Sam and E-J's Adventure

The ride to Sucre was not a pleasant one for Sam as he was suffering from what seems to be a constant illness when you are in Bolivia, `The Bolivian Belli!`What also didn´t help was when the bus driver decided to lock the bus loo during the journey with another 6 hours to go!

When we finally arrived in Sucre, Sam went straight to bed (via a good 10 minutes in the Bus Station Loo!), and E-J went off exploring the pretty little city. It reminded E-J of Arequipa, as it too is full of beautiful white buildings. The streets are also filled with beggars on every corner. There is also an abundance of chocolate shops and the chocolate there tastes as good as in Belgium!

By mid afternoon, Sam managed to venture out for a quick bite to eat and afterwards we bumped into Lou and Tobias, our friends that we had originally met in Cuenca and had planned to meet up with again in Sucre. We made plans for the evening and retreated back to our hostels as the weather was pretty miserable.

The next day we all agreed to meet in the Bike Ride Cafe to watch the football game and to our suprise found a couple that we had met on our Jungle tour. The six of us all sat together having a good catch up and trying to ignore the appalling defeat that England experienced against Croatia. We spent the rest of the day and evening there, having various beers and enjoying each others' banter.

The next day we all re-meet in the Cafe for a hearty breakfast before we said our goodbyes to Veronica and Ben and set off for Potosi via taxi. We found this to be far more civilised than doing the usual painful bus journey and incredibly affordable too!

Sam's comments: Sucre was very relaxing, although the bus journey was the complete opposite! Sadly that will always taint my memory of a beautiful town.

E-J's Comments: Sucre is a very lovely place and the chocolate there is amazing! Sadly while we were there, there was a protest from the country people and there were a few riots which escalated into being very dangerous. We were lucky to be out of the place by then but we heard that the police got driven out of the town for a few days and a couple of young lads were killed in all the riots. Itś scary to think that somewhere that looks so tranquille and beautiful can have such an under current of political issues.

After a smooth flight from Rurrenabaque back to La Paz, we arrived at our hostel around 7pm, tired, hungry and in desperate need of a shower and some clean clothes!

The next day was our admin day, cleaning clothes, shopping, posting a parcel home and checking the internet; All those unexciting things that people never tell you about when they´re travelling...

We met up with our friends Dave and Angie and decided that we would do some ten pin bowling, which Angie had spotted on the main road in La Paz.

When we got there, it was literally liking going through a time machine, with wooden pins, and a few balls that actually bounced down the lane. There certainly wasn´t MTV blaring out of television screens here! The scoring system consisted of paper and a pencil and with none of us actually knowing the rules, we enjoyed making up are own! However, the highlight has to be the way the pins were replaced. As we knocked them down at a hasty pace, a middle aged man, cramped under the three foot hole at the end of the lane would dodge the balls and manually replaced each pin! Sometimes we thought he wasn´t watching and was bound to break his ankle, but to his credit he was extremely efficient!

Due to the novelty and the cost of 75p each, we continued to enjoy a few more games over the next couple of days.

We also visited the outside of the famous San Pedro prison, which is the setting for the book ´Marching Powder´. The Bolivian government obviously thought long and hard about the location of this high security prison, as we found it no more than 100 metres from the main road of the city centre. Here, amongst a picturesque park and hotel sat some of the most dangerous men of South America! Quite unbelievable. Having heard that anyone seen taking pictures has there camera removed, we took a walk around, noticing all the little cabin huts selling Johnny Walker whisky, and observing the many women and children going inside.

We finally said are goodbyes to our kingpin friends, Dave and Angie and look forward to seeing them when their travels reach London.

Sam Comments: Great city, with very friendly people, although don't know if that friendship is seen in the prisions.

E-J Comments: I´ve loved La Paz. It´s a dirty and busy city but it has the most beautiful view of the mountains right behind it. This is fascinating to observe both the modern day and indigenous people work side by side and as you walk down the main road there is a constant aroma of frying meat from practically every street vendor along and around the corner!

Awaking at 5am, we headed for the airport. We were all set for a one hour flight to join our tour at 9:30, but arriving at the airport, were informed that due to bad weather and previous delays we would not be flying until 12.30. Slightly frustrated, we headed back to La Paz for our free pancake breakfast and rearranged our tour for the following day.

We were back at the aiport at 11.30 with a second attempt to catch our flight and were then informed that it had now been delayed until 2pm. At 2pm we were greeted with the news that we would leave at 3pm. With the small airport full of raucous Israelis, fatigue setting in from yesterday´s bike ride and an unnecessary early start, we were tempted to sack it all off and head back to La Paz!

Finally, we boarded the plane and set off at 3.30. The cramped plane, along with 20 shouting and singing Israelis didn´t fill us with the greatest confidence, especially as E-J was struggling to find us two seats together! Once in the air we both relaxed and EJ took in the views.

On arriving into Rurrenabaque, we landed smoothly onto the grass landing strip surrounded by thick Amazon forest. We quickly passed through the customs hut and set off for the town of Rurrenbaque ready for an early night in preparation for our tour the next day.

On exploring the town, full of dusty, red roads and mopeds or motorbikes coming in all directions, we realised that there was not a lot to do here except drink! We ended up sharing a few drinks with a couple of French lads who had recently finished working in Cumbria, much to Sam´s delight! E-J began to worry about what lay ahead as they revealed their stories about their recent trip into the Pampas and how one of them had ended up with a frog on his face!

We settled down for an early night but that was abruptly stopped when what sounded like half of Tel Aviv decided to have a party along the corridor of our hotel from 12am until about 5am. This sent the red mist over Sam, who ended up shouting at them to be quiet in a very impolite way!

The next morning Sam was in his usual pre-tour mood; grumpy about the thought of sharing a few days with people he may not like. After a good breakfast we were relieved to find an enjoyable group of three Irish girls and an Australian couple.

The first part of the tour was a 3 hour drive in a rather small jeep along the dusty tracks to the town of Beni, which was on the edge of the National Park. The ride was incredibly bumpy and every so offer rocks and pebbles would fly up at the Jeep, adding a level of worry that if they flew through the windows they might do some serious damage to one of our heads! After Lunch we set off on a three hour boat trip down the Beni. This was incredibly relaxing and as we lay back in our seats, drifting down the river, we took in the sights of turtles, alligators, caiman, monkeys and the amazing surroundings with the sun beating down on us at 35 degrees.

We arrived at our camp which was a few wooden rooms built together on stilts (though the river was a good 5m below the riverbank) and quickly dropped our bags in the dormitory. We then set off for a well deserved beer at the Pink Dolphin Bar and watched the sun go down, sipping our amazingly chilled beers. After seeing the sunset we set off down the river (with a bit of difficulty getting back into the boat in the pitch black and after a few beers) and spotted the fire flies fly in the sky and the glow of alligator and caiman eyes´ floating in the river.

The next day was again full of heat and humidity. We started the morning with a trip to a local Anaconda field and started trekking through thick mud and sludge. E-J quickly realised that this was a another rather daunting challenge for her, where style was out the window and gum boots were a necessity! As we walked through the muddy sludge the stench of sagnent water was unbearable and the heat and humidity seem to enhance it. A couple of times we would get our boots stuck and with a slight panic, manage to release them. E-J had also managed to find a pair of gum boots with a massive whole in one of them, so that each time she walked she could feel the sludgy water squelching around in her socks. There was also a point where the swamp got so deep that everyone had to trek knee high in watery sludge, apart from Sam who had, had the smart idea of trapezing his way along a thin piece of fencing, which crossed the field. Occassially we would worry as our guide wandered off into the pampas in a desperate search for anacondas, leaving us to fend for ourselves. However, we weren´t as unlucky as another group who were trekking at the same time as us. Their guide literally left them stranded. Two of them had got slightly lost and managed to walk into a hornets nest! They eventually joined our group to there relief!

After walking two kilometres through the stinky field we finally returned to our boat without seeing a single Anaconda (much to E-J´s relief!), However we did managed to come across this:

After a good meal and a siesta we woke up our guide (who was a lazy little lad) and spent the afternoon Pirhana fishing. Sam's fly fishing technique looked rather spectacular and he thought it was only a matter of seconds before he managed to catch a big one and much to Sam's annoyance E-J soon managed to catch two! Sam on the other hand was still struggling, the last of the group not to catch one, but finally, much to his relief managed to catch a couple within seconds of each other and was incredibly proud of himself!

After feeling rather pleased with ourselves we all enjoyed a beer and settled into a lovely evening meal before an early night, with the idea of waking to see the sunrise. Sadly we woke to torrential rain so missed the sunrise. After the weather started to clear, we took in the amazing sights for the last time and much to E-J´s pleasure spotted a few pink dolphins under an overcast sky before heading back.

On the way back, we passed the oldest alligator in the river who is known by the name Pedro. Much to our amazement he also answers to it. Slightly skeptical, we tested this by waiting for the alligator to swim away before we called him again and watched him return. Our guide them greated him with his usual pat on the nose, treating Pedro like some kind of friendly dog...

On heading back to Rurrenabaque the journey was a testing one with the weather turning the brown dirt tracks into mud baths. Our driver was exhausted by the end of the day and 20 minutes before arriving into Rurrenabaque this was demonstrated as he pulled out of the petrol station in to another car! Fortunately, everyone was fine (though a little shaken up) and via a short de-tour to the police station we finally arrived back into Rurrenabaque. We spent the night enjoying a few beers in a local bar, re-living our great experience.

The next day we enjoyed a morning in Rurrenabaque in the unbearable heat before enjoyed a relaxed flight back to La Paz. We were lucky to get our flight, as again there had been some delays due to weather and we both were ready to escape the jungle after the mosquitos had seriously attacked Sam´s back and E-J´s bottom!

Sam Comments: On the flight in I thought my time was up, 20 Israelis, Ej and I and I couldn´t see the airport. After feeling relieved it was brilliant, Pirhana fishing was fantastic, would love to have stayed longer but the hole in my mosquito net did n`t help !!

E-J Comments: Rurrenabaque is an amazing and chilled out place and being so close to the wild life in the Pampas is such a humbling experience, although I am pleased I didn´t know about the seriously dangerous tarantula outside our dormitory until after we left!

After crossing the Peruvian/Bolivian border we arrived into Cocacabana. Unimpressed with the place we stayed there for one night and then head on to the capital, La Paz.

La Paz is 3600m above sea level and with it being set in a valley, we found ourselves constantly walking up and down steep streets, feeling incredibly breathless!

Our first night in La Paz was pretty uneventful and despite the fact that we enjoy each other´s company, we felt we needed some more people to add some more fun to our nights. The next day we moved to a much more upbeat hostel called Adventure Brew Hostel, which had this brilliant deal of as many pancakes as you can eat in the morning and a free beer in the evening! We took full advantage of both. That day was our day of chores and we spent most of it organising the famous bike ride, known as ´The Most Dangerous Road in the World!' for the following day and a three day jungle tour in Rurrenabaque for the day after. Pleased with accomplishing both and Sam managing to buy a Rolex for three pounds, we decided that we would have a chilled out evening, ready for the bike ride the next day. However, when E-J entered the bar for her free beer she was suddenly overcome with excitement to find Angie one of the Australian´s from the Inca trail, having a beer there too. Within minutes Sam, E-J, Angie and her boyfriend Dave were in full flow of conversation and excitement to see each other again and decided to make a night of it!

After a great meal, we headed to a place where we could hear booming music coming out from the windows and thinking this would be a happening place to go, entered the doors. When we reached the top of the stairs we were confronted with a mass of Bolivians celebrating their Saturday night. The place seemed to almost stop and stare at us four gringos and feeling the pressure we meekly bought a couple of beers and stood in the corner of the large room, terrifyed to cause any animosity. Five minutes later a group of partying Bolivians, beckoned us over to join them and before we knew it we were all in the full swing of Bolivian love, being bought an abundence of rounds of rum and coke and all toasting `La Paz, number 1´and `Salut Bolivia!´ Both Angie and E-J also found themselves being constantly asked to dance by one Bolivian after another until they were both totally warn out. Finallly, at 3am we managed to drag ourselves away from the place after many hugs and kisses goodbye and mutual love and appreciation. Angie and E-J had managed to be reasonably sensible with their consumption of alcohol, but both Sam and Dave were staggering back after too many drinks with the locals including one particular chap by the name of Fidel Castro Rodriguez!

The next day, E-J with difficulty manage to awake Sam at 6am and we both staggered to the bike shop to start the tour of ´The Most Dangerous Road in the World'. E-J was only really tired from the night before, but Sam was definitely struggling with blood shot eyes and the constant need to rehydrate himself with water. The first part of the tour consisted of us driving for two hours to begin the bike ride. This was a good time for Sam to sober up as best he could!

The group who were doing the tour consisted of three incredibly agile Norwegians (who we had actually met previously during the Inca Trail) and a Scottish son and father who were fanatic mountain bikers. It was at this point, that E-J started to question her abilities, what with being the only girl in the group and with a load of sporty, competitive men.

The first part of the bike ride was pretty straight forward cycling, or should be say free wheeling down a tarmac road as fast as you could go. There was the occassional truck or car that passed us, but nothing to make us worry and we had the knowledge that there was a guide at the front and at the back and a minibus constantly following the group.

It was when we got to the check point that things seemed to change. Sam, who had (for the first time) been in charge of the wallet containing the only credit card we could use, had somehow managed to misplace it. After several angry words from E-J and the guides kindly suggesting to drive back up to the top of the road and search the whole track, Sam then discovered that it had not fallen out of his pocket, but was on the floor in the minibus. The next hurdle was when E-J realised that the actual Death Road was on gravel and not tarmac. Having never ridden over gravel before, this came as a little shock to her as she found her wheels flying in all directions. One of the guides then advised her that she should go slowly if she had little experience of this terrain as the road was incredibly dangerous (funnily enough) and falling off the edge of this steep cliff could be fatal. This was when it dawned on E-J that she had not actually ridden a bike since she was fifteen years old, and before that not much more, so that her abilities as a cyclist were probably similar to that of a six year old and as she started to descend down the steep, rock filled, precarious road, she started to plead to the above 'Please don´t let me die, please don´t let me die..!'.

Sam on the other hand, realising that his abilities were way above E-J´s, had left her with the back guide and was flying down the cliff right behind the front guide. A couple of times, he found that his back wheel would swirl out of control as he hit a rock or two and he would then question the strength of his insurance but other than that he was having a whale of a time!

E-J, not only was hating every minute of this 4 hour, 65km ride, but was in absolute agony, as she seemed to bump over every single rock along the way. Several times the guide at the back, seeing her pain, would suggest that she get into the minibus, but being as stubborn as ever she was determined to complete the ride, no matter how much pain she went through. What hadn´t helped E-J´s confidence was that within the first ten minutes of the actual gravel part of the Death Road, three girls had fallen off their bikes, hurting themselves badly, including one poor girl who had broken her femur!

The boys were incredibly patient with E-J, stopping for forty minutes or so to let her catch up with them, before they all shot off again. Finally we reached the end of the ride and all the boys were pumping with adrenaline while E-J was just relieved to be alive! We had a lunch in the beautiful town on Coroico before heading back to La Paz. By the time we reached La Paz, E-J had developed the movements similar to that of a decrepid eighty year old and would let out a little yelp each time she had to sit down. Sam was just exhausted after a late and alcoholic night before and an exhilarating day.

When we finally reached the hostel, we had a take away Pizza and an early night in preparation for our early start to the Jungle then next day.

Sam´s comments: Amazing, great time in the bar, Bike ride was fantastic, defintely do it again! However, was concerned with E-J constantly swearing at me when she reached the bottom!!

E-J´s comments: I absolutely hated Death Road and had I known there had been a death in March from someone falling off the edge, I would not have stupidly done it! Also for the next two days I felt like I had the bike seat permanently stuck to my bottom! I really hope that our next tour is more enjoyable, but I am pleased to say I completed it, though I won´t be riding a bike again for a VERY long time!

Having arrived in Puno, E-J was still struggling form the Inca trail and was in need of some well earned sleep! With the local annual fiesta occuring that week and the relentless street processions occurring, Puno didn´t seem like the best place to be!

Having found accommodation we battled our way through the street processions and hundreds of people to book a two day island tour to the Uros Islands (the Floating Islands) the Amantani Island (where we stay with a local family) and the Taquille island.

The night before our tour we enjoyed a good meal. Sam tucked into some juicy Alpaca meat, concerned that this may be the last good meal he ate for 48 hours!

Rising in the early morning, we headed for the Puno docks and boarded are 16 man boat. The Uros Islands were our first stop and after a pleasant 30 minute trip, E-J took in the Floating Island, whilst Sam rested his eyes!

We also took one of the local´s reed boats across to another floating island. Sam found all of this very unpleasant and commercial, what with being crammed on a tiny boat with sixteen other tourists and the fact that the boat was called Titanic..., but E-J seemed to love every minute!

We then boarded the boat for another 3 hour journey until we reached the Amantani Island. Although it felt very far away, it was only 30 kilometres, but the rough boat journey over seemed to make it take forever! By lunch time we had found our destination and were introduced to our hosts for the evening, Patrick and Anastasia. Our slight concern was that they spoke little spanish (though neither did we) so there would be a lot of communication via gesture and hand movement... Their main language was Quechua, which can only be described as sounding very similar to the language of Donald Duck!

When we arrived at their farm, we quickly helped peel potatos, which were to be used for lunch. At this point we were slightly concerned about the purple patched potatos as we really didn´t fancy an uncomfortable night with very limited bathroom facilities! For lunch, we had potato soup, followed by rice, meat in bread crumbs and potatos, which was more than enough carbs!

In the afternoon we met with our guide again and were told about the area and the history of the families who lived on the island.

As the sun came down, E-J climbed up 1000 feet to the point of 4200m above sea level to catch a beautiful sunset. Whilst Sam enjoyed a rather breathless game of football with the locals.

In the evening (after E-J had discovered she had seriously scorched her face in the sun, with the stupid lack of sun block) we sat in our hosts kitchen/bedroom and enjoyed a meal of (once again) potato soup, rice, chicken and potatos! After the evening meal we were quickly changed into the local, authentic dress and headed for the town hall for some local dancing!

We were quickly excorted onto the dance floor by our hosts and to the sounds of a local band. Being swung around in a huge group can only be described as a Peruvian conga and with the aid of a few beers this continued into the night, until we were completely worn out by 11pm. We both slept extremely well that night!

In the morning there was just enough time for a quick pancake breakfast before saying our goodbyes and heading back onto the boat. An hour later we arrived onto the Island of Taquille. Taquille is an incredibly honest place where there is no crime, so no one locks their houses and there are no police. Also, it is common for the locals to be married before 20 and if the girls exceed this age they are looked upon as a bit of a spinster! After a stroll around the island and taking in the beautiful surroundings we enjoyed a lovely, fresh trout lunch.

We then had a 4 hour boat trip back to Puno and by the time we arrived back we were both absolutely shattered and enjoyed a quiet night in, watching terrible Peruvian television!

Sams Comments: Fantastic trip, great family, only problem was the frenchman who took offense to one of my mistimed football tackles!

EJ Comments: I really enjoyed the experience but a skeptical side of me can´t help thinking that maybe it is all a bit of a tourist scam and the Amantani people don´t actually live in this basic accommodation that they entertain us in, but have a large pad behind this with all the modern compliances and possibly even a plasma screen! This may also explain why they kept leaving the room whenever they had to get something...