Hey guys! I just wanted to make a quick correction to my post below about the Amazon River Basin - during our Anaconda Hunting excursion we were never lost, it just felt like it to those of us who didn´t speak spanish... But the guides always knew where we were going! I just wanted to clarify!
More of an update to come when we get to Peru. Love to you all.
Monday, March 15, 2010
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Rurrenabaque, Bolivia and the Amazon River Basin
I just got back from the sweatiest week of my life. We flew into Rurrenabaque, Bolivia which is a cute little town along the Beni River, which feeds into the Amazon. It was easily 90 degrees and at least 90% humidity. So of course, in my excitement about being back at less than 2000 feet above sea level, I went for a run. Because I am insane. It was horrible. Never run in the Amazon River Basin. It started the sweating that didn´t stop until this morning. That was last Wednesday.
Anyways, after a 3 hour van ride over dirt roads (as always) we reached our push off point for our canoe adventure. We spent 3 days and 2 nights at a small structure... I can´t even really call it a lodge... Doing lots of fun things up and down the river. We saw lots of monkeys, birds, caymen, alligators, dolphins, and turtles! (I told them that Cecil says hi). On a not-so-fun-note, Friday morning was (excuse my language) the morning from hell. We set off to go Anaconda hunting in the marsh land, which ended up with our whole group tromping through thigh deep water for over three hours, our guides getting pretty darn lost, and then a run-in with a wasp´s nest. I was lucky enough to avoid getting stung, but a few of the girls got it really bad. Then, our patience at zero at this point, we were approached by a huge cloud of insects, easily 200 or 300. Our guides quickly made us crouch down, hold still, and be super quiet. They told us later that the insects were a swarm of Killer Bees, and when one bee decides to sting then they all attack the victim at once, and they can easily kill large animals... Like humans. Very scary. But we all got back safe and sound, spent the rest of the day swimming with the Pink River Dolphins and looking at the stars.
We got back to Rurrenabaque yesterday and then flew back into La Paz this morning and are now in Copacobana, Bolivia. Copacobana is on the shores of Lake Titicaca and next to the boarder of Bolivia and Peru. We leave for Puno, Peru on Tuesday! I´ve really loved Bolivia, but I´m excited to be somewhere new! Here is our favorite saying about Bolivia: Everything is possible, nothing is certain.
Love to you all!
Anyways, after a 3 hour van ride over dirt roads (as always) we reached our push off point for our canoe adventure. We spent 3 days and 2 nights at a small structure... I can´t even really call it a lodge... Doing lots of fun things up and down the river. We saw lots of monkeys, birds, caymen, alligators, dolphins, and turtles! (I told them that Cecil says hi). On a not-so-fun-note, Friday morning was (excuse my language) the morning from hell. We set off to go Anaconda hunting in the marsh land, which ended up with our whole group tromping through thigh deep water for over three hours, our guides getting pretty darn lost, and then a run-in with a wasp´s nest. I was lucky enough to avoid getting stung, but a few of the girls got it really bad. Then, our patience at zero at this point, we were approached by a huge cloud of insects, easily 200 or 300. Our guides quickly made us crouch down, hold still, and be super quiet. They told us later that the insects were a swarm of Killer Bees, and when one bee decides to sting then they all attack the victim at once, and they can easily kill large animals... Like humans. Very scary. But we all got back safe and sound, spent the rest of the day swimming with the Pink River Dolphins and looking at the stars.
We got back to Rurrenabaque yesterday and then flew back into La Paz this morning and are now in Copacobana, Bolivia. Copacobana is on the shores of Lake Titicaca and next to the boarder of Bolivia and Peru. We leave for Puno, Peru on Tuesday! I´ve really loved Bolivia, but I´m excited to be somewhere new! Here is our favorite saying about Bolivia: Everything is possible, nothing is certain.
Love to you all!
Monday, March 8, 2010
Salar de Uyuni (Salt flats jeep safari)
Last Wednesday we headed even further south to Uyuni, Bolivia on an overnight train, only to leave Uyuni on Thursday morning for a four day jeep safari through southern Bolivia. We drove all day for four days, stopping at different points along the way to take pictures and look around. We stopped at lots of different interesting rock formations, lakes, the base of a couple volcanos (including the volcano that borders Chile), and an active geyser! The whole area was very dry and rocky, but very beautiful. We stayed in very basic, middle-of-nowhere hostels every night- toilet paper became quite a hot commodity by the end of the trip! And I´ll just say that I´m getting very used to not showering often... But the stars were amazing- I haven´t seen the sky like that in years!
On the last day of our drive we made our final stop at Salar de Uyuni, the ENORMOUS salt flat that is just south of Uyuni. Since we´re at the tail end of the rainy season the whole area was under two to five inches of water and absolutely breathtaking. You could just barely see the mountains in the distance, but most of the time you couldn't tell where the ground ended and the sky began.
Last night we headed back to La Paz on an eleven hour overnight bus where the majority of the driving was still on dirt roads over dried up riverbeds and such. Luckily we were all so tired that by midnight we were all asleep and suddenly it was seven in the morning and we were in La Paz!
That´s all for now! On Wednesday we do our first trip to the Amazon for a boat excursion- wish me luck with the mosquitoes!
Love Burns
On the last day of our drive we made our final stop at Salar de Uyuni, the ENORMOUS salt flat that is just south of Uyuni. Since we´re at the tail end of the rainy season the whole area was under two to five inches of water and absolutely breathtaking. You could just barely see the mountains in the distance, but most of the time you couldn't tell where the ground ended and the sky began.
Last night we headed back to La Paz on an eleven hour overnight bus where the majority of the driving was still on dirt roads over dried up riverbeds and such. Luckily we were all so tired that by midnight we were all asleep and suddenly it was seven in the morning and we were in La Paz!
That´s all for now! On Wednesday we do our first trip to the Amazon for a boat excursion- wish me luck with the mosquitoes!
Love Burns
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Aruro, Bolivia
Change of plans! We ended up having to leave Malcorancho a day early due to a transportation blockade that started all over Bolivia at midnight last night. Evo Morales has proposed a new anti-drunk driving policy that would hold transportation companies (such as taxis) responsible for any of their employee´s wrong-doings, and the transportation unions are up in arms. We´re super lucky that our leaders knew about the blockade in advance, or else we would have been stranded in Cochabamba until this weekend! We are now in Aruro, and plan on taking an overnight train to Uyuni, leaving at 7:30 tonight. Aruro is a small town in the middle of the country, though there still seem to be more internet cafes on every block than there are Starbucks in Seattle. There isn´t much to do here in Aruro so my fellow Garfield grad, Camille, and I spent last night teaching our teammates Thirteen, a fabulous card game that I´m sure many of you other GHSers know how to play. Today will be spent wandering around the local Anthropology museum before we head out.
That´s all for now! Lots of love to you all in the States.
Burns
That´s all for now! Lots of love to you all in the States.
Burns
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Malcorancho, Bolivia
Hey all!
I´ve spent the last week living and working in Malcorancho, Bolivia, a small town outside of Cochabamba. The family I have been living with is very sweet, very quiet, only speaks spanish, and includes a mom, a dad, and two sons aged 8 and 22. They have a dog, a cat, about 5 chickens, and lots and lots of ducks (including ducklings!). We´ve been working constuction at a local school, trying to finish constuction on a new classroom, which has included metal work, wood work, and LOTS of mixing and pouring cement. Did I mention that everything is by hand? Yeah... It´s pretty exausting. Yesterday we only worked a half day and instead took a bus to a local "Eco-resort" for an afternoon of much- deserved rest. Tuesday we leave for the next leg of our trip- a jeep safari across southern Bolivia!
Well, time for siesta where all the internet cafe´s shut down for 2 hours, so I´m gettting kicked off the internet. I´ll write again in a week when we get back to La Paz! Love to everyone!
Burns
I´ve spent the last week living and working in Malcorancho, Bolivia, a small town outside of Cochabamba. The family I have been living with is very sweet, very quiet, only speaks spanish, and includes a mom, a dad, and two sons aged 8 and 22. They have a dog, a cat, about 5 chickens, and lots and lots of ducks (including ducklings!). We´ve been working constuction at a local school, trying to finish constuction on a new classroom, which has included metal work, wood work, and LOTS of mixing and pouring cement. Did I mention that everything is by hand? Yeah... It´s pretty exausting. Yesterday we only worked a half day and instead took a bus to a local "Eco-resort" for an afternoon of much- deserved rest. Tuesday we leave for the next leg of our trip- a jeep safari across southern Bolivia!
Well, time for siesta where all the internet cafe´s shut down for 2 hours, so I´m gettting kicked off the internet. I´ll write again in a week when we get back to La Paz! Love to everyone!
Burns
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Leaving Cochabamba!
Hey guys,
Tomorrow we leave for Malcorancha, Bolivia, a little (and I mean LITTLE) town 45 minutes outside of Cochabamba to spend a week doing our first volunteer project, so this is the last post I´ll be able to make for awhile. But here´s how our last couple days in Cochabamba went...
Yesterday we had our last spanish classes in the morning (and yes, I´m still horrible, but at least can be polite about it), and then headed to the last Carnaval parade in the afternoon. There were dance teams from all over Bolivia with amazing costumes, dancing, and all of their own live music- it was unlike anything I´ve ever seen. People were selling food all over the place- everything from basic soda, candy, and ice cream, to loafs of bread, things wrapped in corn husks, and interesting kinds of meat... There was, of course, also a lot more foam and water balloon throwing, which we´re all pretty used to by now. Here´s the craziest part: about 45 minutes after we sat down in our bleacher seats the president of Bolivia, Evo Morales, joined us across the way and sat there for over two hours! After we spent all last week talking about him with our host families, watching a movie about his first campaign, and discussing him among ourselves, it was crazy to actually see him in person! He was dancing, laughing, taking pictures with locals, and having a great time! Though when one of my teammates tried to go take a picture with him one of his security guards held him back and said "No gringos", which was too bad, but we all got a kick out of it anyways.
Today we went to the huge central market (easily over a sqaure mile) and all went a little crazy buying locally made purses, clothing, and other fun trinkets. Then we headed up to see the gigantic statue of Jesus that overlooks the city before a late lunch. Apparently the Cochabamba Jesus is wider than the other famous one in Brazil, but not as tall. And man do his eyes look creepy when they´re that big...
So tomorrow we head out to do some hard physical labor for a week, helping to build a local high school and staying with another home stay family. Apparently the chance of these host families speaking any English at all is slim to none... So wish me luck on my charades-playing abilities!
Love to all,
Burns
Tomorrow we leave for Malcorancha, Bolivia, a little (and I mean LITTLE) town 45 minutes outside of Cochabamba to spend a week doing our first volunteer project, so this is the last post I´ll be able to make for awhile. But here´s how our last couple days in Cochabamba went...
Yesterday we had our last spanish classes in the morning (and yes, I´m still horrible, but at least can be polite about it), and then headed to the last Carnaval parade in the afternoon. There were dance teams from all over Bolivia with amazing costumes, dancing, and all of their own live music- it was unlike anything I´ve ever seen. People were selling food all over the place- everything from basic soda, candy, and ice cream, to loafs of bread, things wrapped in corn husks, and interesting kinds of meat... There was, of course, also a lot more foam and water balloon throwing, which we´re all pretty used to by now. Here´s the craziest part: about 45 minutes after we sat down in our bleacher seats the president of Bolivia, Evo Morales, joined us across the way and sat there for over two hours! After we spent all last week talking about him with our host families, watching a movie about his first campaign, and discussing him among ourselves, it was crazy to actually see him in person! He was dancing, laughing, taking pictures with locals, and having a great time! Though when one of my teammates tried to go take a picture with him one of his security guards held him back and said "No gringos", which was too bad, but we all got a kick out of it anyways.
Today we went to the huge central market (easily over a sqaure mile) and all went a little crazy buying locally made purses, clothing, and other fun trinkets. Then we headed up to see the gigantic statue of Jesus that overlooks the city before a late lunch. Apparently the Cochabamba Jesus is wider than the other famous one in Brazil, but not as tall. And man do his eyes look creepy when they´re that big...
So tomorrow we head out to do some hard physical labor for a week, helping to build a local high school and staying with another home stay family. Apparently the chance of these host families speaking any English at all is slim to none... So wish me luck on my charades-playing abilities!
Love to all,
Burns
Friday, February 19, 2010
Home stay in Cochabamba, Bolivia
Happy Friday!
On Wednesday we moved into the first of four home stays over the course of the trip. My home stay mom is named Lucy, who lives in a beautiful house right in the heart of Cochabamba (but still a little less crazy than the neighborhood where our hostel was last weekend). Lucy speaks very impressive english, but we´re trying to converse in spanish as much as possible, which has definitely been difficult. Luckily one of my teammates, Alex, is also staying with Lucy and together we can usually communicate quite well.
We have spanish classes two times a day, once early in the morning and once after lunch. In Bolivia lunch is the main meal of the day so staying alert during afternoon classes has been difficult. Though we don´t have very much free time, I´ve gotten a lot of chances to walk from place to place and feel very comfortable in my neighborhood. Tomorrow is our last day of classes, and then we have tickets to the final Carnaval parade which lasts all day from early in the morning till very late at night. We´re all excited to see the local dances and clothing, hear the local music, and experience Carnaval without being totally soaked the whole time.
That´s all for now! Best wishes to everyone.
Burns
On Wednesday we moved into the first of four home stays over the course of the trip. My home stay mom is named Lucy, who lives in a beautiful house right in the heart of Cochabamba (but still a little less crazy than the neighborhood where our hostel was last weekend). Lucy speaks very impressive english, but we´re trying to converse in spanish as much as possible, which has definitely been difficult. Luckily one of my teammates, Alex, is also staying with Lucy and together we can usually communicate quite well.
We have spanish classes two times a day, once early in the morning and once after lunch. In Bolivia lunch is the main meal of the day so staying alert during afternoon classes has been difficult. Though we don´t have very much free time, I´ve gotten a lot of chances to walk from place to place and feel very comfortable in my neighborhood. Tomorrow is our last day of classes, and then we have tickets to the final Carnaval parade which lasts all day from early in the morning till very late at night. We´re all excited to see the local dances and clothing, hear the local music, and experience Carnaval without being totally soaked the whole time.
That´s all for now! Best wishes to everyone.
Burns
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