Ride and River Tour: The River, Day 4

After a hot, but good night's rest in a hotel in a mostly-build hotel Mapiri, we became more conscious of our guide's constant suggestion to wear long pants, long sleeves, and bug spray.  We ate a hot breakfast at a local diner (owned, in fact, by the man who owned the developing hotel and the boat we would take down the Bolivian amazon-- "the Bolivian Donald Trump", as Marcos had told us) and began walking toward the "boat marina".  Boats were also being made (carved and shaped) here as well.

The marina. 

We were told that we may have to help the boat along at some points, too.  So, if the boat got stuck on too-shallow ground, riders had to get out and help push the boat until we were in deeper water again.  We had three days with the boat and only had to push it once!

 

The rest of the time we motored down the River Mapiri, we had time to hang out and reflect or chat, using the life jackets as pillows and the tent mats as floor-pads to stretch out between the seats.  We spent an average of four hours each day in the river boat.  Today, though, we stopped for lunch in a growing town called Guanay.  This was the most highly populated town we saw and visited during our time on the river boat.  Today was also Michael's birthday, so many ice creams were had, though we could not find a cake!

In Guanay we picked up our cook for this part of the trip.  She would stay with us for the remainder of the tour to make dinner that night, meals the next day, and breakfast and lunch on the final day of the boat.

Once we stopped at the campsite for the night, Marcos took us on a small tour in the general area we stayed.  First, we passed through a small farm-- a man lived on this island and had many fruit trees, bushes and plants of all sorts.  The hike was steep and the pathway was lined with industrious, enormous fire ants, so we needed to be constantly vigilant about where we were stepping or onto which trees we were leaning or using for support.  Marcos was very keen to inform us about the plant and animal life that lived in this vegetated jungle.  As we got higher, though, the ant lines lessened and we reached a cave that normally housed bats during the day.

I went first, naturally, because I was for sure not afraid of bats and if there were any in the crags, they wouldn't scare any other members of the tour.  Thankfully, there were no bats, but there was a make-shift ladder at the end of the rock slabs that we could climb up to then use to climb upon an overlook. I went to a different part while the rest of our 13-member group crowded this rather small ledge with sheer drops on three sides.  Though, the view was breathtaking.  When everyone had had time to soak in the new heights and view the ledge of a road that lay across the river, they moved down and back toward the base camp.  At this point, I went out on the main ledge as well and joined Michael at the tip to spend a few more minutes being reminded of everything I love about West Virginia, since, sights like these are not incredibly uncommon if you know where to go in the mountain state.

Once back at the campsite, a few of us "bathed" in a clear stream that flowed into the main river.  The bugs were relentless, but the cool water was incredibly welcome after having sweat through the long-sleeved clothes I would wear for the next two days as well.

After dinner that night--pasta noodles with some sort of beef, though I ate the beef and gave my the other half of my pasta noodles... the heat had taken my appetite for high-carb meals-- we enjoyed Oreos and water (some of the guys managed to bring beer along, too, but water was more than enough for me in the sweltering heat).  Mike brought out Marcos's guitar and played for a bit while others listened and chatted.  Then, after a few rounds of cards and conversation about the docile bugs that attempted to connect with our lights and candles, we headed to bed in our tents and tried to go to sleep for the night...

 ...I say tried because, for some reason, once I fell asleep, I began to have a terrible dream.  I woke up and realized it had been Mike who was shaking me and asking if I was alright, not the person in my dream.  It was then that I also realized that I hadn't been screaming in my dream... it had been aloud and must have been going on for a few seconds (hopefully not minutes)!  Sweating from the heat of the jungle and the fear in the dream, I was too dazed to be embarrassed.  I still felt shaken, but managed to fall back into a light sleep, along with, I hoped, everyone else.