Hello
Since I am way behind on my writing I am going to jump right in.
Rurrenabaque, Bolivia
I spent about 6 days using Rurre as a base to explore the Amazon Basin and realize how much mosquito bites can itch. I spent 3 days on a tour of the pampas (grasslands) via a boat along the Yacuma River…unfortunately during this time of the year the rivers in this area all flood so the actually river bank is amongst the trees so that limits some of the wildlife sightings. With that said we had 3 days of great weather and got to see a ton of birds (over 50 species with highlights being macaws, kingfishers, numerous raptors, and woodpeckers), howler and squirrel monkeys, capybaras (a large rodent) and lots of turtles. We also saw a number of alligators and caimans during a night boat ride. The highlight of the trip from an animal standpoint was seeing the pink river dolphins and getting to ¨swim¨with them…it was really just standing in the water as they swam around by you. They really do have a pinkish hue and even though they do not jump out of the water the same way salt water dolphins do it was cool to be so close to them. Besides that our days consisted of relaxing on the boat as we cruised around looking for wildlife and going on a long horseback ride through what turned out to be a swamp because of all the flooding. I also went on a one day jungle tour of Madidi National Park (which was featured in National Geographic in 2000). Unfortunately we got rained on during our hike in the jungle so wildlife spottings were nonexistent but it was cool to see all the different types of trees especially the ones armored with all sorts of spikes. The coolest thing was at the ranger station we got to see a tarantula as well as an orphaned infant anteater that they are releasing into the wild. I have never see an anteater before and they are pretty cool animals and well adapted to their ant eating lifestyle. They have the skinniest heads I have ever seen though so they can’t be very intelligent. We also got to see a macaw rookery, tons of butterflies and a spider monkey up close and personal that one of the lodges is working on releasing…amazing how quick and nimble he was and almost makes me wish I had a prehensile tail.
La Paz, Bolivia
I spent 2 quick but action packed days in La Paz. One day I took a tour of the ruins at Tiwanaku which was a nation state that exist for about 2000 years starting around 600 BC and ended when the Incas came into the area. The ruins themselves weren’t very impressive as the Bolivians are now working on reconstructing the sites but it was very interesting to learn about a civilization that I previously knew nothing about. It turns out that the Incas incorporated a lot of Tiwanakian aspects into their culture. It was also a good way to chronologically prepare myself for visiting the Inca ruins in Peru. The other day I rode a mountain bike down the World’s Most Dangerous Road…apparently about once a month a car or truck goes over the cliff edge of this one way (with many pullouts) gravel road. At some points the cliff face drops off something like 3000 feet. With all that said I went with a very safety conscious company and had a great and stress free ride down. In total we lost over 4500 feet of elevation over a 35 or 40 mile ride (ok coast really). Actually the most danger we ran into was on the ride back to La Paz as the van came close to a couple of head on collisions around blind curves. We also had one tire blow out and the spare developed a slow leak which despite attempts to reinflate it with a bike pump (yes really) it went dead requiring us to wait 2 hours (half the time in the dark) in the middle of the road for another tire to be brought to us from La Paz. Good to see that my transportation issues continued but in the end it all worked out fine and is just another entertaining story.
Copacabana, Bolivia on the shores of Lake Titicaca
Spent a couple of days in the sun enjoying this small lakeside town with one of the biggest churches that I have seen this trip despite having only 50,000 or so residents….talking about overbuilding the neighborhood. Anyways one day I went hiking on Isla del Sol where the Inca’s believe that the sun was born. Got to see one or two Inca ruins and enjoyed some beautiful scenary as I huffed and puffed my way around the island. I’m still at an elevation over 12,000 feet and despite getting used to the altitude it is amazing how much it affects me ever after climbing just a couple of steps. The other day I just went for a hike along the road to another village along the lake…sort of uneventful but just nice to get some more walking in in preparation for the Inca Trail. One observation I made was how much clothes the people here wear. Regardless of how hot I think it is and what work they were doing I constantly ran into people men and women wearing jackets and sweaters. It made me overheat just looking at them. I also got to spend some quality time in a hammock, people watching at the Sunday market (I love the traditional dress here and have a ton of pictures to prove it) and even got to watch a movie for the 1st time in a couple of months. This was actually something that I really wanted to do. Funny the things that you start missing.
Puno, Peru on the shores of Lake Titicaca
I have been in Peru for the last day and one great things is that they have fast and cheap internet which explains why I was able to post so many pictures (finally). But more importantly I came to Puno to visit the floating reed islands in the lake. It turns out that the tour was extremely cheesy but it was cool to be on a real floating island made out of reeds. There have been people living on these types of islands for hundreds of years which is amazing to think about. I also went to a site that feature funeral towers from 3 different civilizations including Tiwanakians and Incas.
Whats next
I leave tomorrow for Cusco, Peru which is the launching point for Machhu Picchu and the last major city of the trip. Machhu Picchu was one of the reasons why I wanted to come to South America in the first place so I am excited that it will be the last thing that I visit on my trip. It is made even better because Jessica is coming down to join me on the trail. More soon….
Love
Scott
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