Murray writes in BLACK and Edits by Jo in RED
Monday 9 May – Arrival in LaPaz in the dark at 11pm the night before gave the impression of a very interesting city location. First approaching over a vast flat plain with the airport and built up areas. Then we descended down into the city centre which seemed to be in a canyon. Off the bus and walking to the hotel everything was dark and dingy and shuttered up. Even our hotel entrance!
We awoke and ventured out to find an amazing bustling city located on steep streets, street sellers with piles of “stuff” all along the streets, cars and vans and people pushing for advantage. You soon learn just to be confident and walk out between traffic as they are very skilled in just missing you! The prices of the ‘stuff’ was extremely cheap, Mum would have had a field day. I held myself back and just bought the one pair of jungle pants; brightly coloured baggy trousers that have a draw string at the ankle to stop bugs crawling up your legs!
We arrived here three days early as the Intrepid trip was meant to finish on Wednesday. We had planned to depart LaPaz on Sunday so we know had 6 days to make the most of. After lots of chat and a bit of internet research (nice to have a NETBOOK in my bag) we had our plan. Monday was a city tour to try and understand this amazing city geography. Tuesday was to take up the challenge of the mountain bike ride down “The most dangerous road in the world” Then on Wednesday fly to Rurrenbaque in the Amazon basin and have a couple of nights at www.chalalan.com a 6 hours boat ride up river. This would get us back to La Paz Saturday afternoon for a 24 hour rest before taking the Sunday night overnight bus trip to Uyuni. Whew! We are energetic! The city tour on Monday was arranged by Hilda, our Intrepid tour guide. This meant we had a private tour in a minivan with a guide who was a great source of local knowledge. We ventured first to the city square which had most of the government buildings. Even although La Paz isn’t the official capital, it is Sucre, most of the activity is here. There was lots of interest in the present government structure and if it has the support of the people. The present government is very socialist and although did have quite high popularity we got the feeling that perhaps there is a move for support for a more democratic party. It must be hard with such a large population of people who have very little. There are signs everywhere of lack of local body supported services. Footpaths certainly wouldn’t allow any access for disabled. You see signs of attempts to establish some landscaping but its left to wilt without maintenance.
We then ventured to the square which had the famous La Paz prison. This is the one that operates very much like a community inside including a range of accommodation based on what you invest. Guys in apartments along with their family (yes in the prison) right down to the basic cells for those who have nothing. The prison has shops and you can trade anything. Read the book "Marching Power by Rusty Young" if you want to know more. I started to take a quick photo of the entrance and we were immediately approached by several armed guards who demanded to see my camera. I thought for a minute that that was the end of my camera, but after a rather frantic showing them through the photo previews to see that I didn’t have a photo they left me alone. Pweh! This was a bit scary; the guards were rather tough looking!
On now to several high advantage points around the city to view amazing urban planning or maybe we should say – lack of it. Buildings sprawled up steep hillsides. To understand this you need to know that La Paz drops 1500m within the city. You have the large flat plain at the top with the airport and industry and the lower class areas. Then the city centre and urban area sprawl down a canyon like landscape right down the lowest altitude, which houses the better quality residential areas and even a smart golf course. The reason that the lower areas attract those with money is that there is a better climate at the lower altitude. At the end of the tour we walked around the La Paz “Moon Valley” – see the photos below. Our guide told us that 8 years ago the west side of the city used to look like the moon valley, but the government had sold it off to build houses. I looked up and couldn’t believe it there were millions of crappy houses and you couldn’t see signs of what was underneath. It is more important to have houses than money in La Pazian culture. When building a house you only pay half the amount of tax up until the point in which the house is completed. Big catholic families in La Paz leave the top level unfinished and everytime they have another child they add another level. As we drove up the hill to the view points is was incredibly apparent, almost like a border line, where the social economic level changed.
I cut short the last part of the tour to rush to the agency to book up the jungle tour. Jo will comment on the witches market!! The Inca’s believed in the power of and worshipped Pacha Mamma aka mother earth. It is common to make offerings to her. The witches market, called this by westerners, is a place to purchase offerings to Pacha Mamma. You can also so to a local herb stall and tell the vender what is medically wrong and they will make you a concoction to drink to help you out. Our guide explained the symbolism of the different goods you could buy. The most shocking being the mummified llama foetuses, these were used when you were building a new house. The llama foetus would be placed under the foundations; I think it was a sign of blessed land.
ps. they have actualy people dressed up as zebras helping you to cross the road...zebra crossing... haha!
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| LaPaz Urban Landscape |
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| Housing clings to the hillside |
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| Moon Valley in LaPaz |
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| The Intrepid team at Moon Valley |
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| The Witches Market |
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| Anita and Jo with the Zebras |
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| Yep, I am taller than most in LaPaz |
Tuesday 10 May – Death Road
I have to admit that I was in two minds about taking on this challenge but after a sleepless night I was game. It was a 12 hour day and we started at 7.30am being collected in two mini vans – 12 of us. Bikes loaded on top of the vans. There is a very wide choice of operators and everyone has an opinion on who is OK and who is not. At the end of the day we ended up with a company called “Altitude” Another company called Gravity run by a kiwi rates near the top. The marketing for the death road is all about “fear” and its works well! This road was built in 1930 and starts at 4700m and ends in the valley at 1500m, a drop of 3200m. Wow! Over the years until a new road was opened in 2005 there were many incidents involving death. The worst one was a truck and 100 people went over the edge and all were killed. Well... with 600m drops and a single lane for 90% of the road you can see why. The new road took 26 years to build so this gives you an idea about the landscape. I have to admit I was worried about dad doing the death road, when I asked the Bolivian guide who was the oldest person you’ve had on the trip, he pointed at Dad.
The procedure when we got to the start at 4700m (about -5 degrees) was to line up all the bikes and gear largest to smallest and line up the team from tallest to shortest then grab a set of gear, bike – look for one with double suspension, helmet – I took at full face one, knee and elbow protectors, gloves, over jacket, and over trousers. All this gear was welcome at this altitude and the cold. After a bit of a ride around the starting area (I haven’t been on a bike for 5 years since the rail trail in Central Otago) we were off! Follow the leader... down the first section of tar sealed road, this is too easy I thought, just cruise downhill, gently applying the brakes. I was the first off the block and gained some confidence in the lead bike who took a very cautious approach when leading the group to overtake large trucks riding out the hill on exhaust brakes. He had done this a few times!
After a rest we were loaded back into vans (still freezing cold) and taken onwards to the start of the real road. Now the fun begins. The gun riders take off (I could just imagine Gareth Ross in this group – fearless!!). It’s like a NZ metal road full of ruts and potholes on a continuous downhill windy route. They have lots of stops to regroup and overall you gain lots of confidence in the operators who obviously don’t want to lose anyone over the edge! On the first section I took a small tumble – braking on loose gravel and being very embarrassed jumped back on hoping that I be the only one (Remember that every other rider is about 18-35 age group). He later admitted that when he got back on he was wondering why his bike felt funny and he had the handlebars back to front. Also, he broke his bike! The bike seat was at the summit of how high it would go and from the pressure it snapped backwards! Luckily he didn’t hurt himself when it broke. No worries on that score, I rounded a corner 20 min later to see a pile up of two bikes and two girls. Anne Marie from our Intrepid tour was on the ground in a dust pile with her bike and gasping for breath. I was very concerned for a couple of minutes. After we got her up, she rested then recovered, she then refused the offer of riding in the support vehicles. She though once in there she wouldn’t get back on the bike. I took the opportunity of riding with her for the rest of the way, slowly and carefully does it! I surprised myself that I wasn’t a baby on the bike, I was still careful but kept my speed up; I found it easier to go over the bumps at speed. I just remembered what Tim who had done it the day previous had said ... keep your feet level if not pedalling and make a triangle from your knees. I also tried to keep my weight over the back wheel as this kept you more balanced when going downhill and creates suspension to help deal with the bumpy path. I didn’t fall off the bike the whole time, so I think Tim’s advice was pretty good.
Wednesday 11 May
It’s all go here as we had to check out of the hotel, pack for the jungle trip and get out to the airport for a 3pm flight to Rurrenbaque on the other side of the Andes. I had told Jo about how hot it would be there but when we arrived she was a bit taken back by the humidity and heat. (She packed a down puffer jacket) Even when they are 25 they don’t listen! I did feel a bit silly!
Rurrenbaque was a pleasant surprise for me as I had done a similar trip 11 years ago to the Peruvian Jungle. A trip out of Port Maldonado which at the time had the feeling of a 1950’s drug run town. Rurrenbaque was very tidy and was obviously geared up to cater for the tourist. Our hotel for the night was very pleasant and we were handed free welcome drink coupons to “The Mosquito Bar.” Happy hour is a big thing here, so we always take advantage of it. Several Pisco Sours Yum later and a great evening meal we retire ready for our adventure up river in the morning.
Thursday and Friday 12-13 May
Collected about 7.30am we walked to the river and boarded a long boat. A very narrow basic wooden craft made from a tree trunk with basic seats and a plastic sheet on a timber frame canopy. Powered by a 40hp outboard we headed up the Benee river for about 2 hours. We were accompanied by our guide – Eric and a few others from the community who owned Chalalan Lodge. As we started out it started to rain!!! Fancy it raining in the Amazon!! Eric supplied ponchos and we settled in for what I was hoping would not be 6 hours of a wet arse! The rain cleared after 1.5 hours and after we survived several times floating aimlessly at the mercy of the river while they attempted to clear water from the fuel lines to the outboard. Our control once the motor cut out was a very basic single paddle carved out of what can only be called a piece of 6” x 1” 2m long. We stopped at the Madidi National Park entrance to pay our fee which involved scrambling up a muddy 3-4m bank and walking 100m to the ranger’s office. They pointed out a muddy line about 2.5m up the internal walls. This was the level of the river 2 months ago. The worst flooding on decades about 6m up from normal. Onwards for another 4 hours of river travel with a stop for a pleasant picnic lunch. Our trip took us up the Tuíchi river and I was relieved to arrive at a basic riverside landing to unload and walk the 30min to the lodge. We were the only guests arriving that day so we had Eric as our personal guide and about 6 others to cart supplies and our bags to the lodge. No quad bikes here, the bags are loaded into a wheelbarrow and off we go.
We start to appreciate our guide Eric. Very quiet unassuming 30 year old raised at San José de Uchupiamonas village, educated at a Catholic school in La Paz. He spoke 5 languages and loved his home environment. Incredibly fit and healthy looking he was to quietly educate us about the community and the sounding jungle. We arrived at Chalalan lodge to an amazing location on the edge of a small lake, after a welcome fresh lemonade we were shown to our room. I had splashed out on a room with private facilities and it was just brilliant. This is an Eco lodge so just solar power and no hot water. Cold showers are Ok! Oh yeah! The programme for our two nights at Chalalan involved a day time 4 hour jungle walk, a day time lake explore (Paddle power), a night walk (strong warnings about not touching anything and watching where you walk) and a night time lake explore. We saw many local residence of the jungle; I was most excited about seeing the monkeys. Over the time we were there we saw Squirrel Monkeys and Cappuccino Monkeys which lived in groups in unison for protection. Also the Red Howler Monkey known for its loud howl and we did see a Spider Monkey although they were harder to see and not so active. On our night walk and boat ride we saw Cayman (like a crocodile but smaller and less aggressive) and lots of Tarantulas which are bloody huge and we only saw the baby ones! We saw a frog that lay on the bottom of the stream, flat like a pancake. We saw it stalk its prey, lying so still it was hard to see it; froggy sprung the fish swimming past like a super charged spring! Boom! That fish was toast! So many other animals, but those were the highlights. I did swing from a vine like Tarzan, felt so at one with nature! (Jo forgot to mention her highlight - she wen fishing and caught a Piranha)
Chalalan Lodge was considered the top lodge of the area and is 100% owned and operated by the local community of San José de Uchupiamonas. About 850 shareholders. The idea was conceived by the community about 15 years ago after the future of the community was bleak with forest logging and clearing fast becoming the basis for the future. Concerned about this aspect the community leaders’ with the help of a lost Israeli prepared a plan for a conservation area and lodge. A successful application to the American development bank raised 1.5 US$ and they created Chalalan. All was built with local materials and community labour, it is now very profitable with a capacity to host 40 guests and has a 60% occupancy rate for 100% of the year. The profits are all fed back into the community with the development of schools and a hospital. The staff at the lodge are rotated every 3 months so everyone gets experience in a wide range of hospitality jobs. We met many of the people who worked there and the general impression was of a very tidy, well run enterprise. The opening of the lodge 10 years ago was a catalyst for the formation of the Maddie National Park which has ensured the area is protected. They intend to expand the community lodge / business concept to several more and these will be started by various families within the community. Eric’s brother had already started a rafting business. By staying there I felt like I’d already done a bit of charity work. Some other guests had made a joke about it, as it is so expensive to do charity work in South America.
We did met an amazing lady whose grandson was autistic and she had taken on a trip during the previous year to Bolivia. He had become obsessed with Bolivian culture and had learnt how to play the pan pipes, charangos (10 stringed ukulele), learnt to sing in Spanish, Aymara and Quechua (two of the native languages of the Incas). What an incredible kid! 60 minutes needs to get a hold of this one!
After two nights at the lodge we returned down river on Saturday morning – only 3 hours back to Ruenbakkee and flew back to La Paz in the afternoon. The day before we left I had collected seeds from the jungle and Eric helped me make them into a ring and bracelet before we left in the morning. I now have a ‘walking tree’ seed bracelet and a ‘monkey mango’ nut ring. Interesting that the river navigation required a guy sitting right on the boat bow with a pole with a few crude marks to indicate depth. At certain stages of the journey he would guide the boat over the river shallows by repeatedly measuring the depth with the stick. Eric explained that at the peak of the dry season they would manually dig trenches so the boats could continue to navigate the river. I promised to investigate New Zealand jet boats for Eric.. Not to replace the normal transport but maybe to open up some other more up market business opportunities with quicker access to the lodge and of course to cover emergencies.
The trip to Chalahan was an unexpected highlight of our trip.
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| The 6 hour trip up river. Fortunately only the first two hours were wet |
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| Jo and Eric on the lake |
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| The highlight for Jo - She caught a Piranha! |
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| Hundreds of Squirrel Monkeys |
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| We got very close to this one |
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| Tarantulas - Very scarry! |
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| Jo was a keen volunteer to learn the local dance |
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| Jo and Eric on the Jungle walk |
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| Murray with the walking tree |
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| Home sweet home for two nights. Very comfortable |
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