When I awoke in the the dark, dank room I immediately felt the wooden boards through the awefully thin mattress. They had been digging into my lower back all night and made rising out of bed difficult. I looked around me and decided this was THE worst hostal I had been in so far. There was hardly any light from lack of windows and it smelt of old mold. The paint was chipping off th walls surrounding me. I was glad I would only be staying that one night. I was in Coroico, just north of La Paz in the lower green mountains called Las Yungas. The scenery was extraordinary with the town sitting at the top of one of these mountains. Looking back, the previous few days had flowed well one to the next.
Upon arrival to La Paz I knew that this city was going to be something different. Occupying a valley and all the walls leading up out of this valley was La Paz, the highest capital city in the world. Above this valley, on the plateau, was El alto, the poor, dense section of the city surrounding La Paz. The city of La Paz, an authentic south american city. Locals controlled the streets, far more here than in other cities. Tourists were rare to see walking about. The streets full of cars and people. The sidewalks full of stores extending their goods out as far as they can onto the sidewalk making the sidewalk practically unusable for pedestrians. Noise, movement, bodies. All this is constant in the streets of La Paz, yet I loved it. Markets and shopps lay everywhere, markets were all over the place. Anything one needed to find was there in tenfold. The atmosphere was so real here that I could not get enough of it. By far the most powerful large city I have seen so far. Yet La Paz is not that large, with a population of under 1 million people only, it felt like much more by the amount of constant commotion, much more so that Lima, for example, who held an enormous population of nearly 10 million... La Paz was home to the worlds most dangerous rode, likely the most common tourist attraction/activity in La Paz. Many prices, correction ALL prices were too much in comparison to other trips, although it is always recommended. Agencies provide clothing, protection, food, and bikes (varrying in quality). I took the best bike I could buy after my last experience with biking in Cuzco. It proved to be relatively unneccisary although I do not regret having full suspension. It was a bumpy ride although sections of the trail I took near Cuzco was much more rivetting and terrifying. With a bit of consideration, there would be no problems on the DEATH ROAD. It was fun, but upon finishing it I had higher expectations from what people told me. Nevertheless many people have died (mainly driving like maniacs down the road in vehicles to fall and crash to their death hundreds of meters below....) by the way all drivers in Bolivia are maniacs, dont even get me started, absolutely AWEFUL, crazy basterds... I am truly suprised they do not have more accidents and higher death rates seeing they way they control their machines..crazy basterds...Anyway I ended the death road and took a cab up to the nearby Coroico where I would spend the next aweful night and chase around the next morning looking for the next possible way to get North to Rurrenabaque where trips could be taken into the famed Madidi National Park for a jungle experience.
The day spent getting to Rurre was long and proved to be much harder than I expected. Although I did not go it alone. I ran into two other foolish travellers, like myself, who wanted to brave the famous terrible drive to Rurre. Spending about 12 hours total driving, in the blazing heat on what I would imagine, must be the worlds second most dangerous road. The road was extremely narrow and bumpy with no protection to sheer drop down the valley on the left hand side. Windy our way around the valley walls felt like an eternity. Sleep was impossible, with each time one put his head on the headrest it would be promply shot back up again violently, or if not, it would be the entire body... All in all, we arrived... alive.... late at night in Rurre, I tell you, i have never been more eager to get out of a vehicle. Ours lasted only 12 hours, I met a man who spent 30 hours on the ride, they had to wait for a MUDSLIDE to be cleared. others stopped and fixed SUSPENSION problems or change a malfunctioning WHEEL.... Bolivia right....
Rurre was a cool sortof carribean town, yet feeling sort of western with motorcycles controlling the streets more than cars or trucks. It was as if they were modern cowbows, showing of their steed or their prized woman sitting on the back. Good jokes. Here I relaxed happily and felt the difference from the last 3 weeks of altitude. I could breathe again. And sweat. It is damn hot here! and humid! being near the jungle! My second day in town I went up river for 3 days into the Jungle. This was a different experience although not exactly what I had wanted. Having a set camp with destination-less walks all day then a return for food, then more destination-less walks was not what I wanted. That being said the jungle is an amazing thing and I did want to experience something there so it was what it was. Seeing animals on this particular trip is quite rare, one needs a good guide and everyone needs to be rather stealthy and very lucky. In all we heard a few boars and saw some monkeys at a distant jumping around the trees. Seeing things persay is a hard way to describe in the jungle. The density of the vegitation and the expansion of the green endless eternity is forever. Tourists are left to peer hopefully through thousands of leaves to see the creature that is making that strange and terrible noise. It is quite intriguing though, walking through the jungle and constantly hearing things around you, from above or around, close or far, loud or quiet. And it is always impossible to picture the creature that is creating that sounds. It could be big or small, ugly or cute, who knows... The mysteries of the jungle or interesting and I would like to explore them more if given the chance. It was a good introduction to the rainforest, although that encounter alone will not suffice for my lifetime... I returned to Rurre with new found friends, that we would plan the next step together.
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