Finca La Vispera Samaipata

... schön....da es der National Feiertag Boliviens war gab es natürlich Feierlichkeiten....nichts wirklich aufregendes aber es gab was zu tun... Nach 2 Tagen sind wir dann auf eine kleine Tour durch den Dschungel gegangen...Man darf in diese Gegend nur mit einem Local Guide gehen die in dieser Region wohnen. Mit dem Geld für die Tour wird dann die local community unterstützt... Wir wurden also mit einem Jeep in den Dschungel gefahren und haben dann ...

... we looked for the markets there, and then took a taxi to the next village, 3 hours ride, and its called samaipata. its really a nice village, and we went today with 2 other israelies to waterfalls nearby and some old inca ruins, i liked better the watterfalls. tommorow we will go for a day in the jungle and later take the night bus to Sucre... ill send pics later when i can

... Cascadas, a trio of waterfalls in a pretty part of the valley. The taxi driver insisted on taking corners at 100kph despite having no seat belts! Another highlight of our five days in Samaipata was visiting a local wildlife refuge, where we had the chance to become friends with one of the monkeys. We could have spent so much more time in Samaipata but with our Bolivian visa running out and the elections over, it was time to move on to the judicial capital of Bolivia - Sucre.

My friend, Isabel, highly recommended a sidetrip to Samaipata to tour El Fuerte, an old archological site. I walked a few miles to the "Samapaita taxi stand" in Sta. Cruz and waited for the taxi to fill up. I hung around for about an hour, and finally, he was full. Don't want to take a trip half-empty, now, do we? Finally we arrived in Samaipata about 3:30 PM after a somewhat harrying ride. I had been in flat land ...

... kreeg niemand aan de lijn. Na een boodschap te hebben ingesproken werd ik een half uur later plots toch opgepikt door 3 kinderen, die me direct bombardeerden tot de zus van Thomas (die achteraf natuurlijk totaaaaaal niet op mij geleek, maar ja, de gast had krullen). Bleek dat 1 van de 2 coordinatrices zwaar ziek was geworden en naar het ziekenhuis was gebracht, dus heb ik 2 uurtjes doorgebracht met mijn nieuwe beste vriendinnetje Nathalie (4 jaar ...

... did not disappoint us as there was moss, mushrooms and vines growing everywhere and as it was in the clouds there was so much moisture. There where giant fern with trunks that were 2´thick - not something you see everyday! We had one final day in Samipata before going back to Santa Cruz and catching our flight to La Paz and although I am working on Latha´s fear of all animals I think I took a step back that day. We where having a cup of ...

... stroll back to town. This was initially disrupted by a spontaneous rescue mission of a small puppy, who had seemingly been abandoned on the side of the road. But we couldn´t be sure! However, that became a small side issue just as we reached the outskirts of town, when a car appeared to lose control and went careering off the road right next to us! It took a few seconds for us to come our senses and realise that Roly had ...

... The markets were quite small and we were told the next town had really good ones so we jumped in a taxi to head there. We were getting an overnight bus to our next destination so basically we had the whole day. The car ride there was a little hair raising with sections of the road missing half way down the mountain. mmmm something to look foward to when we headed out the same way on the bus! We arrvied in the next town, can´t remember the name ...

... one before...anyway we run into some others that were also staying at our hostel...one was working there...the Bolivian band were playing up a storm in the pub and we were ordering more than the one and starting to tap toes....soon we were off around the corner to the fiesta for the enw bar opening.... We walk into bofires...musicans and danicing...at first glance I felt like we wer in across between Midsummers nights dream and a Sherwood Forrest Robin ...

... to escape to from their dingy homes. I also really liked the church on the plaza, simple and attractive, not to mention the cool parrot pay-phone - a random sight. I have to say that the Spanish conquistadors were neither imaginative nor often accurate in the names they gave places in Latin America. Lack of imagination means nearly every town with a hot spring is called aguas calientes, literally hot waters. The two sites we visited near Samaipata were inaccurately named: the ...