Back at La Florida we took breakfast then all piled into some canoes to paddle down the wide Paragua River in search of danger. Instead we found many caimans (mostly small ones), forest burnt for livestock fodder, tall riverine rainforest dominated by strangler figs, lots of different birds and their crazy calls, piranha for lunch and some curious river otters… cool! I’d always wanted to see them! Back at the town our hosts had cleaned and cooked the fish they caught and we dined together for the last time. Later we washed at the unfortunately rubbished river bank, then Chris, Jules and Siobhan joined into a kids soccer match and I got a few kids started on careers in hacky-sack – they were naturals! Our dinner was delicious that night as we held the obligatory alternative energy/child sex abuse/conspiracy theory conversation.
The bus driver wanted to get to San Ignacio early on the Monday, so as such we were packed, breakfasted and on our way before we knew it the next morning. And so to say goodbye to La Florida… a true community. It was great to see these people living and working contentedly together, accommodating us tourists with grace and not competing with each other as is such the case in a lot of the world. Of course it’s not a perfect place, but for me I really felt like I spent my money and energy well coming here, not just to see the beauty of the park but to support genuinely community-based tourism, like I’d also felt in my Amazon canoe tour in Pacaya-Samaria in Peru. Thanks Florida.
The rains had cleared the air of smoke and we enjoyed a faster, cooler and more comfortable ride back to San Ignacio. We arrived with a few hours to spare before the night bus to Santa Cruz and as such shared some beers, laughs and photos at a restuarant on the plaza with Chris and his lovely wife and two kids - Ive now met several families travelling through Bolivia, very admirable I think. Farewell guys, and thanks so much Chris for the great fun in the park.
The bus journey back to Santa Cruz was of course a nightmare - Kaspar jousted with a lady for room behind us while I struggled not to kick the kid in the aisle next to me as we battled the horrible roads, had the usual UnBoliviable breakdown and bush-mechanic repair job and tried not to think about the rumours of yet another roadblock. Santa Cruz provided a measure of relief in the form of easy consumption for me like double cappuchinos, salteñas and ice-cream. We said goodbye to Kaspar and Bert, heading in opposite directions. Great to meet you Kaspar, some excellent moments and thanks so much for the good times, Bert, NKM probably wouldn`t have happened without you! ()
Julia stayed on in SC for a night but Siobhan and I wanted to finish the travel in one foul swoop, so we found ourselves a shared taxi and hit the road for Samaipata, sharing Ipods on the way. Very travel-tired we were arriving at Andoriña finally. We celebrated with a yummy red, delicious meal and ... real almonds and cashews!! Back at the hostel we both finally got a great night`s sleep. Phew!
The next day we made some changements for accomodation to El Jardin, a peaceful permacultury campìng/hostel with cool earth-dome buildings and fruit trees in a sheltered valley - very nice! There we ran into 6ft, blond and beautiful Carla from New Zealand whom Siobhan and Jules knew from their days together in Paraguay. During our lunch in the plaza Jules arrived from Santa Cruz and then we all headed back to Jardin. The next few days/milennia for me consisted mostly of doing nothing, cooking great food in our excellent kitchen, laughing, listening to music, playing 500 while it rained outside, poncing about the village, drinking coffee, stretching, sunbaking, drinking and sleeping. Very nice indeed. The girls went to Tai Chi mornings and evenings while the Aussies also fit in a couple hours Spanish lessons every day - busy life! It must be mentioned that I managed to select the worst wine ever (complete bad vinegar) - $3 badly-spent! At one stage Siobhan requested to listen to my `East`CD, then kindly offered up one of the buds of her earphones to share listenings. I, however, was a little shocked `It`s not Kylie Minogue!` I rebuffed. And from then on the act of sharing an earphone with a friend has been known as `to Kylie Minogue`. One evening we returned to Andoriña and with new volunteer Rich from Angleland watched the Irish musical `Once` - I`ve now seen it twice.
Siobhan and I made it up to a pleasant river walk, but being 4pm and shady we weren`t courageous enough to swim in the man-made pool. As we chilled on the rocks chatting we saw many different types of birds. Carla soon enough continued her travels and left us to hit Santa Cruz, bye Carls!!! Ping, Jules, Siobhan and I visited the animal refuge/zoo just out of town where there were parrots, macaws, amorous and jealous monkeys, a beautiful and majestic eagle, little toucans, an agouti, a rare Geoffrey`s Cat and many other crazy-arsed animals. It wasn`t too zoo-like either, except for the birds. A female black SPider monkey walked straight up to me and climbed aboard using her 4-fingered hands. She then hooked my hand with her incredibly strong tail and dragged me to an elevated tap so I could let out some water for her to drink - heh heh :) So Cute. A female red howler monkey attached herself to Julia also, but was more sedate, instead burying her head into Jules` bosom for several minutes at a time (don`t blame her, really).
My new friend stayed clambering over me for the next 1/2 hour while we explored the rest of the zoo including super-cute collared peccaries and nit-picking capuchin monkeys. We were given a tour and in-depth life story of many of the animals by Stef, a German volunteer well at home amongst the animals who`d come intending to stay 1 month and instead staying 3. Many of the animals had been abandoned or injured and as such were brought in to be cared for.
My time at Samaipata and El Jardin involved a lot of meeting some rather fine folk indeed. Rosario and Martin from La Plata, Argentina; Andres from Chile; Mika from Belgium; Yan and Candi the relaxed owners and their children; Yannic, Sandrine and their 3 young children from Reunion Island near Madagascar; Eric, Vanessa and their two children from Nantes in France; Olaf and Fabiana from Argentina/Holland and their 3 lovely daughters; Ping from San Franscisco; Charlotte and Olivier from France; Franco, Melanie and Valerie from guess where, France; Santiago from Colombia and Marieke and Martin from Holland; Jere and Jenni from Finland and Jonah from Summer Heights High/France.
With all the kids and Frenchness about the Jardin things took on a decided peaceful and family atmosphere - relaxed dinners, cards and chatting into the night. But after a week and a half, including 3 days of "missing" buses, Siobhan and Julia finally caught one to Sucre. We`d had a great time together, such pleasant stress-free days and easy laughter - no, thank YOU, Rex & Hools, you made it fun :) () xx
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