Ravens Travels

Okay so after Serere we headed back into Rurrenabaque to originally spend one night before flying out the next day... instead we ended up staying two nights...

After checking into our hotel and grabbing a little food we headed to a local pub called PachaMama run by an English girl Katrina and her boyfriend, to meet up with some of the group from Serere and ´the volunteers`, Kit and Meghna. Kit had been marketing and selling the place to everyone when we were in Serere. Its a nice pub/cafe, good music, movie rooms, book exchange, food, etc..... good atmosphere too. But as it’s at the edge of town, a whole five minutes more walk many people don’t visit it, (a tip the drink here is a little cheaper then the wildly advertised and visited Mosquito bar)!! Anyway after many drinks and games of pool, Arjan got talking to Katrina about the place. She was looking to sell and he was seriously considering buying it. After taking the grand tour of the public and private areas, he really was convinced that we should invest in it and lives there. Okay so we may have been drinking a lot but the money side of me had to ask a few questions, yearly profits, seasonal trends, cost of living, and growth potential. I know I could have just got hooked on the fantasy but the reality and answers told me that this was not the business for us!! So after convincing Arjan that he shouldn’t buy it, or let Kit away with his tab if we did as a good will gesture we proceeded to get very drunk and have a laugh. Besides we still have a few months of traveling a head of us and we’re not ready to stop. The next day there was no way we could fly so we changed the flight and relaxed.

So we flew back to La Paz, relaxed and happy. But after the clean lowlands the city appeared to be unbreathable, dirty and too noisy. It was hard to get used to it again so we decided one day was enough and off we headed to Copacabana. The town is situated on the shores of Lake Titicaca, the world’s highest navigable lake. The altitude caused a few problems for me but at this stage Arjan was flying around. The town is nice and though its touristy you don’t feel hassled all the time. While we were there we decided to spend two nights on Isla de Sol. From the dock on the island you have to walk up Inca steps to get to the town, after loads of breaks, huffing and puffing we made it to our hostel. Wow, the views from our room were amazing, three of the walls had huge windows overlooking at the bays, perfect for catching the sunrises and sunsets. The island was nice but as I was having altitude problems I was glad to leave, I couldn`t walk too far without feeling ill, while Arjan was able to explore the whole island.

After returning to Copa for one night we then headed to Puno in Peru...

Okay so while we were in La Paz we looked into going to Parque Madidi but the agencies we spoke to were either too expensive or just didn’t interest us (they only wanted to sell a tour without knowing what they were selling).

While we were in a cafe we came across a brochure for Madidi Travel SRL. After a quick read we were interested enough to go to their offices and ask questions. Unlike other companies their main focus isn’t tourism its about conservation. The tourism was just means of finance and a chance to open people’s eyes. The company is highly respected in the conservation world. They played a crucial role in the setting up of Madidi National Park, The national geographic society were led by them through the park and were featured in the magazine and on line. They have also been featured on French TV. If I sound like I’m running a sales pitch its because I am, as you read on you’ll see how much I loved the work they did, especially now in Serere and the people are fantastic. Its not often I gush but hey this entry is all about gushing....

(Serere is a protected sanctuary in a flood plain in the north of Bolivia, about 2-3 hours by boat from Rurrenabaque. It is completely owned by Madidi Travel and exclusively run and used by them).

When we got to the office we read a few of the ads outside, we found out that the director had won a prize and recognition for her conservation work in the international world of conservation. Suitably impressed we went inside and were met by a remarkable woman, Rosa Maria, who spoke which such dedication and enthusiasm about the work of the organizations recent protected area Serere that we decided that we had to go there for as long as we could afford. Rosa Maria explained that there were three different packages to allow Serere to be accessible to a wide range of people and budgets. We chose the cheapest option of $40 per day for six days. We’re lucky it’s a promotional year as prices may rise and it would have been a shame to spend any less time there. We found out that our enthusiastic source of information; Rosa was in fact the same director, woman who had won the prize. As luck would have it we would be traveling out on the same flight to Rurrenbaque with Rosa, Martha (another friendly, helpful woman from the agency), and another couple who were going to Serere for 4 days. We met the other couple at the airport, Lee and Anna are from the UK and are on a year world travel trip, and they had only started a few weeks before. While we waited for our flight we found out that this was Rosa’s first trip back to Serere in months as a caiman while swimming one day had attacked her. She was very excited to be going back and her enthusiasm was contagious to the rest of us. Through much informative conservation we were told that when Rosa was young slavery was still legal and that many indigenous tribes were not even recognised by the government. As well as the conservation of the land, animals, etc.... the company is also involved with indigenous tribes and is active land titling and community projects. Much of the work involves human rights. The more stories you hear the more you want to know.

When we got to Rurrenabaque we met the fifth member of our group, Holy from Germany, who was nearing the end of his travels. In the office we also met a volunteer Meghna, she’s a very nice girl who had kind of fallen into the job with her boyfriend, Kit who me met when we got to Serere. They had done a video about the area and were sharing their time by working in the office and being translators in Serere. They’re a cool couple with their heads screwed on, even with loads of alcohol (more about that later).

As we were now in the lowlands there were no more altitude problems. It felt fantastic to be able to breathe again. No more having to stop every two seconds to catch breathes, yeah real energy to explore. Arjan, I, Lee and Anna were sharing one cabin while Holy was sharing with three Dutch people who were leaving the next day. The cabins are great!! There are no walls as such; instead there is netting for bugs and mozzies. To wake up seeing the plants, butterflies, and sometimes birds and monkeys are amazing. Every morning you can hear the howler monkeys greeting the new day with their calls. The main lodge ground floor is were we had most of our main meals prepared by a great local chef. While upstairs you could relax in hammocks or on couches, it’s a great place to watch the animals and the sunset! Or just to play cards, rummy was the game of the trip and with a few misunderstanding on my part (I thought I’d won when I hadn’t), it was a good laugh.

While we were there we had a very informative friendly guide called Jesus. He brought us on various walks and canoe rides. Even showed us how to make rings and necklaces out of nuts and seeds. Though are Spanish was terrible and Jesus has little English we could all understand each other, to the point we were all taking the piss out of each other and seemed to be laughing a lot!! The atmosphere was very relaxing and entertaining. From Holy always wanting to see anacondas, to Lees obsession with the ants (Anna are you prepared to have an ant farm when you get home!), to Arjans obsession with seeing a tarantula (he didn’t see one but I did, one night walking to the lodge I saw one near some logs, I think my surprised scream frightened the spider, whoops, but he was as big as my fist!!). Also Jesus and the other guides can make similar sounds to the animals and called out to them a lot, to hear the guys try to the same as well provided a lot of laughter, especially the caiman calls. Some of them sounded obscene.

In Serere we saw many monkeys, spiders, birds, caimans, fish and various plants & trees. It was amazing; I really can’t stop saying that. On the Friday night the staff were having an offering to Pachamama to thank her for everything that she had done and we were lucky enough to be invited to witness it. It was really interesting to see the plates and offerings which we had read about it museums and seen in markets being actually used. It was quite special to have been able to see something like that for real and not just as a tourist gimmick. We had a good group and it was sad to see the other guys go before us.

On Lee, Anna and Holys last day a new group of five arrived, an Irish couple (Kathleen and Liam), a Dutch couple (I always forget their names, even though we’ve seen them many times since then, whoops), and an Australian girl (Hayley). Overall they were a nice group but the original is always the best? As we were there a little longer then the general groups of 2/3/4 days we got to know some of the staff, they’re so friendly and helpful. Also we got to know Kit a bit better, he’s a very funny guy, with a good sense of humour, and even gives you the heads up on the new people . Through conservations Jesus let slip to Kit that one of the other guides, Oscar, sometimes gave nicknames to people when he couldn’t remember their names. He’d renamed Arjan..................... Antonio Banderas. Hehehe I’ve no problem with that and Arjan thought it was funny, especially as he’d had to sit through Desperado a million times! Poor Oscar didn’t know we’d been told and got a bit embarrassed by it but after realizing there was no offense taken, he relaxed quickly and thus Arjan became Antonio B.

I should probably also tell you a bit about Serere and what you can do there. You never know you may want to visit there soon (and if you don’t, are you mad???). While you’re there you have a choice of many different walks, depending on your time and on the interests of the group. In general everyone is catered towards and if you don’t want to do something then you can sit in a hammock and watch the world go by (even with a nice cold beer ...) In Serere there are four different lakes, one is directly in front of the main lodge while the other three are a short walk from the lodge. Lago Gringo is the nearest of the three to walk to. The other two, Lago Isla and Lago Negro are a little further but the adventurer in you gets to cheer as you cross dodgy logs to get across swampy areas with sticks to keep you from falling. Its loads of fun!! Lago Negro involves a bit more arm muscle for the rowing through the plants but as with all the lakes its great for spotting birds, sometimes monkeys, or course caimans and maybe if you’re lucky anacondas (we didn’t see any but we weren’t as obsessed as someone else). On all the lakes it’s possible to row in the canoes and it’s a great experience. If you haven’t done it, you should, especially if your guide calls to a black caiman you roars his head in reply and dives with a huge splash!! Besides the lakes you can also see the agricultural side to the area by visiting `el Chaco` directly across from the lake near the main cabin. Here you can see the various vegetables and fruits that they grow to be used in the lodge and sometimes by the cheeky animals that pilfer the site. You can also go fishing depending on the season and learn to make natural jewelry!!

All the trips are either half day or full day trips; there are also trips in the morning before breakfast and in the nighttime after dinner that way your opportunities to view the animals and wildlife are increased.

As you can guess this really was once of my favourite places ever!

Okay so last time I was on line we were in Sucre but I had yet to tell you anything about it. We ended up staying longer then expected due to flue or a bug, basically we weren’t able to travel further . Don’t worry though we didn’t spend the week suffering and doing nothing. The hostel Charcas was in the city centre and within walking distance of the main sites. (Stats - double room shared bath 80 bolivianos, private bath 130 bol.) Sucre is known as the white city, as well as being known as the most beautiful city in Bolivia, though it is a nice city this description was spoiled by coming through the usual roads filled with rubbish that seems to great us on arriving at any city here. While we there the city was celebrating a 25-year anniversary. Every night and day the sounds of marching bands could be heard practicing in the schools, and any available space, As the main day, Friday, crept closer they took to the streets. The whole parade and practice sessions were taken very seriously as the country’s president was going to be watching the final march. On the Thursday night the local army barracks set off various firework displays, which we could appreciate from the rooftop in the hostel. On the Wednesday morning we visited the cathedral and capilla de la virgen de guadalupe. It was nice but quite gaudy at times; one room contained an altar with the all Seeing Eye seen in Egyptian art. Across from it was a burial bed decorated with various pictures of the grim reaper, over looked by angels on the ceiling. There were also statures of a saint as a child with a slit throat, blood included of course. The statue of the virgen is adorned with jewels and precious metals and is worth an absolute fortune but then the whole effect is turned into a joke by the surrounding multi coloured lights that belong in a disco or at an Xmas party. I wonder who is claiming that idea. We also ran into Helen and Chris in the pub that afternoon, (the couple from the road trip in Argentina). They were taking Spanish lessons locally, and by the sounds of it were doing well. They also told us that they had finally booked their flights back to the Uk but only for a month and then they were off to Korea to work, after nearly two years they’d decided to try and settle somewhere.
That afternoon we headed to the Joy Ride pub to watch the Championship final with Liverpool and Milan. By now you all know the score and you can imagine the atmosphere in a pub filled with Dutch supporting Liverpool because they had two Dutch players`, there was also a young Liverpool supporter who cried at the end of the match much to the amusement of a local Caca supporter and thus now a Milan supporter. To add insult to injury upon leaving the pub he rubbed the crying guys head and said loser with a sloppy smug grin.
In town we also visited a textile museum, which explained the history and methodology behind the various weavings created and worn by the indigenous people.

It was quite interesting and also contained a section on dance. The only down side is that there is an abundance of information to read which can make your head feel like exploding by the end. We also checked out Casa la Libertad.

It has many pictures of ex presidents including one that Bolivar said was the best representation of him.
On the Friday night there was a feeling of celebration after the marches and demonstrations we decided to go to a blues night in Bibliocafe. There were three bands playing, one of them was La Maya, the band we’d previously seen in Santa Cruz. On the Sunday we were supposed to go to the market in Tarabuco but weren’t feeling up to it, between lack of sleep and feeling unwell it just wasn’t meant to be. We were disappointed about missing it but found out that afternoon that one of the buses returning from the market, containing a lot of tourists had crashed, killing one person and harming many more. Now we count our blessings that we didn’t go, you never know...

On the Monday we headed to the worlds highest city Potosi. This is where the problems with high altitude really kicked in.

The city is nice and the mountains overlooking it are beautiful but when you’re constantly out of breath it can be hard to appreciate them completely.

Potosi is a mining town, previously it was silver but now it was mostly tin. Many people died in the mining of the silver for the Spanish crown, many of them locals and slaves, we were informed that the working conditions haven’t changed that much over the centuries, the life of a miner is short, the work is extremely hard and the mines contain toxic gases. We were considering visiting them but the breathing problems prevented us from doing so. While in town we visited the mint, the tour was interesting, though very cold, the museum contains, coins, melting machines, pots, minerals, and even mummified babies. We also visited a local church were you could walk along the roof to have amazing views of the city and surroundings.

After Potosi we headed towards Uyuni.
From here we arranged to do a three day tour around the South of Bolivia, taking in Salar di Uyuni (the salt lakes),

Colchani to see how the salt is processed, Isla Inca Huasi (cactus island),

various lakes,

arbol (stone tree),

a stone valley, geisers,

hot springs,

dali valley and along the way flamingos, andean foxes, llamas, etc.... The trip was really enjoyable and the group we were with was nice. The trip started with a train museum that we ended up seeing twice as we had stumbled on it ourselves on our first day in town.

In Uyuni itself we stayed in the local Hi hostel were the owner’s son chatted up all the girls, evening pinching bums, he was starting young at 3. The best place in town was the American run minuteman, really good pizza and pasta with a smile.

From Uyuni we took a seven-hour night train to Oruro. Instead of heading straight onto La Paz like some of our fellow passengers we decided to stay in town for two days. We had heard a lot about the masks made in town for the devil festival in Feb and le gran poder at the beginning of June. I must have looked like a child in a candy shop checking out the costumes and masks. They were amazing and I really wanted to buy loads but the sensibilities kicked in about trying to carry everything and the cost of post so we bought one which, fingers crossed, makes it through an post back to Dublin.

So now we `re in La Paz and have been for a few days. We had been told that it was the best place to shop but so far nothing has jumped out, so instead of the original plan of buying loads I bought a new rain cover for my bag as my other one is in bits and a pair of combats, ohhhh last of the big spenders, no! I think if the trip was shorter it would be easier to shop but where would the fun in that be. In town we visited the local coca museum, it was interesting but as its been renovated is badly laid out and hard to follow. It’s also presented as being a balanced view of the history but I found this to not be the case. They talk about how the Bolivian people use the plant for spiritual reasons and to allow them to work harder and that the rest of the world use it only as a drug, for profit and exploitation, they also say that the world points all the blame at them but as we all know many countries are blamed and Bolivia isn’t completely innocent either, we’ve seen many non spiritual users here.

Okay so after the hassle of having to backtrack in Paraguay to get the bus we wanted we arrived in Santa Cruz, Bolivia on May 10th. Our accommodation of choice was Residential Bolivar. For a double room with shared bathroom it costs 120 bolivianos (about $15). The courtyard is a very relaxing place with hammocks to while the hours away while watching the permanent residents, two toucans. One shy, while the other is cheeky and plays biting games with guests. Don’t get me wrong he’s not vicious, just playful and Arjan swears it doesn’t hurt. Hopefully the photos turn out

The city itself is nice and clean in the center, it’s quite a sprawling city and near the bus station isn’t the nicest.

The street of our hostel was shut down, as there was a sit in demonstration for disabilities, the posters covered deafness, blindness, lost limbs and wheelchairs. From the day we arrived till the day we left four days later they were sitting there 24 hours a day. It seemed to be a peaceful demonstration made up of all ages, from a baby a few weeks old to a man in his eighties; it’s just a pity that the street was turned into a public toilet. There was also a demonstration and mini march around Plaza 24 de Septembre. It only lasted a few hours but trouble was expected. Armed riot police overlooked the group of indigenous protesters chanting anti political words.

As we still weren’t sure if we had seen condors we headed off to the Santa Cruz zoo (price 10 bol), its bigger inside then it looks. We discovered besides seeing condors from a great distance learning how to fly we hadn’t actually seen any before then. So now I just have to figure out what birds are in the photos The best part in the zoo is a large cage, which you can walk into and either take a tiny stroll or sit and watch the birds fly over and around you. It’s a very relaxing place to sit. Outside the zoo are telephone boxes shaped like parrots, though they were unique but we’ve seen them a few times now.

As the spiderman 3 movie had just come out we tried to find a cinema to see it but lo and behold the ones we knew about were either shut down for a long time (judging by the state of the buildings), had turned into churches (don’t ask) or were closed early. So we headed for a quick drink in the Irish pub, we had decided to give it a second chance. We’d been there during the week and though the layout and music were good the service was absolutely terrible. The pub has many waitresses, too many really, who either stand at the bar chatting or all shout the orders at the three equally confused barmen. The barmen all seem to try to catch all the orders and then get themselves into a knot. For example we were sitting right beside the bar but the barmen had a waitress take the order and then it proceeded to take 20 minutes to get two bottles of beer in a quiet pub... but we gave it another chance because we were told it was good and we probably got it on a bad day.... well we went back, service improved a tiny bit but if you’re in town you’re better off going somewhere else. Anyway after a few drinks we headed back to the hostel to hear some really good music coming from a balcony. We sourced it to the upstairs Lorca Cafe on the square, a local blues band, La Maga was playing. So the band and the cafe saved the night, but not counting what we drank led to really sore heads the next day.

On the Monday we caught a shared taxi (25 bol each) for the 2.5 hour journey to Samiapata. We checked into La ´Posada del sol, run by Trent and Rosario. They’re a really friendly family. The room itself was a spacious spotlessly clean double room ensuite with a separate area in the corner with laundry sink. May sound like a small point but its a nice touch. The balcony with comfy chairs enjoys a view of the surrounding mountains. The damage as they say for this was 80 bol/ $10.... not bad.... oh and they also had the best breakfasts of any of the places we’ve been to... In the town there seems to be a lot of foreigners living there, we found out later it appears this way because they’re all in the tourist or food trade, there are about 50 out of a population of 3000. It means though that the standard in a lot of the places is higher then you would originally expect from a small town. The best restaurant in town for food, drink and a really nice atmosphere is Latina Cafe run by a friendly French owner and his Bolivian wife (who doubles as chef). They told us that it took them 5 years to build the place but it looks great. The town has many agencies and tour guides but I found the best one to be the German run roadrunners. The guys are really friendly and helpful and they have a large book exchange, which I really needed at that stage. They also have weather information and can tell you all about the local area without pressuring you into buying tours. They even advised one customer that for their requirements of staying in the Omboro Park they should book with the Dutch run, Ben Verhoef tours, as they were the only group licensed to negotiate with the lodge. We were also thinking of doing one of bens tours taking the old trade route to Sucre combined with part of the Che route but at $250 it was over our budget.

On one of the days we went to the museo Arqueologico. Here we met with a Belgium couple who had been traveling for eight months and had only 4 weeks left. They were a bit depressed about it. I wonder how we will feel when it’s our turn to be counting down days. Enviously enough they did the Mongolian express from Russia to China...that’s something I would love to do in the future. Anyway the museum wasn’t very good and the video was cheesy, but the ticket of 32bol also included entrance to the UNESCO world heritage site - El Fuerte, the remains of a pre Inca ceremonial site. Though the site was interesting it was a bit dissappointing, some of the etchings that I had expected to see had either been covered with mud/moss or were too far away to see. As it was a nice day we'd got a taxi up to it (30 bol) and walked the ten km back. The views of the valleys were well worth the uphill struggle at times. Though the walk as a whole wasn’t hard and quite quick to do.

From Samiapata we got a bus to ValleGrande for 20 bol each. While waiting for the bus we met up with Anat from Israel who has been traveling for eight months through central and south America, though she has another four months to go and wants to see everything she admitted she was getting tired. In town we checked into Hostal El Marques, which had been recommended by Trent and Rosario. It was more a hotel though then a hostel. The room was huge, ensuite, TV and balcony for $10. After dropping the bags we met up with Anat who only had a few hours in town before catching her next bus. We headed to the Che museum; it was quite a morbid place, filled with various photos from different angles of his dead body. He had been shot nearly 40 years ago (in oct) in the nearby town of La Higuera. After been shot his body was moved to Vallegrande were it was put on show in the laundry room of the local hospital. The museum has photos of people posing beside the body and in the accompanying texts some admit to not knowing who he was while others had heard of him but didn’t realize he was close by looking to start a revolution. Its a pity when you hear he was in the wrong place and that if he had been in Potosi he would have been welcomed as they were looking to start something at that time. The museum ticket of 10 bol covers all the local Che sites so we headed to the laundry room.

It feels strange to walk through the hospital grounds, past open wards, queues of sick people and washing to get to the old laundry room. It’s quite small and covered in graffiti. A local man proudly points out were people from our respective countries have left their marks while we stand there and cringe. He also seems to take delight in asking if we would like to see the area were Che´s hands had been cut off. After this we take a taxi to the site near the airport were his body had been originally buried in an unmarked grave. The site is undergoing repairs but then to be honest there is not much to see there anyway. Previous to general Vargas 1995 admission to the whereabouts of Che´s body it has gone by unnoticed.

In 1997 the Bolivian and Cuban governments worked together to move his body to Cuba. Later in the day we had dinner in the local restaurant El Mirador. The food was filling which was good as we were all starving. There’s no menu, you get a choice between beef, chicken, fish and pork. It’s served with rice, chips, and salad. The next day we started to feel the effect in the changes in altitude, to be honest we didn’t expect to feel it so soon, Its horrible to be out of breathe all the time when you know if you were lower you’d have no problem with the little walks around town. So we took one easy day for Internet and to try to get tickets to Sucre. This proved harder then we thought. The first company said we had to catch a bus to Matarrel and if we were lucky we might catch a bus around 7ish, this all sounded a bit dodgy and the girl wasn’t very helpful so we headed to the other office, El Senator, on the same street as the hospital. The lady here was really friendly, we were to get a bus the following day to a town that wasn’t on our maps Sorreano and from there after a few hours (3 or 4 we understood) we would transfer to another bus to Sucre. So the next day we got the bus around 2 and discovered that we were in fact taking the old trade route we’d wanted to do before. The scenery was beautiful and though we couldn’t stop and take photos it was nice to see it. Though some of the roads were scarily tighter on the side of the cliffs, especially some of the bends. We arrived in Sorreano at 8pm and were told that our next bus wasn’t until 7am the next morning. We had totally misunderstood! After walking through the plaza while been gaped at we found the only place in town to stay, Alojamiento Central. A room ensuite was 50bol. ($6) The room contained four rusty squeaky beds that had seen better days. The room smelled of an old damp and musty area that hadn’t been aired in years. The bathroom was disgusting and as I don’t want to ruin anyone’s appetites I won’t describe the stains. But we had nowhere else to stay and it was only for a few hours. It came accompanied with a group of girls who stood outside giggling; Arjan had managed to get his own fan club. It turns out that they don’t get many foreigners and especially not tall blonde pony tailed men. So though the room was horrible, all we could do was get a fit of the giggles, only us, its just typical, but hey we got to see another side of the country.

The next morning we were at the bus stop before six as instructed to secure our seats and join the queue. There was no way we wanted to miss the bus. We arrived in Sucre tired and happy. We’d just calculated that we had done the tour we had wanted in our own way for a lot less, accommodation in both towns, food, transport, entry freshet cost us $40 each compared to the tour price of $250, which hadn’t included all accommodation and food.