Amazon Jungle in Bolivia

4 am.

That's when I woke up three days ago to catch a flight into the jungle. The driver took me bleary-eyed to the airport in La Paz where I boarded a twin propeller plane with no bathroom and just 19 seats to Rurrenabaque at 6:10. That's the jungle hub city where all the tours start.

Tiny plane

After loading 8 people and supplies onto a LandCruiser, we took off down the bumpiest dirt road 3 hours north to a town called Santa Rosa. There were dips and hills and ruts and gravel and dirt and mud. It was raining that morning so the first part of the road was slow going. The sun came out and the road got "better".

The truck broke down about 20 minutes away from the port. The driver turned into a mechanic and was working on the truck for a while. Then he asked us to push the car to get it going. We pushed it for about 50m and the truck finally started again. We made it to the port and loaded onto a long boat with an outboard motor on the back. This would be our transportation for the rest of the trip.

It was another three hour ride up the river to the "eco-lodge". The river is teeming with life. Even if you couldn't see animals, you could here them. There were so many birds and you could see bubbles under the water. The alligators and the caiman looked extremely menacing. Our guide assured us the alligators weren't aggressive. Only the caiman were, but they ate other alligators, not humans. There were these beautiful water birds drying themselves out in the sun after diving into the river for fish. We must have passed hundreds of alligators just sunning themselves on the bank of the river. Some were laying with their mouths open to let the warm jungle air heat them up. Pink birds, white birds, black birds, blue, yellow, green, every colour you could think of, there was a bird in the jungle with those feathers. It was fantastic.

We also passed a family of monkeys who were looking for food. Someone on the boat had a banana and the monkeys actually climbed into the boat and onto her to get it. There were also monkeys by the kitchen every morning for breakfast. There's a video of one below. We finally made it to the eco-lodge at around 5pm after leaving Rurrenabaque at 9am. It was a long day, but our guide told us we were going to a special area to watch the sun set. It was gorgeous. But as soon as the sun went down, the mosquitoes came out, so we rushed back to the lodge for shelter and our mosquito nets. On the way back we could see hundreds of bats out for their evening breakfast.  Check out the video, you'll have to watch closely.

I think eco-lodge is just a term they use, because there was nothing ecological about this place. The soap and shampoo from the shower just went into the ground. And the empty plastic water bottles just magically disappeared everyday. They just use the term so that you can't complain that you are just living in a pile of sticks with some mosquito netting for windows.

"Eco-lodge"

Mosquito nets over every bed

That night we went out looking for alligator and other animal eyes. The guide said the alligator's eyes glow red when you shine a flashlight on them because of the membrane over their eyes that allows them to keep their eyes open under water. I couldn't take any pictures of it because my camera isn't good enough. It was an eerie experience shining your camera out into the darkness and being greeted by glowing reddish-orange eyes. 

The next morning we woke up to a hearty breakfast and donned knee high boots to go into the pampas. The pampas are a swampy, marshy area in the jungle where anacondas live. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, we were hunting anacondas. After about an hour an a half, I got tired and tried to head back to the boat. However, the grass was above my head, and I didn't know the exact direction, only the general direction. After about half an hour, I realized I was lost, in a swamp, in the middle of the Amazon. Not a good place to be. After about 15 minutes, I heard the group calling my name, . Needless to say, I was relieved and headed towards them. They had actually found an anaconda about 6 feet long. The pictures were cool. Oh well...next time for me I guess.

Next we headed back to the lodge for some lunch and back out onto the boat for piranha fishing. This wasn't any fancy fishing. It was twine with a hook on the end all wrapped around a piece of wood. Our guide caught the most fish. He has lived in the jungle his whole life.

It was still fun to try and catch these aggressive looking fish. It was a good day's work!

We got up early the next morning to watch the sun rise over the pampas. It was a really cloudy day, so I wasn't sure if we would get any picutres. The clouds cleared and lo and behold. It was a great open sky to watch the sunrise. 

Cloudy morning

Pampas sunrise

Breakfast Monkeys

The sunrise was gorgeous and we left soon after because there were so many mosquitoes. After breakfast we went searching for pink dolphins. And we found them. It was cool to jump into the water with them. They never really too close. But it was amazing anyway. Check out the video to see them coming up for air. It was hard to snap their picture because they only came up to the surface for a second and rarely breached the water.

We headed back to camp for lunch and to head home. The boat ride back was shorter than on the way in, and the jeep ride was just as bumpy concussive as ever. I swear that thing was running on bubble gum, duct tape and glue.  There were definitely no shocks.

It was a great adventure.

La Paz - Part 2

So, anything and everything happens in La Paz.

I've had random people ask if I wanted drugs. I've met the nicest locals who tell me the best places to eat. And there are marching bands at night in the streets (see video: ). Hahaha, I can't begin to tell you how much I love it here.

I found an amazing Cuban food place where I get lunch for $3 and dinner for $3 jam packed with flavour. It's good that the food is cheap because I had to leave the last two hostels I was at in La Paz and go to a hotel. It's a bit more expensive but worth it not having a million people come in and out of your room all night long. Or having a bar playing music all night. Or having a young couple engage in "amourous activities" in the bunk above you. Yeah...that really happened. Did not sleep much that night. Considered getting my video camera. But didn't. Just kidding. Not really.

This views of the Bolivian sunrise from this hotel are amazing (check the video). They serve breakfast on the fifth floor which also has a rooftop terrace. You can see the mountains in the distance.

I also went to one of the fancy restaurants in town. They had a dessert that was quinoa three ways. Quinoa sorbet, quinoa ice cream and quinoa caramel with berry mousse. Delicious! Who knew quinoa could be so tasty?!?!

And...as promised...the witches market photos. They have amulets for everything from love to wisdom to fertility. They also have llama fetuses which you bury at the front of your new house for prosperity. There are also a bunch of other potions and vials and stuff.

Llamas

Llamas

Amulets and trinkets

Llamas in a bowl

Getting a shave is one luxury I know I will miss when I return to Canada. I just can't see myself doing it when it is so cheap down here. I have only shaved myself one time!

Yo encanta La Paz!

La Paz

I love this city.

It's dirty, loud, overpopulated, polluted, tiring, sprawling, rainy, cold and grey, but I actually do love it. Everywhere you go, the people are friendly. They stop to welcome you to their country on the street, sometimes they want to sell drugs, but that's only the ones who have come back from America.

To get here from Copacabana was an interesting journey. At one point, you have to get off the bus while it goes across Lake Titicaca on a ferry and you board a separate ferry where you wait for the bus on the other side.

View of my bus on it's ferry from my ferry

Arriving in La Paz from the tiny lake town of Copa is a huge shock. The city is absolutely massive. It just seems to go on and on and on. It is set in a valley in the Andes. It is flanked by a few mountains, one over 6000m tall! The city itself is at 4000m, which makes walking, talking, breathing, living, anything, that much harder.

It seems to be a city stuck in the past, but trying to move forward...slowly. The picture below shows some of the colonial architecture (foreground) that makes this city a UNESCO site. At the same, you can see on the left a 70's style apartment building and up on the hill the shantytowns that run all the way to the tops of the mountains. You can see the shantytowns better in the second picture.

In the picture above you can see a police barricade..."Why is there a police barricade?" you ask. Well, I'll tell you! The main labour union in Bolivia is calling for higher retirement pension incomes for everyone from miners to teachers to health care workers. There have been massive marches and demonstrations which have shut down major roads in and out of La Paz. The miners set off dynamite periodically and you can see thousands of people walking the streets. Every once in a while a minority will do something stupid and the police will have to launch tear gas and crowd control measures. I was sitting in my hostel when some tear gas wafted into the windows. I read later that some people had set dynamite at the doors of the Ministry of Labour building. CRAZY!

Don't be alarmed though, the protesters are protesting the government and they leave tourists out of their fight. In the picture below is Calle Jaen, this is the spookiest street in all of La Paz. There is even a sign at the base of the street saying that this street is famous for the ghosts, ghouls, paranormal activity and a list of other weird things that have happened here. I'm glad I went in the day time! At the top of the street is a bar that sells coca leaf beer. I had to try it, the tea helps so much with the altitude sickness that can happen. But the beer is not that great. It's the one on the right.

This is Plaza Murillo. Remember those police barricades? This is what they are protecting. The Presidential Palace and seat of government is here as well as the La Paz Cathedral. The police still allow tourists through without too much hassle. I got to take pictures of giant mutant pigeons! Just kidding, they're normal pigeons.

Cathedral

Palace

This was a cool shot of the Cathedral's dome with the sun peeking out from behind it. The front of the building is lovingly restored, but they've left the side to be damaged by the elements. Interesting to see the choices they made to keep this building healthy.

This is one of many, many, many colourful market stalls in La Paz. The textiles are endless and they are so beautiful. This is probably one of my most favourite things to do, just walking around and seeing the array of products they have to sell. Stacks of sweaters, scarves, toques, gloves and everything else just sit there waiting to be purchased by unsuspecting travellers. There's also a witches market here where they sell llama fetuses...supposedly for good luck. That will be another post.

This is the entrance to the witches market. It's not as grand as one would think. And there aren't as many fortune tellers or tarot card readers or anything like you would imagine. It's become highly commercialized and the most you will get is some random guy walking up to you with some broken stones in his hand asking you if you want your fortune read.

Finally, the Iglesia de San Francisco. It seems that every road I walk down always leads me back to this place. I don't really understand how they planned this city. Usually everything is centred around the main square. But this church was built well after the founding of the city. But it serves a central role. There was a Red Cross benefit concert in front of here the other day. They will need it since they kicked out USAID earlier this month. The picture on the bottom shows the tower of the church from the back. That's all for now from La Paz. Sorry I haven't been updating more regularly. I'm moving a bit slower now. I'll be heading into the jungle within the week to swim with pink dolphins! I can't wait. Time of my life!

Copacabana & Lake Titicaca

8km from the border of Peru in Bolivia is the tourist-centric town of Copacabana. It sits right on Lake Titicaca and there are tours of the surrounding islands here. It's freezing cold here at night and only gets up to about 18C in the day time. That's because it sits at 3800m above sea level on the world's 3rd highest lake, Lake Titicaca. I don't know how the lake stays full. I was told there used to be a ski resort on one of the islands in the lake, but it's shut down because it all melted away.

Bolivia is cheaper than I could have imagined. Meals are $2, a nice hotel room is $10, taxis are $1, sweaters and pants are $10. It's so inexpensive.

A boat tour to the Isla del Sol is $5 to get there and come back. There's another $5 in trail fees. The trail is 8km long, strenuous and not meant for a sea level lifer like me. Everything seems harder at 3800m above sea level. My body's energy supplies ran out at about kilometre 6 at about 2:30 and the boat was leaving at 3:30. No doubt about it, the views were fantastic. But I don't think I'll be putting myself through that kind of torture again! Picture crystal clear blue water with snow-capped mountains on the horizon, islands all around and fluffy white cotton candy clouds dotting the skies. You don't actually have to picture it because I have my camera! Lucky you!

Bolivia

Bolivia is one of the poorest countries in South America. As a result, money can last longer and I may choose to stay here longer as well. They have excellent Spanish schools where I can learn a bit more and hopefully get closer to my goal of fluency by October. Bolivia has amazing mountains, jungles, lakes, silver mines, and the list goes on.

As the tradition goes, here's what I plan to do in Bolivia!

• Copacabana (the same one that shares it's name with the beach in Brazil)
• La Paz (the capital and historic centre)
• Rurrenbaque (the jungle where one can see pink dolphins)
• Cochabamba (supposed to be a chilled out city)
• Oruro (where you can go down into the silver mines)
• Sucre (where you can take really cheap Spanish lessons)
• Potosi (the entrance city to the salt flats)
• Uyuni (where the salt flats are located)

Then onward to Chile!

Machu Pichu

So much bigger and grander than any photo on the internet can make it seem. It has an air of mystery that it still retains with thousands of tourists walking around. You can feel how sacred the land is when you walk through the site or stand in it's temples. Of course, I'm talking about Machu Pichu!

Quick note, blogger.com is not integrating my videos on YouTube, so if you want to watch them, and I recommend you do, because they are better than the photos, click on the links. 

You really get a sense that this is for the privileged people of the world. Because the only way to get to MP is by train. And it's not cheap. The entrance ticket is also not cheap. But once you get up there, you realize that it's all worth it. Unfortunate that most Peruvians can't even afford it.

From Cusco, I took a bus to Ollantaytambo, where the train station is located. From there, a short 1.5 hours later gets to you Aguas Calientes. The small, extremely touristy town at the base of the mountain where MP is situated.

The day started out foggy and misty. I'd read about this, that some days are just foggy the whole time and you never really get a clear view. I was hoping that wouldn't be the case. I got up at 5am so I would be able to watch the sun rise at around 7. Why 5am? Check out the line for the bus to MP at 6:10! Whatever yo! Can't reduce my excitement!

Video for the Morning View

The road to get up to MP is full of switchbacks and sometimes two buses can't fit side by side and one has to back up to let the other through. You can see the road winding up to MP in the photo. It was foggy in the valley and even foggier on the site itself. It made for some amazingly eerie videos and pictures.

Video: Foggy sight #1 in Machu Pichu

Video: Foggy sight #2 in Machu Pichu

I walked around for a bit exploring the site and what I could see. There wasn't much to it I thought, but that's because I didn't know that I was only looking about about 10% of the site at the time. This would make a great set for a scary movie.

I walked about 3km away from the main site to the Sun Gate. It's named this because in the December solstice the sun shines through the gate straight onto the site. It's a slow-going slog uphill over slippery rocks and stairs. But it's really worth it. These pictures are going to and coming back from the Sun Gate. 

It was terribly disappointing when I got to the Sun Gate because the best views of MP are supposed to be from there. But there was such a thick blanket of fog and clouds that nothing could be seen. There were people waiting there since 7am to get their picture. I arrived promptly at 9:30 lol. There I waited, and held my breath as the fog lifted, then exhaled as it came back in. And repeated this several times. The fog wouldn't fully clear, but what you could see through the fog was nothing short of spectacular. Then finally, after about 1.5 hours, the sun burned through the fog and the wind blew away the clouds and gave a view that, quite simply, took my breath away.

So foggy :( Will it ever clear up?

Me and the other losers sitting here for a few hours

Still kinda cloudy, but a great picture anyways

It finally cleared!!!!

Video: View from the Sun Gate

Photoshop? No! I swear I was there!

After that, I walked back on the Inca Trail to the citadel. The two pictures below are the best I took on the site. The first one shows the Inca tombs and temples on the left, in the middle are the plazas where they congregated for meetings and special events and on the right are various houses for the nobility.

This picture shows Huayna Pichu. This is the VIP section of Machu Pichu. There is a temple and a courtyard and terraces where the Inca leader and the high priests could look down below. The way to get there is through a series of stairs and ladders and other dangerous stuff, so I decided not to do it. Maybe if I was a younger man.

So because I didn't get a guide, what you will get in this blog post is DB's Guide to Machu Pichu. Mainly I made up stories I thought could be plausible and based on some readings I did beforehand. If you want to know the truth, buy an Inca book. This is my truth. 

This passageway is perfect for showing Inca construction. For regular walls, they found stones that fit well together, and stacked them. But for royal rooms and temples, they cut, polished and sanded the stones into proper bricks, which they then placed on top of each other in a way that would prevent them from ever falling over. Both of these contruction methods were without mortar. So these buildings have been standing since 1450 without the help of a binding material. That's crazy!

This picture above shows the Temple of the Moon in the top left and the Royal room in the centre left. There are also terraces below the Moon Temple which acted as stabilization for the entire site rather than agriculture as the terraces in other pictures. There is also what I choose to call a stone graveyard. These are the stones the builders didn't deem suitable, or the ones they didn't need. If you look at the people in the photograph, you have to wonder, how did they get these massive stones here. They are easily a few tonnes each. And this place is on top of a mountain. It boggles the mind.

Video: Structures in Machu Pichu #1

Video: Structures in Machu Pichu #2

Below is the principal plaza. Where the Inca and his peeps would chill, relax, create royal decrees and govern the land. Cusco was the capital of the Inca Empire, this would be the resort town hideaway. All of those triangular structures on the top of the picture are the supports for the thatch roofs on top of the houses for the noble people.

View from the Principal Plaza

I can see why the nobles would want their houses on the edge of MP. The view is just incredible, amazing, fantastic, pick your adjective. It fits here.

Video: Mountain Vistas

The terraces in the picture above is where the main agriculture for the city occured. The Incas would produce the food on the terraces and then store it in buildings designed for ... food storage. The picture below is the last thing you see as you exit MP. It was is an awe-inspiring site that really lives up to the hype. I really, really enjoyed it. A nice way to end Peru. Onwards to Bolivia!

A passport stamp to remember my journey to Machu Pichu! 

It was...wait for it....Inca-redible!