So yesterday I went for a twelve hour hike.

We got up early in the morning and met at the plaza around 5 in the morning. Only a bit over half of the group showed up (about 11). Christoph and Alex, two German volunteers living in Camiri showed too. We took a cab all the way to the edge of town and followed a narrow cliff path for a few kilometers. Too cool. We walked underneath overhanging rock and through a couple of caves. You could look down and see the river rushing by far below and look across the valley to the massive cliff-face of the opposite hill. They call them hills but they really look like mountains. Anyways, lizards crawling all over the rocks, natural spring water seeping out of the rocks, no guard-rails... pretty sketchy but a super nice view.

We followed a water pipe all the way up to a water reservoir that is the only water source for a small rural community near by.. i don´t know how to spell this.. -eat-in-am-beek-wa. By this point we had been hiking for about an hour and a half. This is where the group split. Our final destination was the Chorro water fall.. but apperently the only way to get there was by using the river as a road. Not everyone felt like getting wet. Only me, our supervisor, ze germans, and 3 others from our group decided to go all the way.

The water was only 4 feet deep at most in some parts. The footing was difficult but at some points you could walk on the bank. We worried about running into snakes and bears, but ze germans had a machete that they bought the previous day. Hardcore. At first we just used it to chop away at anything that was well out of our way but we actually ended up needing it. There were parts where we had to cut away at vines and stuff that looked like bamboo.

It was a 3 hour hike to the falls. We were starting to think that it didn´t even exist along the way. Besides a few falls on slippery rocks and a bit of quicksand we were golden. It was just really far. My feat were wet all day. No snakes.

The waterfall was only about 12-14 meters high with a large clear and clean pool at the bottom. We all jumped in that and swam around in it in the 30 degree weather. It was only late morning. Me, Alex and ze Germans ended up climbing the waterfall to look at its 4 levels. Pretty fun bouldering. We found some wierd spiders and some brown frogs with blue eyes. I ended up dropping my camera in the water. No harm done though. We jumped off the side of the water fall into the pool below to get down. We got out of the water quickly because we´d pushed a bunch of mayflies into the water. So gross. We speared them with our bambooesque poles.

After taking a break we prepared for our long hike back. We didn´t talk much because we were focused on pace. We found a super long vine on the way back hanging down in the middle of the river. We stopped to swing on that for a while.. from bank to bank.

I was so hungry by this point. I needed some pollo sucre. It´s basically fried chicken. The fast food place of choice in Camiri. Basically the McDonalds equivalent.

Interlude: Me and the students take the dried kernels off the corn at my work. it goes to my friend Romeo´s work placement to be ground up and then fed to the chickens. the chickens go to pollo sucre for 18 cash bolivianos a pop. The circle of life. Very lion king.

Anyways. After vine-swinging we made the long wet hike back to the reservoir. We went through another cave to a different path that led down to a swimming hole, a part of the river at the bottom of the valley. The water was all brown from rainfall but it was fine to swim in. This river was a lot wider and deeper than the one leading to the waterfalls. Both banks were lined with huge smooth rocks sculpted by the river. Excellent for climbing. We bouldered up to the top of the rocks and jumped off 8m drops into the river. At first we were unsure if it was deep enough because the water was all chocolate-milky. I got one of ze Germans to jump off first. It was fine. There´s no way we´re not going back before we leave Camiri. We need more people next time.

So ya.. I got back around five thirty to a cold lunch. I showered and went straight to bed. So tired. But it was such a nice hike. I want to go back to do some more climbing and jumping. I have some sweet photos from that day too.

Best day in Camiri so far. Plus I got to clear the path with a machete.
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Random thoughts.

There´s a station with Simpsons in spanish 24/7. Since i´ve seen the episodes before it´s a good way to learn the language.

They drink wine mixed with coke here. Not the best.

Siempre el mismo pregunta. I´m always asked if i´m cold in 15 degree weather.

Michael Jackson is too popular here. I liked a few of his songs before the trip but now i´m just sick. I´ve been asked to translate few. I see little kids pelvic thrusting everywhere.

Ive been getting almost no exercise and eating and sleeping so much more. Ive felt so disgusting but apparently ive lost 3 pounds.

hamburger and fries is a dollar fifty.

stray dogs are so scary.. especially at night when you´re the only person in the street.

i have a parrot named florita.. it doesnt talk so much as go MRAH! MRAH! MRAH! for about 10 minutes every morning. Its going to get doused in gasoline sometime soon.

wearing a seatbelt is unheard of