Sunday, Sept. 14, 2003 - 9:40 p.m.
I think it's due to the altitude, but I always feel tired in La Paz. However, I was determined to finally go to the jungle.
Nelly had some shopping to do, we made plans to meet up at 3pm for lunch. I had to do some shopping too, to get last minute supplies for my Jungle & Pampas tour. I checked to make sure my flashlight worked (didn't want a repeat of what happened on the Inca Trail). I also needed to buy some film and found a store that sold it for really cheap. I bought 15 rolls, hope it lasts for the remainder of my trip (you don't want to know how many rolls I've already taken...) I bought some snacks for my trip and wandered around the market for awhile. All of a sudden, I recognized a guy bartering with a local selling DVD's. It was Mike who I first had met in Nazca, Peru, and then again in Cusco. I'd kept in e-mail contact with him since he was going to Bolivia too. He'd e-mailed me his troubles of getting out of La Paz during the protests and told me the horror story of some other travelers whose bus stopped 11 miles from La Paz. They had to get out of their bus, take their bags and hike in, meanwhile protestors were throwing rocks, burning tires and making small fires too! Last I'd heard, Mike was in Chie. He'd taken a bus to the salt flats of Uyuni, then made a snap decision to go to Chile. I didn't think I'd meet up with him again. But then, not according to plan, he'd returned to La Paz earlier than expected. He was flying back to England the next day.
We chatted for a bit, getting caught up on our respective adventures and walked around the market. Then he returned to the hostal with me where I was approached by Amie and Jenny, the two English girls on my bus into La Paz. They invited me to dinner that eve and then I invited Mike. I also saw Dan and Jen, the English couple I'd met in Copacabana, who'd traveled with Penny in Huaraz. They had just returned from the jungle and had a great time. They told of hiking thru the swamp up to the waist and of Dan being bit by an Anaconda! The group had caught the 3 meter long snake, were holding it and he passed it to the girl next to him who freaked out and threw it back to him and the snake bit Dan on the hand. Good thing Anacondas aren't venemous!
Then I met Nelly for lunch and then said goodbye, exchanging e-mail addresses. After that I shopped for some cheap tennis shoes for he jungle, an Alpaca scarf and some long johns (I'd heard it gets cold at night in the Pampas).
That afternoon I called my dad to wish him a happy birthday. Then I met with Amie, Jenny and Mike for dinner. We took a cab to a restaurant Amie recommended, getting there at 7pm, but they didn't open for another 45 minutes! We walked around trying to find another restaurant open, but with no luck. We returned to the first restaurant, had dinner, discussing crazy travel stories, New York City and Sept. 11th. Mike has a few days stopover in NYC before returning home and I plan to do the same, Amie was in NYC a year after the terrorist attacks).
We returned to the hostal, I said goodbye to the three of them, paid for my hostal room, asked for a 4:30AM wake up knock on the door and went to my room to pack. I had another roommate this time, a girl from Switzerland.
