Empire Ants
A photo was here; it wasn’t in the backup.
You last left myself and Harry in Buenos Aires or just leaving Buenos Aires on our way to Bolivia, via a quick pit stop in Santiago, Chile.
At the time of booking, the layover looked a dream, 10 hours and a quick chance to see Santiago and no need for a hostel. However Santiago was smoggy and spenny. We popped in briefly but we did not get to see much, just one neighbourhood and we weren't particularly impressed.
After a few sleepless hours in the airport for myself (Harry had found the best seat in the house) we made our way to La Paz. I hadn't really told Harry about the altitude so that came as a bit of a surprise for him and also for the person in front of us who fainted on arrival at customs. Feeling very out of breath and light headed we sat down and grabbed ourselves some coca tea and sweets to alleviate the feeling that one feels at 3600m above sea level.
After a long day of travelling and also trying to acclimatise we had ourselves a lengthy sleep in preparation for the next day of travelling and the real reason we came to Bolivia. To see the Amazon. We had heard of a small town bordering the Amazon named Rurrenabaque of which there were two ways to get there. We chose to take the 35 minute flight over the 18 hour bus ride on what was named 'the Death Road' deemed as the most dangerous road in the world. We have heard mixed reviews from those who took the bus but the flight was fantastic. The views of the Andes were incredible as we flew over with its white topped mountains, neighbouring vast jungle of which we about to delve into.
Upon landing the contrast in climate was extreme and we all of a sudden found ourselves in blistering heat having to be conscious of mosquitoes. But at least we could breathe normally. We grabbed a tuk tuk into the town, a grid system of dirt roads in which we had no place to stay, no tour booked or no real idea or expectations.
After a short water and wifi stop we decided on a hostel and had a few ideas of the tour. We spent the rest of the afternoon running around the town being indecisive about which tour to take. So many options but in the end we went with our gut and to what we were later told was on the more expensive end of the tours, but is so for a reason and rather good on the eco side of things.
Satisfied, we went for dinner with a Canadian anthropologist- to-be who had been all over Bolivia in a variety of ways and through some adventures having just returned from an Iowaska retreat. He took us to this lil' family run restaurant with possibly the best meal I've had in South America, (sorry quentinha man) and at the cheapest price. A moist rice base mixed with what I think was shredded beef topped off with a fried egg and some plantain. Right next to us in the street was a butchers where the head of cow was on the pavement for all to see, so I reckon the beef was pretty fresh.
After this we head back to the hostel where we met a great group of travellers and almost all of us in the hostel interacted. We enjoyed each others company for one night before we all head into the jungle or the pampas, a more swampy area, in our separate ways.
Me and H chose the Jungle, we had heard you see less animals but we really wanted to enter into the amazon and trek around. The boat ride in was amazing and filled us with excitement for the next 3 days. Upon arrival we also caught our first glimpse of wildlife, the shy Caiman just chilling next to the waters edge.
3 photos from this gallery weren’t in the backup.
A photo was here; it wasn’t in the backup.
Going from Buenos Aires -> Santiago -> La Paz -> Rurrenabaque -> the Amazon really gave us a gradual integration into less developed areas and we were fully ready.
We began by smashing some sugar cane for the local community of which our guides were from and who live nearby in the jungle. They tend to live for half of the year in their community and half of the year in Rurrenabaque for tourism. They are also not deemed indigenous because they speak Spanish. Our guide Simon, pronounced Simone, also spoke English and had a very relaxed style. We pretty swiftly found ourselves calling him Simon but as he could only call us Mark and Harry Potter it seemed fair game.
Upon arrival at the lodge we had ourselves a lovely chicken lunch and a chill in the hammocks before heading out on first trek. Now I say chill. But of course the amount of bugs in the jungle is ridiculous. As we lay in the hammocks, the large ants paraded along them and the constant buzzing was only briefly interrupted by the beautiful and curious noises of the birds. I don't like things that buzz by my head. Particularly the wasps. The ants were actually pretty chill and there were some kinda cute little stingless bees who just eat the salt out of our sweat but still, mozzys and other unidentified flying things were not letting me chill to the extent I wanted to. But if I want to see and hear the birds, of which there were a lot, then I had to take the insects with em', buzzing and all.
3 photos from this gallery weren’t in the backup.
There were other brands of ants, the less amiable 'army ants' who all just march together and eat whatever is in their sight, thankfully not us, and the bullet ant who is absolutely hench and as Simon says "make the human very sick". He tells the tale of a German lad who did not believe him and instead grabbed the ant, feeling the bite and the sting before dealing with 24 hours of pain. Simon smiles as he tells this story.
We embarked on our first trek along with the French couple in our group, all wide eyed and searching the floor and the canopy for signs of life. For the majority we only got insects and mostly ants but boy were they impressive. Leaf carrier ants who would bite off small chunks of leaves from the trees, bring from down the tree and carry them for miles to lay down in their colony where they would wait for them to decompose and flourish into mushrooms to eat. At times when it got too hot they lay down their leaves and head off in search of another task awaiting for the temoerature to cool before returning to finish the job. Incredibly smart, there were thousands of them all walking along road networks which stretched all along our trek. They dominated the jungle.
A photo was here; it wasn’t in the backup.
Harry and I had originally banned the game 'odds on' in the jungle as the potential for harm was too high stakes, however he did get me to shank our guide with a stick on a scale of 30/1. Simon didn't mind and as the days went by he became more and more playful with us. Many times mugging off other guides by making jaguar sounds or on two occasions trying to mug Harry Potter off with two wooden animals.
Back to the first trek, we also got the chance to see and hear some more exotic birds and just as we returning to the lodge we stumbled across a group of howler monkeys sitting atop the trees in their pack as they do, the dominant male keeping his watchful eye on us as we stared in awe. Harry also made sure he kept his eye on them. If you look closely you'll see the monkeys at the top of tree.
A photo was here; it wasn’t in the backup.
We returned happy and hungry to eat the communities special dish which is catfish cooked in a certain type of leaf found in the jungle and it was so tasty. Bolivia was fast putting itself at the height of South American cuisine for me.
On full stomachs we headed out for our night walk and I won't lie to you, I was feeling sketch, with cheap torches and a slight fear of bugs I was content with seeing nothing but of course this was not the case, seeing two tarantulas not 10 metres from where we would be sleeping. This is before we even head into the jungle. It had the same fearfulness and exhilaration of watching a scary movie you are very into. Except you are in it. With every stop or sound I found my first reaction always being a verbal 'No' and had turned to Harry on several occasions as Simon was poking nests and prodding around mean looking spiders. In the end the only thing to fear was the fear itself as we saw little after our first 10 minutes and I returned to nice common cockroaches in the lodge.
3 photos from this gallery weren’t in the backup.
The second day we made our way to the campsite which I was beginning to regret, thinking of the bugs. On the way we saw two beautiful birds, one making a ridiculous sound called a 'screaming piha' and then spying two parakeets munching on Acai berries high above us. I was using my camera to get a good view and in that moment just watching them feed, you find yourself completely focused and watching their every move. I have some great pictures and videos but cannot yet get them off my camera, I'll have to show them to y'all in person. Myself and H spoke a lot about the feeling nature photographers must get when they snap their shot, using the end of Attenborough's documentaries as references. Seeing nature live truly is amazing.
It became even more amazing in the afternoon as we headed to the Macaw cliff where we witnessed up to 14 Macaws at a time squawking at each other as they took flight in couples around our heads. They are monogamous birds and will not mate with another if their partner dies, it seems that they do everything together and in perfect harmony. We even saw a fight between two birds with what could have been a fight for a mate as it was pretty much instigated by the one lonesome bird hanging around. They fought, they chased, they squawked in what is a horrible sound for such beautiful birds; bright red with green and blue feathers complementing. We could have stayed there for hours but instead returned for another nice meal and a night camping which was less sketchy than I would have thought. Unfortunately again all my pictures and videos are on the other camera but just trust me on these birds.
Unfortunately our time in the jungle was coming to an end, we were both saddened by this fact and could have spent more time there if it wern't for budget issues but we finished with a bang, trekking through the jungle, across an open desert like plain to the river where we were to build a raft. I say that but Simon pretty much built it whilst we held the logs in place or mucked about on the river bed. We began to paddle down the river, Francois swiftly de-oaring me and dashing my dreams of really being Moana. He took the lead until harry began to paddle at the front of the boat. We began to tilt the boat from side to side as Harry tried with all his might to stay afloat and keep balanced. Annoyingly he did not fall in.
It all finished with a swim in the river, a good temperature with thankfully no piranhas in it or none of those fish that swim up your dick. Although we did have a poisonous millipede on board which makes the human sick for a while. With Francois pulling his reluctant to swim girlfriend in, he began a series of events including a battle for the raft and Harry pulling Simon in. A great way to end what was a truly amazing couple of days. We will never forget them and as we head back it signalled the end of our trip as Harry and I go our seperate ways. We spent a few days making our way back to La Paz and feeling the exact opposite in terms of our gradual re-introduction into more developed areas.
Harry has gone to Brazil again where he will spend the remainder of his time with his girlfriend Hannah and I am currently writing this on a bus towards Cusco where I will stay for a month or so exploring the old Incan ruins including Macchu Picchu.
What a unforgettable weekend.
A photo was here; it wasn’t in the backup.
