An adventurous drive in the Bolivian jungle.
On our first day here we set out from Trinidad at 4AM in two pick-up trucks along a winding dirt road/path (they don’t call it a road, rather a “camino”) winding through the jungle for 140 km. It is so rough that the trip takes 6 hours. It is very hot and humid (38 degrees C) but the scenery is beautiful and we stopped a few times to see alligators, snakes and birds. All very excited and happy.
During our visit to three communities from 10AM-6PM (more on that in a separate blog) heavy clouds moved in, the skies opened up and I got to experience a tropical rain storm like I had only seen in movies. We headed out and it became instantly clear that the “path” had turned into one long mud slide with huge pools of water covering several sections. We seemed to have no traction and slid all over the place. The rain was coming down in sheets and it was very dark except for when the entire sky was being lit up by thunder and lightning. Melanie and I couldn’t help but think about all the alligators we had seen in swamps that we crossed on narrow rickety bridges as we fishtailed from side to side. We were driving at a snail’s pace and even though I was dead tired I couldn’t take my eyes off of the immediate “road” in front of us. We were scared and the odd scream came from the back seat when we served off and on the path. Now I felt like I was in a movie and I didn’t like it. In the end it took us 7 hours to get back and when we crawled into our hotel at 1AM Melanie asked “are your trips down here always this intense”? (they’re not).
