the dude drinks water from the vineHaving had a great time biking to the river-town of Mapiri I pretty much wrote-off my first day on the boat. The two full days mountain-biking had been exhausting and with the three previous days biking in my legs plus the early rises I was shot. I spent the whole day just trying to catch up on sleep. Be it on land or water I was oblivious to the world trying to get my beans back.
The experience on the boat was enjoyable but the only confined space I like being in is bed. Still, we were able to stretch our legs on some nice jungle treks. We were making our way to the Madidi National Park via a couple of nights camping beside the river. It was all very cool stuff but for the constant biting of sand-flies. I was surprised at how little traffic there was on the river, clearly the bumpy road had become the preferred mode of transport for the locals. Indeed the people of the river and jungle were very different to the Quechuas of the Andes. The environment was at total odds to the sparsity of the Andes where trees don't exist. Here the locals understood their surroundings and the medicinal benefits of the various trees. Still, as far as jungle goes it was not quite the jungle I expected. The trees weren't impossibly tall and the vegetation wasn't very tropical. It was nothing like the humidity one would expect in the Amazon proper. But I always knew that I would be visiting temperate as opposed to tropical rain-forest. Likewise the Rio Beni was not like what one would experience on the Amazon. There were no cargo boats with people dozing off in hammocks and there were no stilted villages sitting on the water. This part of the Bolivian lowlands was oriented more to the land than the river. Still for someone who had become accustomed to the altitude of the Andes it was nice breathing in big gulps of oxygenated air and seeing green again.
Having enjoyed a very well organised and smooth journey by boat I arrived in Rurrenabaque. Once there I decided that there was nothing more for me to do than make my way back to La Paz. I was not interested in the pampas tours to see the wild-life. The animals don't want to see me so are best left alone. I had already been in the Jungle and did not fancy going even deeper in as I had concluded that while it was a beautiful side of Bolivia to see that it was not the true Amazon experience. The one thing that did interest me was the village Shaman but this was effectively a gringo day-out where people wander into the jungle, take some jungle juice and go 'tripping'. Some people do it for the hallucinogenic experience of San Pedro where your senses merge thereby reconnecting the hemispheres of the brain and the neural pathways that we have not had since we were in the womb. Other people do it for the Ayuasca, which is a jungle potion that allows you to see clarity. The idea is that you approach the Shaman with a question that you want answered, you walk into the Jungle alone, sit it out in a tent or under a tree and the clarity will come.
My outlook is principally a sober one and inwardly I am at a place where I already have a great deal of clarity. At the end of the day the gringo is a real person underneath and I respect their desire to interact with the Shamanistic world. However, a one day tour does not bridge the gap between the outlook of the gringo and the interesting world-view of the Shaman. Effectively the gringo is interacting with jungle juice and for whatever reason I have no curiosity about hallucinogenics. Thus, I decided to pass on it and made my way back to La Paz. Thus, I walked into the local Amazonas Airways office and managed to get the next flight out of Rurre three hours later. This was a light-aircraft and part of the appeal. The people on the tour suggested I look on it as a trip in itself as when would I ever be able to fly in a light aircraft for 55 euro again? The appeal was the grass landing-strip take-off and the fact that the views from the plane allow me to see the Amazon Basin and the Bolivian Jungle meeting the Andes. It sounded great but unfortunately cloud-cover and a scratched plastic visor shielding the window meant that I couldn't see much. I was back in La Paz forty-five minutes later. It was all a bit too easy if you ask me. Having biked through so much an internal flight made me feel like I was cheating.
The mountain-biking had been great and the river trip was a nice experience. It was great to see another side to Bolivia and to share the experience with a good bunch of people. However, the trip only confirmed to me that I am not a jungle person. Any time I pass through rain-forest or jungle my body becomes slightly uncomfortable. I am very much a mountain-man and as much as I love trees, they need to be alpine. It is this confirmation that gets me excited about my prospective trip through the Rockies.
Still, there is a lot to see before I get to North America.
Photos of the bike and boat trip are in the gallery if interested.
Mind how you go
Marco