Rurrenabaque, San Borja (EBB), La Paz

Hola amigos and amigas,

My last story was from la Paz, and my intentions were going to Rurrenabaque the next day, for doing some jungle stuff, and then return to La Paz for doing some trekking and climbing. My plans have been changing however the last few weeks, main reasons were that it was not always possible to do what i wanted, i wasn't always happy with the things possible.

It already started when i wanted to go to Rurrenabaque, i arrived in Villa Fatima (northern district of la paz) in the morning to learn that that day there wasn't any place in the bus, so i took one of the crappiest hotels so far in my journey, and spent my day in Valle de la Luna.

Valle de la Luna La Paz

Valle de la Luna is in the south of la Paz, to get here you just take a local micro. This is the third Valle de la Luna, and i expect to see at least another Valle de La Luna in Peru. It is not very big , and it is enclosed by the rich neighborhood of La Paz, Mallasa. Here you can see the difference between the haves and the have nots. The haves live in big houses behind fences, and these houses are guarded all day. Yes if you have something you are afraid of losing it. One of the advantages of being poor.

In a way VdlL reminded me of Bryce Canyon, because the erosion of soft sandstone by water is causing the strange sculptures.


Hoodos

How it starts can be seen in the picture down below. First there are cracks in the ground, that are deepened by drought, then water (and wind) will do the rest.


Cracks, the start

The results are strange formations, which give magnificent forms, and cause feelings. In Bryce I had the feelings of a child watching a fairy tale. Here, because of the absence of colours, it is causing feelings of mystery and alienation. You can see cactuses here and there and sometimes they are at very strange places.


Valle de la Luna, cactuses


Valle de La Luna, it is lonely at the top

The results are strange formations, which give magnificent forms, and cause feelings. In Bryce I had the feelings of a child watching a fairy tale. Here, because of the absence of colours, it is causing feelings of mystery and alienation. You can see cactuses here and there and sometimes they are at very strange places.


Sandstone formations south of La Paz

Back in my hostel in Villa Fatima, i have a short night. The restaurant plays loud music and the people are evidently having a big party. In the early morning the rumor starts again. Clearly Bolivians are making noise, when they are awake, and they don't consider the possibility that other people are still asleep. Well, no problem for me, i will be going in a comfortable bus to Rurrenabaque, it will take at least 16 hours, i will arrive there at 3.30 am, and the road will be very smooth, so i will have all time of the world to do some sleeping!

(I survived) The Death Road !!

Next day I finally go to Rurre. As usual, the organization is Bolivian, the bus doesn't leave at 9.30am but this time at 1100am. Nobody complains because this is the normal procedure, and in a way it is fun to see how they organize things. First another bus is packed, and because of that nobody even considers packing two buses at the same time.

Then they start packing our bus, not the big things first, no first the things that are special delivery, which means small packages and letters first. And one by one, sometimes two or three people are busy with only one package at the same time. It reminds me of a scene I saw in Asterix on Corsica ("and we have all day to unpack this warehouse").

In the end when almost everything is packed, then there is the big mattress, and that's strange we don't have any space left, maybe we can double fold it, and 4 people try to push the until then undamaged mattress in a side compartment of the bus. After almost 15 minutes they decide to put it on top of the bus. And then we leave................

The death road has its highest altitude at 4700 meters and then it descends to 1700 meters. The death road seems to be famous and i remember Tony and Ainsley's hilarious story from last year, one of the reasons i wanted to do this by bus. Earlier this trip i met Barbara and Walewein who told me that at least 24 buses per year do miss somewhere a turn and were never found again (a sort of Bermuda triangle).

Because of this (and because he wants to earn some money too!), an old man enters our bus and starts to pray the Hail Mary. After that we are being blessed and everybody in the bus gets a handshake and a personal good wish. To evade this commercial exploitation of my fear for death, I pretend to be dead already. It saves me at least one Boliviano!

And then we go! The bus first goes up to La Cumbre at 4700 meters, where you see the characteristic colors of the Andes, yellow bushes, black stone formations (old lava), blue lakes, and white peaks of ice and snow.

La Cumbre (pass 4700 meters)

I must admit the death road is one of the most incredible experiences I ever had, comparable to Iguacu. When we start descending we have a magnificent view on cloud formations that are covering the valleys, and although it is beautiful to see it also has a negative impact, because it later will prevent me from seeing how deep one can fall.

Death road, cloud formations

The bus driver is very experienced, which gives me some confidence, because sometimes it is possible to have a look down, and that's not very comforting-even worse- it's scary. When you can look down into the ravine, you know the left tire of the bus can't be much further away than half a meter or less, and if the men sneezes in the wrong moment, it is certain that we will fall a long way. The walls are most of the time around 90 degrees (and this time not Celsius or Fahrenheit), and where it will end only the dead know!

Steep angles

And don't think the man drives slowly. Whenever he thinks it is possible he pushes the gas to maximum, only to diminish speed abruptly when he sees that the turns are really 180 degrees (and this time not Celsius or Fahrenheit again).

It is not only the road itself that is a narrow sand path most of the times not more than three meters wide, sometimes we see an opponent, and the rule here is quite simple, the one who has the biggest vehicle goes first, which means that the other car sometimes has to drive back 50 meters or more to find a place where it is possible to pass.

Of course there is a lot of claxoning when this happens and sometimes angry faces, fists and a lot of cursing. Oh by the way, it is also possible to overtake another vehicle, for instance a big truck.Thank god there are people to regulate the traffic. They are waving with there flags to signal that everything is safe (and i really admire these people that are standing there all day on there own, and probably earning a very meager salary for doing this important work), and for our driver a safe flag signal means PUSH THE GAS A LITLLE DEEPER.

It really is incredible to see how many vehicles are going up and down, including busloads of bicyclers that do a one day tour on a sandy, muddy and often slippery road. I certainly would do this bicycle trip only with a parachute on my back!

When we leave the clouds and the rain, we enter the Yungas and we have arrived in the tropics. Needless to say that during the descend we have seen many shifts in vegetation, and the changes are abrupt (again), first there is no vegetation, then suddenly there is lush vegetation on some rocks, and again suddenly the mountains are stuffed with plants and trees, which gets more and more whenever you go deeper.

Yungas, steep lushy mountains

The Yungas are very characteristic, and i never saw mountains this way. On top there is a small rim, and the slopes are very steep. Furthermore there is always another mountain (with a same sort of shape close by). The valley in between is very narrow, and you can see little rivers in the valley. When we are finally down, there is a small village where many cars are repared. Well they survived the trip and the brakes probably have been functioning until the end.


Small rims

During the rest of the day we drive through the Yungas with beautiful scenery, from which i made a selection, which you can see furhter down. At 3.30 am I arrive in Rurrenabaque, and after some walking around in the dark i find hotel Beni, and fall asleep, a little fallen apart, but it was a great experience.

Yungas, tropics

Yungas, erosion?

Yungas, river in canyon

Tropic vegetation

Rurrenabaque

Next day while walking through Rurre, I notice my feelings. I hate this place. Everywhere there are tour agencies, offering the same sort of tours (3 day pampas tours), offering the hasty traveler a quick snack of the jungle.

Get in get out, pay your money and be away. And all agencies are ecological, which means that they are going with noisy motor boats into a nature park, fishing piranhas and catching caimán during the night, shining them with torches in there eyes to blind them.
I first ignore my feelings and explore the environment of my own. Rurre is situated at the Beni river in a beautiful landscape, and crossing the river, I go to another much more primitive village where the people live more like they used to live before Rurre was invaded by tourists, and therefore the people here are poor.

Beni river

I watch the elegant boats of the locals, that are transporting mostly food (bananas and fish mainly), and I enjoy the hot weather. One of the things I like of the tropics, days and nights are very warm, and you always have an excuse for a nice cold beer.

Beni boat

Next day i start my investigation along the tour agencies, but almost every company does the same, three days, and on my question if it would be possible to stay longer in their campsite to explore the area on my own, one lady tells me that three days is more then enough, and others tell me it is not possible, or only possible when they have tourists that day.

What they actually offer in my opinion is two days sitting on a noisy boat (to bring you to the camp, and to bring you back to Rurre) and one day to explore the pampas. Well thanks I have been to the Pantanal, which is something like the place here (but only 5 days, gneh gneh gneh), and i'm not going to spend my money on that sort of rubbish,THANK YOU!

Frustrated i walk out of town trying to find some sort of path into the wilderness, maby I can climb a mountain to have a nice view over the surroundings. I cross the suburbs, which looks very idyllic, all that green trees and plants and wooden houses, and people that have nothing to scratch there asses with.

Idyllic poverty

Later i find some information about voluntary work, to help setting up an ecological (?) project 50 km south of Rurre, I call the local project manager who isn't at home, and later i hear that he isn't the project manager anymore and should call somebody in La Paz. So far so good, i decide to leave Rurre, too much for me and i go to San Borja, some 100 km away. There is another nature reserve, and because nobody I spoke until so far knows it, I suspect there are far less tourists, mayby that's more interesting.

Next day, i take a micro to San Borja, while crossing tropical rivers, forests, pampas (with birds), and farmers country with a lot of cows.

Tropical river (full with malaria bugs??)

San Borja

When I arrive in San Borja, i feel a little bit uncomfortable (again). SB is a place 180 degrees different from Rurre. No tourist offices, no Internet cafés (yes that really still exists!), lousy and crappy hotels, with no hot water, and Whorraaaahhhhh, for the first time this trip real cockroaches in the shower! I'm a biologist and i love to shower with them, especially when it looked they are starting to drown!

Later that day I explore the town, and there seems to be an office of EBB, the parque i want to visit, but it is sunday and i have to wait until the next day. That night i join the exciting night life in SB. The main attracting in SB is eating out. In every restaurant they have a stunning choice of dishes, most often it is chicken with fries, but sometimes you also can choose fries with chicken. Both ingredients are prepared at the beginning of the night, and kept warm in a stove until it is finished. I manage to find one restaurant that serves beef, and they even have some wine. However i have mixed feelings.

Rurre was somewhat too touristy for me, but in this town i am the only tourist and i am not very happy to go on my own to a place i even don't know if there is a place to sleep or to eat. Was this not a wrong choice Wim?? ................ (Later I meet a guy from switserland who is doing a PHD (anthropology) and have in interesting discussion about his work and the Beni department.)

Next morning i go to the office of EBB, but unfortunately it is open ( I already had decide more or less to leave as soon as possible to whatever what), and one of the guard rangers is very enthusiastic about the EBB (there is a nice village with many hotels, and many restaurants, and the town is not as big as SB, but it is a nice place etc. He even arranges transport and on the back of a pickup truck together with some locals, i go to EBB.

They drop me in front of a fence, and there I am in the big village of Porvenir. Not for the first time I'm asking myself, what am i doing here?? And where is the village??

Gate to Porvenir

EBB

I walk through the fence to discover that the village is not more than a camp, the many hotels are some cabanas, and there is one lady that cooks for the whole community, consisting of three more people. One of them is Walther who is the manager and he tells what i can do there and what the costs are. He is only capable of speaking Spanish (as are the others), so this next few days, i really can practice my Spanish!

Although I have some mixed feelings (again - it is not nice to do everything on your own) , I must admit that the camp place is very nice. There are (Genevieve!) delicious grapefruit and mandarin trees, the place is clean, the showers are cold, the people are nice, there are many birds,


Porvenir camp site

there are no noisy tourists, and they have hammocks!! I realize that i haven't been lying in a hammock since my trip started. All the time i have been traveling, doing things, writing emails, writing stories, thinking about what to do etc. etc. Well I can change that!

Hammock adventures

The following day it is time to see the EBB savannahs. Together with Cesar, one of the two guides, and a horse, we explore the savannahs, and although they are beautiful, i'm a little bit disappointed, because i hardly see animals.


start of savannah tour

Cesar my guide is not very inspiring, actually he is rather lazy, and he wants to go home as soon as possible, and my horse is not the power monster i had hoped him to be. A slug is faster than this poor creature, i think he is even more lazy than Cesar. I don't think this horse is good enough for beef, probable to tough to chew on.

Savannah

The only exciting highlight of this tour is to find some tapir marks next to a river, oh yes and somewhere in the high grass I can hear some mammals screeching, but the damned beasts are not willing to do their trick for this yearning tourist. They should train these animals better. I didn’t come for nothing.

Tapirs hiding in the bushes

When I get back there are some other tourists (!), and they have been trekking in the park. Their stories convince me not to do a trekking (one of my secret thoughts before that moment!), i have the feeling there are not many animals to see, which is a little bit strange, because there are not many tourists to chase them away. After a heavy night with a lot of spanish, I go to a early sleep.

Next days i spent a lot of time with reading a scientific report on EBB. Some figures EBB is ca. 1350 km2, and is a Unesco biosphere reserve since 1987. There about 480 birds species, and 100 mammals (probably a lot of moles-species). The park has 4 employees and 8 park guards. There are not more than 300 tourists per year, they are mainly financed by the World bank, the Smithsonian Institute, WWF. The bolivian government has no moey so hardly finances this. Main biotopes in the park are savannah, forest isles, and wetland. EBB is a rather small park, and scientist have suggested to enlarge the park with an area called RAMSAR, because the area now is too small for big mammals to live in (i have seemed to notice that).

One interesting study further dealt with raised field cultivation, an old agricultural technique used by the inca´s. Because of the increased population many agricultural fields in the surroundings are under pressure because of the methods introduced by the spaniards (slash and burn) The old techniques are far better capable of preventing the soil to become exhausted, and the yields are substantially higher. It is suggested to introduce more of these techniques to prevent larger claims of the farmers on the territory of EBB.

At the end of the afternoon, i go with Piedro, the other guide, to the laguna Normandia. Pedro is very enthusiastic, and talks a lot. One problem he mumbles a little bit and he doesn't like to pronounce the S, so it really is all hands on deck to stay in contact with him.


To Laguna Normandia

Near the lake we spot the first and the last caiman, who is so scared of us that we never see him back again.

caiman

The lake however is beautiful, and like me Piedro is enjoying this trip, and he rows all around the lake showing me the nice spots. We see a capybara family, but when i stand up from the boat to see them properly (and they can properly see me), they run away in all directions. Boy, are they scared, I didn't knew I was that ugly. The vegetation is very diverse and it is always nice to see plants that you can find at home in your living. This time I see big papyrus plants, a little bit bigger though.

Laguna Normandia

Papyrus

There is no wind, and therefore you can make nice pictures of a mirroring lake, and nice skies, and why not, this website is free and i seem to have unlimited space, so why not some pictures more.


mirror lake

mirror lake 2

When it gets dark we pass a tree with a lot of egrets, here hundreds of egrets stay during the night, and when we pass, all egrets in panic leave the trees, but i'm glad the are not that afraid, that they start shitting their pants.


Cattle egrets

And of course there are the sunsets again, this time it is difficult choosing a nice sunset for you all, so therefore some to show how it looked like. When it gets dark the first bats fly over the water, sometimes just passing my head.


Sunset 1


Sunset 2

In the dark we walk back to Porvenir, all around us are fireflies. It looks like a sort of microlightning. For me fireflies are one of the biggest wonders of nature, it is not only the light but also that they are able to turn it on and off instantly that amazes me so.

The most spectacular thing in EBB however is parrots. This was the reason why I wanted to go, and indeed it is spectacular. Although it are not the big macaws you can see, the amount that gather here during the night is incredible. I estimate that more than 1000 parrots gather in only a few trees to stay here for the night.

Parrots are noisy animals, you can always hear them coming, because they like to scream to each other. So imagine 1000 parrots together ................

The parrot is beautiful to watch, mostly green, but under its wings it is red, and especially when you see the bird flying at sunset, that is a spectacular site. Unfortunately, i didn't succeed in making a good picture. At night they arrive very late, so you hardly have light and it is not possible to catch the colours.

Parrots shouting for the night to come

In the morning, the shouting starts at 600am, just before sunset. And again the noise they produce!! I tried again to make pictures of parrots flying away, but it was too dark. Sometimes at 7.30 there are a few parrots that have, just like me, difficulties to get out of bed, but when you approach they leave immediately in panic and with a lot of noise.

Parrots, that refuse to get out of bed

Furthermore EBB has a lot of nice birds to spot. I saw the bird that in Noel kempf made the sound of a laser canon. It is a tojo, although i couldn't find this name on the internet. They related to our ousel (merel, blackbird), and they are extremely good in making different sounds. They are mainly black but on different parts of the body (f.i. the tail) they are bright yellow.

Another nice bird i have been watching for hours, it is red and very lively. Any one who knows what it is, please give me a call.

This is a bird

Time to do some showing off. I discovered my camera has a very nice macro lens, and it is amazing how close you can approach animals without being seen. This locust didn't see my camera although it was just a few centimeters away.

Blind locust

After almost 4 days I leave Porvenir. It is not easy because two buses just drive buy without stopping and i'm already afraid to have to stay another night, when a friendly truck driver says i can travel on the back of the truck. In San Borja I step off, looking like a sandman, with a lot of sand behind my eye lenses. Well, just another interesting experience. I'm so dirty that i even take a cold shower in my favorite crappy San Borja hotel, no cockroaches this time.Next morning on the back of a scootertaxi i go to the bus terminal and take the bus to La Paz.

View from El Alto on La Paz

La Paz

Back in La Paz after a destroying busride from San Borja. It takes about 16 hours, and although the bus had some space for one leg, it was so old that nothing further was functioning properly. Fortunately i'm getting used to the smells (if they are not there you really start to miss them), and this time there were some extra attractions on board.

First i saw a guy who was carrying his cocks (oh ladies don't read cock here, that would be a freudian slip of the mind) in a very unusual but very handy way.

Cockteaser

He also stored them in a place, that is quite normal for luggage. And the animals hardly made any noise, probably they were used by this comfortable way of travelling.


Handluggage compartment

Some places next to me, a woman secretly had stored some chickens in a closed bag, and sometimes these unfortunate animals were making some tocks(!?), as if to say: "hi there, we are still alive, and we are protesting in a polite way". It is a funny experience, in the middle of the night.

The next morning I arrived in La Paz at 600 am, and the friendly busdriver told me to stay in the bus until i wanted to get out (so i didn't have to leave the bus in the dark, searching for a hostel). I went to hostal Cactus, which is a much nicer place to stay than my previous place.

Highest ski run on earth (5500 m above sea level)

Chacaltaya

Chacaltaya is the highest ski run in the world. Off course this ski fanatic wanted to see this miracle on earth. Maby i can learn to snowboard here! From la Paz to Chacaltaya its 35 km, and needless to say, the landscape is stunning again.

Bellavista from the road to La Chacaltaya

Where is the snow????

Unfortunately, the run itself isn't used much, mainly because there isn't much snow, and it only snows in SUMMER. So when i was standing there at about 5500 meters above sea level, there was a lot to see, but no snow (some ice), and no ski fanatics. Well I have to save my snowboard lessons for another time.

Mount Illimani

My grand dad (with in background Huayna Potosi)

On the top, it was windy and it was icecold, but the view on Mount Illimani, and on Mount Huayna Potosi was mainly why i wanted to see this place. The landscape here is fantastic and i have too many beautiful pictures to show all. The Andes here is varied, with black from old lava streams, red, yellow, etc... .


Another boring viewpoint

And yes everywhere are lakes with different colors, mainly because there are different minerals in it. The snowpeaked mountains give it an extra dimension, as well as lago Titicaca that also can be seen in the distance, and also you can see La Paz, and the city of El Alto. Unfortunately the weather wasn't clear, otherwise the sight would have been even more incredible.

Mount illimani 2

After this experience i feld the need to do some trekking in this beautiful area, so it was time to find something suitable for me, and what was more difficult, to find people that also wanted to do this trekking, because in La Paz the main tours are to Chacaltaya, climbing the Huayna Potosi in two days, and biking down the death road.

Huayna Potosi

Another thing that caused me worries, were the weather expectations, it seemed that within 3 days the weather would be changing, and although i don't mind some rain from time to time, snow (and probably storm) at an altitude of 6000 meters is not what i am waiting for.

I decide to wait a little while in La Paz, and then I discover that I have my first travel dip. Almost 5 and a halve months travelling, and i realise i have been doing a lot, and almost everyday been busy with travelling, trekking, visiting places and musea etc. etc. I'm bored and don't want to do anything. So I spend (until now) my days in La Paz just sitting on the street and plaza's, watching people, thinking a little bit, and further more i just stay in my hostel and also there are people that have the same problem. So we sit there too, and talk the day and night away.

La Paz however is a nice city, if you're bored. Until now this city amazes me a lot. Life here is so different from life in Europa, that everyday you see funny things. An example, i saw a dog walking with a towel on its back, and on the towel was ADVERTISEMENT. I don't know if the dog was paid, but he seemed quite relaxed and happy with this job.

Another example is the mobile phone man. You can find people here on the street with a mobile phone. For a few bolivianos people can make a phone call at this walking phone boot.

Mobile phone boot man

Just sitting on the plaza Murillo i enjoy my time with watching people feeding the thousands of pigeons, that have a far better life than most of the people in La Paz. They get tonnes of maize, and therefore are able to multiply themselves every two weeks at least with a factor 6.

Queens flight of pigeons

La Paz is so lively and the big markets, the people selling stuff, the beggars, the landscape etc. continues to amaze me. In that respect it feels like going back to my early childhood when everyday is new, and there are so many things to discover. Maby that's one of the reasons, why travelling is that great. Back to marvel, back to childish ENTHUSIASM. Away with routine and predictability.

Talking about children, in my last story i talked about the ugly altiplanitas, and wondered why their children look so nice. I haven't found the answer, but i'd like to show some lovely pictures of them.

Bathing scene 1

Bathing scene 2

Bathing scene 3

And then imagine that such lovely creatures evolve into THIS!

Altiplanita

Okay that is not very nice therefore to end this endless story, another picture that shows how practival the people from La Paz are.

Practical and comfy

Okay that's it, next time i hope to be more inspired and to have lost my travel dip. Still like to do some trekking in the surroundings but there are not many tourist willing to do this. Till next time

Wim


Los Endos