Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2003 - 6:08 a.m.
Amie and Jenny don't have much time in Bolivia (as many travelers do, oftentimes people don't give themselves much time to see this amazing country). They were anxious to head off to see Salar de Uyuni, the world's largest salt lakes. They took off that morning. Helene has a few days in La Paz. We had a leisurely breakfast, then moved to a different hostal (cheaper too), called the El Solario. There we met Jen and Dan who were talking with Raul, the guy working the travel agency of the hostal. Raul is an animate and dynamic middle-aged Bolivian, who is funny to listen and watch. He almost acted out the different animals possible to see in the Amazon Jungle (more than half the country is in the Amazon basin).
Helene and I became interested, listening to the description of the jungle tour. Then we also talked to Raul about taking a jungle tour. Helene could only go for one day, I decided to go for 5, I heard the longer you're in the jungle, the more animals you're likely to see. We made tentative arrangements to go on Thurs the 11th, and, like Jen and Dan, fly to the town of embark, Rurrenabaque. It's more expensive to fly, $100 round trip, but the alternative is like 17 hrs by bus, part of it being along Death Road ("The World's Most Dangerous Road"--more on this later).
Later, Helene and I went to the bank and found it closed at 12:30pm. We realized it would be closed until 2pm, so we went to the nearby Plaza Murillo, which has a large cathedral and also some congressional buildings with the red, yellow and green Bolivian flag flying. We walked around a little bit, marveling at the number of pidgeons that were everywhere and watched peple feeding them, a few even sat on their shoulders. Then we sat down on some steps opposite the cathedral, entertained, people watching. Then I pointed out a few shoeshine boys to Helene because a lot of them wear a mask covering everything but their eyes, as well as a baseball cap, giving them anonymity, but kind of a spooky appearance.
Later Helene and I returned to the bank where I tried, unsuccessfully to get a cash advance on my credit card. I tried two different banks who both said there was a problem with my card and I needed to contact my bank. Angry and frustrated, I left, certain that there was no problem with my card. Later I e-mailed my family to please call VISA on my behalf since even a toll free or collect call costs money.
I debated whether to wait on the jungle trip because I realized I was fighting a cold, my fingers were still swollen (still couldn't remove my rings) and I still was on the mend from the Inca Trail.
