rurrenabaque, bolivia - pt. 3

At first the plan had been to go to La Paz together and from there I would have gone to Samaipata to work. But the roads were more than bad and I really did not want to go on that road again. So I asked for flight and found one that wasn’t too expensive and would actually take me closer to Samaipata than taking a bus to La Paz. But for that flight I’d have had to wait a couple of days (and at that point I really did not want to spend any more time in Rurre), and so I also had to call the people in Samaipata to tell them I’d be late. They were fine with it, and so I went back to the airline office to buy my ticket to get out of this place. But the office was just closing and they wouldn’t let me in. But they assured me that I could buy the ticket in the morning of the next day.

That calmed me down a little, but I knew I could only relax when I really had the ticket.

Ivan and Sofia were even more in a rush to get out of Rurre and, crazy as they were, they decided to go by bus. I couldn’t believe buses would seriously leave the town, but they said they would the next day.

Still, it was raining and none of us was in their best mood. The only positive thing was that Sofia asked the owner of her house if I could stay there for a couple of days after she left, and he agreed.

Early next morning Ivan and I went to Philip’s house once again to take a shower. Then we split, because he had to get his stuff ready to leave and I had to go buy that plane ticket. Soon it started raining, and as soon as I got to the office I was soaked. To make it worse, they told me that there were no flights that day. Well, there were flights but no tickets because planes were going to be used for something that had to do with the flooding (at that point not only Rurre, but also several towns around the area, had been announced as national disaster zone) and for some reason they had not known that the night before. I was crushed and just couldn’t believe it. And I was pissed at myself because I didn’t buy the ticket right away, and at the airline because they wouldn’t sell it to me now.

Soaked as I was, I first went to get breakfast because I figured I might be in a better mood with some food in my stomach and might be able to find a solution for the problem of getting out of this fucking town.

I decided then to go to the other airline company, even though I knew it would be much more expensive. But at that point I just didn’t care.

Since their office had gotten badly flooded too, the only way to get information was to go to the airport. But there is this one house in Rurre, that has a huge sign of the company on the wall, and so, hoping that they might have some information too, I went there to ask. So I talked to the guy there, explained him my situation and he immediately suggested me several things that I could do and even offered me to take me to the airport. I did all that in my best Spanish, until I found out that he spoke perfect English which made it a little embarrassing. But it also felt really good to be able to speak some English after all the Spanish of the last weeks and Diego also gave me some hope to find another possibility to leave.

After that I went to the Navy Base (yes, Bolivia does have a Navy.) and talked to a very nice officer if they could fly me out with one of the cargo planes that were coming in from Trinidad to bring food and other things. He also was very helpful and told me that I should come back when the weather was better (rain was still pouring down) and then I could go. I was excited about that possibility and decided to find a dry place to finish my book and wait for better weather.

There, I was already in a better mood and the day just kept getting better when I asked somewhere if I could just sit down under the roof and read my book, and was offered tea, dry clothes and coming inside. I had gotten a little cold, still being in my wet clothes, and after that I felt much better. The only thing I still didn’t have was a ticket out of Rurre.

I spent the afternoon reading, talking to Diego and at the Navy Base, where they still couldn’t tell me anything new or secure me a seat in the plane (even though they SAID I could go for sure, doesn’t mean it would actually be that way). Later I went to Luna Lounge, a bar that is owned by the same person who also owns the house where I was staying. Since he was letting me stay for free, I offered to help out at the bar, but that night I was just a regular customer. Except that he came over to my table at some point and randomly asked me if I wanted to eat something and then came back with a delicious veggie omelet. And later, when I decided I’d had enough beer for the night, he even took me home.

On the next day my goal was to have a ticket and a date to leave, so I could finally relax and enjoy the last days here, however many that would be. The situation in Rurre was still sad – there was still no water, people were living in tents on the streets or in schools, and there were rumors going around that the river would rise again. But still, everybody was friendly and people took their losses with incredible strength and they also had started cleaning the streets from all the mud.

First thing in the morning I went to the Navy again, but they still couldn’t tell me anything new. They just said I’d have to wait until the plane gets in but no one knew when that would be. And I didn’t really want to spend my day waiting there, especially because I still didn’t believe that they would really have a seat for me (there were tons of people waiting to get out..). I then figured that my best shot would still be to go to the airport and get a ticket from the other airline. Fortunately I ran into Diego again and he took me there without hesitating. The other airline was more expensive, but they had a ticket a week later that was affordable and I was going to buy it online as soon as I had talked to the people in Samaipata. But that online-buying-thing didn’t work out so I had to go to the airport again. I took a moto and asked the driver to wait for me outside while I would buy the ticket. That day wasn’t as good as the day before and when I got to the airport the light went out so I had to wait. My taxi left, and when I finally, finally had this stupid ticket there were no other taxis there either. I had just started walking when a car came by (a rare sight here) and they took me back without charging me.

I was happy and relieved and went to Luna to put my stuff there and then go and grab something to eat.

From here on I get a little confused with the days, but basically what happened was this: I started to help out at Luna at night and one day I accidentally stopped by while the family there was just about to have lunch. They invited me to eat with them and from there on I have lunch with them pretty much every day. In the beginning I felt uncomfortable, because I just couldn’t understand why exactly they would not only let me stay in their house for free, but also feed me with lots of food every day (sometimes they even made an extra plate for me without meat after Jacky (the wife) had figured out that I’m not the biggest meat eater), but they treated me like a family member and I was happy to have a place where I could hang out.

Working at the bar was a challenge in the beginning, not just because it was my first time doing anything like that but also because I had to do it all in Spanish. But the bartender (Romer) was very patient with me, and after a few days I had gotten used to this new daily routine of having lunch with the family and working in the evening. Just the staying up late every night took me a little longer to get used to.

A lot of the days I also spend some time with Diego and while taking me out to nice (and more local) places in town he explained me a lot about Rurre and Bolivian culture in general, which I really enjoyed. He knew almost every person in Rurre and so he also found me the opportunity to volunteer at a clinic project, founded years ago by an American doctor.

By then I’d already been thinking about staying a little longer, because I had just gotten comfortable here and I felt so welcome in the Luna-family. But I felt like I couldn’t let the people in Samaipata down, so I was still planning on leaving.

Until I changed my mind and just stayed.

The regular customers at Luna, the family and Diego were all happy about my decision, and, the most important thing, I felt really good about it too. By then I had something to do in the mornings (the clinic), not only ate lunch at Luna but also helped cooking and enjoyed having my own place to stay.

Days passed by, now all kind of in a blur, but I was happy (still am) and after all that had happened I finally started to like Rurreanabaque.

rurrenabaque, bolivia - pt.2

The day we came back to Rurre was also the day of the annual fiesta of the town. After we had changed into clean and drier clothes, we went to my “old hostel”. It was sad to see that the place was in a bad condition and they had to get all the people out. Now there were only two guys there that had just come back from a jungle trip. But it was good to see them again, and together we went to the main square to see what was going on there.

The fiesta was going on but due to the floodings and the fact that it was still raining, there were not as many people there as I had expected. But still, there was music playing, little stands selling food and goodies and people in traditional clothing dancing. I’d never seen this before and so I was fascinated by the colorful costumes that reminded me a little of happy robots or something with all the silver and shiny colors. I didn’t know that Bolivia had such a strong culture in dancing and, with some more food and beer, we enjoyed the fiesta.

Later that night we also went to bar to meet Philip and the girls, who were already on their second day of escape celebrations. But I was tired, so we didn’t stay long and as soon as I saw my bed, with the big mosquito net like a sky hanging over it, I fell into a happy sleep.

In the morning I got proven true that the breakfast at the hostel is delicious – 2 big pancakes with the loved “dulce de leche” and a ton of fresh fruits. I was so full after that, that I didn’t really get hungry all the rest of the day.

After breakfast Ivan and I went to ask around if we could help somehow. So many people had lost their houses and the schools were fully used as shelters for the families and their leftover-belongings. It was difficult to find useful information because there was nothing really organized. We had to ask and walk around a lot until we finally found a place where we could help cooking lunch for 130 people. It felt good to be able to do at least something but it still wasn’t my best day – I felt kind of lost and the picture of the whole town was just a sad one. I also really needed time for myself, after nonstop being with Ivan, but at that time I hadn’t realized that yet. In the afternoon we played Risk at the hostel, and then went to the school again for cooking dinner. We also played with the kids, and it was a gift to see them smile after all that had happened. I think some of them didn’t really realize what happened, but even the adults took their losses with an amazingly positive attitude.

In the evening we went to Philip’s house because he had water. But what I didn’t know was that the way to get there was full of mud and without light. We also didn’t exactly know where it was and I was everything else than in the mood for a searching party in the dark. In other words, I was in a pretty shitty mood at that moment and as soon as we got to the house, I shut myself out with headphones and a book.

I enjoyed the shower in the morning, and then some quiet minutes with my book and a cigarette, enjoying the great view you had over the town from Philip’s house. After that I actually realized that I needed time for myself and so we split up and I went to get breakfast and kept reading until I had finished the book (it always helps when you just want to shut out the world).

In the afternoon we were supposed to go back to the cerro. For a while we didn’t even know if it would be possible because the river was still high. But Philip found some crazy people that would take us up there anyways, and I have to admit that I wasn’t too happy about the fact. The problem was that I still had all my stuff at the cerro, so I didn’t really have a choice but go up again. Also a lot of cleaning work was waiting for us.

I was really scared to go back on a boat and really happy when it was over. The water at the cerro had gone down and you could actually walk on the trail to the lodges and the dormitory.

We then spent the following two days cleaning the temple and the kitchen, which was a shitload of hard work. We had to get all the mud out and clean everything that had been inside. Besides that we didn’t do much but eat, and hoping that the water wouldn’t rise again (at that time it kept rising and going back, but nothing too bad).

On the second day we got surprised by Daniel and a group of American tourists who wanted to go mushroom hunting. Because of that we had to split the work, and I went over to the kitchen to clean and serve lunch. At least they gave us something to eat too.

In the evening Philip and two more people arrived to do another Ayuahuaska ceremony. Ivan and I were exhausted from the work and also disappointed not to be invited to the ceremony and so we spent the evening with playing cards and going to bed early.

the next day was a nice one and I finally go to ask Philip some things about the plants that grew around the houses. We walked around for a bit and I was in a better mood, hoping that the weather would stay like this and that I would get the chance to go for some walks. Philip left that day, but now another Argentinean volunteer stayed with us, who cleaned the dorm whil we were on “vacation”.

In the afternoon I hiked up the cerro, a steep trail full of spiky trees and swarms of mosquitoes, to a mirador from where you had a great view over the forest and the river. Still, because of the mosquitoes I didn’t stay too long and was happy to get back down to the hammock and my book. I actually had some more time for myself now, because I couldn’t keep up with the two Argentineans speaking Spanish and I was too tired to try.

Ivan and I wanted to go to one of the communities the next day, but we got woken up by a heavy rain (yes, again) and it had gotten impossible again to go for walks. So we had another calm day, played cards, cooked and read, waiting for the weather to get better.

At that point we kinda had given up for anything else but rain to happen, and were ready to go back to Rurre and out of there after all.

But we had to wait til Monday, when Philip was supposed to come and pick us up. But unfortunately that didn’t happen. We were listening for a boat to come all day, but got disappointed.

Since the days all passed the same, I can’t say when exactly the water got up again. But it did. It started rising, just as the week before, and we couldn’t believe our eyes. We already saw it coming at night and put our stuff up to the second floor of the dorm once again, but I was still shocked when I woke up in the morning and water was even higher than the first time. I didn’t know if I should laugh or cry, like most of the time I spent there. On some days I could laugh about our situation, but on some days I just hid in my bed.

Anyways, the dorm had been transformed into an island again and we were trapped there once more. And all the cleaning work had been for nothing.

We saved the stove and the rest of the kitchen utensils that we could find on the top of the table in the dining area and most of the time only one person went there every day because it just sucked. On the worst day I had to go, and I made my way to cook lunch in a bikini because everything else would have been senseless. The only problem with that was that the mosquitoes took advantage of my uncovered skin and I definitely did not appreciate that too much. But it was better that wet and sticky clothes.

Days passed by – we put three beds together, close to the window, where we spent pretty much all the time. There was not much to do but reading, talking and playing cards, until we all got sick of it.

The biggest problem we had after a while was that none of us had been prepared to stay for that long. So we didn’t have that much food. We had rice and pasta and some instant soups. And no salt. We ate once or twice a day, but it wasn’t really satisfying. Still, it was the highlight of the day.

For dessert we had mate, that bitter herb you can make strong tea out of. At least it was hot, and after I got used to the taste it wasn’t that bad anymore either.

Every day we were listening for boats, but most of the one’s we heard were just in our heads. Or they were helicopters that took their turns several times a day. A couple times we actually agreed to have heard a boat, but no one came to our place and it was still impossible to get to the Beni with the big backpacks.

On one of the days we decided to try to leave the next day. We packed our stuff in the morning, and were just about to get going, when we heard a motor coming closer. We couldn’t believe our eyes when the boat really came to us, with Daniel aboard. We almost ran to get on the boat, but he told us to wait because the boat was going to pick up some other people upriver and would come back for us then. We had no choice but go back and wait. At least he had brought some cookies and crackers for us and we ate them within seconds. You have no idea how good simple things like that can taste after a diet of rice without salt.

We waited and waited and the boat didn’t come back. Also the little river that had made it possible for the boat to get close to the houses before had gone down so that was not possible anymore. At some point we decided to try our luck ourselves and make our way to the Beni.

It sucked even more than the first time. Not only because we had more stuff, packed up in an inflatable boat, but also because now it wasn’t possible to swim. Instead we had to go through mud as high as our hips, and each step made us sink or fall again. But on the other hand, if you ever dreamt about playing in a lake of mud as a kind, you dream would have come true here. At some point we just let the boat go and Daniel caught it a little further down, sitting in his little kayak and taking the stuff to the port, while we took the trail. Or what was left of it.

But we made it, and then we waited again. The boat that was supposed to pick us up never came so we were just hoping for another one to pass by. After a while Daniel decided to go up the mountain to call Philip to come and get us, and of course a boat came while he was gone. They were simple fishermen that turned around when they saw us, and we even waited some time for Daniel to come back. But at some point our saviors didn’t want to wait anymore and we also didn’t want to let the chance of getting out of there go by. So we left Daniel behind, feeling bad but at the same time being sure that he would find another boat.

The fishermen were super nice, and for the first time in a while I felt that good things were starting to happen again. We were finally on the way back to town, ate some papaya and chocolate (the actual fruit, not the processed chocolate), and they didn’t even charge us.

But our luck turned out to be short-lived that day, when we found out that there was still no water and the roads out of town were more than bad.

Still, we had a place to put our stuff and to stay for the night (the Argentinean girl lived in a small house a little out of town and had an extra bed) and once again we ate whatever we could find.

After that we went back to town to figure out what to do next – that turned out to be a little difficult, but after another fucked up day my luck finally turned around after all.

But all about that will be told in the next part.

rurrenabaque, bolivia - pt. 1

Rurrenabaque is a nice little town in the jungle of Bolivia. It has no mountains, a lot of fresh fruit and is located directly at the shore of the big Rio Beni. 
I arrived there some time in the morning and me and the only other foreigner on the bus went to look for a hostel together. I knew where I wanted to go, but I wanted to walk. My friend decided to take a taxi, which is here no more that a small motorbike. A quite interesting experience with a big backpack, as I would learn later myself. 
the hostel was small, and super nice. It had a kitchen (but no gas), clean rooms and a hammock area. And, what is most important, all the people there were nice. Right at the beginning I met a Russian girl, with who I spent a lot of time the following days. 
I spent part of my first day with collecting information about the tours that you can make here (which I really don’t like doing). There are a lot of different agencies that offer tours to the pampas (about 3 hours from Rurre) and the jungle (into the madidi National Park, which has one of the richest variety in flora and fauna in the world). 
But since the main reason for my coming to Rurrenabaque was to see the place, where a friend of mine had lived for 6 months, and meet the shaman that he worked with. So I also went to their office where they told me that I might be able to work there as a volunteer as well and help them out with a big group of people that was supposed to come for a diet a few days later. But I’d still have some time until then, so I kept thinking to do a tour but I couldn’t really make up my mind (as always). I spent the afternoon thinking, lying in a hammock, talking to the people at the hostel and I also went to the pool. There I kinda made my decision to go on a tour and work after that, so I went to the agency and told them I would be in for the next day. But for some reason that didn’t really make me happy, and I went to the office of my friend’s place (the cerro brujo) again and asked if they knew anything new. Which they did. They told me I could go to the lodges (10 minutes up river from the town) the day after, so I went back to find the guy from the tour agency to tell him that I had changed my mind. Luckily he was okay with that, and I was really looking forward to going to the cerro. 

When I woke up the next day it was raining. Not just a little bit, but a lot. I went to buy food and had to wade through the water on the streets, which was higher than my ankles. What I thought was pretty amazing was, that the people were still riding their motos through the water. 
After buying food I went to the office and waited there. But as I had already thought it was not possible to go to the cerro that day because the river was too high for the boats to go up. So I spent the day in the office, happy to have a computer and a dry place to hang out. For the first time in forever I read some news from Austria, and kept myself occupied that way. Sometime in the afternoon Daniel, the guy from the office, came and asked me if I had a camera with me. I may not be the typical tourist, but I’m still a foreigner and so I always do. And that was when I found out that just a couple streets away landslides had come down from the mountains and destroyed parts of the streets and some houses. Daniel wanted to go and take pictures, and I went with him. 
The situation was more than sad – houses were flooded or ripped down, everything was full of mud and people got injured. When I was there, there were also the local tv station and a lot of people saving what was left in their houses or starting to clean up. I almost couldn’t bear it, especially when I saw the tv interviewing someone who had lost part of their family in the landslide. If I would have known, that that had just been the beginning! 

I went back to the hostel to wait until it would be possible to go up the river. For some reason I didn’t even really mind and had a great time staying there. I had lots of time to read and talk to the people and one night we made huge barbeque and played Risk until late at night. I also went to a mirador with the Russian girl, to do at least something kind of productive, and walked around town a lot. I was just enjoying the people and the good spirits of the place. 
Still, I was eager to get to the cerro, and three days later it was finally time. I met up with Philip, the shaman, and two chilenean girls who wanted to stay there for the night. We took one of the long, narrow boats and arrived at the cerro shortly afterwards. 

After we had settled down and put our backpacks away, we decided to take a walk to a waterfall. When we left, we still had daylight and so going through the rivers, and over the trees that had fallen down, was okay. But after a while it got dark, and when we arrived at the waterfall we couldn’t really see much of it. Still, it was nice and a little different kind of a jungle tour. But the way back was not as pleasant - we were being followed by mosquitoes and I got bitten by a huge ant, which hurt a lot. And also finding your steps in the dark wasn’t easy, especially because every second tree is full of spines or insects. I was in a mood where I just wanted to get back to the cabins as soon as possible. After a while we saw a small light moving our direction – Ivan, the Argentinean volunteer, with a candle. I immediately felt better and knew that I would get along with him. 
We then had some dinner together and then I went to bed soon, all excited about finally being at the cerro and looking forward to the time I would be spending there. 

When I woke up the following day, it was raining. Not too bad, but enough to make it impossible for the girls to leave. We spent the day playing games, reading, and in the afternoon Philip came to talk to me about having an Ayahuaska ceremony. I’ve heard about it a couple times on my way down to Bolivia, but I still didn’t know a lot about it and until that day I wasn’t sure if I wanted to try it. But when Philip asked me, I decided to take the chance for that experience and the decision felt good. 
In the late afternoon we all went to get some rest before the ceremony, since it would take up quite some time of the night. 

My Ayuahuaska experience was quite interesting, but since it’s very personal I’m not going to give details here. What I can say though, is that when I woke up the next morning, I felt great. The air was fresh and clean, and my body felt light and I was aware of the beautiful nature around me. We had some delicious fruit salad for breakfast and then talked about our experiences. 
But still, it wasn’t possible for the girls to leave. In fact, water had risen over night and even the trail to the temple wasn’t passable. They made an attempt to get back in the afternoon, but returned after a couple of hours, being completely wet and muddy. So it was another quiet day with not much to do. 
What I did do though, was that I cleaned the entire kitchen, which turned out being a big mistake. 

When I went to bed that night, the water had gotten quite high. Still, when the girls came to get me to go to another cabin that was higher up, I agreed but didn’t think it would be necessary. We also put our stuff up on some stairs, just in case the water would really rise to the floor level of the dorm (which I still didn’t think would happen). I should be proved wrong. 

In the morning we were flooded. Everything that used to be plain area was water. The bathrooms were nothing but water, my recently cleaned kitchen had water up to our hips and stuff floating around, and in the dorm, which is built on poles, the water was higher than our ankles. 
When I saw all that I just went straight back to bed. 
After a while, when the others started to wake up as well, one of the girls and I decided to go to the dorm to get some clothes and safe some stuff. We almost had to swim. Our companion was an inflatable boat, which we used to carry some stuff for the day, and the things we could find in the kitchen. Luckily, the gas and stove were safe, but we had lost some other things (like food, for example). But after the first shock, we actually started to have some fun, and I just felt like we were in a movie. 
We put the most important stuff on our cabin’s porch and, again, didn’t do much that day. None of us wanted to go back to the water, so we could do nothing but wait. Sometime in the afternoon Ivan showed up at our cabin. We all were relieved that he was fine, because his cabin was a little further up the trail, on the other side of a river, and we hadn’t been able to get there in the morning. 

The next day the water had gotten down a little, but we were still kind of trapped in the cabin. So the day passed by, just as the one before. It was dark inside the cabin, but raining outside, so I spent my time reading and sleeping, in a state of mind that was something between being awake and being asleep. We cooked once or twice a day, but since I had only brought food for myself and the other had not been planning on staying more than a day, we knew we couldn’t stay for too long before we would run out of food. I don’t really remember how many days we spent there, but either the next day or the one after that, the girls and Philip, backpack in the inflatable boat, made another attempt to leave, and this time they were successful. Ivan and I were going to leave the next day, mainly because we were hoping for the water to go down and the river to calm down a little more and because we still had a little bit of food. 

We got up in the morning, cleaned a little and then started the adventure of getting out of the jungle. We made it as far as to the temple before we realized that we had to cross one of the rivers swimming (even though the bridge was destroyed, you normally were able to walk through the river with water no higher than up to your knees). Ivan first went to find the boat, which was gone, and then we decided to put our stuff in one of those plastic things that are normally used for doing laundry. We put on life vests, and pushing our things in front of us through the water, we swam. Being cold in the beginning, the water was okay after we got used to it and we also were able to walk some parts of the trail. 
When we got to the little port, we saw the Rio Beni for the first time since the flooding. It was scary – the currents were rapid, the waves high, and it was full of wood and large trees. 
We sat down in the boat that was there to wait for one that would take us back to Rurre. Two boats passed, but they were going the wrong way. Time passed and nothing happened. After 6 hours, when we were just about to go back to the cabin and try again tomorrow, we saw a boat. It was going upriver as well but they saw us and waved at us that they would come back and get us. On the boat I wasn’t sure if it wouldn’t have been better to wait another day – it was definitely the scariest part of all. 

But we made it. We arrived in Rurre in the late afternoon, walking through the streets like from another world, dirty, wet, and hungry. We bought the first food we could find, and just then made our way to the hostel. It was a different one than the one I stayed in last time, but it was close and supposed to have better breakfast. What it didn’t have was water. The flooding hit the town pretty hard as well and most of the houses were without water and the streets were full of mud. 
Still, I was just happy to be back in civilization.