Hola amigos!
Our trip to Bolivia was long, but we were so happy to change atmosphere. As one of our friends said: South America will warm up our hearts. The people are very nice and smile all the time. It's easy to communicate and nobody looks at you like you're coming from another planet. And it doesn't matter what the shop sells (CDs, sandwiches or mattresses…) — there will be super loud Latino music playing near the entrance!
First Days in Santa Cruz
First day, trying to survive jet lag, we intensively visited the city of Santa Cruz de la Sierra. We walked a lot even if William still has pain in his ankle… The center is really charming and there are a lot of restaurants and coffee shops. We tried our first meal in Bolivia at the El Aljibe Comida Típica restaurant — it was really good!
The next day was dedicated to the typical tasks we do when we enter a new country: buy a SIM card, food, find a gas tank, etc. And then, it started to rain. We had a big storm during the night — it sounded like something was exploding half of the night.
The Jaguar Situation
The next morning was the same rain. So we did nothing except searching for a way to go to the Kaa-Iya del Gran Chaco National Park to see Jaguars, Pumas, Tapir… And the really bad news is that you need at least 350$ per person for 3 days in the jungle. There are only a few guides in the country and only very fancy tour agencies can help with pre-fixed tours — and you need to contact them at least 2 months ahead. It's literally ripping off tourists if you compare each individual price (transport, accommodation, food, guide and permit/fees).
We tried to go directly to the park office, but they were not willing to help at all. We then visited the Tucandera Tours agency. It was kind of funny — when he told us a custom tour was not possible and the only way was to pay 350$ per person, we asked for explanations about the price. Of course, he didn't explain a thing, but he started justifying himself by explaining that the cost of a tire or a battery was really expensive in Bolivia. LOL. Hopefully, there are other nice activities we can do in Bolivia for a reasonable price like El Salar de Uyuni (3 days, around 100$). And I bet they use the same tires :D
Lomas de Arena: Desert Meets Jungle
Anyway, we continued to enjoy Santa Cruz and went 17 kilometres from the city to the Parque Regional Lomas de Arena. It's a place where the jungle meets the desert — it is hard to imagine that it is so close to the city, it looks so wild. We saw monkeys, lots of beautiful birds and of course sand dunes in the middle of the forest. It cost us 2$ per person instead of the 100–150$ claimed by tour agencies in the city. We had amazing weather there — really cool!
Goodbye Santa Cruz
The next day we took a night bus to Sucre — one really cute city of Bolivia situated on the hills. Our level of Spanish is starting to get much better… Maybe we will be fluent at the end of our world trip!
September 14–18, 2018