TravelMemories #3: Bolivia - a country of extremes. A true melting pot that makes the country so fascinating

I'm afraid. Afraid to forget. In 2014, me and my girlfriend were on a tour around the world for 14 months. While reminisce about these days, I notice that there are things that I have forgotten. I mix up places or cannot remember the voice and faces of some memorable encounters. I guess my memory sucks after all. This means that I have to write things down. I want to immortalize a piece of this journey. Later, when I tell my son about how beautiful this world is, I want him to know how I felt at that moment, how I reacted in certain situations. Hence this series around TravelMemories. Not really a classic travel story; rather fragmentary. With the use of memories that come flooding back to me, I try to recall the right feeling of that time. Hopefully my mind doesn’t fool me.

Today I will bring myself back to Bolivia, a country of extremes.

Bolivia is a country of extremes. The highest city, the highest commercially navigable lake, an impenetrable jungle and very diverse cultures. The influence of the indigenous ways of life is still very tangible and clearly visible in the streets. Highlanders are sometimes diametrically opposed to lowlanders: they have different political visions, different eating habits, different dialects, a different clothing style, different externalities, other musical instruments, etc. This melting pot made Bolivia very interesting for us as tourists.

Isla del Sol – Copacabana

We were immediately immersing ourselves in the Bolivian atmosphere when a group of amused men welcomed us in the border town of Copacabana . They stood in front of the cathedral because of the annual custom where cars are blessed with the water of the Holy Mary of Copacabana. Apparently they were not only using water. These drunken Bolivians treated us to a first local pint.

The next day we left from the harbor to Isla del Sol (island of the sun), one of the most beautiful islands on the huge Lake Titicaca. All the clichés about this mystical island, where according to legend the Inca supreme god was born, turned out to be true: overwhelming sunrises and sunsets, beautiful walks, pure tranquility and homemade pizzas by candlelight. We traversed the island and the second night we slept on the less touristy side. Here we could see more the real life on Isla del Sol. Simple houses looked out on the harbor, where small fishing boats departed every day at four o'clock in the morning. The women simultaneously left the house to plant potatoes. I remember that in the evening we enjoyed a delicious Titicaca trout with mustard sauce (together with our tenth local pint).

Rurrenabaque

To take the plane to Rurrenabaque, we had to stop in La Paz. We were relieved to have reached the capital safely. A few hours before we were asked by the driver to leave the bus and we saw him park the vehicle on a wooden sloop. The meager thing was just big enough and it took the bus across the river, while we were looking at it from another 'ferry'. We reached the jungle with TAM, the Transporte Aero Militar of Bolivia. In this way the soldiers could also earn some extra money.

What we saw was a different world. After many weeks of snowy mountain peaks we ended up in a real jungle town, complete with heat and high humidity. My girlfriend was immediately interested in sticking around. However, we did not come here for the town, because we had planned two tours.

Jungle Trekking

The first trip took us for three days in the Madidi National Park, whose fauna and flora is similar to the Amazon forest of Brazil. Just before we left, a tropical storm broke out. With a newly purchased poncho we got into the canoe for a three-hour river trip in the pouring rain. For the rest of the trip, the thermometer reached an average of 35 °C. Excessive sweating? Check. Mosquitoes? Check. Snakes ... most likely. Yet such a jungle experience is priceless. During one of our hikes the guide asked us suddenly to stop. We were apparently in the middle of a herd (more than 100!) of wild boars. The animals sensed danger and we saw a lot of them scattering away at random. We were lucky, because sometimes they go on the attack and then there is only one option left: jump as fast as possible in a tree and wait.

On another day we saw toucans, macaws and monkeys and Ellen tasted of juicy white larvae. The guide was sublime. He taught us the basic survival skills and told countless stories about his country.

Pampas tour

The Bolivian pampas or 'wetlands' turned out to be a paradise for spotting even more wild animals. I do not want to make you jealous, but a small enumeration: birds of paradise, capybara's, caimans, alligators, water turtles, squirrel monkeys, howler monkeys and a lot of birds that we had never seen in biology class. Our young guide could not help us either. However, he was a good spotter, because he immediately noticed our Norwegian fellow tourist, who didn’t reject his advances that night. In contrast to the jungle tour, it was mainly relaxing here. We spent the big part of the day on a boat, while in the evening we were dropped off at the 'sunset bar', where we drank a few beers at sunset.

Not everything felt good on this tour, because when we wanted to swim with freshwater dolphins and the animals did not show interest, it suddenly looked like dolphin-hunting season. The guides chased them and locked them in. No wonder, when we were left in the water, a young lady was bitten in her foot by a dolphin who wanted to escape. Another dolphin swam against me, which turned out to be a strange experience. We decided immediately to stop swimming and to leave the animals alone. This was certainly not agreed in advance. The guides did not understand the commotion. For them it was just another wild animal.

La Paz

It is indeed not easy to walk around in one of the highest cities in the world, more than 3600 meters above sea level. Fortunately, we were already acclimatized by the many trekkings at high altitude. There are tourists who fly on La Paz and the first two days they only see the far too low bottom of the bunk above them. We strolled through the historic streets and the tourist witch market, where, among other things, 'natural means' are sold for all sorts of ailments, such as dried alpaca fetuses and hallucinating ayahuasca plants. We sticked to our daily delicious veggie buffet.

La Paz surprised us in their pursuit of progress, where we had expected a gray, chaotic capital. For example, a lot is invested in the redevelopment of new streets, smooth traffic and good water supply. Ludic dressed figures, such as zebras and donkeys, were omnipresent in the streets. For example, a zebra helped you to cross the street, indicating the importance of the crosswalk.

Uyuni

In Uyuni we took a 4x4 to make a three-day trip on the famous salt flats. One of the best known is Salar de Uyuni.

The salt flats are formed as a result of transformations between several prehistoric lakes. It is covered by a few meters of salt crust. The crust serves as a source of salt and covers a pool of brine, which is exceptionally rich in lithium. (explanation from Wikipedia)

We enjoyed making the obligatory photos, where it’s all about optical illusions, and the visit to the island of Incahuasi were you can see some gigantic cacti.

Nevertheless, we found the many desolate landscapes we saw afterwards even more impressive. Nature changed rapidly from extreme sand deserts over volcanic rock soils to mountains covered with steppe grass. It is incredible how many lamas and wild vicuñas can survive here, given the drought and the high altitude of the national park. We stopped at mud pools of geysers and colorful, volcanic lakes from which thousands of flamingos took their daily dose of microscopic animals. One day ended with a night dive in a natural hot spring under a clear starry sky.

Potosí

This city is even higher than La Paz (at 4090 meters) and claims the title of the highest city in the world. It was also once one of the richest cities in Latin America. It is said that in the colonial period some paving stones were even covered with gold. All this wealth came from the nearby mines, where at that time the imported blacks took care of the labor. Some mines are still in operation. As a tourist you have to pay the guides with drinks and cigarettes. We decided to let it pass, because the working conditions are apparently still miserable.

Instead we wandered through the historic center and discovered the most bizarre cafe ever. The hostess was extremely friendly and spoiled us with liqueurs, of which the recipe will remain a secret forever. However, it is mainly the decor that will be with us forever: a mix of the interior of a knight's castle, Chinese plates and a bar in Ghent from the sixties. A bell at each table had to make sure the female could hear you while she was watching her favorite novella in her living room.

Ambue Ari

Ambue Ari is an animal sanctuary in the middle of nowhere, in the eastern jungle of Bolivia. We decided to volunteer there for two weeks. The park is no zoo, but a center for injured animals or exotic 'pets' for which there is no room anymore. In the ideal situation they are released back into the jungle, but most of them remain dependent on the shelter for their entire life. The Bolivians and their employees do their utmost to make their living environment as natural as possible. For example, the cages of the cougars and the jaguars are placed as far as possible in the jungle. In this way the shelter tries to avoid unnecessary human contact.

It was hard work. The heat was enormous and the humidity was very high. I have to be honest, after 10 months of lounging around it was quite bitter to swallow. In the morning I helped building a new jaguar cage. Every day I had to walk across a swamp to reach the workplace. In addition, I was responsible for some 'pets', such as toucans, ostriches, parrots, pigs, a nose bear and tapirs. After a while it took a toll on us, resulting in foot fungus and a rapid weight loss. Every night we almost fell apart, but the contact with the animals was indescribable.

The biggest problem, however, were the mosquitoes. In themselves they were harmless, but we looked like we had a skin disease. We had to sleep on straw beds, there was no hot water and no electricity. All of this was worth it when we were allowed to take a walk with one of the pumas as a reward (I know, it sounds strange). Another time a jaguar even licked my arm when I was allowed to visit him. Fantastic!