Survived death hwy, but bugs will be death of me!

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Entry

  Coroico, Bolivia
Friday, March 9, 2007

Been a few days since I updated, sorry, internet here is soooo slow i makes me crazy... I guess I havenīt learned patience yet!!

First I want to say thanks to everyone for checking the blog and posting such encouraging comments!  Knowing I have such great family and friends gives me energy and courage.  Thank you - I miss you all, especially my sister and new nephew!!!

OK so... the highway of death!  I almost missed the bus to Coroico (Cor) on WEd morning as Ruben washelping me figure out if there was a weight limit for bags when I fly back to La Paz, as with almost everything here, the airlines help desk wasnīt open until 9am, and I was supposed to be at the street in Villa FFatima at 9 for my 930 bus!

afro bolivian

Well, its a good thing I waited as there is a weight limit (small planes) so again I left a bunch of stuff with Ruben.  THank god actually as its so humid here that everything would have been damp.  Thing I left behind that I should have taken... my journal!!  DUMB!  SO now Iīm left with scribbling things of scap pieces of paper so I can remember what to write here!

Anyhow, I made it the bus with only 3 minutes to spare, and of course the bus didnīt leave on time!!  So Iīm sitting next to this old guy and I ask him "are we taking the old or new road?"  He says New Road... DAMN!!  So I askj the driver, he says new, so I say, oh well, thatīs too bad, I really wanted to take the old road because it was one of the main things I wanted to do in Bolivia (bat eyelashes here).  He looks at me, smiles and says "for 10Bs weīll do it).  I asked, are you sure, you donīt need to ask the other people on the bus? He said no wories, so I slipped him 10Bs (about 75c) and an hour later we turned off the new road onto the highway of death!  Youshould hav heard the people in the back groan!

The driver and front passenger were awesome, passenger got out to let me sit up front so I could see better, driver would slow down at miradors so i could snap a few shots.  HOWEVER the weather was really foggy, and it is really really really hard to set the aperture right when you are trying to shoot from a moving car to a dark mountian with a blown out foggy sky.  I tried my best and will upload from a faster connection later.

The road itself was very narrow, but not as bad as I expected, of course few cars take this road anymore, so it would hav been scarier had we had to pass by cars

bites!

.  And I would NEVER do it at night, Iīd rather walk!  There were a few crosses along the way, and quite a few waterfalls that made me a bit nervous about getting stuck, but the driver was good.  We did pass one area that was flooded and there was a local camione trying to throw rcks to stop it up.  We managed to get through with a bit of difficulty.

Arrived in Coroico, everyone but 4 got off at top, but we tourists stayed on until the bus stain. DUMB!  The town is a very very steep hike up from the staion, apparently everyone else knew that but us.  So at the station I pull out my bible (lonley planet) and 2 guys came right over, they were from Germany, and spoke English (David and Paul) they asked where it recomended staying so wehiked our asses in the heat and humidity up to the town plaza and asked, the place we were looking for was sooo far away (el cafatale) when we got there we were going to split a room, but they were still going to charge us 25Bs each, even ifg I took my own room.  S <I took my own, and it was dark and dank and no view (NOTE it is gorgeous here in Cor, the mountains-rolling hills are amazing).  I wasnīt thrilled but it was all they had.

So we hiked back down to town and thats when I realized there was no way in hell that Iw ould be willing to hike it back up there 2-3 times a day

cascada

.  So I left D&P and went looking for something else.  Found teh Hostal Kory, much brighter, right in town, great view... only it cost 35Bs, but Iīm not at the point where Im willing to sleep iin a hovel yet, so I changed hostals. I took a cab back up and met Andres, a local guy who has traveled all through Europe and speaks French and English.  He told me about his bar and said I should go for a beer.. I said Id try.

OK so now Im at hostal Kory and its hot, and there is a pool and 2 people from Argentina that I met in Tiahuanaco are swimming, so I go down to say hi, take the legs off my pants and chat.  I finally get too hot and say Im gouing to get changed, and in true Tania stlye as I am walking along side the pool with everything (including camera) with me, I slip and fal into the shallopw end, head first!!!  They come running but I keep slipping in.  All I worried about was the camera, so from the water I yell "my camera!!" and throw it to them.  God I am an ass.  Everythign was fine (thank you MEC for waterproof day bags!)  I ended up with 3 nasty bruises, and wet cothes to deal with.  There is no laundry (machine) service in this town.

SO I change, go back down and swim a bit and lie in the sun a bit (NOTE: The burn from Isla del Sol is nasty!! My face, ears and neck are peeling, Iīve never peeled like this before, it is gross and I donīt like it!)  Now, my bible did mention that Cor is full of vicious biting insects, i however take no notice of this, feel nothing and continue to lie in the sun in only a bikini.... BAD BAD BAD move!!  I am now covered in the most horrible, itchy, huge, swollen, and ainful bites I have ever had!!  These insects do not carry diseaseas, but I have taken a reaction to them and the bites are (no word of a lie) the size of silver dollars, and they are swollen

coca leaves

.  When I stand up the blood rushes to them and makes my legs pound with pain.  even some of the locals who have seen my legs say that it is bad.  Nothing I can do but stop scratching.  I now layer myself every day with bug repellant and sun screen.  I feel disgusting and slimy, add sweat from the heat to that mix and let me tell you I am one hot mama!!  UGH - I do not want to be a travel princess here, but I hate this feeling with every ounce of my being. My hair never feels clean, my legs are gross, Iīm slimy and smelly.  I canīt wait for the first time I get to stay in a real hotel and have a real shower!!

Through D&P (who wre only staying the one night) I met Matias - another German who is living in El Alto volunteering with kids.  All I have to say is WOW he was gorgeous - truly the most amazing eyes I have ever ever seen (they even beat Craigs!!)  Too bad he has a ocal girlfriend who was traveling with him :o(  Anyhow, they wanted to hike to the waterfalls the next day, I said I did too, but was told to not do it alone, they sadi come along, meet you at 10am.  Cool!

WOW this is a long entry...

So Wed. night I didnīt go to bar, instead I went to bed eary, slept well expect for fucking roosters wh think 3am is morning

coca plants

!

Thursday:
- grabbed breakfast that was a great coffe and a very very plain omlette, but it was very cheap. 
- Met Mattias and Ara (cant remember her name buty is after some greek godess)
- Hike up in the rina, it is a very steep climb and I am not sure I can do it.
- Got much better (ie flatter) but was a crazxy climb. Had to take off my boots at one point to cross a small river.  Was careful not to slip.
- Things got even more precarious from there, but its all part of the adventure!!
- the 3 waterfalls were incredibly UNIMPRESSIVE, but that wasnīt the point. It was great to do the hike (12kms total) and it was fun with M & A.  They were very cute together.
- Ara fell down a slope at one point and scred the shit out of all of us.  We were more careful after that
- If Lukas were reading this he would remember Dirty Girl from the Dominican... we had a similar type of og find us when we stopped for a snack.  He stayed with us the rest of the time, we called him Lassie, beacsue a few times we didnt know which way to go so we followed him
- only took one wrong turn on the way back - was a brutal climb back up to the right trail.
- saw tons of coca plantations.  Funny to see this plant everywhere and know the problems that stem from it

Death road

.  Well in my opinion it is not the plant that is the problem, but rather the demand for cocaine. The plant is used for so much more than that and is an incredibly important part of Aymara culture.
- Took the road back and hitched a ride in a big truck that was full of... nope, not coca leaves.. MUD! Yep, I stood in the back of a dump truck full of mud!  Well, it was easier than walking.  the kids that were in there were laying in the mud and laughing at us trying to keep out feet clean.
- Got back and agreed to meet M&A for fondue (yes fondue) at 830
- had nap and really good shower where I scrubbed a bit too hard and aggravatd the damn bites.
- Fondue was good, not nearly as good as the one we had at your place Shauna!  But it was good conversation
- They left and I went to Taurus to meet Andres at his bar.  He was very kind and got a seat for me right at the bar against a wall so noone could approach me from the back.
- Met Sebastien, a guy from Paris here with his girlfriend, thay are both jounalists and Andres was taking them to Tocaņa on Friday (afro-bolivian community)
- I had already bought my bus ticket to Rurre, but agreed to go along wiht them for the day
- Had a shot of a liquor made from wood (holy crap that is strong) and left to head to bed
- Slept really wel, except fgor the god damn roosters, again

death road 3

!

Friday:
- hard time getting up
- maybe due to humidity, or so much alking, but I am always tired!
- Went to bus station to swap tix and it was closed, left a note in Spanish
- Met Andres and he sadi weīd stop at staion before we left to make sure it could be changed.
- Seb and Alexa met us adn off w went (no poblems changing tix)
- The ride was interesting, we went down to 700m in altitude (from about 1400)
- We then had to hike up to the town (note: I wore my water shoes to give my feet a break, oh god that was fun (read sarcasm here).  Both Alexa and I slipped a few times in the mud
- teh bloody insects were everywher ein tocaņa!! I kept my long sleeve shirt and the legs on my pants, I dies of heat and sweat, but Iīll be damned if I let those little bastards take any more of me!
The peopel here are very poor, and have adopted the Aymara way of like, evn though they are African

death road 4

.  They were all so incredbly cvongenial and helpful, full of laughs adn jokes.
- Got a few good picsm but not many as they are very wary of cameras.
- We left Alexa and Seb in a coca field and Andres and I grabbed a cab back to Cor.  Along the way we picked up about 5 other people.  Juan (driver) had his adorable son with him who loved the life savers I had, and sat on the console part where the stick shift is.
- I know the guys behind me (I was in passenger seat) were talking about me, but they went so fast I had no clue what they wre saying.  No worries, the men here are very polite.

- Had a yummy, cheap lunch with Andres when we got back, found out he is 30 and both parens are dead, he has no siblings and only one grandma who is 95 (people live really long out here)
- We said our goodbyes and went back to hostal for yet another shower and a nap - ended up sleeping for 2 hours!

So my friuends, I think that about covers things for now.  Tomorrow at 1pm I board teh bus for my 15 hour trip to Rurre.  I donīt know what to expect of the journey (other than I fully expect it to take longer than 15 hours due to rain)

hiking friends

.  I am a bit concerned about Rurre.  Andres was trying to convince me not to go as in rainy season you donī`t see much, and its miserable in the rain.  But I kinda think he wanted me to stay ere to hang with him.

I mean I do expect it to be miserable, and I have started my malaria pills. I just hope it doensīt rain constantly, its just not fun when everything is wet.  If I see a few more monkeys (maybe the yellow ones in the book) and any kind of smake, and maybe a tranatuala again, then I will be happy.  If I see macaws up close, an anaconda and hear my howlers again tehm I will be thrilled.  Please god just let me see more than mosquitos!!!

INSIDE MY HEAD
- I wish I would meet another single traveller to hook up with for a while
- I wonder why Im scared to do silly thing like swim in the pool, if Args hadnīt been there first, i wouldnīt have for fear of looking stupid, or doing something wrong.  I do the same thing in the buses, scared to ask to have window up or down.  Why do I care so much about what other people think, and why am I scared to make a mistake, or look dumb??
- I could not do this for a year a many people i< have met are

mud truck

. I can barly last 2 weeks!  I know I can do the 4 months, but there is somethign to be said for tours where you donīt have to worry about getting scammed, or where to sleep, or many other important things.  Mind you it jut wouldnīt be the same in a tour....  both have ro and cons.
- Watching Mattias (20) and Ara (24) made me smile, but sad too.  As much as I go on about being OK with being single, I was jealous.  I canīt even remeber what it is ike to have someone put there arm around me and give me a kiss on the neck.  The little things I miss.. Sigh.. maybe one day.

NOTES:
- never leave your journal behind
- dont scratch bites
- bring enough clothes for heat as wearing one thing once gets soaked, so wearing twice is nasty!
- DO NOT bother to buy a HI hostal membership, so far there hostals are very $$, or the other members (like the Kory I am at) dont bother to give you the discount your supposed to get..  Big waste of $35!
- Despite asking questins properly, many people here īdonīt understand, even mattias found this to be the case. Its very frustrating and pisses you off a bit.

PS - will likely be a fw days before I update again.  Thinking of you all!!

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