Playing with monkeys

Trip Start Jun 25, 2008
1
13
22
Trip End Dec 17, 2008


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Where I stayed
Las Pozas
(La Paz hotels)

Flag of Bolivia  ,
Sunday, August 10, 2008

After another couple weeks of language classes, its time to take off again. This weekend was the big vote in bolivia, voting to keep the president and the local prefectors. The previous week has been full of parades and road blocks. Tuesday was the parade for the younger schools, wednesday was for the older students, thursday was for the civilians, friday the military parade, something like that anyway. There is only so long I can sit and watch people march down the street, but we did spend some hours passing the time this way. Friday after class 7 of us from different countries took a trufi to a town in chapare (jungle) called villa tunari. After finding the hotel that had been recommended, we were told there were no rooms, but then we were taken to the boss of the hotel, and it turned out there was plenty of space for us. Since its not the busy season, we had the place to ourselves, nice outdoor pool, nearby natural pools in the river.  The hotel sat on a hill overlooking the river, the mountains, absolutely gorgeous, a complete paradise minus the small biting flies. The restaurant served us feasts of fish and steak, the saying of the weekend was štodo es posibleš, because we had everything we could possibly need. On saturday we went to the park machia where they have a animal rehabilitation project. The monkeys were climbing all over us, it was so cool to see them so close. Their hands and ears are so much like ours, really fun pictures that will have to wait.  On sunday we conducted a very serious round of olympics, since there was no TV and we couldnt watch. The three countries represented were bolivia, bhutan, and japon and the events numbering 12 inclueded a 400 meter relay, blind spanish slolom, shotput, etc. I am happy to say that my team won by one point, the first golds in history for Bolivia. Without seeing a check until the end, I was sure we were racking up a huge bill, and the last competion was guessing the damage. In the end we walked away paying 47$ per person for the entire weekend, everything included. It felt like cheating, but the owner was so happy, we all made out well.
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mikerupp
mikerupp on Aug 26, 2008 at 05:06PM

hello Kate
Good to hear of your latest foray into the jungle. Wow! $47 for a weekend! Unbelievable. The car is posted on three sites and I'm hoping to get some responses. Will let you know.
Mike

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