Ride and River Tour: The River, Day 6

We all woke up with the sun, tore down our tents, and ate breakfast.  This day was the last full day we would have together as a group.

We were still in this national park, so a man who lives in the area generously gives us a tour of his back- and front-yard, the jungle.  He was shoeless, carries a machete to help create a path where the plants have grown over, and carries nothing else.  He told us about medicinal properties of some plants, dying properties of others--demonstrating a leaf's dying property by turning part of a Frenchman's white t-shirt purple.  He pointed out which trees have vines that will provide good, clean water and which trees the ants like to harvest from the best.  When we asked him if he ever gets lost in the jungle, he explained that he knows it very well and normally doesn't get lost, but when he was younger, it was not uncommon for him to lean against a tree and sleep if the jungle became dark before he arrived home.  He used his knowledge of the trees to provide him with nourishment and learned how to identify when an animal would be territorial or not.  He was fearless of this realm because it was just as much his home as the animals.  Toward the end of the tour, he encouraged us to try leaves that stave off thirst, because no one brought water and the air was, as always, hot and humid.

We walked around his jungle for perhaps three hours, learning about the wildlife and vegetation.  As a matter of fact, he also informed us that we probably didn't see any wildlife last night because Marcos had taken us through the northern part of the jungle and all of the animals are currently in the southern part of the jungle.  The animals migrate from section to section during each season, so they will return to the northern section when the rainy season begins to flood the southern section.  He was incredibly informative.

In this part of Bolivia, few people speak Spanish, but we were lucky to have a guide who does.  --We were also lucky to have Mike to once again translate the wondrous information to us.  The dogs also accompanied us on and off during this portion of the tour.  Our guide moved deftly through the foliage and kept our group moving at a quick pace, stopping every once and a while to tell a story or explain the benefits or detriments of a certain plant.

At the tour's end, we were all sweaty and ready to get back in the boat to rest and embark on the final parts of our journey.  Our riverboat picked us and our guide up at the edge of the jungle and we rode back to where we first stopped the previous day to drop off our guide.  Members of his family were waiting for him at the top of the hill.  They seemed excited to have him back.

 

The final riverboat ride involved a brief rainstorm, lunch on the boat, and took pictures of the scenery and the people living and breathing around us.

Before reaching our final destination: Rurrenabaque, we made a quick stop to the national park headquarters to pay a fee for passing through.  While there, everyone took many pictures of some huge and intimidating spiders that nested in a pavilion outside.  For example:

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After the stop we continued on the river for perhaps an hour and a half more.  As usual, we chatted, napped, snapped pictures, and enjoyed the nature around us.  The weather cleared up some, too.

Then we reached Rurrenabaque.  We unloaded and took motorcycle taxies (sounds absurd, right?) to our accommodations for the night where we had real showers, fabric hammocks to recline in, and clean beds.  There were even ceiling fans in every room!  That evening, we met up for our final reunion.  We played a few rounds of pool, laughed, ate dinner, and made jokes about the sandflies that had taken a bit more from some members of the group than they would have liked to admit.

Overall, the trip really was quite remarkable.  We saw and did amazing things, were informed by knowledgeable and considerate guides, were well-fed, and spent more time in nature than is normally possible, as least that is normally possible for me.  We went through Mike's company, called Gravity. They offer many different tours, among the most famous is The Death Road tour.  I still have yet to do that one, but hey, I have some time left in Bolivia.

P.S.-  Thanks for reading!  Gravity's official webpage is here, if you would like more information.