The tropics finally feel tropical

Trip Start Jun 07, 2008
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Trip End Sep 14, 2008


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Where I stayed
Hotel los Tucanes de Rurre
(Rurrenabaque hotels)

Flag of Bolivia  ,
Sunday, August 24, 2008

This may sound a bit over the top, but let me start by expressing just how elated I was to discover upon arrival here that I was finally in a place where people knew how to prepare plantains. No, seriously. They eat plantains in the Andes, but they are invariably hard, dry, and bland. Here they make maduros like I remember eating with Cuban food growing up in Miami: soft and sweet. And it's not just about the plantains. Here I found yucca as an alternative to potato too. I'm not saying that there isn't good food to be had in the Andes, but the unrelenting lack of variation (meat, rice, potatoes, repeat) really wore down whatever pleasure I take in eating after a while. Anyway, I was glad to be in this tropical locale, and not just because I could finally wear shorts and flip flops.

I came to Rurre to take a trip into the Amazon. Not in a big boat down a major river highway like I would soon be doing in Brazil, but up a small tributary into undeveloped jungle selva
selva
 . After a lot of shopping around, I booked a three day trip into Parque Nacional Madidi for the following day. My group consisted of a Belgian couple and one guy each from Ireland and Italy, plus our guide Loy. The six of us traveled a few hours upstream from Rurre in a small motor boat to the camp that would be our base for the rest of the trip. We slept on beds in cabins and ate our communal meats in the dining hut. Spent our days walking the winding paths through the surrounding jungle and did a bit of night walking as well. We saw wild boars, caiman (like a crocodile), some large racoon-like rodent, monkeys high in the tree tops, parrots, and plenty of insects. After the first night, the Irish and Italian guys left and we gained a Spanish girl who lives in Brazil. Of note primarily because she's the first person I've ever met (outside of Los Angeles anyway) who's also doing a film studies program. I got in a little Portuguese practice with her as well, as my next stop was the Brazilian border.

Lots of jungle pics on flickr.
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