So I haven´t written in a while. At first because in Sucre I was sick of declaring myself sick... That darn dog bitereally stuffed me around. I luckily only had 3 more independant days of whole night vomitting sessions. I am happy to report, all in different locations in Bolivia and on different weeks to keep things interesting. The second reason, and the main one was that when I finally felt I had something to report, I wasn´t able to log back into this here blog. Maybe my lack of Spanish, I probably locked myself out somehow.
So that brings me to now, what am I doing? & what have I been upto?
Well, I´ve had a few ups and downs this last month. Happily more ups, and things look ups in general again now. It was just over a month ago when I extended my ticket from July to September. I got the OK from my girl, but should have really thought what I was asking of her. I figured "whats another 9 weeks?" Well, 2 weeks later I had a very upset and hurt girlfriend. Without getting too detailed about my personal life, she wasn´t happy Jan!! Let´s just say it was the scary kind of talk, that I don´t fancy myself wanting to have again too soon. She was right too, if she said No to the extention, she´d be seen as holding me back. Yet Yes meant she would be 9 more weeks without me, waiting. And where did my priorities lie? I made the tough decision to pay the disgusting amount the airline required for my second change of ticket, and now I´m returning 5 weeks earlier that the newer flight and 4 weeks extended from my orginal ticket. I also will be coming home with the promise I wont feel bad for not staying longer, and I wont. The little shake up reminded me of what I have back home, and now I´m actually excited about my return in Mid August.
So what am I doing now? Well, I´m in Coroico in the Yungas (beginning of the Amazon, 4 hours local bus from La Paz) eating half a frozen banana on a paddlepop stick, and on my 3rd Chuchuwasi (a local drink, better with Sprite) after a night of camping in the Jungle by myself, and a day of soaking up this beautiful sunshine. I´ve done a lot of trekking up and down hills today, this frozen banana and rather strong drink is heaven. At least here is only 2000metres above sealevel, La Paz is 4000+ in Altitude. It´s done one good thing for me though, with my huffing and my puffing up and down the hills - I´ve officially QUIT SMOKING!! I had to admit to myself I really smoked first, and after that very cigarette as an actual smoker, I quit!! I´ve been hanging out with this great girl from New Zealand that I met in Mendoza, Argentina while she was on her bicycle tour of the south of South America. She´s giving La Paz a month, studying & working in an Orphanage, so she got herself a cool little pad. My Thermomat (travel mattress) has been laid out there all this week. Have I mentioned, I´m supposed to be in Peru well and truely by now? I got kind of trapped here. ALL the boarders, road, on foot and by boat are closed on the Peru side due to political protests. So my only choice is to fly. Obviously the flights fill quick when its your only choice, so now I´m here until Wednesday morning. I can´t honestly say I´m sad that I haven´t left Bolivia yet. It´s really hit me hard in the heart, quite severely. I should probably fill you in, as last time you heard I was being killed here by Mountains falling around me, a dog biting me with rabies and then the major allergic reaction to the vaccine (photos of my pretty watermelon face to come soon). So even with all that, I never missed a day at school with my lovely Profesora Patricia, 4 hours private Spanish lessons a day - apparently I´d learnt all the rules for "Presente". Great if I never want to talk about Yesterday, or anything that happened in the past, or could happen in the future.
So I finished up my homestay, and 3 weeks of intense Spanish classes, going from Nada to something, I left for La Paz on an overnight bus. In La Paz I tried my first successful "couchsurfing" there I decided I´d check out the Amazon and see if I could try a little volunteering there too. So it was on the local bus to Rurrenabaque that I took at least 29 years off my life. 27 hours of my heart in my throat. I have never believed with so much conviction, that I was about to die in my life. Never as long as I shall live, will I ever do that road, by bus especially again.... Never, Nunca, No friggen way!! It´s not named the "World´s Most Dangerous Road" for nothing. I only heard the very most dangerous part was closed, and now is only for tourist wanting to ride down on Mountainbikes, I had no idea the bus still used the rest of it! It was actually only about 18 hours of holding my breath, the other 9 hours were of major discomfort. After thanking every God I could think of for letting me live through that ordeal, I set off to find the volunteering camp on the otherside of the river. After two unsuccessful attempts, I did what any good Gringa would do in "Rurre", I booked a PAMPAS tour. I know its touristy, but I did look for a company that seemed Ecofriendly and the what I believe to be the most sustainable option.... And to be perfectly honest, I had a brilliant time! Had a really fun group, if not just a little bit noisy for seeing the shy animals. But all in all amazing place, and great guide. I swam with Pink Dolphins, that are really more grey on the top. Went piranha fishing [warning, about to gloat] After a slow start I ended up a Piranha catching natural. Caught 13 little flesh-eaters and 2 regular river fish. Even got to keep the big piranhas for our dinner... Delicious!! Went for night time boat rides with our torches, searching and finding hundreds of yellow & red shinny eyes, alligator eyes. SIDENOTE: Crocodiles are my favorite animal, with alligators now not so far behind. Anyways, then we saw the 40kilo rat, I can´t remember its official name, but he was swimming about in the very same water I had just swam with dolphins in, seen 100s of alligators, and caught 13 piranhas in less than an hour in... It´s not a big wonder why you do the dolphin bit early in the trip - God, if I hadda seen the RAT while swimming!!! It´s a crazy 3 days, where you sleep in woodern cabins with paths leading to other ares of the Ecolodge, all raised a metre off the ground, as alligators are swimming and walking about directly underneath you. Oh Shit, almost forgot to add the best bit... I slipped completely over, faceplant, because my thong (flipflop) got stuck in the mud as I was disembarking the little boat. I fell directly infront of the BIG BOY gator. My experience as a kid with Crocodiles told me, sudden sloppy movements, such as my fall, and directly infront of the creature after a day of catching the suns rays, is usually not a good idea... Well, it was an experience, and possibly another couple of years off my life!!
Pampas tour over, I went back into the little town of "Rurre" with plenty of muddy clothes that needed cleaning. The man at the "Garfield" Laundry service asked me my plans (in Spanish), and I expleained (in my versions of Spanish) that I was going to try one more time to find the Pumas volunteering camp on the otherside of the river. Then he said very excitedly, "Si, ellos aqui!" Oh, he obviously doesn´t understand me, I just smile and nod, then try to tell him I think it´s on the otherside, but he asks me to wait a "segundo". And then he brings out two people, clearly Gringos. They are people from the camp, almost the whole camp was there, they come in one night a week for supplies and a little civilisation, they were going back later that day. So I joined them. It was another adventure again to get to the camp. After crossing the Rio Beni by local boat (1.5Bs = 12cents) nine of us squeezed into the back of a Ute, along with the weeks food and beer supplies, myself and another girl right at the back. We were going pretty fast on the bumpy and dusty road, and when hitting a particularly big bump, the back flap-doory-thing fell open. Suddenly, the other girl and myself found ourselves being held onto by the rest of the group, while everyone screamed for the racing Ute to stop. Luckily only a few supplies and thingos fell out, all of which could be retrieved. Once finally getting to the little private santuary, I was shown my sleeping quarters, straw mattresses on the floor, with my very own insect net, in a shed that reminded me of Peter Pan´s Lost boys dorm with four or five sets of 3 story bunkbeds all with individual and different coloured mozzie nets. It was perfect. The next few days I spent there was unbelievable. Everyone was lovely. One night I cooked for all of us. "Chilli con Beans" for 18 peoples dinner and then following lunch. It was a happy success. I got to make things with construction, and cleared a few paths with the old Mashetti (I dont know how to spell it). We bathed in the stream, where little fish (not piranhas, but maybe worse) bite you on the bum. And we ate dinner together. I wasn´t there long enough to be able to work with one of the rescues Pumas, thats a month minimum, but I did feel part of the team. Everyone was fantastic there, I miss them all already. Had to get back though for my 16 person tiny plane flight back to La Paz, but first the only way back is to hitch. After about 35 minutes the first vehicle that came was a huge truck. The driver slowed to look me up and down, which made me feel simply fantastic, then he stopped and said I could get in. Ended up being a blast. I badly talked the sleave ball out of him, and we sand not very popular english 80s songs for the very slow journey back to the boat port.
Once back in La Paz, my friend and I hopped on a bus to Copacabana, What a cool little place, and the drive there was magnificent. Then we visited the kinda crappy floating villages, but had the coolest guide ever with his knowledge of every plant and animal, it reminded me of nature walks with my little Zoologist (the girl). The following day we woke up early for the boat to "Isla del Sol". A simple beautiful, incredible place. We bumped into people from all over that we´d met before which was nice, but reminded us we were really doing the Gringo trail.
On our return to La Paz, I enrolled in another Spanish school. I would need to stay a few days if I wanted to get my Brazil Visa while I was in a town I could do it. A week of Spanish with another good private teacher for 3 hours a day, and 2 hours group classes with a sweet little Danish girl... Well now I know 2 "pasados" (pasts) and one "futuro" YIPPEE!!! I´m not the best at this language by a long shot, but I am enjoying it, which means apparently I´m picking it up pretty quickly... Obviously not as fast as I´d like though!
That brings me to just the otherday. I was ready, more than ready, I was packed! I had everything I needed, passport back with Brazil visa included, "cholita" blankets that I got from the local street market, I´ve been wanting one the whole time I´ve been here. I was ready, and heading to the bus station when I found out ALL boarder to Peru were CLOSED! I knew ther had been some troubles, but then had heard it was opened again, and at the very least the boat crossing was always an option.... Nope, apparently the last boat that passed got shot at! So I head to the only option left, the airlines. The ques were terrible, and I waited for my turn, while seeing and hearing Gringos all around me argue, scream and cry that there was no availabilty for them. " What 3 weeks, thats too late, I need to be there Monday!!" I´m thinking they´ve booked there Machu Pichu tour 6 months ago, and just didn´t think something like this could happen. I finally get my turn, expecting the worse, and thinking I´d have to bus it back to Chile then go around the extremely long way. I tell him I´m OK with going anywhere, just need to get a move on from La Paz. At first he finds me a flight for $313 for the 13th June. To my absolute surprse I stay completely calm and ask him to "por favor" check one more time, then he writes on a little piece of paper while saying the word "ssshhhh" $131 for the 1st of June going to Cusco.... 3rd of the price, 3rd of the time, BOOK ME IN!
So I had 4 days to fill in... So thats why I´m here in theis cute little (dead on Mondays) town of Coroico, Bolivia. Tent pitched, homework to do, and my 4th Chuchawasi!!
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