The next morning we were up bright and early to drive to Portachuelo and then Buena Vista, which is where the Amboró National Park is located! It was supposed to be about a four and a half hour drive, but well, we're in Bolivia, in the Amazon and it just rained for about seven or eight hours, so it was slow going at first. But we were able to keep pretty good time and arrived at el Rio Grande more or less on time. We had to drive over the 'dry' flood plain to reach the river (as it's still technically the dry season) and we made it all the way to the boat without having to get out and push the bus out of the mud; so we were all pretty happy! We got off the bus so it could board the pontoon boat waiting for us and that's when the problems started... first the bus couldn't get onto the boards that formed the ramp to the pontoon. Then, someone had the brilliant idea to back the bus up and try from another angle. Which, in theory probably would work in a normal situation, but there had been so much rain backing up was a bad idea... the bus ended up stuck in the mud. We ended up spending over two and a half hours on this flood plain, in the beating sun, in the mud. No one thought we would be outside for this long, so no one had sunscreen, hats, or anything to protect us from the sun or water. Most of us had our cameras, but there's only so many pictures you can take. And although it took two hours to get the bus unstuck, and we were under the burning sun, it was a very nice change of scenery to be outside of the bus, as we'd spent most of our trip so far on the bus, all together. We were actually able to spread out and talk to other people than our seat mates and those around us! It was wonderful! Eventually someone found a shovel and started digging out the bus's wheels, and they were able to move the bus forwards just enough to wedge a board underneath the wheel to hopefully get the bus unstuck... but the board just slipped out from under the bus and then cracked in half. So next they tried tying a rope to the front of the bus and pulling... with part of the board under the wheel... still no luck. They also tried putting more water under the bus so that the mud didn't have such a tight hold on the wheel, and that didn't work either. Eventually someone dug out enough of the wheel and with people pushing and pulling the bus, we were able to get it unstuck and on to the pontoon!! It was a grand celebration and a great relief, because I know I personally thought we might be there for the rest of the afternoon!
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| Pull attempt #1... |
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The Bolivians specifically asked for "Varones" so
las mujeres got to stand and watch
WELCOME TO PATRIARCHY! ;) |
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Pushing, pulling and digging is what it takes to get a microbus
out of the mud in the floodplain of el Rio Grande |
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| The mudpit... |
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| Finally crossing the river!! |
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| And we arrived!! The other side of the river! |
After our impromptu adventure we ended up being almost four hours late to lunch... so our time in Portachuelo was cut very short. Which is unfortunate because Tony, one of our guides, was a famous TV and radio personality from Portachuelo and very important in his community. We ate lunch in record time (for Bolivians) it was under an hour, if you can believe it, and then we were off to the next activity: ABEJAS (bees)!
We drove to a bee farm on the outskirts of Portachuelo and weren't really sure what to expect. When we got to the farm Andres (our Ecologist and guide for the trip) explained about the different types of bees in Bolivia and the world. The farm we went to had three different types: the normal bees that you see in the states that are actually originally from Africa, black Bolivian bees that don't sting, but love to fly into your hair, and last but not least, the tiniest bees in the world! First we saw the black Bolivian bees. I had my Pitt hat on, and I was very glad as Andres wasn't kidding about the bees flying into your hair. It didn't matter if your hair was long, short, blonde or brown, the bees were everywhere! We had to pick them out of each other's hair which was quite a bonding experience, and not something I want to do again. The bees didn't sting, but they did bite and they sure did enjoy getting lodged deep into your hair. And hearing them buzzing but not being able to grab them was awful!! It was like holding a fly between your fingers, which no one wants to do! Finally we got all the bees out of everyone's hair and moved on to the tiniest bees in the world! (They don't sting either!) They were so tiny and they apparently make the richest honey! I liked these ones much better, they just went about doing their own thing and didn't try to hitch a ride on anyone's head. After our mini abeja tour, we got to try the fresh honey! I've never had fresh honey and it is all that it is cracked up to be. The little old man that cares for the bees (I unfortunately can't remember his name... ) took out a huge, fresh honey comb and began to cut it into pieces for us to eat. Some people ate the whole thing, others only ate the honey and spit out the wax, but it was so delicious it didn't matter! We were all so sticky and content with life, even when the bees came to take their own honey no one seemed to care! We also got to try the honey of the little tiny bees which was almost like a liquor. We literally drank it out of a cup and it was incredibly sweet so I could only take a sip or two, but it made me crave some good English tea! (Don't get me wrong, the coca tea is great, but sometimes you just want some classic Earl Grey or English Breakfast!)
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The tiniest bees in the world!
(Thanks Gabby for the finger measure!) |
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| Cutting the honey comb! |
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| Even the bees know how good the honey is! |
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These are the black bees that don't bite! Still much
smaller than the ones in the US! |
After all that honey we had one more stop at la casa de cultura en Portachuelo. It's a place for children to learn different instruments including the violin, pan flute, drums, piano, guitar and voice lessons! The best part is that they played traditional Bolivian music! It was like a mini symphony performance! Afterwards the group wanted a picture with all of us and then proceeded to find the most gringo gringitos for solo shots. I was one of the favorites being a tall red head, but I think the blondes received just as much attention! We talked to a few of the kids, who ranged in age from about six to sixteen, and they were all very nice and very passionate about their music. Many of them played multiple instruments! I love the music culture here in Bolivia, the fact that just about anyone can play an instrument or dance is wonderful! And it's a wonderful way to show pride for your culture as well!!
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The Casa de Cultura
(The House of Culture) |
Finally, we arrived at our 'eco-resort' hotel. We were given maybe an hour to change before we had to go to dinner, which was in the the central plaza of Buena Vista. It wasn't anything to write home about, lots of hearts of palm, some rice and carne, but it was food. Around 10pm we arrived back at the hotel and passed out, not sure of what would happen the next day because of all the rain and the delays... but it was looking like we might not be able to enter the National Park... which would make our schedule pretty useless...
To a very long day, but rewarding nonetheless,
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