La Paz to Rurrenabaque, Bolivia

We stayed in La Paz for five nights, a little longer than expected but we found an exciting tour we wanted to jump on board, which meant hanging around for a few more days.

During our time in La Paz we explored the city, we caught the cable car up to the top of the mountain where there were huge Sunday markets. We also did a walking tour, which was really interesting. We learnt more about San Pedro prison, well

known from the popular book “Marching Powder”. We were taken through fresh food markets and witches markets, where we learnt more about the weird and wonderful rituals Bolivians believe in. One such ritual is burying a baby llama foetus underneath the foundations of a new house as a sacrifice to Pachamama (mother earth). However, when they build larger, more important buildings they require a larger sacrifice, so a homeless man is picked up from the streets, fed 96% alcohol and when he passes out he is buried alive in the concrete foundations. We were told this is a true story. We also got to catch up with Lani and Brodie for a dinner before they headed back to the States.

Our tour, Ride and River was a six day tour that included three days mountain biking and three days cruising on a boat in the

Amazon. Day one we drove three hours to the top of a mountain and started a 30 km decent to the bottom of the valley. The views were amazing and the riding proved to be a good mix for both of us. Toms highlight was riding along a ridge not even a metre wide with cliffs either side. Definitely tested the skills! The first night we stayed in beautiful accommodation in a town called Sorata.

The next two days we rode 60 km and 30 km respectively, included some good downhill sections as well as some challenging climbs. Courtney managed to impress everyone with her composure on the mountain bike. It turns out the girls made it down quicker than the boys most of the time! During our rides we went through small villages where we often stopped for lunch and were on the end of stares from the local

kids, not familiar with seeing tourists. The last day of riding was along a river where we saw the devastation caused by local gold mining areas. As our guide said, it is hard to deny a third world country the opportunity to do these things, but it certainly doesn’t look good for the environment!

On the third night, after a sprint finish won by the Frenchie, second to Australia, we ended our riding in Mapiri and transitioned onto a long boat for our ride up the river. We spent three days on the boat, camping two nights along the Mapiri River. This was beautiful despite the high humidity and volumes of sand flies and mosquitoes. A highlight was the couple of hikes through the jungle with the locals where learnt more about the dangers of the jungle and Bolivian culture. After entering Madidi National Park, and a monkey sighting, our trip ended in Rurrenabaque, a small town made famous because an Israeli tourist was lost in the jungle for 21 days but still managed to make his way into Rurrenabaque.

A short flight back to La Paz for one night and then onto our next destination.