Me Jane, you Tarzan...

The Chaparé, the Bolivian´s version of the jungle, what an adventure. A couple of weekends ago, weekend a group of students organized a trip to the jungle, complete with monkeys, rope swings and giant spiders, it truly was a blast!

The trip started out at 4am, with 8 people pilled into a mini-van of sorts and we were off. The roller-coaster ride had the three priests travelling with us praying for our lives and those prayers must have been answered because we made it in one piece. In fact, there was a brief period in time when we stopped so that our driver could splash some water on his face. Perhaps next time we take a trip we should start the adventure at a more appropriate time of day, say 7am.

We arrived in Valle Tunari around 8am, ate a quick breakfast, dropped our bags off at an interesting hostel (more to come on the hostel later) and headed to Parque Machia, a elementary school field trip haven, complete with wild monkeys, pumas and lots and lots of parrots. Now I had heard about this park from my Bolivian host family and all I gathered from them was protect your camera from the monkeys who love to steal shiny objects. You know, they weren´t kidding. At the entrance to the park, we happily locked up our valuable possesions and went to find the monkeys. Within minutes, the monkeys were literally crawling and jumping all over us. Katie had a sucker with her and as like a flash of lightening, a monkey jumped on her shoulder, grabbed the sucker, hopped down and was happily eating the sucker, after the wrapper had been taken off of course. It was nuts I tell you! Where else do you get to hold monkeys who steal? We then started a climb up to a wonderful vista of the confluence of two rivers with the jungle in the background, it was absolutely stunning. Lots of walking in mud followed and then it was off to our next activity.

Parque Carassco: We were told while we were eating lunch that this park was even better than the first park, to which I at first was a bit pessimestic, but David our guide was right. Parque Carassco was like walking through The Jungle Book. When you start the afternoon off with a giant spider in the bathroom, you know that the rest of the day will be full of adventures, which it was. First, we crossed the raging river in a steal cage suspended above the water on cables, and headed off into the jungle with our guides explaing every tree, plant and flower on the way to the bat caves. There are several different species of bats that live in the park, but thankfully the ones we visited were the fruit eating variety. I have never before climbed willingly into a cave full of bats, but when in Bolivia do as the guides tell you and climb away. We were standing in the cave as the flashlights illuminated the bats all nestled into groups sleeping the day away upside down, granted a few were flying around which I must say, was creepy. After the bat caves, we kept hearing this strange noise, like a wild tiger growling, only to find out it was these blind birds, Guarachos, that hiss to keep away predators. We completed the circle around the park and crossed the river once again, squished 9 people into a cab (including the driver) and headed back to town to our hostel.

The hostel: Well, that was a trip in itself. First off, we could have picked something slightly nicer, but since we were only staying for one night, no one argued and I think we were too tired to care. It was right off the main road, which meant it was a noisy night for the guys who slept in the room facing the street. I think Patrick, Katie and I were too tired because despite the noise we all slept soundly through the night. All I can say is, thank goodness we only stayed for one night. So, half of the group woke up refreshed and ready for the next day, while the other half was sleep deprieved. So, some of us were ready for the next adventure and other were not.

Next up a botanical garden, which just happened to be closed. I was ready to turn around and move onto the next item on our agenda, but no, instead we broke into the park and enjoyed the orchids, crocodiles and turtles all for free. Again, when in Bolivia... the garden was really interesting despite the fact that it wasn´t quite orchid season and the flowers were lacking. The crocodiles were enough to keep us occupied since the fence between us and the ancient reptiles was literally 3 feet tall. We escaped the botanical garden without any penalty and headed off to yet another jungle adventure.

La Jungla: another field trip oasis, yet this park came with dangerous rope swings suspended from trees that I swear moved when you were swinging. In fact, Katie was saved by the safety harness on the 18 meter swing. I think my heart skipped a beat when I saw that she wasn´t on the small piece of wood they considered a seat, but hanging in between the seat. La Jungla was tons of fun simply for the fact that you could pretend to be Tarzan and scream and yell as you went swinging through the trees. After La Jungla is was time to head back to Cochabamba and thus back into reality, leaving behind Tarzan, Jane and all of our monkey friends.

Overall, the short trip to the Chaparé was simply an amazing weekend. I´ve said this to many people before, but not many places in the world are as diverse as Bolivia. Where else do you get the Andes mountains and the beginning of the Amazon basin in one country? So, was it worth the sleeping in the sub-par hostel and risking our lives on the drive up there? You bet. Would I do it again despite the giant spider in the bathroom and the stealing monkeys? In a heartbeat.