Karys & Marian in South America

  After taking a (freezing cold) night bus to Cochabamba, then changing to a minibus at 4am, we started on  our way to Toro Toro. The journey took 4 hours and led us through a dried up river bed and zigzagging up and down through the mountains. Upon arrival we checked into a hostel and went for a stroll round the small town and out past yet more dinosaur footprints towards a huge canyon. We met a guide who informed us that we needed a guide to do this tour so we turned back and did the route the other way to avoid being sent back. This turned out to be a recurring problem in the next days.... On the second day we attempted to walk up to a huge cave but again were informed that we couldn´t visit it without a guide. After a bit of discussion with the ranger, he agreed to show us into the entrance of the cave so we could at least take a look. Apparently if you don´t hire a guide,you also don´t need to pay the national park entrance fee..... strange Bolivian logic?!...

We camped in this small town near Santa Cruz and Amboro National Park for 3 nights. One day we hiked to the outskirts of town to visit El Fuerte, which is a site containing ruins over 2,500 years old. They were used by different tribes, and finally by the Inca and also Spanish. The next day we rented a motorbike and drove up steep dirt tracks to get into Amboro National Park, which was stunningly green and jungle-like. Very "Jurassic Park"! Samaipata ist ein kleiner Ort 3 Autostunden ausserhalb von Santa Cruz. Wir haben hier 3 Tage gecampt. Einen Tag nutzten wir um die Ruinen "El Fuerte" etwas ausserhalb Samaipatas zu besuchen. Eine schoene Wanderung 9 Km bergauf bei bestem Wetter. Die Ruinen sind ca. 2500 Jahre alt und wurden in der Vergangenheit von verschiedenen Voelkern genutzt. Zuletzt von den Inka und natuerlich den spanischen Besatzern. Am darauffolgenden Tag sind wir mit einem geliehen Motorrad in den Amboro Nationalpark gefahren. Die steilen Staubpisten ...

Sucre - the white city. We really like it here. The city is beautiful and laidback. The markets are rich with fruit and delicious local meals are available throughout the town for 8 - 12 Bolivianos (1 - 1,5 €). Nevertheless we were eager to get into nature once again. Luckily the surroundings of Sucre provide lots of panoramic mountain ranges and more highlights. We left the city at 8:00 am heading towards the village Potolo in a Micro. Micros are the form of transport in Bolivia. They are small buses with about 20 seats and usually leave once they are full of people. Everything is transported in these Micros. People, food, chickens... People hail them along the way and it is common to have more people than  seats on the bus. We stopped ate the outskirts of the city to take more people on board and for the rest of the trip I had a friendly Bolivian gentleman basically sitting on my lap whilst the lady next to Karys was busy changing the diaper of her baby. Welcome to Bolivia! O...