I get up early at 7h30am, even if I went to bed late (Tuesday Sept. 25th).
We stay at the hotel until 9h30 and then leave to go for breakfast in a small French bakery that some friends from the night before suggested we see. The chocolate croissants are excellent (made with real local chocolate) and even if it's already very warm outside we can't resist a good coffee. We go back at the hotel after stopping at the market to get a few things for the bus ride the next day. I meet 3 guys from England that I had previously met in Arequipa and couple of Germans that I had also met in Arequipa, we had shared a cab together from the bus station to downtown. It's funny, it's starts to happen more often that I meet with other travelers that I had met before here and there. In the afternoon we decide to go up to the mirador after and old man from Switzerland, that we met in the morning at the bakery, told us there was a pool. With the heat and humidity we thought it might be a good way to spend the afternoon. The site is very nice and the pool, with a full view on the town below, is very refreshing. Back at the hotel at 4pm, small supper with a chicken sandwich, it was too warm for a full lunch. Quiet evening in the hammocks of the hotel. There was a big rainstorm again that night.
In Rurrenabaque, doors on vehicles are optional :)
The pool at the Mirador
Enjoying the view on the town
Click on picture to view the album ''Rurrenabaque - The Jungle''
Small secondary road in Rurrenabaque
Our departure from Rurrenabaque was at 11am (Wednesday Sept. 26th), so we can expect another long time on the road to get back to La Paz. Before we go for breakfast at the same bakery as the day before, then we head to the bus terminal where we are told that our bus was not leaving, for some reason, and we were transferred to another bus that only left at noon instead of 11am. In the bus we meet four French, while chatting with them we figure that they had a canceled flight because of the weather and they had to catch a bus instead. It goes very well on the road all day, no stop for construction, so no unexpected stops or waits.
San Francisco Church
Thursday Sept. 27th. We get to La Paz at 7am, so only 19h of traveling to get back. What luck we have. I wake up and see houses and more houses. When a guy comes and asks for our tickets, that when I realize that we really are already there. Me and Élise go back to the same hotel
than before we left, because we still had our luggage there. We give a meeting time to the French guys to go for lunch and we meet at 12pm, because after they have to leave for a flight in the end of afternoon. We then spend a quiet afternoon and evening.
Click on picture to see the complete album ''La Paz''
Plaza Murillo
Presidential Palace, Plaza Murillo
In the morning of the 28th of Sept., I decide to go see a few other hostels, hoping to get a better internet connection, faster and more reliable than at the hospedaje. I end up choosing to go to ''Adventure Brew Hostel’’
for 46Bs with pancake breakfast included and a free beer every evening and internet works great. Me and Élise give ourselves a meeting time at noon to take a minibus to go to the ‘’Vallee de la Luna’’ in a suburb of La Paz. We need to take a minibus close to Mexico street and go in the direction of ‘’Mallasa’’ or ‘’Zoologico’’. We find one for ‘’Mallasa’’
for 2.5Bs each that takes us directly at the entrance of the park for a travel time of about 30-40 minutes. The entrance fee is of 15Bs per person. It is not a very big site and it takes us about 1.5 hours to go around and taking our time to take pictures. There are too little roads, one that takes around 45 minutes and another one that takes 20 minutes. It is a small badlands scenery. Very interesting for someone who has never seen this kind of landscape, but no more. On the way back, we decide to walk for a while (45 min – 1h), simply to see a little scenery and the fact that we are not in a hurry because it is still early. We take another bus a little later that goes towards the terminal for 2Bs. We go for supper and walk a bit into town. In the evening we go back to my hostel to have a beer. Élise stayed at the hospedaje because she is leaving for Cochabamba the next morning, but she comes for a beer in the evening. She leaves at 9pm and we say goodbye. We will have spent about 2 weeks together. Who knows we might meet again on the roads of Bolivia, and we are going almost the same way. A little later I meet Susanne, a girl from Switzerland I had met before in Cusco 3-4 weeks before. We have a chat for a while to know what we each did since we last met. I then try to get up to date in my stuff and I go to bad at around midnight.
''Vallee de la Luna'' park entrance
''Vallee de la Luna''
''Vallee de la Luna''
''Vallee de la Luna''
Click on picture to see the album ''La Paz - Vallee de la Luna''
''Vallee de la Luna''
Tunnel in the mountainside on the way back from ''Vallee de la Luna''
Saturday Sept. 29th. I get up late, at about 10am which is not in my habits anymore. It good to sleep a little more. I get some work done until 1pm and then go into town for a walk. I get to the ‘’Killi
Killi’’ mirador, from there you have an incredible view on the town that's all around, a view at almost 360 degrees. I get back down after a while and wander in the market streets downtown. I find the ‘’Vertigo’’ agency that offers tours to go down the ''Death Road'' by bikes. Someone recommended them to me, because they have better prices and just as good equipments and bikes. So for 460Bs (65$ Can.) I get a tour,
It's a bit expensive, but it is an experience that I will do only once in my life, so why not. This price includes the traveling, a small lunch, the whole necessary equipment, the supper and pool and the return trip to my hostel. I then go back to the hostel to meet up with a guy from the US I met the night before that wanted to go for supper, I had talked to him about the 5Bs supper spots and he wanted to come. Another guy from Australia also joins us. We also go for a big fruit salad in the markets after supper for 6Bs. Back in the evening for a free beer while working a bit.
La Paz
La Paz (Mirador Killi Killi)
La Paz (Mirador Killi Killi)
La Paz (Mirador Killi Killi)
La Paz (Mirador Killi Killi)
I spend most of the day uploading pictures and trying to make a little video editing (Sunday Sept. 30th). I only go out for lunch and supper. In the evening I give up and go to the other Hostel
‘’Adventure Brew’’ at a few steps away to have a beer with Susanne, the Australian guy I met a few days before and another girl from Germany also joins us. The girls leave early and we decide to stay for another beer. There is a ‘’Quiz’’ at the bar in the evening so me and the Australian guy decide to form a team together, there are also two other teams. On a quiz of 20 questions we get 12 good answers and win the round. Cool, we each get a free beer. We then play for another round, just for fun because there are no prizes for this one. Out of 10 questions we get 6 good answers and we win again. Haha too bad there was no prize. But it is getting late (midnight) and I have to get up very early for my tour at the ''Camino
de la Muerte’’. I have a hard time getting to sleep because I'm excited for the next morning, I end up sleeping only at 1am.
La Paz (Jaen Street)
Monday Oct. 1st, I get up at 6h30am to get my stuff ready for the day. I take a quick shower and breakfast at 7h30. The bus comes and pick me up at the hostel at around 8h15. We go get a few other people into town and off we go for the summit of ‘’La Cumbre’’ at 4700 meters altitude and we will go down to ‘’Yolosa’’ at 1200 meters on a road that goes down for about 63km in total. The first part of the journey is on the new asphalt road. We stop for lunch and then go for the real ‘’Death Road’’ that's of gravel and a little more dangerous than the first part. It's almost always going downhill so we barely never have to pedal. e stop at strategic points every 20-25 minutes on the way down to rest and take pictures. You cannot go down too quick and the use of brakes is pretty constant or almost, but a very good experience and what an adrenaline rush in some places. At the end of the path we arrived to Yolosa where we stop for a beer in a small bar while we wait for everyone to finish and for the minibuses to get down. The minibuses have to go slower on this small road. The guides get all the equipment back in and on the buses, then we go to the restaurant where they also have a pool. We enjoy the pool while we wait for supper to be served at around 4pm.
We leave at 5pm for the long road going back up the mountains. 3h of going up on the road for 90km, back a the hostel at 8h30. A little free beer and go to bed because I'm exhausted, especially that I did not sleep much the night before.
Death Road
Click on picture to see the album ''La Paz - Death Road''
The whole group
Fresh pool at the end of the day
I spend most of the day at the hostel (Tuesday Oct. 2nd). I go into town in the end of afternoon for supper and to go buy a few things that I need before getting out of town. I also go to the bus terminal to have an idea of bus times and prices for Cochabamba the next morning. There are buses every 30 minutes
or hours. Back at the hostel and keep working a bit on post from the last few weeks.
One last word on La Paz, I can definitely say that for a bit city, I really liked it. A feeling of safety and of peace, even for a city of over one million people. I found the people to be quite nice, in majority, and I found that the city really has something to offer from a tourist point of view.
One last word for Rurrenabaque,
I will say that if you are in the area, you must absolutely go and enjoy this little paradise. I loves the little lazy side of the town. Everything seems to be in slow motion because of the heat and humdity. If it is dry season when you're around, it is definitely worth going, it is really worth the cost.
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