Thank you all once again for your kind comments! Posts may become more sporadic as the Internet and wifi deteriorate as we travel round Bolivia. Even in La Paz it is not great.

Glover, Madidi is now booked, can't wait, see below:

LA PAZ

We didn't get a chance to look into the actual bus terminal in La Paz as, when we alighted from the bus, the driver asked us where we were going and he told us that Plaza San Francisco in the centre or the city was only a fifteen minute walk. Needing to stretch our legs and looking at some of the very dodgy taxis around, we heeded his advice and set off down the very steep hill in search of a bed for the night. We had a couple of places in mind but both turned out to be full.

Eventually we ended up in Calle Illampu in the Rosario/san Pedro area of in the centre of the the city close to the witches and other markets. We eventually secured a room in a not too bad place from where we moved on a couple of nights later to a much nicer place, Hotel Berlina where our luck was is as we got a newly created penthouse room for a very good rate. As it turned out, it was very newly created ( as in half finished!) but still very nice with spectacular views of the city.

We spend the next couple of days wandering the streets of the central area of the city to get our bearings and get totally lost in the process (all part of the fun!). Our first impressions of La Paz are very positive. Yes, Bolivia is one of the poorer, less developed countries in South America and this is very evident in the poverty and begging on the streets which is far more prevalent here than anywhere else we have visited. But in some way La Paz seems far more "South American" than any other major city we have visited on the continent. The streets are teeming with people many of them indigena people in their traditional dress. The "Cholitas" or indigena women in there big skirts, bowler hats and shiny shawls are quite impressive and obviously extremely proud of their culture. Nice to see in this ever changing but increasingly homogenous world.

At around 3600 metres above sea level, La Paz is the highest de facto capital city in the world. Built as it is, in a valley between the mountains (one of which until global warming changed everything, housed the highest ski slope in the world) it is also probably the steepest city in the world. Given these two factors, we are really glad we are properly acclimatised. I certainly would not want to fly in here from sea level and have to cope with the steep streets. Virtually nothing seems to be flat here. The upside of this of course, is the incredible cityscape all around as the buildings climb high up the mountainside to El Alto, the indigena city high above on the altiplano at around 4000 metres.

One of the overriding impressions of La Paz is how busy it all is. Wandering around the markets which are just a few streets from the central area, they are heaving with people. Each area seems to sell one particular type of goods. Toiletries, clothes, vegetables, fruit, meat etc. we walked along one particular street and saw nothing but toiletries for 15 mins. Similarly with jeans street. All very confusing and one afternoon we get totally lost, but, contrary many guide book comments, it all seems very unthreatening and very friendly. There is one incident where a guy treads on my foot to distract me whilst his accomplice a very small, very fat, very old, woman feels up my pocket for my wallet. Safely zipped away, I realise immediately what is going on and, to her surprise, we end up almost holding hands! A most unlikely pickpocket, but I suppose they often are!

Much of our time here is spent sorting out the rest of our time in the country. Internet facilities in La Paz are better than in much of the country ( still not good though!) and much of the jungle and trekking stuff we need to sort out can be done here with the many tour companies that seem to be in every other shop.

First job is to sort out our trip into the Amazon basin. After a LOT of research, we decide on Madidi Jungle Ecolodge - http://www.madidijungle.com/ owned by the local community it has a lodge deep in Madidi national park about 3.5 hours up river from the town of Rurrenbaque. We have decided to take the long road to Madidi. Rather than take the 30 min flight, we will fly to Santa Cruz and then spend a couple of weeks coming back upriver to the national park, More about that in a few weeks..

One of our overriding impressions of La Paz is the incredible number of minibuses that transport people around the city. For around 2 Bolivianos you can get just about anywhere. Travelling in these buses is an experience that everyone visiting the city should try at least once. Much more fun than a taxi. There are no stops for these minibuses, one just hails one on the street. However, people always seem to want to get on or off right on the "esquina" or street corner which means that at every crossroads traffic is snarled up with people getting on and off. This of course means that every other driver immediately hits their horn. La Paz is not a quiet city!

We have been to absurdly busy cities before, Bangkok, Saigon, Hanoi etc. All have teeming street markets and manic traffic but La Paz really does take the first prize. Every street seems to have a market and, where they don't, they always have an array of street sellers. August is Pachamama month where everybody makes offerings to the earth mother. This takes the form of visiting shamens and then, on their advice, burning certain items in the street. Almost always, these items will include rice cakes, copy money and, bizarrely dried alpaca foetuses. The stalls in the streets are stacked with these somewhat gruesome items and there are a lot of stalls in this city! Now, on the first day of August, people are starting to burn their piles of stuff, usually in the middle of the street, adding to the traffic chaos. If walking along the street, it is also highly likely that you will get dragged into dancing around one of these mini bonfires as I did! Tomorrow, El Alto.

EL ALTO

Always keen to support fledgling businesses and looking for something a bit different we discovered www.banjotours.com Run by Ben a Bolivian guy born and raised La Paz, Ben provides a different sort of tour, seeking out som of the more unusual aspects of this fascinating city that it would be difficult to search out no matter how intrepid one is. Ben met us at our hotel, apologising for turning up a few minutes late as he had been delayed by some barricades set up across the roads as some people had not had there gas deliveries!! That's Bolivia!

We set off on our alternative tour of La Paz starting by walking down to Plaza San Francisco through to Plaza Murillo and the government house. Along the way Ben explained something of the history and politics of his country, both recent and way back to colonial times. He had a knack of bringing all to life and making it genuinely interesting, more so than any other guide I have met. He points out the bullet holes remaining in the facade of one of the buildings in the square where the Army fought with the police in 2003. further back he related the tales of how numerous presidents were hanged in the square. It seems politics is a thankless job here. Usually I get bored very quickly on organised tours but Ben has a knack of making it all very interesting and left me wanting to learn more of the history and politics of the country.

After a while, Ben takes us to a salteños place for the best salteños in La Paz, explaining how they arrived here from Salta in Argentina and are an adaptation/improvement on the empanada. Delicious they certainly were, albeit a little messy too eat!

We then moved on to San Pedro prison, the only prison in South America run by its inmates. Apparently the prison houses 2500 inmates and is controlled by just 25 guards whose job it is to facilitate the entry and exit from the prison, nothing else. Everything else is controlled by the inmates who run shops, barbers, restaurants and produce goods for sale outside the prison. When we where there, Coca Cola was making a big delivery!!

The prisoners also control the justice system in the prison, meting out "an eye for an eye punishments" to inmates that breach their own rules. The prison houses everything from petty criminals to drug barons all of whom can bring their wives and children to live with them in the prison. The wealthier inmates can purchase and equip there own cells, some with jacuzzis ( allegedly). Some live a life of comparative luxury, whilst the poorer inmates have to scrape a living as best they can, either relying on those outside or by working for the wealthier neighbours. There is quite a class system within the prison.

A fascinating place which, it has just been announced, is to close. It was discovered that a 12 year old child had been systematically abused over a period of 5 years by her father, uncle and godfather. It is not going down well with the prisoners as many have a really easy time and the wealthier drug lords have paid up to $ 25 k for their cells and are not happy at losing out on there investment and moving to a stricter regime. Riots are expected as many of the more powerful inmates live a life of luxury inside.

After the prison we jump into a cab to El Alto, the indigena city high above La Paz. We stop a couple of times en route to admire the spectacular views before arriving in the massive market area. High above La Paz it all seems more spacious than the main city below. As we wander along the market stalls we notice how much cheaper and fresher al the produce is. Stopping at a juice stall we all take a glass of the juices on offer. I go for the mandarin a which was out of this world. Very welcome on what, despite the altitude, is a hot day. Ben stops a a stall to buy some peaches and when the deal is done, explains how to ask for a "yappa" which is an extra piece of fruit. Apparently, it is not done to haggle over prices in this market and this another way of getting a little extra.

The market seems to go on for miles and the array of foodstuffs appears endless but eventually we find our way to the witches market. At a stall Ben explains what everything means and does and the reasons for which people make there offerings to Pachamama by burning stuff on small bonfires all around the two cities. Some people are buying individual items others are buying package deals. Also on the stalls are various "traditional" remedies, many of which seem to originate from China? At one stall we have a chat with the stallholder who gives each of us a bag of lucky charms, covering everything from luck and health to money and travel.

Our last stop in in the market is the street where all the shamens operate. This very long street is lined with small huts where the witches operate. Outside are small stoves where the offerings are piled up and burnt, it can get quite hot walking along this street in the August Pachamama season! We wait outside one hut for the shamen to finish her session and then the five of us enter. The shamen asks a few questions about what we want to know about our futures and then, individually proceeds to read our futures (well not mine as I was the only one who didn't partake!). She lays out three lines of coca leaves and then throws a few more over the top of them, chanting as she goes. All very evocative in the small, dark and hot confines of the hut.

Fortunes foretold, we then hop into a collectivo for the ride downhill back to La Paz. Our first collectivo in the city, it seems all very civilised and everyone one appears to observes each others space. Then a very old lady gets on, I am guessing aged 90, who has everyone rushing to help her onto the bus to her favourite seat. En route, she asks Ben if she can have the bag of peaches he bough earlier and, when it is time for her to get off she offers 50 cents for the 2 boliviano journey, leaving Ben to help her off the bus and pay the balance. She walks off cackling with delight, much to the amusement of everyone on the bus ( apart from the driver). I doubt this was the first time she had pulled this stunt.

This was a great day out and highly recommended. If you do nothing else in La Paz, take this tour.

Wow, sounds like a fabulous tour. Kudos on finding it, and thanks for the report.

Fantastic report once again. I am keeping notes, thank you

Great tip on the tours of El Alto. Glad to hear that you are enjoying La Paz as much as I did (and in the same hotel). I had a good chuckle about the two old ladies.

One of the expert posters on SA (qwovadis) always used to say that the old ladies were the ones to watch out for!

SANTA CRUZ

Unable to book our preferred dates in the jungle with Madidi Eco Lodge we formulated a plan B, to fly to Santa Cruz in the lowlands and then work our way back upriver to Rurranbaque, only a plan at this stage as we have not booked anything and are really just making it up as we go along!

Jumping into a taxi we head up to the airport in El Alto for our flight from one of the highest airports in the world. Soon after take off which seemed to take a lot longer than normal, presumably down to the aeronautics of the thin air at altitude we were flying through the Andes. The views of this most impressive of mountain ranges were breathtaking and for the first time, at least on this trip, we gain a true impression of how massive this range is. The flight lasts an hour and after a while we are over the lowlands and can see the many rivers snaking below us. It will seem really odd not to be cold at night and wrapping ourselves up in fleece jackets at night, at least for a while.

On arrival we decide to jump into a taxi rather than the bus, on the basis that we haven't a clue as to where we are going and taxis are cheap anyway. Thirty minutes later we are in our hostal, ResidencialBolivar. A marked difference from our room in La Paz, this room is tiny, hot and stinks of drains, back to reality! The best things about this place are the pleasant courtyard gardens with hammocks and the resident toucan that will come and sit on your arm (and eat your breakfast given half a chance!). The staff are basically sullen and unhelpful, more interested in playing computer games than helping guests and as for the breakfasts! I have rarely seen scrambled eggs that bounce of the floor when dropped! At least the toucan likes them, although I doubt he will ever fly again...

Having consulted our, next to useless guidebook, we venture out in search of a parrillada for a serious meat fix ( this area is the big beef ranching part of the country). We grab a taxi and head off to El Arriero, one of the more well known. It takes the driver many wrong turns and a lot of stops before WE find the right place (these drivers would not last an hour in London!). We arrive early at around 8.00 pm and the place is only just getting going. I guess they keep Argentine hours here where most people don't even think about eating until 10pm.

Seated at our table we forego the extensive wine list in favour of a couple of beers and share a delicious and huge steak but not before we have consumed our starters of chorizo and antichuchos (cow heart), the latter being a first for us and now a firm favourite! An expensive meal by Bolivian standards but incredible value when compared with Europe.

To be frank there is not a whole lot to do in Santa Cruz it is short on tourist sights but big own places to eat which seems to be the main occupation of the locals here. Apparently, there is a big Japanese community here, although we have yet to experience it and have seen no evidence so far. Some sashimi would be great but as it is difficult to imagine anywhere further from the sea, I fear we will be disappointed.

There is not a whole lot to see in the city in terms of tourist attractions, it seems mainly to be a commercial centre. It is so very different from La Paz and the highlands, not so much the scenery, although that is a given, but more the attitude of the people. Out on the streets, everyone seems much more laid back and ready to party. Maybe it is the weather?

One thing we do notice immediately is the increase in poverty and begging on the streets compared with elsewhere in South America. There is a lot of it happening in La Paz but even more here, which is urprising, given that this is one of the wealthiest cities in the country and the economic powerhouse of the nation. Lots of elderly people on the streets but, perhaps even more concerning are the number of children, sometimes with, sometimes without, adults. I went out for a walk one morning and came across a street off the main Plaza where children as young as 3 were being made to dance every time someone walked past. Late in the evening, I returned the same way only to see the same kids, still jigging away on the sidewalk. Further along, young mothers, some no more than 16 years old, are curled up in doorways, trying to get their kids to sleep. Heart rending to see all this going one in a clearly, otherwise affluent city.

be frank, I think we made a bit of a mistake coming here as we would have been better going straight to Madidi had they had the space available for us? I was following a suggested route in Lonely Planet, the first and last time I shall do that as, unless, i am missing something, there is not a whole lot here o hold ones interest for more than a day or two. Incidentally, i know our Lonely Planet guide is a couple of years out of date, butvit really is not very good at all. Wrong addresses, incorrect websites and the maps!!! Even if you have the eyes of an eagle and can read them, they bear only a tenuous link with the reality on the ground!

Santa Cruz is a pleasant enough city, some decent food, particularly in the Parrilladas but we have had enough so are heading up to the hippie hangout of Samaipata and the nearby ruins of El Fuerte.

Samaipata is a very small town up 1600m up in the hills a 2.5 hour drive from Santa Cruz. It is popular as a weekend retreat from Santa Cruz and a significant number of foreigners, mostly from Europe who have set up home here. Its main attraction is the pre Inca ruins of El Fuerte, high on hill 10 kms away. The town is situated where the rainforest meets the Chaco and the Andes and has quite a temperate climate, one of the reasons so many foreigners have set up home here I suppose.

We start by getting a taxi to the collectivo point on a street near the football stadium. Naturally, the taxi driver does not have the faintest idea where it is - Santa Cruz surely has the most clueless taxi drivers in the entire world! Not one has known even the most straight-forward of places and has to stop to ask several times before we each our destinations! Unsurprisingly, they still manage somehow to quote a fare even though they haven't a clue where the destination is!

Eventually we find the street where the collectivo stop is supposed to be. There is virtually no activity around here, probably because of the Independence Day national holiday. We really haven't got our timings right in his country yet!! I manage to find a guy loitering around his taxi who agrees to take us to Samaipata but, because of the holidays, no one else is around to share the collectivo so we get off straight away, although we do end up paying to have the car to ourselves.

Loading our bags into to back of the car, we nearly squash a chicken in a bag, lying on he floor with just his head and feet poking out. It The driver is a nice chap who wants to practice his English and along the way he passes me a book, an encyclopaedia of about cock fighting around South America. Suddenly the trussed up chicken in the back makes sense. It is a breeding bird used for fighting!

The drive takes us along the plains out of the city through a number of villages on a dead straight, wide metalled road for most of the way but interspersed with pieces of dirt track and sleeping policemen, just to keep the drivers alert along the way!

The sunshine turns to rain along the way and the temperature drops considerably. The plains give way to the hills and gorges, waterfalls etc. it really is a quite a pretty drive, but seems to go on forever but eventually we reach our final destination where the dusty streets have turned to mud, hopefully temporarily.

Posada del Sol, the place where we are staying is a pleasant place to while away a day or four as we will do. Owned by a Texan/Bolivian couple it has pretty good food which we sample on arrival as it has been a long time since breakfast. Fed and watered we head off to explore the town. Not a lot seems to be going on presumably because it is a national holiday and the streets seem deathly quiet. When we reach the main Plaza, the whole of the town seems to be in there knocking back beers like they are going out of fashion and dancing the afternoon away. By South American standards it is still a pretty quiet affair. If ever there was at own where not a lot happens, this is it!

We spend some time wandering the town and the surrounding countryside and pleasant though it is, it does not live up to Lonely Planets enthusiastic descriptions. As we continue our walk, Carolyn gets stung by some sort of giant wasp so it is a quick trip to the pharmacy for a remedy. Usually, when we are travelling it is I that am prone to accident and disaster but this is the second time in the space of a week that she has been bitten or stung by these vicious Bolivian insects!

The weather improves somewhat so we decide to visit El Fuerte. As is often the case, debate continues as to the purpose/ age/ significance of El Fuerte. Whatever the age and purpose, it is quite an impressive site. Lots of zoomorphic carvings of serpents and pumas etc and it is all quite nicely laid out. Some say there is evidence of Inca activity, some argue that carbon dating put human habitation at some 1500bc. More recently, new age hippies have claimed it is a landing ramp for ancient spacecraft!

We spend a couple of hours at the site and have it more or less to ourselves. Some beautiful scenery around and the ruins are very well looked after but I am not sure it is worth the trip to get here. We stop for a drink in a very nice bar in the corner of the plaza and get chatting to the Australian owner who has settled here and is building his own place out in the countryside. He has been here for a few years and confirms that we have seen pretty much all there is to see in the few days we have been here so we are minded to return to Santa Cruz.


The Posada we chose to stay in, started off so well but then the owners went away for a few days and the place seemed to go to pot. The food, which started off so good, deteriorated, as did the service and indeed the weather. Huge thunderstorms took hold overnight and, in the morning, having had our fill of Samaipata we decide to head back to Santa Cruz mainly to organise our ongoing travel into the jungle, which seems to be taking an inordinate amount of time. Our first leg involves an overnight bus to the jungle town of Trinidad from where we get a small plane to Rurrenbaque. That at least is the plan. If it all works out, I shall be amazed!

Good luck with the jungle! I need to spend a long time living somewhere less hot and humid than central NC before I even consider it!

Are you back in contact with the internet yet? I am waiting for an update on Madidi!

Thursdaysd, luckily I am not too bad with the heat, less so with the humidity though. The weather here has been bizarre. We left Santa Cruz with 30c and arrived in Trinidad to 8c at 5.00am. No hotels open so we had to wait in the main square huddled in our jackets and fleeces! Next day, back up to 30c??

Mlgb, after days without Internet we are in Rurrenbaque with occasional access. We get the boat to Madidi tomorrow morning. If I don't check in in a week, send out the search parties!

Nice, I love a cold snap in the jungle!

Have a great time.

Yay! Madidi, here we come!

Yay indeed, Glover. But first we need to get there....


After hanging around at the hostel for the afternoon we walked the 2 kms or so to the "Bimodal Terminal", the combined bus and train station, to get the night bus to Trinidad, the first stage of our journey to the jungle town of Rurrenbaque. After calling at a couple of bus company stands, only to find that no seats were available we were getting a little concerned, but a nice lady pointed us in the direction of one of her competitors and we secured the last two seats on a Cama bus out of town.

Most of the Bolivian bus companies operate old, second hand Brazilian buses. Our was very old and very secondhand! It rattled as though it was going to fall apart and some of the windows were held in place by gaffa tape, but at least the seats were comfortable. The journey took around nine hours including a rest stop in a town in the middle of nowhere (the toilet facilities there were not for the fainthearted!). We arrived at Trinidad bus station at 5am and jumped into a cab for the short drive into town. We asked to be taken to one hotel we knew of, but at 5am on a Sunday morning, of course it wasn't open so we sat down on a bench in the main square and waited for a couple of hours. We expected Trinidad to be very hot but we have been experiencing some freak weather conditions offer the last week and it was really cold so we ended up donning fleeces and jackets to keep warm!

Dawn eventually broke and spectacular it was too as the sky gave way from dark blue to brilliant pink, all accompanied by a cacophony of tropical birds and some less impressive, tape recorded bells from the church tower. After trying around for an hour, we eventually find a reasonable hotel at a reasonable price and get our heads down for an hour or so before heading off to explore the town.

Trinidad reminds us a little of Bo in Sierra Leone where we lived for a while possibly because it has the same sort of buildings etc., but also because it has the same open sewers running alongside the streets. The smell in places is quite overpowering but despite that it is quite a pleasant place but I would not want to stay here for more than a day or two.

Being Sunday, the airline offices are closed so we need to walk out to the airport to reconfirm our flight to Rurrenbaque. That done, we head back into town for lunch at Brasileno, a Brazilian place we noticed earlier which advertises a buffet "by the kilo". Sure enough, we fill our plates from the buffet and take them to be weighed at the till. A novel system we have not seen before but it seems to be popular as the place is packed. That night the town comes alive as all the kids take to their motorbikes and circle the main plaza and surrounding streets for hour after hour. Apparently it happens every week and seems to be the preferred method for the young men to get to meet the girls with many of them deep in conversation as they ride side by side around the streets. It reminds me a little of Saigon when I first visited Vietnam twenty odd years ago.

The next day we arrive back at the airport for our Amazsonas flight to Rurrenbaque.

Flying in Bolivia is essential if you want to avoid the very long and sometimes uncomfortable bus journeys. Amazsonas seems like a pretty reasonable airline, the others being Aerocon, the government owned BOA and the military airline TAM.

We board our Amazsonas plane only to be told to disembark 10mins later as the engines won't start! As we get off, we notice that the fuselage is badly dented and scratched, almost as though the plane had been flying through the trees, not a reassuring sight! After wait of 20 mins in the terminal and a jump start from a tow truck, the plane is ready to go and we eventually take off with fingers crossed that we actually land ok!! The plane is very small and very hot as there is no air conditioning so we are very glad to finally disembark at one of the smallest airports we have been to.

Rurrenbaque is a small town of some 15000 people and is the main business centre for the Beni province. Our hotel is quite nice, situated as it is on the banks of the river. The towns other purpose is as a transport hub for getting to both the pampas and deep into the rainforest of Madidi National Park. We have chosen to go with Madidi Jungle Ecolodge a place some 3.5 hours upriver by boat which is run and owned by the indigenous community so all the profits and employment opportunities remain with the community rather than benefitting outside investors. Really looking forward to this part of the trip!!!

Good luck with the Amazon - sooner you than me!

I encountered the buffet-by-weight in Rio, so authentically Brazilian. Much more sensible than all-you-can-eat.

Wow! What a journey.

Fantastic, Crelleston...You are two really adventurous and adaptable travelers. Kudos !

BTW: There are several cafeterias (including some in hospitals) in the WDC area that charge by the pound (lb - not sterling :)

That sounds like Amaszonas :)

I flew them to Uyuni and fingers were crossed when I heard the pilot say either "I hope we can land" or "I am waiting to land".

Hmm. . . yes, your transit thus far toward Madidi sounds ever bit as daunting as I'd feared .. . . But still you're my role model and if you survive . . maybe we could too. Looking forward to more!!

glover, you can also fly La Paz to Rurre if you are not quite as adventurous as crellston, but they will still be Bolivian companies!

I think I've decided to go to Ecuador in my upcoming trip, after starting out in Lima..for a few days at Mistura.

Glover, as you can see, we did survive!! , mlgb is perfectly correct you can fly to Lima and that is what I would suggest as it is only a 30 min flight. The only reason we went the long way around was that we found get space at the lodge when we originally planned. The only other reason I can see for going the way we did was if you used Snata Cruz as thee try point into Bolivia or, you wanted to do the "Jesuits Mission Circuit" and then go by cargo boat to Rurrenbaque, the JMS was hugely expensive if done on a tour and too long by public transport.

Mlgb, it was indeed Amazsonas! Thankfully, our flight out of of Rurre was less problematic (although on arrival in LP en route to Sucre one of our two checked bags magically made it onto the carousel despite being checked through to Sucre!! Hopefully both will arrive when we get to our final destination ...

Good news crellston you are still alive. Are you in Sucre now?

The stalls upstairs in the market have some pretty good food (the mondongo is a pork stew with red chili that is good).

Do not bother with the dinosaur park. You can get just as good a view from the parking lot with your own binoculars.

I enjoyed the market in Tarabuco, there is a tourist transport that is scheduled every market day.

Will you be going on to Potosi and then Uyuni from there?