The week after Uyuni was an interesting one. I endured my lack of sleep and went to the new hospital, which is a Catholic hospital in El Alto, about thirty minutes from the city. There were statues and painting everywhere of religious symbols, and all the nurses wore the classic white nurses... hats? we could call them. Internal medicine the first day, which was slow, and rounds the second day. Both boring. The third day I skipped to go to the doctor to find out I had a parasite (hence my never-ending illness) and of course missed the best day: 2 C-sections. No big deal, made up for it by watching a live birth this week.
Thursday began our journey of a lifetime. At 3:30 am Thursday morning we took taxis to the airport in La Paz for our flight to the jungle. Let me preface this by saying that we had heard the horror stories but still wanted the experience; but Rurrenebaque has two airports. One is a grass landing, so planes will crash if there is an ounce of water on the ground. We actually saw this 'airport' and it literally looks like someone's back yard. The other is a small airport with, amazingly, a concrete runway, but again if it rains the planes can't land because the altitude is so different here (15000 feet) that the planes take longer to stop? I don't understand the logistics since we never learned anything so applicable in physics (of course, much more important are the pulley systems we studied for a whole year), but that's the way the cookie crumbles.
So at the airport at 4, the counter hadn't even OPENED yet we were so early. We chilled on the marble floor and waited for either the counter or the burger king to open; we didn't really care which opened first. Of course Bolivian time is a different concept, so when both places said they'd open at 5, we were just thankful they opened by 5:45. We checked in for our flight and headed around the corner, brisked through the security checkpoint (or lack thereof) and sat down at the terminal. We met two guys from Holland and a couple from Britain and two Australians, all on our 6 am flight. So at 6 they say it's delayed, eh, no biggie, but they don't give us an expected time. Again we're learning here, so we think this is Bolivian protocol.
At ELEVEN, after arguing with the ladies at the desk every hour on the hour, they tell us it's raining in the Amazon rain forest... surprise. So half the group left and went to the travel agency to fight a bit more and I stayed with Matt and Danny and had lunch and waited for them to tell us for sure that everything was canceled. After raising our hopes with 70% taking off and 30% canceled statistics, all the flights to the jungle got canceled, and we were left with a predicament.
I decided to join 7 others, in a 7 person Jeep (you do the math), on our 12 hour ride to the jungle. They never told us we were going to be riding on the road of absolute death. If you could imagine a serpent, winding at every corner, no guard rails, and a drop-off cliff at a height of where we were literally riding through clouds (see picture) you can imagine why none of us were able to sleep. I probably have never feared for my life so much. Especially when I was in the middle seat (with four people) looking out over the edge.
At 3 am Friday (24 hours later) we arrived. Only after almost flipping our Jeep. At around 1 am we were driving along the rockiest, muddiest road (Bolivia needs to learn about pavement) we came across a stuck tractor. Of course we had to go around it, so while trying to off-road, our jeep starts flipping. All 8 of us held on to the Oh-S*** handles on the side of the car we were on (the side that was up) and weighed it down. But every time we tried to move the car it almost flipped. I'm talking land rover commercials, 70 degree angle, defying gravity stuff. Laura kindly told us that if she had to flip with any group of people, she'd like it to be us. I have no idea how we made it out alive but we were prepared... windows open on the side we thought wouldn't be stuck in mud and shoes on. That night we stayed in a precious little hostel and woke up four hours later to get ready for our big day.
It was raining.
We were so excited about our 'supposed to be' 85 degrees weather in the jungle that we failed to realize that when it rains it gets cold. Really really cold. 3 hours in a little wooden boat with rain and wind was no fun. Thank goodness I bought a rain jacket last year. We saw a ton of animals Friday with our awesome guide Yuri, and wound up staying at a little 'summer camp' cabin. Well, summer camp prepared for Malaria. The mosquito nets we had to tuck under our 'mattresses' were not at all like the little princess nets I used to want over my bed. Before going to bed that night, we went alligator hunting in the pitch black. Yuri, being awesome as he is, pulled one right out of the water and we all got to see. Definitely worth it. We made a fire with like eight 50 yr old German travelers and 2 local girls and drank wine and got some much needed, although restless, sleep.
Saturday we woke up and went piranha fishing after breakfast with little wooden sticks, strings, hooks, and raw meat. MMM. I caught two, my proudest moment yet in life, and we had them for lunch. Oh and we swam with pink dolphins in the Beni River. After lunch we did the ride back, much nicer without the rain, and then the car ride back to the town of Rurre. Krista (4'11'', petite, blonde) cursed out the travel agent in La Paz in her perfect Spanish for not reserving us a hostel. We celebrated John's 23rd birthday (old man) at all of the typical tourist places... Oh to be American.
At 4 am we were lucky enough to be woken by a rooster which decided to extend our natural alarm clock until 7, when we actually had to get up. Nice of him. We took a ferry across the Amazon river to the depths of the Amazon, with our guide Darwin. Oh Darwin. I could write an entire book about him. His most distinguishing feature: his feet. Why? He didn't wear shoes, THE ENTIRE WEEKEND. I finally asked him if he's ever worn shoes, and he replied with 'they're too loud'. I bet he runs around the jungle with a loincloth in his free time.
We got to the hostel they had prepared for us, but of course the heavenly scene of the hammocks and beds and toilets just didn't do it for us, because we agreed to go camping with Darwin for the night. How many times can you camp in the Amazon? We hiked for 5 hours, seeing lots of insects and birds, and some wild pigs that Darwin heard from probably a mile away. Darwin scaled an entire tree, to the top, to get us cacao fruit (what they make chocolate out of). He also ate termites from a tree during one of our picture breaks because he says they're nutritious. This guy could survive anything with his sweatpants, lack of shoes, and machete.
We learned everything there is to know about natural medicine/forest medicine because we told Darwin we were medical students; so basically we wound up looking at lots of branches and trees. It was kind of cool though, one time we tried anesthesia that comes with chewing a branch, and my mouth was numb for 10 minutes. We went on a night hike that night and then attempted to sleep... fail.
The next morning we got up at 5 to 'watch the forest wake up' with Darwin. Everything was still asleep, as I wished I was. Around 6, after sadly not seeing the jaguar that we heard nearby, Darwin told us to stay put while he searched for something. Next thing we know he's found a vine and is swinging upside down over our heads screaming. Now I know what he does in his free time. Of course we all had to have a turn, or 5, so we swang for about an hour and then cooked breakfast. Another afternoon hike to a beautiful drop-off spot led us to Darwin's next plan. He painted our faces and gave us headbands and made us into 'rainforest princesses'... well I guess John wasn't technically a princess. Two hours later we were making a raft out of Balsa wood to float back on; 8 logs of wood and about 25 strips of thin wood (used as rope) later and we were floating for an hour and a half, with some swimming in the Amazon breaks. We even survived the mini rapids.
So obviously it was a completely boring weekend and I've never had a worse time in my life. The trip back was completely uneventful, traveling from 7 pm to 7 am and sleeping about 20 minutes. Back to the hospital and real life this week. Will definitely miss Darwin/Tarzan and his quirkiness.
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