Last journey before leaving Cochabamba, and first one with Stephanie! Weather forecast has always been off ever since I’ve been here. But for once it wasn’t and maybe I should have trusted it for once… Here’s why:
After 4 hours of crazy driving in the valley with fog, imperfect roads and about 10 accidents prevented at the last minute, we finally made it to Villa Tunari, the touristic capital of the department of Cochabamba – nested within the jungle and in-between national parks.. It’s 9pm but so warm though (at least 28°), as soon as we get a hostel we dig in to the swimming pool, warm as well, and get a silpancho (a typical dish constituted of pan fried meet, rice, potatoes, fried egg and a tomato/onion salad) in one of the remaining open restaurants around 10.30pm on a Sunday night. It’s time to go to bed to get fresh for the coupe following days of jungle and nature exploring. Oh wait did I say a good night sleep? That was without counting on the tremendous storm we had from midnight until 7am, I had never heard such a strong storm! That’s when you take a step back realise that on a whim you took a bus to a tropical jungly place where the weather isn’t as gently as in other places. Where such a strong storm can damage the road back to Cochabamba and flood the streets. So anyways, after a few hours’ sleep and some worries about what would happen with this type of weather, we were surprised to see that the streets weren’t flooded at all, so off we go to visit the surroundings! We start off with Parque Carrasco, of which I’ve been told many great things about. After negotiating the taxi up to there (15km further), we had to pay 90Bs per person for a 1h30 tour. First deception of the day, the tour was way too expensive for what it was. We walked around the jungle, seeing 3 special trees, but barely no wildlife. We visited two caves: one with Guacharos, a cavern bird that only lives in Bolivia, Venezuela and Colombia. We heard them more than we could see them and they avoid daily light and stay hidden in the cavern, into which we couldn’t enter. Too bad right? Yes tell the bolivianos that! We enter the following cave where we can see a bunch of small bats flying around, before returning back. Annoyed by the price we had to pay for such a tour we decided to walk a bit back and see if anyone could bring us back to town. After an hour nice walk within local villages a moto taxi taxes us back to town: a nice feeling of freedom within a warm and unique setting. The following visit if Parque Machia where we look forward to seeing monkeys. Decided to hike a bit around the park, and after crossing a bunch of “no pasar” signs, we find ourselves suddenly surrounded by a lot of monkeys flying around the jungle, breaking many branches of trees. Luckily they didn’t attack us leaving us a great opportunity to sit down, enjoy the unique moment, and admire them in their natural setting and even taking a few pictures! Oh and by the way we also saw what seemed like a lynx!! Shortly after arriving at the viewpoint it started to rain hard and we got out of the park drenched! Definitely the weather isn’t our best friend today! We decide to go to an animal sanctuary despite the heavy rain and temperature. Trying to fight touristic prices and to find a public transport up to there we get the strong feeling nobody cares about helping us. We decide to walk back to town (1km) under the rain to find one. And then, SPLASH! Like in the movies we get drenched by a wave of water – all our stuff is wet! Getting the impression the weather isn’t going to get better we go and check it out on internet: following weather forecast is 100% rain for the following 36 hours… Because it was preventing us too much to really enjoy the surroundings, we decide to head back to Cochabamba. 5h30 ride later, of which 1h30 traffic jam where everything tries to overtake everyone despite the situation, and after losing half my pyjama, we finally make it back home, still wet and cold. Bref, we’ve been to Villa Tunari…! See photos here: http://serendipitytravels.weebly.com/villa-tunari1.html
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AuteurHola! I’m Aliénor, a 24 year old life enthusiast and eager to discover the world in any way possible with an emphasis on engaging with local people and cultural exchange! Archives
Mars 2017
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