prospère et influente en Amérique du Sud au début de l'époque coloniale. C'est là que qu'étaient les premiers penseurs indépendantistes ont réfléchie à la séparation de l'Espagne au début des années 1800. Malgré ce fait, la Bolivie fut la dernière colonie à obtenir son indépendance en 1825, les Espagnols ne voulant pas se départir de leur montagne d'argent. Il est également ironique de constater que ce qui était autrefois le plus riche des colonies espagnoles d'Amérique du Sud, avec la richesse concentrée dans Potosi, Sucre et plus tard à La Paz, est maintenant le pays le plus pauvre du continent. Finalement, dans les années 1800, lorsque l'Espagne était ébranlé (en partie à cause de l'effondrement du marché de l'argent dans le monde et la dévaluation de leur précieuse ressource), les banques et entreprises britanniques et américaines ont repris le tout. Croyez-vous que l'Espagne aurait été aussi intéressé à l'Amérique du Sud sans cette mine?
Nous avons fait une visite de la mine avec une compagnie appelée "Le Real Deal · Tours" gérée par un groupe d'ex jeunes mineurs. Ils étaient incroyables (Notre guide Pedro nous a bien avertit la veille d'éviter l'alcool et le chooky, chooky(sexe) pour faciliter notre ascension.) J'avais été catégorique bien avant notre arrivée à Potosi, je ne voualis pas aller dans la mine. Même si je n'y retournerai jamais, j'ai sucomb-e au charme de Pedro et je suis allée dans la mine. Après une visite rapide de l'usine de transformation des métaux, nous sommes allés acheter des cadeaux pour les mineurs, vous savez les trucs habituels comme de l'eau, du jus, des cigarettes, de feuilles de coca et de la dynamite. De là, nous sommes montés à la mine, avons marchés dans des tunnels sombres et humides (dont certains étaient vieux de 400 ans et étaient soutenus par des supports en bois antique) tout en évitant à certains moments de se faire applatir par un chariot chargé de minéraus. Il était à la fois grandiose et triste de voir ces travailleurs, dont la plupart passent plusieurs heures par jour pour ne trouver que très peu d'argent et mourir jeune. Notre guide parlait sans tristesse de la façon dont son père est mort à 47 ans et qu'une vie de 50 ans est considérée comme une bonne vie. C'est à cause de la respiration constante de la poussière qui provoque une scoliose chronique. Ils continuent quand même de prier El Tio, le Dieu de la mine pour la santé et la richesse.

Our guide Pedro explaining the processing operation/Notre guide, Pedro expliquant le processus de transformation.

  

Tio, the god of the mines./ El Tio, Dieu de la mine.



Elise in the mine./Moi dans la mine!

You can barely see the miners for the dust.  Using shovels, carts and dynamite they make very little money and live pretty short lives.  This picture was taken just before a dynamite blast shook our whole tunnel./La poussière est si intense qu'il est difficile de voir les travailleurs à l'oeuvre. Quelques minutes plus tard, une explosion de dynamite nous a fait courrir aux abris.

Evidence of the mineral wealth inside the mine.  Some estimates say there is still 60% of the original mineral content left in the mine. 

Potosi is a very nice place and the main old neighbourhood is as old as Sucre´s and I kind of liked it better - the buildings weren´t as uniform and you could almost see how the place was thrown up to accomodate all the workers and Spanish officials as the mine was developed.  

Potosi est une jolie ville aux allures coloniales comme Sucre.

Downtown Potosi

At this point we had discovered that a friend living in Buenos Aires had scored us tickets to a November 11 Argentina vs. Bolivia world cup qualifying soccer game and also tickets to a huge techno music festival known as Creamfields on November 12.  We had to get a move on at this point to make it there on time and see the ´must sees´ in both Bolivia and northern Argentina.  As a result we only stayed in Potosi one night and headed on a night bus to Cochabamba (yes, it is called that).

Nous ne nous sommes pas éternisés dans la région parce qu'un ami rencontré à Sucre et vivant à Buenos Aires pour quelques temps nous a eu des billets pour un match de soccer et un Festival Techno. Nos jours en Bolivie étaient maintenant comptés.

La Paz during an election day and our trip south to Tupiza/La Paz lors d'une journée d'élection et Tupiza

After Rurrenabaque and another hair raising flight (there´s something even more sinister about turbulence over jagged peaks) we arrived in La Paz to arrange our trip south to the Salar de Uyuni.  We hit a bit of a snag though - the national election for the legislators was two days away and the entire country, everything, shuts down for these types of events.  We´re still not clear on who exactly was being elected because it wasn´t the president nor his cabinet.  We figured it might actually have been the country´s supreme court and other ´law maker´ types.  In any event La Paz was facinating during the election day because not even cars were allowed to drive around.  What is usually a snarling mess of pollution, traffic and noise, with sidewalks covered by vendors of everything you can think of, became a fairly quiet and pleasant place.  Kids played soccer in the middle of the road and families picknicked in the city´s various plazas.  Even the normally oppresive pollution wasn´t so bad.  La Paz is the highest national capital in the world, sitting at something like 8000ft.  It is mind boggling to look at on first arrival because it is built where a city shouldn´t be built, clinging to the sides of a steep valley with some large Andes peaks as its backdrop.  We wondered how cars or plumbing made it to some of the places higher up.  Also, the rich in La Paz don´t live high up like in most western cities but lower down because its easier to move around at the lower altitude.  This high every meter counts.   We spent the day walking around and repeatedly saying things like ¨La Paz isn´t so bad, when there aren´t any cars or people around¨. 

We saw the outside of the parliament and president´s residence and then continued on to the main cathedral where the road protesters (read a previous post to understand) were positioned.  A journalist told us that the UN was perhaps going to come and hear them plead their case.  He also told us he was jailed for 3 months for making films about the plight of the people who will be affected by the road.  We continued on to the San Pedro prison.  This prison is famous for the fact that prisoners inside actually pay their own accomodation (up to $20,000 for nice digs) and can buy day passes to see family and friends.  We met an American inmate, done in for cocaine possession 12 years ago, who was due to leave in a few weeks and was being let out daily to ´re integrate with society´.  This guy was high off his mind, making it clear that cocaine was pretty easy to come by inside.  The prison, which is an old spanish fort, used to let tourists in for tours until residents of a formal southern hemisphere penal colony started abusing the visits to buy cheap cocaine (Aussies, eh?).  This of course could all be lies told to us to get a few Bolivianos out of us, but I found it entertaining.  Elise I think had other thoughts (aka GET ME OUTTA HERE!).  At least she could watch the prisoners kids playing soccer in the plaza right in front of the jail...awe, how sweet.  What?! Next day we were off to Oruro on the bus.  Unfortunately we don´t have too many great pictures of La Paz to put on the blog right now because we don´t have the small camera with us. 

Oruro.  Not much to say about it.  Not super nice for a visit.  The outskirts look like a town that was destroyed by bombs.  The inner city was alright, but the only reason we were there was to wait for the train to Tupiza and the country´s southwest.  The hotel was awful, really awful.  The food was good, we ate well. 

Après un autre vol mouvementé de Rurrenabaque nous sommes arrivés à La Paz pour organiser notre voyage vers le Salar d'Uyuni. Petit problème dans nos préparatifs, l'élection nationale des juges  était dans deux jours ce qui signifiait que tout allait s'arrêter pour l'événement. La Paz fut fascinant durant cette journée .Seules les voitures autorisées pouvaient conduire autour de la ville pour aider les gens à aller vote . La ville, qui est habituellement un vrai désordre, beaucoup de pollution, la circulation et du bruit, les trottoirs couverts par les vendeurs de tout ce que vous pouvez imaginer, est devenue un endroit calme et agréable. Les enfants jouaient au soccer dans le milieu de la rue. Même la pollution normalement intense n'était pas si mal. Je n'ai pas eu à marcher avec mon foulard sur le visage. La Paz est la plus haute capitale nationale dans le monde, 3600m. C'est une ville construite dans une vallée entourée des picsa enneigés des Andes.  Les riches vivent au bas de la vallée et plus on est pauvre, plus on doit monter pour rentrer à la maison. Nous avons passé la journée à marcher en se disant que " La Paz n'est pas si mal, quand il n'y a pas de voitures ou trop de personnes dans les rues".

Oruro. Pas grand chose à dire à ce sujet. Pas super agréable pour une visite. Nous avons du y séjourner pour attendre notre train à Tupiza. L'hôtel était horrible, vraiment horrible. La nourriture était bonne, nous avons bien mangé. 

Oruro.  At this altitude you should appreciate what we went through to get this shot./Pas grand chose à dire, mais quelques images.

Getting into miners country./Pays des mineurs.

And seeing what miners generally think of President Evo Morales/Les opinions sont partagées face au Président Morales.

Finally we caught a rolling train (the only regular passenger train still functioning in Bolivia, with the exception of a once weekly trip to Chile) from Oruro to Tupiza, via Uyuni.  We left at night and didn´t really see much until the next morning when we arrived in the country around Tupiza.  I was distracted from the scenery by the movie we were watching, "Terrible Boses", especially the parts where references to "poor Bolivians"are made.  To be honest, the Bolivians on the train thought it pretty funny.  I thought the movie was hilarious and can´t wait to see it in English. 

Tupiza itself was a very cool place, nestled between a river and red mountains in the background.  The town has a definite tourist feel, largely because the tours for the Salar de Uyuni can start from there.  We met a french canadian couple (Sam and Kim) and the four of us made arrangements for a 4 day 4x4 tour through the Salar starting two days later.  The following day the four of us went on a guided 5 hour horse riding trek through some of Tupiza´s surrounding countryside.  It was good fun.  They gave us cowboy hats, leg protectors, horses that would not veer from the trail at all, a good lunch and a seriously hungover guide.  This guy slept every chance he had.  He told us he woke up at 5 am but we´re pretty sure he went to bed then.  Despite the sore asses it was a good way to spend a day.  Made the beers later taste all the much better. 

Enfin nous avons pris un train d'Oruro à Tupiza, via Uyuni. Tupiza était un endroit très cool, niché entre une rivière et des montagnes rouges. La ville est assez touristique , en grande partie parce que les tours pour le Salar de Uyuni peuvent commencer de là. Nous avons rencontré un couple de Québécois (Sam et Kim) en sortant du train et nous avons organisés ensemble notre tour de 4 jours en 4x4 dans le Salar. Le jour suivant, nous sommes allés faire du cheval pendant 5 heures  à travers les paysages entourant Tupiza. C'était très amusant. Ils nous ont donné des chapeaux de cow-boy, des protège-jambes, des chevaux têtus, un bon lunch et un guide avec une sérieuse gueule de bois. Le pauvre dormait à  toutes les chances qu'il avait. Il nous dit qu'il s'était réveillé à 5 heures, mais nous croyons que c'était plutôt l'heure à laquelle il s'était couché.  Malgré cela et le mal de fesses, encore une fois, que de beaux paysages.

Here are some pictures:

Our guide keeping a close eye on things./Notre guide:)

Bolivian Amazon and Madidi National Park

We met a couple of Mancs (Brits from Manchester), Aaron and Laura, while studying in Sucre and had agreed to meet them in early October in La Paz to organize a trip to Rurrenabaque in the Bolivian Amazon jungle.  We did just that and spent one night in La Paz (where I managed to tell lots of medical people that I actually had malaria, when all I wanted were prevention tablets-cost me about 1/10 of what they do at home).  We took an incredible 30 minute flight which saw us leave La Paz at 14´C, fly right over the snow covered Andes mountains (I had visions of the move Alive going through my head - who would I eat first?) and land in Rurrenabaque´s jungle landscape at 36´C and opressive humidity.  We spent one night there having cold beers, playing hilarious games of pool and exploring this very laid back town.  I really liked it, reminded me of southeast Asia with all the scooters and flipflop wearing locals.  We arranged a trip to Chalalan Eco Lodge which is the only tourism operation in the middle of Madidi National Park, which was created in the mid 1990s.  Although logging still occurs it isn´t nearly as widespread as it once was.  A National Geographic article stated that Madidi was the most biodiverse place on the planet, encompassing Andes mountains straight down to the jungle, where we were to spend 4 days.  Instead of describing each day in detail just trust me that it was full of hiking, sweating, seeing a whole bunch of animals (monkeys, wild pigs, wild dogs, all sorts of birds, frogs that Laura and I couldn´t quite catch) and of course too many insects, including some that could kill you.  You know its dangerous when the guide sees a spider and jumps back 5 feet.  It was especially disconcerting at night when we had to be all locked up in our mosquito nets only to be woken up by the incredibly loud roar of a howler monkey each morning (I thought there was a dragon outside the window).  Going for a midnight pee wasn´t a relaxing experience (just ask Elise, who had a frog jump on her mid push).  Needless to say though it was gorgeous and again it felt good to help out local people - the lodge is entirely owned and run by the community of San José de Uchupiamonas.  All of the guides (ours was named Rodrigo and Aaron was fond of asking him if, well, EVERYTHING was ´peligroso´ which means ´dangerous´), cooks, boat drivers (we went up the Beni and Tuichi rivers for 5 hours to get there) and housekeeping staff are all from the community.  Rodrigo was going to La Paz shortly after our visit to learn more english. 

Nous avons rencontré un couple d'Anglais de Manchester, Aaron et Laura, avec qui nous avions étudié à Sucre et avions accepté de les rencontrer au début Octobre à La Paz pour organiser un voyage à Rurrenabaque dans la jungle de l'Amazonie bolivienne. Nous avons volé de Sucre à La Paz pour les rejoindre et planifier notre voyage. Nous avons pris un vol incroyable de 30 minutes qui nous transporter de La Paz, 14ºC à Rurrenabaque à 36ºC et tout ça en survolant les Andes et en m'imaginat le film "Alive". Nous avons passé la nuit à boire des bières froides, jouer au pool et explorer cette ville à l'atmosphère très relaxe.  Nous avons organisé un voyage à Chalalan EcoLodge, qui est le seul lodge en opération dans le Parc National Madidi. Il a été au milieu des années 1990. Un article du National Geographic a déclaré que Madidi est l'endroit le plus riche en biodiversité sur la planète, des  Andes au bas de la jungle.  Nous y avons passé 4 jours. Mike inclue quelques extraits de nos aventures dans la jungle mais croyez-moi, ce sera beaucoup drôle quand je vous mimerai le tout. Conclusion de notre visite : "On est vraiment bien dans notre Nord gelé plus de 8 mois par année!"

Entering the park/Entrée du parc

No idea what it is called but it made a lot of noise/Moi je sais que ces oiseaux sont des "Serere"!

Squirrel monkey - we saw them every evening, hopping from tree to tree surrounding a lake in front of the lodge.  They were usually accompanied by capuchin monkeys too, harder to see./Les singes écureuils qui voyageaient chaque soir d'arbre en arbre devant notre lodge. Quel spectacle!

This one isn´t poisenous, but some are.  Luckily none of the many that came into our cabin were.  /Ça c'est la cousine de la grenouille qui m'a attaqué en pleine nuit lors de mon pipi nocturne.

This guy could almost kill you... and Aaron almost stepped on it wearing his flip flops.  The guides tried to get rid of it by throwing rocks at it!/ Une araignée trop grande à mon goût et qui aurait pu nous faire mal. 

This guy went right over my foot.  One guide said he wasn´t poisenous, the other said he was.  Luckily he didn´t bite me./Une autre créature capable de tuer. En fait, les guides ne pouvaient pas s'entendre. Charmant, non?

Overall I´d say we aren´t jungle people.  It was great to experience it, and we´ll probably go back in Ecuador or Peru, but it was super hot, humid and I felt clostrophobic.  There were hardly ever any long views, instead you were looking at trees 3 feet away all the time.  During one hike Rodrigo held up his hand and told us to be quite.  Within a minute we were completely surrounded by wild pigs that have been known to eat people.  We could hear and smell them, but barely see them, just dark shapes moving behind the trees just a couple of arm lengths away.  Yeah, give me windswept tundra over this any day really.

After coming back to Rurrenabaque we said goodbye to Aaron and Laura, who were on their way to Lake Titicaca (yes, it´s actually called that) and Peru while we were headed south to Tupiza and the Salar de Uyuni.  Our last day in Rurre we spent golfing at a as of yet unfinished golf course that had horses grazing on it.  The owners are a scottish woman and her Bolivian/American husband.  I´ve never golfed in the jungle before.  We needed two caddies - one to carry the (rather old) clubs and another to keep track of the ball.  They didn´t want us tourists heading into the jungle to get bit by a snake or something!

Elise in the ´fairway´ in Rurrenabaque

Chalalan was a very nice place to spend 4 days./Malgré tout, Chalalan est un endroit inoubliable où nous avons  eu beaucoup de plaisir pendant 4 jours.



A trek in the area surrounding Sucre (October 1 to October 4)/Le trek autour de Sucre

Almost straight after we finished three weeks of school we headed out on a 4 day trek to the Maragua Crater, organised by Condor Tours.  Sucre isn´t really known for its trekking, especially compared to the opportunities in the Andes and the Amazon, however we were very happy that we did it.  It was like walking through a geography textbook, seeing the rock formations, different types of minerals, gouged out river valleys and fantastic scenery in general.  It wasn´t very easy as we were walking around 11,000ft for most of it carrying our packs full of food and gear for our group.  Gasping and resting were normal daily events.  At least we had lots of time to snooze at lunch.  We were 6 in total.  Us two, plus two more paying participants including a Swiss granny who we think turned out to be part mountain goat as she jumped from boulder to boulder and at one point said a bike ride from Switzerland to the Mediterranean sea ¨wasn´t that far¨ (at first we were glad to see her, thinking that we might not be the ones to slow the group down.  Sadly, we were mistaken).  The other member of our group was Tom from England, a guy who took pride in killing his body and pushed as hard as he could.  Those two travelled with our Bolivian guide (David), who kept their pace and better despite carrying about 100lbs of stuff.  With us was a Canadian volunteer (Torrence) who was very happy to meander, take pictures and talk about home as he hadn´t been there in about 8 months: "most Canadian travelers, I´ve discovered, don´t vote for Harper". / Très rapidement après avoir fini nos cours d'espagnol à Sucre, nous nous sommes embarqués dans un trek de 4 jours dans la région. Nous allions enfin pouvoir sortir de la ville et découvrir le peuple bolivien. Sucre n'est pas reconnu pour ses randonnées, surtout par rapport aux opportunités qu'offrent les Andes et l'Amazonie,mais nous avons été très heureux de faire ce voyage. Ça n'a pas été facile de marcher environ 8h par jour à une altitude moyenne de 3500 m avec beaucoup de pauses pour reprendre notre souffle.

Nous étions six en tout. Nous et 2 autres deux participants, dont une mamie suisse qui s'est avérée être la chèvre de montagne du groupe (au début, nous étions contents de la voir, pensant qu'il y aurait plus lent que nous . Quelle erreur!). L'autre membre de notre groupe était Tom d'Angleterre. Ces deux voyageaient avec notre guide bolivien (David),qui ont conservé leur rythme et en transportant environ 100lbs de trucs sur son dos. Le bénévole canadien (Torrence) était très heureux de devoir nous suivre et prendre des photos et parler de la maison lui qui était en voyage depuis 8 mois. "la plupart des voyageurs canadiens, j'ai découvert, n'ont pas voter pour Harper ».

Bref, quelle belle expérience! Je suis très fière de moi et de Mike. Celui-ci vous donne encore une fois plus de détails en anglais. Désolé les francos, je paraisse! (Puis je trouve que Mike a TELLEMENT une belle plume!)

The first day of the trek had us up at 4:00am to catch a two hour bus up a mountain ridge to the start of the trek.  We wound our way from there down into a steep sided river valley before settling in for the night at a basic ´hospedeja´.  The colours and definition just jumped out at you. While the going was tough the scenery more than made up for it.  

Before the decent on the first day./C'est le premier jour!

Also on the first day we saw two locations where ancient aboriginal drawings had been made, some thought to be over 2000 years old. 

On the second day we travelled along a river valley for most of the morning which was shouldered by copper and iron rich mountains.  Eventually we began a climb into the Maragua Crater itself, but not before having lunch beside a waterfall that we also showered in.  The crater is a result of a combination of two causes: two mountain ranges, both part of the bigger foothills of the Andes, pushing on each other and, erosion - it used to all be part of a sea and shells can still be found in it.  The crater is enormous, some 2km from side to side and houses two villages.  Reaching the village of Irupampa near sunset we were treated to a wonderful sky...and a warm half a beer.  We´d found out that a previous group had come along with bottles of wine and whiskey, only to have the guides carry more of their gear.  Aussies eh, go figure.  We weren´t similarly weighted down and appreciated the beer.

                                     

Our second night, in the Maragua Crater itself.  /2e nuit dans le cratère de Managua.

It was also very interesting to see that the local people, who all speak Quechua as a first language and spanish next, were having a meeting in our hospedaje to discuss whether or not to support the development of a cement making plant near their village in the crater.  The debate centered around very similar lines to those in Canada - jobs and money vs. loss of cultuer, environment and increased social pressures.  We´ll be very interested to see if the plant project goes ahead and the eventual paved road comes through - currently the only access is via a very poor dirt road.

On day three we had to climb out of the crater and I´m sure there are remains of dead tourists on its sides because it was f**king hard.  Straight up, under blazing sun at 11,000ft is not a great way to wake up in the morning.  And it also turned out to be the longest day at just under 20km of walking.  Poor Elise had serious blisters but never complained once.  Even Granny was impressed.  Shortly after making it out of the crater we stopped at a set of dinosaur prints that were discovered after an earthquake removed the topsoil about 20 years ago.  Very impressive to see how big these animals must have been, but also pretty sad to see that eventually these prints will dissappear or be destroyed because of lack of conservation.

We stopped for lunch at a school seemingly in the middle of nowhere with absolutely no road access.  The kids come from the surrounding countryside and the parents take turns making food for lunch.  There were about 60 kids there and the parents receive a subsidy from the government if their children have decent attendance.  The subsidy is roughly 500 Bolivianos a year, or about $80 Canadian dollars, and is hugely important for these poor farmers.  This doesn´t mean the kids are nice though.  We played soccer with them and were routinely pelted with the ball.  Elise was mobbed when taking video of us playing.  Final score:  children 6, tourists 1.  Mike scored our lone goal though, to the englishman´s embarrassment.

That night we camped in tents next to a river so contaminated by the run-off from the Potosi region´s mines that local people won´t let their animals drink from it.  Water is a huge problem in Bolivia, even though it shouldn´t be. Mis management and corruption are the biggest culprits - why be environmentally responsible when you can just pay off the clerk for a permit?  We were promised a hot springs at the end of the day, which turned out to be a SCORCHING springs, and not very nice full of green algae.  That night we slept pretty well on the river side´s soft sand!

The fourth day we didn´t trek at all but instead took a cattle truck for 6 hours back to Sucre, packed with locals that we picked up and dropped off along the way.  While not always the safest feeling ride ¨how does it feel knowing you´re one break cable snapping from certain death?¨ (thanks for that Tom) it was a gorgeous day and a great way to see how absolutely poor this country really is.  We passed villages that didn´t have electricity, where the houses were made of brown mud bricks and where little ladies carried enormous bags full of onions or whatever else they were selling to Sucre.  After a very bumpy ride we were happy to be back in Sucre at Casa Verde, showered and ready for a meal with our fellow trekkers. 

All in all it was a fantastic experience.  Condor Trekkers try and give back to the local villages through efforts like giving tooth brushes to kids and promoting small scale tourism.  It felt good to have seen the countryside, be in a little better shape and know that our dollars might help this pretty poor part of the world out.

On the truck going back to Sucre./Voyage de retour à Sucre.