Wednesday, April 26, 2006
The river and Jungle
Greg is writing up the fantastic two days of cycling while I write this on the river trip. The bike wride was truely amazing, but the pace changed at Mapiri and we experienced yet another interesting face of Bolivia.
Mining is the reason that Mapiri exists and the place is like an old wild west town semi transplanted into a modern world. Dinner was in a Pollo restaurant - the menu was fried chicken with fries and rice - take it or leave it. Price $1.40. It was good food washed down with a few beers delivered from the pub next door. The restaurant was also a gold exchange and we watched as the proprieter sat at his desk exchanging the miners weekly finds for Bolivianos. He had a set of miners balance scales and was paying about 100 BS a gram (about 50% of the current commodity price. Young men would arrive and collect 300- 1000 BS (5 BS to NZ$) for their small paper raped finds. Kids would collect between 30-300 BS. Expressions of satisfaction to disappointment being easy to read. A matriach arrived and collected over 3000 BS, a fortune here, and tucked the funds into the front of her bra without a visible emotion.
After dinner I sat outside the restaurant watching the street and the people. A prostitute across the road was plying her trade with little apparent success while young couples promenaded. The girls were smartly turned out in brief tops and briefer skirts with platform shoes. While the guys would have looked great in Grease. All this on a main road that was dry mud and river bolders - don't know how those girls could walk. But it was Saturday night.
Sunday saw us breakfasting at the Mapiri port at 8am. Our boat was a 60 seater based on a dugout canoe. but with planked sides to provide more freeboard. Power was from two 55hp Johnson outboards while some protection from the sun was provided with a blue plastic canopy. Our capitan was Walter and his motley grew looked rough. They hardly had a top front tooth between them, but they prooved very competent and friendly.
Our journey on the Rio Mapiri began with a braided stretch and comments from Bill that it was no different from parts of Canterbury (not sure how he could confuse the surrounding jungle with Canterbury). However it soon entered a gorge and we experienced some trepidation about the rapids. The boatmanship was excellent and we soon became blase about the odd splash over the side.
Gold mining dominated the river and there were workings everywhere. Some were family businesses, with just a sluce box and a bucket. Others were bigger with a small petrol pump, while a few bigger operations remained. Coca was grown in the top of the river and there were bags awaiting collection along the way. All this meant a muddy river, but the jungle was still thick and varied.
On the river, under the canopy with the motor powering us down stream we were kept quite cool and insect free. Guanay, where we stopped for lunch and supplies was quite different. Away from the river the heat was intense and we were happy to lunch at the best restaurant in town. We had to compete with the matriachs in Sunday best bringing their broods in after church- so it was obviously a good choice.
We finally got to a camping spot about 5:00 pm. The boatmen attacked the undergrowth with machettes to clear a campsite while we gringos headed up the nearby stream to a swimming hole and waterfall. Our capitan lost the route a couple of times but we all had time for a great swim. The wise washed their clothes and wore them dry. Dinner was a very pleasant affair prepared by our guides Travis and Guy (pronounced Gee). A few wines and a bottle of Sangini making it more so. A starlit mild night and a great nights sleep.
Monday's highlights included fishing with dynamite, swimming, a visit to a Loco (a tribe) village, a three hour walk in the jungle in the heat of the day and another camp on a sandbank. The sandbank had large cat prints (probably jaguar) covering it. I was sharing a tent with Graeme and in a vivid dream about a game of rugby I grabbed Graemes head thinking it was ball. He woke with a hell of a start.
This morning we were to see the lorrikeets leave their nests (see Nat geographic 2000), but our guides slept in and we missed it. So we rolled on down the river. We signed out of Mididdi National park at the station on the river (which by now was the Rio Bene). Here we were greeted by a 9 month old spiny anteater that licked and sucked our fingers. From here it was onñy 30 minutes to Rurrenabaque and the end of the journey.
We have checked into the Safari Hotel, the best place in town. No aircon, but it's remarkably cool. Town is full of tourists - a real contrast as in the last 5 days we had not seen another Gringo and in Consata (out first night) we were the first foreigners in town for 6 months.
Tomorrow we leave for 3 days in the Pampas. Expect to see lots of wildlife and catch up on the bugs which have been surprisingly few.
Ross
Mining is the reason that Mapiri exists and the place is like an old wild west town semi transplanted into a modern world. Dinner was in a Pollo restaurant - the menu was fried chicken with fries and rice - take it or leave it. Price $1.40. It was good food washed down with a few beers delivered from the pub next door. The restaurant was also a gold exchange and we watched as the proprieter sat at his desk exchanging the miners weekly finds for Bolivianos. He had a set of miners balance scales and was paying about 100 BS a gram (about 50% of the current commodity price. Young men would arrive and collect 300- 1000 BS (5 BS to NZ$) for their small paper raped finds. Kids would collect between 30-300 BS. Expressions of satisfaction to disappointment being easy to read. A matriach arrived and collected over 3000 BS, a fortune here, and tucked the funds into the front of her bra without a visible emotion.
After dinner I sat outside the restaurant watching the street and the people. A prostitute across the road was plying her trade with little apparent success while young couples promenaded. The girls were smartly turned out in brief tops and briefer skirts with platform shoes. While the guys would have looked great in Grease. All this on a main road that was dry mud and river bolders - don't know how those girls could walk. But it was Saturday night.
Sunday saw us breakfasting at the Mapiri port at 8am. Our boat was a 60 seater based on a dugout canoe. but with planked sides to provide more freeboard. Power was from two 55hp Johnson outboards while some protection from the sun was provided with a blue plastic canopy. Our capitan was Walter and his motley grew looked rough. They hardly had a top front tooth between them, but they prooved very competent and friendly.
Our journey on the Rio Mapiri began with a braided stretch and comments from Bill that it was no different from parts of Canterbury (not sure how he could confuse the surrounding jungle with Canterbury). However it soon entered a gorge and we experienced some trepidation about the rapids. The boatmanship was excellent and we soon became blase about the odd splash over the side.
Gold mining dominated the river and there were workings everywhere. Some were family businesses, with just a sluce box and a bucket. Others were bigger with a small petrol pump, while a few bigger operations remained. Coca was grown in the top of the river and there were bags awaiting collection along the way. All this meant a muddy river, but the jungle was still thick and varied.
On the river, under the canopy with the motor powering us down stream we were kept quite cool and insect free. Guanay, where we stopped for lunch and supplies was quite different. Away from the river the heat was intense and we were happy to lunch at the best restaurant in town. We had to compete with the matriachs in Sunday best bringing their broods in after church- so it was obviously a good choice.
We finally got to a camping spot about 5:00 pm. The boatmen attacked the undergrowth with machettes to clear a campsite while we gringos headed up the nearby stream to a swimming hole and waterfall. Our capitan lost the route a couple of times but we all had time for a great swim. The wise washed their clothes and wore them dry. Dinner was a very pleasant affair prepared by our guides Travis and Guy (pronounced Gee). A few wines and a bottle of Sangini making it more so. A starlit mild night and a great nights sleep.
Monday's highlights included fishing with dynamite, swimming, a visit to a Loco (a tribe) village, a three hour walk in the jungle in the heat of the day and another camp on a sandbank. The sandbank had large cat prints (probably jaguar) covering it. I was sharing a tent with Graeme and in a vivid dream about a game of rugby I grabbed Graemes head thinking it was ball. He woke with a hell of a start.
This morning we were to see the lorrikeets leave their nests (see Nat geographic 2000), but our guides slept in and we missed it. So we rolled on down the river. We signed out of Mididdi National park at the station on the river (which by now was the Rio Bene). Here we were greeted by a 9 month old spiny anteater that licked and sucked our fingers. From here it was onñy 30 minutes to Rurrenabaque and the end of the journey.
We have checked into the Safari Hotel, the best place in town. No aircon, but it's remarkably cool. Town is full of tourists - a real contrast as in the last 5 days we had not seen another Gringo and in Consata (out first night) we were the first foreigners in town for 6 months.
Tomorrow we leave for 3 days in the Pampas. Expect to see lots of wildlife and catch up on the bugs which have been surprisingly few.
Ross
# posted by Ross @ 7:52 AM 
