sudamerica 2009: failed volcanoes, and jungle animals
28th-may-2009 - posted by dtra
well i've been going over old ground since the last post, flew back to arequipa (where i saw silhouettes of the three volcanoes, chachani, misti, and pichu pichu rom the airport, too bad i couldn't take any pictures, it was one of the most amazing sights i've seen) from santa marta. spent a couple days re-acclimatising before attempting the ascent of chachani (about 6080m), obviously i didn't make it, but i'm not going to completely blame acclimatisation on that, neither will i blame partying for three weeks in colombia, and not exercising, though they all played their parts i'm guessing. i put it down to not being a great hiker (i've never been a big fan of walking, i am usually, a pretty slow walker, i like to stroll), i much prefer cycling, and also, as most people know, i'm, a sprinter not a marathonner (if that's a word, which i'm pretty sure it's not). anyway, out of a group of eight, i was the only one that didn't make it, i got to about 5700m, and my legs were shot, couldn't move anymore, my chocolate bars were to frozen to eat, and my water was drinkable but very cold and frosty. so i gave up, and waited for my guide to come back with a few others, and we headed back down to base camp (5400m).
after that failure, the next step was to go back to la paz, where i am at the moment. instead of watching angels and demons (which i'm not sure i want to pay for), i decide to head to the contemporary arts museum, and check out some culture. it's a nice museum, didn't take me an hour to go through, and so didn't tire me out. there are works from around the world, but mostly by bolivians, which is a good thing.
then, on saturday, i had a flight ($75 usd one way) to rurrenabaque for some wildlife safari, finally a chance to see some amazon. i decide to fly because i didn't want to ride any more long haul buses in bolivia, well, my return flight got rescheduled, spoiling my plans to be in chile last night, so i decided to get a refund, and take the bus back, fortunately, i got a hold of some diazepam, and managed to sleep in a somewhat awkward and uncomfortable position. anyway, went on a three day/two night tour of the pampas looking for wildlife, took over two hundred photos, of which you'll see plenty here, and plenty more later. went with flecha tours, some israeli run outfit, and surprisingly our group only had four israelis with four non-israelis, there other group was all-israeli. it was $450 bolivianos plus $150 bolivianos entry fee. of course, on the way to the pampas from rurre, our 4wd broke down (bolivia is the only country in which i've had break downs so far), but it was sorted out in reasonably quick fashion. the guy selling the tour told me there were buffet meals for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, obviously we have differing concepts of buffet. myself, i think of a buffet as something that you cannot finish, and the food does not run out, his idea of the buffet, is that the plates are laid out, and basically, it's first in, best dressed, the food was fine nonetheless.
once at the river in yacuma, we got on a boat, and headed for the lodge, a three hour boat ride to see some wildlife. we saw squirrel monkeys, lots of birds, herons, storks, egrets, a bunch of other birds, alligators, insects galore, i was pleasantly surprised with the number of bites i received while in the pampas and rurre, far fewer than i expected, i guess vigilance pays off. before we went back for dinner, we went to see the sunset at the sunset bar, where they sell expensive beer ($20 bolivianos for a biggie), it was a nice sunset, and hopefully some good shots. afterwards, we went looking for crocs and alligators at night, while we did see some, it was never going to be much of a photo session. a few of the israelis went afterwards to catch baby crocs for photos, i think they got one.
the next day, we would go anaconda hunting, this was a bit of a farce, we looked around for an hour or so in this swampy area, and nothing, the guides told us to sit down by a tree, and rest, while they went looking themselves. finally one of them came back (after about an hour, i was trying to take pictures of bugs while waiting) with a baby anaconda, maybe 50cm, it was pretty depressing really, especially when everyone else started taking these retarded photos with the anaconda. after that, we headed back for lunch, and then some piranha fishing in the afternoon. i didn't catch a single one, though had lots of bites, the fish were too small to get hooked, our guide caught plenty, and a couple others in the group managed to get a few as well. we had them for dinner (as a side dish), there isn't much meat on them, just like normal white fish i think.
the third day, was to be swimming with the pink dolphins, of which, we'd seen plenty, and then, lunch, and back to rurre. we started off with an early wake up for the sunrise, with plenty of mozzies around, some nice pics again, i hope. then off to swim in the river, there was actually a caiman where we were swimming, but as i always say, they're so small, a bite won't kill you. there were dolphins around, but they didn't play with us, more like playing with us if you catch my drift. they wouldn't come and swim right up to us, but would swim all around. anyway, it was good to have a swim in the river, after a few days of sweating without having a shower.
then our boat ran out of fuel on the way back to where the 4wd was waiting to pick us up, fortunately it was only a couple hundred metres away, so we could row (well, our guide rowed). a three hour car ride back to rurre, and that was that.
i was looking forward to my flight back to la paz, but i was annoyed to be told that the flights from the previous day had been rescheduled, and not wanting to hang around another day, i just got the bus, small, cramped, and bumpy. i don't want to sound mean-hearted or anything, though i know i will, but one thing you don't want to do, is sit on one of these buses next to a bolivian woman. for whatever reason, generally, they are quite large, and like air, or water, they seem to fill any space that is available, i had two seats to myself for about an hour, which made the ride a little more comfortable, then a large woman sat next to me, i knew what was coming, so i took up as much space as i could before she sat down, but it was just so uncomfortable, i had to turn over a bit, next thing i knew, the space that i had vacated, had been usurped by this bolivian. lucky she got out shortly after (as in a couple hours of an 18 hour bus ride), and a skinnier local man sat down. so that is it, now i am waiting for tomorrow, to get me a bus to arica in chile, and hopefully, no more cramped buses from here on out, only two weeks to go before i leave south america, and i've pretty much done everything i set out to do (except for the aforementioned volcano climbing disaster). i'll post again in buenos aires, just before leaving, i can't see any need to keep you updated on the nothings that will happen before then, see you in buenos aires.
picture of the landscape around chachani from base camp, i did manage to climb about 600m in total, from about 5100m to 5700m, so not a total failure.
transport and accommodation
when travelling from arequipa to la paz, don't believe anything anyone says about direct transport to la paz, they told me it was direct, no need to change at the border (apart from getting the stamps and shit), and it cost a bundle ($195 soles instead of $90 soles). got out at the border, and noticed they'd packed my bag on top of a minivan, asked why, and he told, we're going to la paz, oh shit, i left a back pack in the bus across the border thinking it was coming with us. just go the cheap option, it won't be any worse. the flight from la paz to rurre was fine, cost $75 usd more or less, and the bus back cost me $50 bolivianos, though i probably could've got it for less (they went from $60 to $50 pretty quickly).
in arequipa, stayed at bothy again, so need to elaborate, it was nice, though a bit quiet. in la paz, i've been staying in the adventure brew too again, so again, no need to go any further. in rurre, i stayed at the maldidi hostal, which wasn't far from the travel agency, and cost $25 bolivianos for shared accom (four beds), and $50 bolivianos for a private room with bathroom, it was pretty comfortable, and clean enough, though they didn't have any toilet paper or hot water.
another review
a note about 100 books of solitude (book exchange at olivers travels) in la paz, total rip off, don't trade your books there, they take your book, and give you half of the credit, ie. my book was worth 150bs, and they let me trade it for something worth 75bs, i had to give them my lonely planet and we need to talk about kevin just for american psycho (decent read, but the constant descriptions of what people are wearing and reviews of shit are pretty annoying).
#33 dtra (david tran)
Last edited at 12:31 31st-may-2009
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