The Yungas

This post is about our experiences in the Yungas region of Bolivia, since we have spent quite a long time in the La Paz - Coroico environs.

The Death Road revealed....

A couple of weeks ago Peter and Nick mountain biked the world´s most dangerous road...They were lucky to come away unscathed because a few days ago we met a Kiwi who actually fell over the cliff and was only saved by falling into thorny tree.

As we ascended up to the Altiplano in the minubus our breathing became laboured...We were approaching 5000m above sea level. After a fiddle with the bikes, we made an offering to Pacha Mama (mother earth) by pouring some alcohol on the ground.

As the mist cleared, the bikes whizzed down the hillside, bracketed by intimidating stone walls on every side.

Eventually the bus made it onto the death road: Earthy dust, waterfalls and jaw dropping cliffs greeted us for the next few kilometres. Every few kilometres there was a shrine to someone who had perished, usually a careless bike rider who had toppled over the edge.

With everyone exhausted at the end of the day, we were rewarded with a scrumptious pasta lunch at La Senda Verde wildlife refuge.

The next time we faced the death road, we were on our way to volunteer at La Senda Verde. We were intrigued by the stories we had heard about the place, and turned up ready to get stuck in helping with monkeys, turtles and toucans.

Every morning we got up at 7am to feed ALL the animals. Basically we were given the responsibility of feeding all the animals at the refuge, with very little instruction or training.

Every animal was fed three times a day, the work was not too strenuous and we had time to form a bond with some of the cheeky capuchin monkeys. A little trickster capuchin called Niko tried to tear my hair out when he first met me, but after a few days he enjoyed getting rides on my shoulders and playing with buttons on my shirt.

The monkey enclosure was teeming with black spider monkeys, howler monkeys and capuchins. The spider monkeys loved to curl up in my lap, the capuchins loved playing with water and stealing anything they could find in my pockets. They figured out how to turn on taps and open water bottles!

We even got the responsibility of feeding an Andean Bear, called Aruma. Peter distracted it with nuts while me and Nick rapidly scrubbed out his cage....The other volunteers were interesting to talk to, two of them were doctors from Perth who found that their services were needed on more than one occasion.

Every day was varied at the refuge....We experienced Houdini monkeys escaping, a crazy Koati animals, wild dogs....Psycho toucans and squaky tropical birds.

We are off to lunch in Coroico now,

Adios!

Brittany