On this page: Cochabamba Jungle in Chapare Return to Main Page

Waterfall in Chapare

Other links: Return to Bolivia 1999 Index Return to Main Page

After a safe landing and taxi to the terminal, we walked down the stairs of the plane, onto the tarmac, and towards the terminal door only twenty meters away.  I immediately  noticed that everyone was walking at an unusually slow pace.  The locals knew better that, after a trip abroad at lower elevations, they were not physically prepared to run or overexert their bodies.  There was even a small Praxair truck parked just in front of the plane, offerring oxygen to anyone who needed assistance.  The airline stewardesses and stewards were all equipped rolling bottles of oxygen, which they used immediately upon opening the door of the plane.

We passed through customs and slowly gathered our baggage.  We had a short one-hour layover in La Paz, before continuing with a forty-five minute flight to Cecilia's hometown of Cochabamba.  We sat in the terminal area, breathing deeply and trying not to physically exert ourselve.  This was the fastest-ever ascent for Scott, Andy and I, and we were all paranoid of getting a bad case of altitude sickness.  In fact, we had even gone to a doctor in Houston to get a prescription of Diamox, an altitude sickness prevention medication.  Diamox increases your respiration rate, meaning that you breath more deeply, not faster.   It was a funny feeling to catch ourselves subconciously taking deep breaths at the most unusual times (i.e. while laying relaxed in bed).  We had started taking the medication two days earlier in Houston.

An hour after arriving in La Paz we boarded a small turbo-prop plane, and took off over the mountains for Cochabamba.  Geographically Bolivia is split into two distinct halves.  The western half of the country is the high plains, or altiplano.  The average elevation of the plains is above 12,000 feet.  On these planes lie salt flats, volcanos, and other strange geographical features.  The eastern half of Bolivia is the Amazon jungle, bordering Brazil.  Between the high plains and the jungle are the Andes, which tend to split the country in half.  Cochabamba lies in a valley in the Andes, at an elevation of 9000 feet.  Altiplano people migrate to the "lower elevations" of Cochabama if they are having troubles with the high altitude of the plains.

We landed in Cochabamba just after 9am, successfully completing our journey from the States.  We were picked up by Cecilia's mother Nancy, who drove an offroad Montero jeep.  She took us directly to her house for breakfast.  After breakfast Scott and Andy checked into their hotel, which was located just around the corner from Cecilia's house.  After a brief nap, we spent the rest of the day walking around the city, and visiting the local market, La Cancha.  It was the first time for all of us in such a busy outdoor market, and we were amazed by the level of activity and variety of goods available.  You could pick up a pig head, a pink pair of underwear, and a TV, all in the same market.  It was better than Walmart.

That night we had dinner at a restaurant near Cecilia's house, where we learned and played the dice game "cacho" while drinking good Bolivian beer.  We were all exhasuted after a short sleep during the previous night on the plane, and we were home and in bed early.

The wedding ceremony and reception were held outside in the garden of the country house.  After the short ceremony was finished we ate, danced and enjoyed the great afternoon weather.  We returned to Cecilia's house in the early evening, then picked up Scott and Andy at their hotel.  Together we went to a nearby restaurant named Metropolis, where we met Any, Cecilia's best friend from Cochabamba.  We hung out, had a few beers, and were home early.  With the help of Cecilia and her mother, Scott, Andy and I had planned a two-day trip into the Bolivian jungle starting early the next morning.  We had contracted a guide who often worked with Nancy during her field work visits.  His names was Eufronio, and he was from the Cochabamba area.  Eufronio was a logistics expert - he was an excellent offroad driver, spoke the local native language Quechua, and was able to arrange all lodging and travel details for the trip.  Plus he was an incredibly nice guy.  Unfortunately Eufronio spoke no English, which would make me the translator during our brief two-day trip.  We felt bad not being able to share our thoughts and opinions with such a nice and knowledgable guy.

Road blocked by larger boulders	Roadside bathrooms
Eofronio fixing a flat (Scott and I observing closely)	Chapare Tree

We arrive in the jungle village of Villa Tunari around 10am.  Eufronio knew of a large cave nearby, which we planned to explore in the afternoon.  After discussion between Eufronio and several local men, we discovered that the bridge to the cave was closed or impassable, and that we would not be able to access the cave entrance.  After some discussion, we decided to instead go to a nearby natural reserve, and spend the afternoon hiking around the various trails.  Upon arrival to the reserve we were greeted by the temporary ranger - a shirtless man who said that it was required that we hire him as a guide during our visit in the reserve.  After some protest by Eufronio, we finally agreed.  At least the demanded price was not high - three dollars for the afternoon.

We hiked through various trails of the reserve, and stopped at several local highlights - a waterfall where we showered, a lookout point with a view over the surrounding flat jungle area, and a small animal preserve.  We returned to the jeep and drove into town, where we had a late lunch at a local cafe.  We continued on to our lodging for the night - the El Puente Hotel, which consicts of a series of outdoor huts near a river.  We checked into our respective huts, then walked down to the river and went for a swim.  We returned to the hotel for dinner in the main dining hall, where we had a few Imperial beers and played more rounds of the dice game cacho.  We retired to our huts as the sun was setting over the trees.  I had decided to share a hut with Eufronio, while Scott and Andy shared another hut nearby.

That night Scott did not sleep much.  The huts contained screen windows, which were anything but sealed from the outdoors. As a result, various insects and spiders wandered freely about the room, including a large black spider securely wedged behind their toilet.  Scott had brought a cotton sleeping sac/cloth from the US - it was only the thickness of a bedsheet, but still was far too hot for the humid jungle night.  Despite the heat, Scott spent the entire night wrapped in the sav, with his headlamp resting on his chest.  On occasion, or after hearing a sound, he would turn on the headlamp to scan the walss and ceiling.  I am surprised that he was able to even get any sleep at all.

The following morning, Monday, we woke early at 6:30am and left the hotel.  Our destination was Puerta Villarreal, a small village on the banks of a large nearby Amazon river.  We stopped in a small town for breakfast, where the locals gave us funny looks.  We were even whistled at by some local girls in the dirt street.  We stopped at a gas station for fuel and more snacks, where we by chance met Eufronio's brother!  After greetings and some discussion, we left to find the nearby port.  We drove 8km down a small straight gravel road through thick fields of vegetation, and arrived at the river after about 15 minutes.  There were various supply boats parked at the port, which provided water access to Trinidad and other major Amazon locations.

We walked around the port and took pictures of a boat heaped with 1000's of green bananas, then looked to hire a boat for a quick spin along the river.  We found several men sitting by dugout canoes.  They offerred to drive us around the river for a few hours.  We all piled into thje shallow canoe, and then took off up the river.  Within minutes the port vanished, and we were alone amoung the river wildlife.  We saw 100's of large birds, and even some bufeos - a local river water buffalo (they called them dolphins, but I still think that they were much larger and slower).  We stopped briefly onshore to look at the small hut and farm of one of the drivers.  We were devoured by mosquitos within minutes, and we quickly returned to the canoes while spraying repellent all over our bodies.

We returned to the port around noon, and started the drive back to Cochabamba.  We stopped to buy some pineapples from local fruit sellers on the side of the road.  The pineapples tasted incredible, and only cost us several pennies.  We got a flat tire during the ascent back up to Cochabamba.  Eufronio quickly changed to the spare, which we used to reach a local tire shop just outside of town.  We replaced and re-installed the real tire, and were back in the city by the early afternoon.

We were greeted by Cecilia and her mother at their house, where we paid Eufronio and thanked him for the wonderfull two-day tour.  We had soup at Cecilia's house, and then went to bed early.  We planned to together leave the next morning for the village and national park of Toro Toro.
 

Eufronio at a waterpool	Spider behind the toilet
Lots of Bananas	River trip

Did you find a mistake in this page, or do you want to add an image?  Please submit your new information.  Return to Main Page