Hello all,
Long time no travel update. Things have subsided in La Paz now (we have returned from a week in Rurrenabaque - the jungle). The mood doesn’t seem to be any different to what we left. People are still acting normal, the police don’t seem to be out in any greater force which can only be a good sign.
So anyway… Before the whole La Paz thing, we left Brazil and headed for Bolivia. From what we have seen so far, we can only say good things. Our travels so far have taken us to Santa Cruz (albeit briefly), Uyuni for the worlds largest salt flats, La Paz and Rurrenabaque to head into the jungle.
Now, details…
Uyuni, this was one of the highlights of the trip so far. The salt flats were so photogenic, they were like nothing we have ever seen. We did a 3 day tour which spent a day at the flats including a trip to an island in the middle famous for it cactus’s. The other 2 days were spent in a jeep visiting lagoons and seeing thousands of flamingos in the wild. There were also points that took us to 5000 metres above sea level, through snow, past geysers and bubbling mud. We also got to swim in some thermal springs. We will post some photos after this post. All in all it was a really really really cool experience.
La Paz, is a really cool city built in a valley. That makes walking around it quite a chore. Add to that the altitude and it is not all that fun. It is quite beautiful though. Really cheap to. We just had dinner which was a chicken schnitzel, chips, rice and salad (Milanease de Pollo) and it cost us 6 Boliviano’s ($1). We havn’t really explored it as well as possible as we have spent most of the time trying to sort out our tickets to London as we cant return to Rio as of the 1st of April. We are hoping to ride down “The world’s most dangerous road” on mountain bike this Thursday so we will let you know how that goes if we do it.
After La Paz we flew to Rurrenubaque in a 12 man plane, which was an experience in itself. Upon arrival, the heat welcomed us back and we could also breath properly again. We started a tour the following day that included three days in the Pampas (Savannah wetlands) and two days in the deep jungle. In the Pampas we saw plenty of birds, monkeys, turtles, alligators, 1 anaconda and we were lucky enough to swim with pink dolphins. We took loads (we have been speaking to too many pommies already) photos which we can include in the following post as our HD is not being picked up by the machine. In the Jungle we were taught about medicinal plants (one that was a natural Viagra), saw plenty of insects but missed out on tarantulas and jaguars as it was to wet. It was still really cool though.
Now we are back in La Paz. In the next few days we will head to Lake Titicaca and then to Cuzco for the Inca trail. We will try to get the Jungle photos up before then, but may not be able to.
Hope you have enjoyed this installment and that the photos follow right after this.
Cheers,
Glen and Robyn.