Day 55 - we flew in Bolivia and did not die

We made a special effort to be up super early on the morning of day 55, in order to bid farewell to Sucre and fly onwards to Rurrenabaque in the Bolivian Amazon via La Paz. Our efforts were all for naught, as Bolivia’s legendary flight delays did not disappoint, and we were left sitting around the airport for a good couple of hours. Luckily, we had the foresight to leave heaps of time between our two flights, and we landed in La Paz just in time to get our next flight. Which was terrifying. About 10 of us were ushered into a plane so tiny that even the tiny old Bolivian ladies had to hunch in order to make their way down the aircraft. This was possibly the coolest flight I’ve ever been on, as we briefly broke through the thick mantle of clouds about 10 minutes out of La Paz and realised that we were flying only slightly higher than the jagged mountain peaks around us. Crazy stuff. After about 40 minutes, we began our descent into endless green punctuated only by winding brown rivers snaking through the thick jungle to eventually join the main branch of the Amazon River thousands of kilometres later.

Here I was, being terrified by how small our first plane was. Little did I know.


Interior of the second tiny plane (single seat on each side of the aisle)


Suddenly, a snowy mountain peak breaks through the clouds practically right next to us


Yay trees! Haven't seen many of you in a while...


Touchdown in the jungle in our even tinier plane

Stepping onto the tarmac at the tiniest airport, we immediately began stripping off our high-altitude layers as the heat and humidity of the jungle smacked us soundly in the face. Yep, this was the jungle, alright. We were met at the airport by a guy from the company we’d booked our tour with, and it turned out that 2 of the girls on our flight were also doing the exact same tour, with the same company, as we were. We were all doing the 5 day/4 night jungle and pampas combined tour with Mashaquipe, a company which I chose because they were eco-certified by the local Green Action Alliance. Although not the cheapest option (but by no means the most pricey!), we’d read really bad reports about dodgy guides from the more budget companies doing terrible things ranging from letting tourists feed the wild animals to keeping animals in captivity just so tourists can have a look at them. None of that shit for us, thanks. After sorting out logistics for departure to the jungle come morning, we had a brief wander around the town, prepared our bags, and went to bed nice and early after a delicious dinner of Amazonian catfish (the local specialty).

Plantain salespeople on the riverbank. Plantains are the best!


Cute tree! It was nice seeing lush colourful vegetation again after so long in barren-ish highland areas


This slice of fish was about 70% as thick as my waist!

Holy water

I think it really says something about a place when it feels tranquil despite oppressive heat and even more oppressive hordes of selfie-stick-toting tourists. Looking out over the ocean on one side and surrounded by mountains covered with lush forestry on the others, it's easy to see why this former royal residence is a site of spiritual significance to the local Hindu population. The water that feeds the pools of the Tirta Gangga water palace comes from a natural spring which also provides water for the nearby village and surrounding rice fields. This was the most picturesque of the multitudes of temples we stopped over at on our way out to the east coast of Bali from Ubud. Despite how cripplingly hot the day was, we resisted the temptation of jumping into the water out of fear of offending the populous local catfish community.

 

Photos taken at Tirta Gangga, Bali in March 2015. Credits to Jeremy for taking some of these.

Make some noise

Due to my inability to check important dates on a calendar, our recent trip to Bali coincided with the one day in a year where nothing is open and you are literally not allowed to set foot on the street. This is how the Balinese usher in the first day of the new year on Nyepi Day. Fortunately for us, what happens on new year's eve is a lot more interesting for observers. People in the surrounding community gather on a main street for prayers, and ladies arrive with absurdly large baskets of offerings balanced on their heads, many featuring items like an entire roast chicken perched on a mountain of fruit. Meanwhile, a gamelan ensemble plays for literally hours non-stop as the growing crowd find seats on any available road surface. A nice shopkeeper lets us take refuge on the front steps of his convenience store and we gratefully huddle in front of a drinks fridge, trying not to pass out from the heat and thankful for the easy access to drinks and snacks.

The sky begins to darken while the collection of gathering people and roast chickens swells, and dancing and prayers soon follow. A man in white sprays us with holy (?) water on a brush, which evaporates before it hit us because by this point we have pretty much melted.

I cheer internally as the sun finally comes down and the crowd rearranges itself at an intersection in the road. We nab ourselves a good spot near the front of the crowd and try not to fall onto the people behind us as the cops (?) come around to shove the crowd back. It soon becomes clear why they were so intent on clearing more space in the road. A crowd of screaming youths race into the cleared intersection from down the road, carrying the first of many Ogoh-ogoh, huge lurid statues in the shape of demons mounted on a bamboo platform. These statues are built by the local youths and represent the evil in living beings. After they are paraded cacophonously through the streets, they are burnt as an act of purification.

The parade we saw was in a small village on the east coast, and thus probably less extravagant than in the main tourist areas like Ubud. However, there was a real home-grown feel to it as lots of kids participated and it didn't seem like a show put on just for tourists. Turns out my lack of foresight when planning worked in my favour for once!

Photos taken in Culik, Bali, March 2015.

That time we got up at 1 am to climb a volcano

Things learnt:

• I am way less fit that I thought I was
• Taking photos before sunrise is hard
• Clouds are cool

Photos taken at Mt Batur, Bali in March 2015.

Sacred Monkey Forest Sanctuary - Ubud, Bali

I'm a big fan of monkeys. They're like tiny furry people, with more cheek and less spite than the average human. The Padangtegal Mandala Wisata Wanara Wana Sacred Monkey Forest Sanctuary in Ubud is home to over 600 crab-eating macaques (Macaca fascicularis), which unlike what their name suggests, seem to subsist on a diet of kumara and cucumbers,  as well as bananas viciously wrestled from unwary tourists. This place is definitely worth a visit, as it's pretty cool watching monkeys have free reign over their surroundings without the constraints of a zoo enclosure. And much like any other primate, this generally results in pillaging and hoarding food, putting lesser monkeys in their place (with us tourists being on the bottom of the ladder, of course), with a healthy (?) dose of sudden surprise monkey sex on the side. We watched a particularly determined one try to crack open a coconut in vain for ages, while another macaque sat to the side, judging him and making what were no doubt patronisingly sarcastic quips about his fruit-handling technique. We left him alone after a while, in case he was failing due to performance anxiety. I hope he got to eat his sweet sweet coconut in the end.

Pictures taken March 2015.