Where Is Tal?

I was always a fan of getting off the beaten path so when I reached the town of Rurrenabaque in Bolivia, I knew just where to head.

Our jungle

I spent ten days in the Bolivian jungles with two of my traveling buddies Itay and Aviad who I have been traveling with for quite some time now. We decided to head out with a jungle agency called Mogli to the jungles just outside of Ixiama, a town in the middle of nowhere.  Our guides, Mogli and Ninja (no, these aren’t their real names, but if you knew them, you would understand why) took us to an area of the jungle that no tourists has ever been. The way is not paved and the way is not well known, only the sun and the river can lead us to Puerto Russo, a remote jungle village. Since we had only ten days to get there, we decided to build rafts and float along the river for as long as the water level would let us. It took us a day to build each raft, one for Mogli, Ninja and our backpacks and one for me and the boys.  We made the ‘equipment’ raft a lot more durable, made from balsa trees that we cut down with machetes and held together by nails that we made out of really strong palm trees. Our raft, a more generic type B raft was also built from balsa trees but held together by rope made out from the trees’ skin. As we rafted along the river trying to steer with our bamboo sticks, we managed to get stuck quite a lot only leaving us with the option to jump in the crocodile, pirana infested water. The two days on the raft were going great, we were starting to get the hang of the steering (it’s a lot harder than it looks!) and we were starting to enjoy the sun and the view of the wild jungle with a variety of animals popping out their heads every so often.  Things starting heading downhill once we stumbled across a huge tree that fell and blocked the whole river. Since we were unable to pull our rafts over we put on our backpacks, strapped on our hiking boots and off we went into the wild jungle leaving the rafts behind us. We walked for a long while until we tried to find a good place to camp for the night. Most nights we slept on the river bank in the sandy area since there were less mosquitoes than inside the trees and since it was more comfortable.

building our raft

stripping down the balsa tree to make rope

Mogli and Ninja on the raft we built

The next coming days were great, we would wake up each morning, have ninja cook us some breakfast while we made our bags and off we went walking and exploring the jungle, learning about the different trees, eating weird things and trying to avoid the mosquitoes who have no shame and bite ever through your clothes there! Every evening we found a different place to set up camp, cut down a few trees and made our home base for the evening.  We would sit around the campfire eating and enjoying each other’s company, playing card games or dice poker or going out looking for crocodiles and other animals.

every night we built a similar tent to this and slept inside mosquito nets while the guides slept in a tent

A sad moment- leaving our rafts

These ten days were one of the cooler experiences I have ever had. I must say, I ate things like crocodile eggs, termites and worms that I don’t think I would have ever tried if it wasn’t for this experience. I learned a lot about natural medicine and all that nature has to offer–you can survive with nothing in this place.  I made some good and funny memories with my friends and made new friends with two great jungle men and I learned to make jewelry and a bow and arrow from trees and such.

Itay drinking from a water tree-a tree that will most likely become the new cancer medicine

me eating termites! yuck!

Aviad eating coconut worms

Making a bow and arrow

What we looked like when we got back into society after ten days, wearing the same thing, living in the jungle

When you enter any bus terminal in Bolivia, the first thing you notice is the amount of overweight, middle-aged women who hassle you and scream out the destinations of their bus companies..Of course, writing it doesn’t sound or seem half as exciting and funny as it does in real life, but I’ll try. Think of your cleaning ladies Spanish accent,okay?.. Got it? Ok, now, add a really high pitched voice and repeat the words ’La Paz’ four times, and on the last one, hold it for a good few seconds…I hope you got the gist, if not, next time you see me ask me about the cholas in the bus stations in Bolivia and I will gladly demonstrate it-with love.

After our last unwanted but much needed night in Cochabamba due to Ori’s salmonella illness and Maya’s robbing incident, we finally left the place and took a freezing cold overnight bus to La Paz, Bolivia’s second capital and also the highest capital in the world. 

We planned on doing a lot during this week since La Paz has so much to offer–bike down the ‘most dangerous road in the world,’ do the 3 day choro trek, hike a few mountains nearby, shop for cheap souvenirs for the family and ourselves, go to a few museums, go out to ‘crazy’ parties La Paz has to offer, sell bracelets in the streets, go atv-ing in Valle de la Luna, and more.    The week went by faster than expected and sooner rather than later I had to head out to Peru to go meet my parents…With Ori’s sickness we ended up spending a bit more time than expected at places we would have preferred to not visit in the first place. Put all that aside, we accomplished quite a lot.

biking: check

Death Road

atv-ing: not in the moon valley but check

atv-ing in the sun valley

hiking: check

Tuni Condoriri Trek

shopping: but of course, check.

Witches market...we didn't find anything here but llama fetus and witch craft

sell bracelets to earn back some well earned money: not on the streets, but check.

some of my bracelets

go out to crazy parties: wellllllll more lame than crazy but again, check.

Hopefully after spending some time with my parents I can return to this lovely land of markets, cholas, and food in the streets to complete the last couple of things I didn’t get to do while in Bolivia, so stay tuned to hear about my return.

Six young and lively people, not much planning, the curiosity to visit unknown parts, the desire to meet locals and no map were all elements of our so called ‘village trek’ which in the end turned out to be nothing but an incredible week!

We walked through villages, met local people, crashed an 18 year old’s birthday party, drank the local lethal/deadly/disgusting drink made from corn called chicha, slept at a police station, picked wheat to peel and eat for dinner, rode on top of a truck full of peanuts and chickens, watched Bolivians slaughter a 16 year old snake, carried sacks of peanuts like slaves, crawled through a 7 km cave, swam in water falls, saw dinosaur tracks, found fossils, fell in love with the owner of our hostel on our last stop, filled our bellies with home-cooked meals for almost a week, took the scariest bus ride of our lives, lost one of our friends to salmonella, lost one person’s Ipod and managed to also have money stolen out of one of our bags.

In short, what a week!! We all got together solely for this trek, I heard about this park from my friend who was here about a year ago, and she told me that her friends and her decided to walk there through a few villages..Only she did it from Oruro which is about 4 hours closer than where we started, but all in all, the trek ended up being a blast. There was a full moon out lighting our way which made the sky and the view even more amazing..The park is known for its dinosaur tracks and other incredible mountain formations but I can assure you that’s not the reason why we stayed so long…We ended up spending a whole lot more time in the park than we thought we both due to the lack of buses and the incredible senora at the hostel who made us dinner every night and made us feel at home in a place so far away.

…time to move on….to BOLIVIA!!  After three whole months in Argentina/Chile, I headed over to an unfamiliar and less prosperous land which lacks both modernity and cleanliness. Although some people focus on the bad of this country, I have had nothing but incredible experiences so far. The people here are always smiling and willing to help the mingling tourist, the markets are colorful and lively, and the views are grandious and just gorgeous.

I have noticed a drastic change from the last two countries I visited to this one. Not only do the people look more indigenious but the attitudes, cultures, and love for life is more apparent here and seems to be quite striking at first. There is no order, no set prices, no fixed rules, you just live–live day to day in the present moment and do whatever it is that you want to do.

There are many things I love about this place that I haven’t seen in places prior to here:

1.) Cheap prices!!!–

Finally my wallet feels a bit of relief after Patagonia! 7 Bolivian pesos is $1 and with those 7 Bvs. I can buy a complete meal including soup and main course!!

2.) You can argue over every price–

I find myself bargaining with practically every person on the streets, whether it’s a food vendor, a receptionist at a hostel, or a store salesman.

3.) The lack of schedule and time–

You get on a bus after arguing with every salesperson in the bus station over a cheap price, expect to get to your destination at a certain time and usually end up getting there at least two hours late due to stops, malfunctioning buses, pit stops, etc.

4.) Great street food!–

Although everyone always warned us about eating food on the street, Maya and I decided to put all those statements aside and try it ourselves…Now we find ourselves only eating on the street not only because the food is home cooked and delicious, but because there is no cheaper way!! Once you get a complete meal for 7 Bvs you can’t all of a sudden sit down at a restaurant and pay 27 Bvs and think it’s cheap!

5.) Pit stops on the bus–

One of the funniest sights ever is getting off the bus for a pit stop, watching everyone else get off, go to the side of the road and pretty much pee right there in front of everyone. Since all the women wear skirts here, they just squat down and really, it’s quite funny.

6.) The people–

Most of the people in Bolivia are Quechuan so most keep to their old traditions. The women are called Cholas and the men Cholos. There is a certain way they dress in order to tell apart a Chola vs. a regular woman here. They are usually full of color, a hat, and really long braids. Every region also has a different hat and length of a skirt and that’s how you can usually tell where the woman comes from.

Typical Cholo man, eating at the market next to a tourist

Cholas

I seriously can’t explain how awesome this place is, I think you have to come here to understand and appreciate this place for what it is…It seems so backwards and crazy at first, but once you get over those initial feelings you are able to see all the beauty and the simplicity of this amazing country.