6-23
I had decided to do the much more expensive tour with Madidi travel to Serere reserve rather than the very touristy jungle trips to Madidi National Park, partly bc of my conservation concious and partly bc I knew it would be better.
It was just 3 of us, Yousef and Heidi from Germany and myself. We had a very nice guide named Jamie. They were 15 or more years older than me, but very nice and quite funny. We boarded a boat and headed down the River Beni for 3 hours to reach the Serere reserve. When we disembarked, we had an hour walk to the lodge. It is a true ecolodge and with as small of a footprint as possible. No electricity, just candles. Almost all the food was taken from the jungle (other than meat), so we had honey from the tree, fresh bananas, fresh papaya, fresh coconuts, spices from the jungle. Totally amazing. There was a big lodge with hammocks and such right on a lake (lago san fernando) and then the cabanas were a 10 minute walk (through mud of course, they gave us rubber boots) away so that you had complete isolation in the jungle. The cabanas were quite cool and a little more luxurious than what I was used to as they had private showers and bathrooms (cold water of course, which is nice in the jungle) and nice beds with very good mosquito netting. The cabana had no walls, just 360 degrees of screen. So from everywhere, whether in your bed, in the shower, or on the pot, you had a nice view of the jungle and the butterflies flying around and the monkeys eating overhead.
In the afternoon we went for a jungle walk. We saw a jungle squirrel, capuchin monkeys, frogs, lots of amazingly huge trees, and we learned a lot about how different plants are used by indigenous people. We came back with an appetite and as it would be the whole trip, the food was absolutely amazing. And if I was ever hungry, I could just go pick baby bananas from a tree or cut down a coconut and use a part of a plant as a straw and suck up the sweet coconut milk. There was even a chocolate tree. The fruit of a chocolate tree is really interesting. It tastes a lot like mangos, but then you take the seed and dry it to make cocoa.
We had this cute baby Coati (raccoon family) that was the lodge pet. It's mom had been killed by poachers and so they were raising it. Yousef called him Doodle, and it stuck. He was a fun little guy. A lot like a cat. Always climbing up on us and then curling up on our laps to fall asleep. He would even sometimes follow us on jungle walks.
At night, Jamie and I paddled around on a canoe on the river and looked for caimans. We saw some and quite a few baby caimans as well. The stars were amazing. It was actually a clear night and they were so bright in the darkness of the jungle. And they reflected magically off of the calm lake. Choruses of so many species of frogs were music to our ears. And at night I fell asleep to the soundtrack of the jungle, but not before I had seen a snake and some frogs on the walk to the cabana
6-24
Woke up to the sound of the jungle waking up, especially the howler monkeys. And from my bed I watched monkeys run across the treetops overhead. Did a jungle walk to another lake, gringo lake. Then took a paddle out in the lake (which was thankfully free of mosquitos). In the jungle the mosquitos are so thick bc of all the recent heavy rains, that it is just crazy. You completely cover up and put on repellant and still get smoked by the skeeters. On the walk we saw Capuchin monkeys, squirrel monkeys, howler monkeys, and the very endangered spider monkeys. We also saw a couple of frogs and a coati. Along the way we saw some incredibly fresh jaguar tracks and scat (when we came upon the scat there were no bugs, on the way bag you could hardly see the scat bc of all the bugs, so in the insect filled jungle for scat to be bug free, means it was really fresh). We followed the tracks for a while, but never saw the jaguar. We spent the afternoon in hammocks on the top floor deck of the big lodge overlooking the lake. Lots of monkeys around the lodge in the afternoon.
In the afternoon, we paddled out onto the lake and did some pirahna fishing. We didnt do too well. I caught one and Jamie a couple but the germans just had bites and dreamed of catching an anaconda. The paddle back was gorgeous with the sun lighting up the sky and the water. And tons of these fishing bats came out and were swooping and flying all around in the sunset. And it was just so peaceful and quiet.
Jamie and I did a night walk looking for nocturnal animals. We found some frogs, including a tree frog and a cool false coral snake. Also a tree mouse and tons of huge spiders. And a quick glimpse of a giant armadillo. We could hear the night monkeys, but couldnt see them.
6-25
Another tasty fruit filled breakfast with good empanadas, fresh squeezed juice, and other tasty things. Paddled across San Fernando lake to do a jungle walk on the other side. On the walk saw capuchin and squirrel monkeys as well as a huge huge tarantula. During lunch, around the lodge we saw this Tayra creature (looks like a mix between and otter and cat) running around. On my hike back to the boat, I saw more capuchin and squirrel monkeys, lots of lizards (it was the first really hot day as the effects of the huge storm may have passed), and the tayra up in a tree eating honey with bees buzzing all around it.
Had a 4 hour ride back up the River Beni to Rurrenabaque. Along the way, besides tiny boats plying the water with locals, I saw a giant caiman, lots of turtles, and a lonely capybara (worlds largest rodent).
Back in Rurre, I checked my email. I saw an email titled Fire, by my mom, but I didnt think much of it bc I knew there were some big fires near Ft. Collins and other places around Colorado and figured she was just probably telling me how hot and dry it was in CO. So first I checked ESPN and saw some awesome news that my Arizona Wildcats won the College World Series. I then chatted with my brother and found out he had signed on as a full PRO cyclists. Congrats bro! Finally got around to my emails and saw that the email from mom was about a fire in the high drive area...where our house is. Apparently the fire had gotten within a couple hundred yards of our house. I saw my friend Rob's parent's house had escaped by 20 feet. Apparently 22 houses were burned to the ground. SUch a terrible tragedy. The last I heard the fire was under control, but I havent heard from my mom since that email. I see people I know in photos helping out with the victims in the epapers and I wish I was there to help. Estes Park is a strong and close community and it will pull through, but I am very much saddened by it, yet relieved at the same time for my parents house and the house where I grew up with so many memories and have everything I own stored at. The people back home are certainly in my prayers.
6-26
Had an early morning flight back to La Paz. I learned this time that the one runway did actually have an airport building, it's just that when I landed the route to the airport was flooded so that is why we got picked up in the bus. By the way, just as CO is dealing with it's hottest and driest summer ever, the Amazon basin of bolivia is dealing with one of the wettest (and mosquitoest) dry seasons ever). The ride back was just as scenic, those less bumpy. I checked into my favorite hotel and then did some errands in la paz like laundry and buying a new pair of sunglasses. I lost my sunglasses in my excitement to dive in with the dolphins. Also catching up in internet stuff of course.
by the way, here is a blog from zach's friend who I ran into while climbing huayna potosi. He has more time to blog I think and has a nice blog with lots of good pictures, so if you want to see pics of what the climb looked like, check this out.
http://www.cbguidesblog.com/climbing-mountains-in-bolivias-fabled-cordillera-real/
I had decided to do the much more expensive tour with Madidi travel to Serere reserve rather than the very touristy jungle trips to Madidi National Park, partly bc of my conservation concious and partly bc I knew it would be better.
It was just 3 of us, Yousef and Heidi from Germany and myself. We had a very nice guide named Jamie. They were 15 or more years older than me, but very nice and quite funny. We boarded a boat and headed down the River Beni for 3 hours to reach the Serere reserve. When we disembarked, we had an hour walk to the lodge. It is a true ecolodge and with as small of a footprint as possible. No electricity, just candles. Almost all the food was taken from the jungle (other than meat), so we had honey from the tree, fresh bananas, fresh papaya, fresh coconuts, spices from the jungle. Totally amazing. There was a big lodge with hammocks and such right on a lake (lago san fernando) and then the cabanas were a 10 minute walk (through mud of course, they gave us rubber boots) away so that you had complete isolation in the jungle. The cabanas were quite cool and a little more luxurious than what I was used to as they had private showers and bathrooms (cold water of course, which is nice in the jungle) and nice beds with very good mosquito netting. The cabana had no walls, just 360 degrees of screen. So from everywhere, whether in your bed, in the shower, or on the pot, you had a nice view of the jungle and the butterflies flying around and the monkeys eating overhead.
In the afternoon we went for a jungle walk. We saw a jungle squirrel, capuchin monkeys, frogs, lots of amazingly huge trees, and we learned a lot about how different plants are used by indigenous people. We came back with an appetite and as it would be the whole trip, the food was absolutely amazing. And if I was ever hungry, I could just go pick baby bananas from a tree or cut down a coconut and use a part of a plant as a straw and suck up the sweet coconut milk. There was even a chocolate tree. The fruit of a chocolate tree is really interesting. It tastes a lot like mangos, but then you take the seed and dry it to make cocoa.
We had this cute baby Coati (raccoon family) that was the lodge pet. It's mom had been killed by poachers and so they were raising it. Yousef called him Doodle, and it stuck. He was a fun little guy. A lot like a cat. Always climbing up on us and then curling up on our laps to fall asleep. He would even sometimes follow us on jungle walks.
At night, Jamie and I paddled around on a canoe on the river and looked for caimans. We saw some and quite a few baby caimans as well. The stars were amazing. It was actually a clear night and they were so bright in the darkness of the jungle. And they reflected magically off of the calm lake. Choruses of so many species of frogs were music to our ears. And at night I fell asleep to the soundtrack of the jungle, but not before I had seen a snake and some frogs on the walk to the cabana
6-24
Woke up to the sound of the jungle waking up, especially the howler monkeys. And from my bed I watched monkeys run across the treetops overhead. Did a jungle walk to another lake, gringo lake. Then took a paddle out in the lake (which was thankfully free of mosquitos). In the jungle the mosquitos are so thick bc of all the recent heavy rains, that it is just crazy. You completely cover up and put on repellant and still get smoked by the skeeters. On the walk we saw Capuchin monkeys, squirrel monkeys, howler monkeys, and the very endangered spider monkeys. We also saw a couple of frogs and a coati. Along the way we saw some incredibly fresh jaguar tracks and scat (when we came upon the scat there were no bugs, on the way bag you could hardly see the scat bc of all the bugs, so in the insect filled jungle for scat to be bug free, means it was really fresh). We followed the tracks for a while, but never saw the jaguar. We spent the afternoon in hammocks on the top floor deck of the big lodge overlooking the lake. Lots of monkeys around the lodge in the afternoon.
In the afternoon, we paddled out onto the lake and did some pirahna fishing. We didnt do too well. I caught one and Jamie a couple but the germans just had bites and dreamed of catching an anaconda. The paddle back was gorgeous with the sun lighting up the sky and the water. And tons of these fishing bats came out and were swooping and flying all around in the sunset. And it was just so peaceful and quiet.
Jamie and I did a night walk looking for nocturnal animals. We found some frogs, including a tree frog and a cool false coral snake. Also a tree mouse and tons of huge spiders. And a quick glimpse of a giant armadillo. We could hear the night monkeys, but couldnt see them.
6-25
Another tasty fruit filled breakfast with good empanadas, fresh squeezed juice, and other tasty things. Paddled across San Fernando lake to do a jungle walk on the other side. On the walk saw capuchin and squirrel monkeys as well as a huge huge tarantula. During lunch, around the lodge we saw this Tayra creature (looks like a mix between and otter and cat) running around. On my hike back to the boat, I saw more capuchin and squirrel monkeys, lots of lizards (it was the first really hot day as the effects of the huge storm may have passed), and the tayra up in a tree eating honey with bees buzzing all around it.
Had a 4 hour ride back up the River Beni to Rurrenabaque. Along the way, besides tiny boats plying the water with locals, I saw a giant caiman, lots of turtles, and a lonely capybara (worlds largest rodent).
Back in Rurre, I checked my email. I saw an email titled Fire, by my mom, but I didnt think much of it bc I knew there were some big fires near Ft. Collins and other places around Colorado and figured she was just probably telling me how hot and dry it was in CO. So first I checked ESPN and saw some awesome news that my Arizona Wildcats won the College World Series. I then chatted with my brother and found out he had signed on as a full PRO cyclists. Congrats bro! Finally got around to my emails and saw that the email from mom was about a fire in the high drive area...where our house is. Apparently the fire had gotten within a couple hundred yards of our house. I saw my friend Rob's parent's house had escaped by 20 feet. Apparently 22 houses were burned to the ground. SUch a terrible tragedy. The last I heard the fire was under control, but I havent heard from my mom since that email. I see people I know in photos helping out with the victims in the epapers and I wish I was there to help. Estes Park is a strong and close community and it will pull through, but I am very much saddened by it, yet relieved at the same time for my parents house and the house where I grew up with so many memories and have everything I own stored at. The people back home are certainly in my prayers.
6-26
Had an early morning flight back to La Paz. I learned this time that the one runway did actually have an airport building, it's just that when I landed the route to the airport was flooded so that is why we got picked up in the bus. By the way, just as CO is dealing with it's hottest and driest summer ever, the Amazon basin of bolivia is dealing with one of the wettest (and mosquitoest) dry seasons ever). The ride back was just as scenic, those less bumpy. I checked into my favorite hotel and then did some errands in la paz like laundry and buying a new pair of sunglasses. I lost my sunglasses in my excitement to dive in with the dolphins. Also catching up in internet stuff of course.
by the way, here is a blog from zach's friend who I ran into while climbing huayna potosi. He has more time to blog I think and has a nice blog with lots of good pictures, so if you want to see pics of what the climb looked like, check this out.
http://www.cbguidesblog.com/climbing-mountains-in-bolivias-fabled-cordillera-real/
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