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Floating in a tropical river, Day 1 of 6: Adventure on the road

Day 1 

It's 2:30pm in the afternoon.  I'm standing by a police check point on a rural road, waiting for a blue bus.  The road is gravel without pavement, very dusty.  When vehicles pass by, the smell of emission from low quality fuel makes it even harder to breathe.

This morning I did an exciting and unforgettable mountain bike ride descending 2500 metres, or maybe more.  This is the first part of a 6-day bike ride and river rafting tour.  I booked it through an agency called Deep Rainforest more than a month before I started the traveling.  Now the bike ride part is completed, the next is the river rafting.

The communication with DR has been quite uneasy, or even stressful.  Their insistence of paying in advance through Western Union has caused lots of hassles even before I left for the trip.  The bike ride is outsourced to another tour operator which DR never lets me know.  After the bike ride, through a broken cell phone conversation, DR told me to wait here for a blue bus of a specific plate number.  I'm thinking that this trip could be a big group.  They need a bus!

The policeman tries to chat with me, but he doesn't know any English, while I basically don't know Spanish. (Shame on me, who took Spanish class a few years ago in Guatemala.)  Interestingly, a young lady selling bread to passengers is able to use English very well.  She joins the chat when there is no vehicle coming.

4:40pm, the blue bus comes.  Confirmed the plate number, I board the bus and expect to see a full bus of gringos.  To my surprise, all passengers are Bolivians.  This is not a tour bus.  Then where should I get off the bus?  Luckily my smart phone keeps the initial itinerary that DR emailed me.  It says I should go to a place called Caranavi.  I ask the driver whether it goes to this place, he nods with a "si" (yes).

Checking my GPS, the distance is only about 50km, but the bus goes really slow.  7pm, the bus arrives at Caranavi.  It's already very dark.  I get off the bus but find no one waiting for me.  I keep repeating DR to the driver but he has no clue.  Eventually I find DR's phone number and ask the driver to call.  When it gets connected, I am told to go back to the same bus to continue the ride, and go to "Wanai".  OMG, what is Wanai and why I go there?  It's not mentioned in the itinerary at all!

Back to the bus, I check my GPS again.  OK, it's called Guanai.  But this name does not appear in the email either.  Anyway, I have no other choice.  So this is another 3 hours.  At about 10pm, the bus arrives at Guanai.  Just outside the bus, a smiling mid-age man obviously is expecting me.

His name is Ruben.  He speaks very little English, but seems he is able to understand some of my English words.  He leads me to a hostel.  I tell him that I need dinner.  Yes, I am really hungry at this point.  It's about 10 hours from my last meal, the lunch.  We go to a street eatery and get a simple meal for myself.

While I'm eating, we chat a little bit.  The conversation involves lots of body language, which helps to pass the information through more or less.  At this point I come to know that Ruben is the guide for the whole trip, I'm the only guest for this rafting tour--Some (probably two) others became sick and were not able to make it.

Only me?  I try to confirm several times through different ways with Ruben, he gives me very positive answer.  That means I will have to stay with only this person, with minimum understanding of each other's language, for the next 5 days?  OMG!

Photos:

The hostel I stay.  It looks quite good though.

The town centre square of Guanai:

A shelter at the street median, probably for rain:

Fruit vendor on the street:

Another view of a Guanai street:

Guanai is by the river of Rio Coco:

A local house:

The school is the biggest building in Guanai, with a nice soccer field:


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Replies, comments and Discussions:

  • Floating in a tropical river, Day 1 of 6: Adventure on the road +6
    • I don't know if I would travel this way myself +3

      It seems very interesting and kind of sketchy. I don’t think it’s the kind of travel for normal ordinary people, it takes a lot of gut… But good for you for being so brave.

      I think it’s better to know more about Spanish if you really want to travel in South America though… and good writing by the way :)

      • It takes some time and experience to feel comfortable to travel in a backpacking way. Along my trips I've met numerous young backpackers. Many of them just finished high school.
    • Floating in a tropical river, Day 2 of 6: River trip starts +1
    • Floating in a tropical river, Day 3 of 6: Fishing in the river +1
    • Floating in a tropical river, Day 4: Catching fish +1
      • Ruben rocks!
        • For catching fish with bare hands? :)
          • For being a good guide and a handyman. :)
    • Floating in a tropical river, Day 5 of 6: Wild macaws +1
    • Floating in a tropical river, Day 6 of 6: It rains finally. +1
    • Just found that my American friend Kim, who I met in my Ecuador trip, also took the same adventure!

      Here's what Kim wrote:

      It was the best thing I did in Bolivia! Too bad more people don’t know about it... or maybe it’s a good thing!

      I was at the same check point waiting for the bus to come...only I didn’t have a plate number. The police were freaked out that I was sitting there for hours. I didn’t speak Spanish either. The bus ended up coming 7 hours late due to a flat tire that happened before I got on. Luckily I have 3 other gringos that were on the bus who knew to look for me and I woke them up when I got on the bus to see if they were expecting another gringo. We arrived at our destination at 2:30 am and Ruban wasn’t there. Luckily, I was the only one with a phone and was able to call him otherwise we wouldn’t have known what to do. In the end Ruban was awesome and the trip was well worth it! 
       

    • Some of the best memories in life are from traveling. +2
      • Exactly! Read a thousand books, travel a thousand miles...
        • Should be 10 thousands.
          • You read more and go further. :D
    • Thanks for sharing. I think it's an interesting but scary experience! It's an adventure but not tourism. Did you feel comfortable and peaceful to float on the river for 6 days (not a short time) , +1
      especially when you were having language issues and equipped simply?
      • Hello new friends, it's my first time to visit the Rolia english version. Please feel free to let me know the errors and mistakes in my english writing. Thanks! +1
        • Welcome! Your writing is amazing. No need to worry about mistakes, if there is any. It's like the way we use Chinese: there might be errors but we are not concerned.
          • Thanks!
      • I was expecting to have a group of guests. So when I confirmed that I was the only one, I was quite disappointed. But I felt peaceful. It was not a comfortable trip though. Very primitive. :)
        • Perhaps your name, Prince Sailor, makes you brave to face that type of adventures, doesn't it? 😁😁
          • It's just not as comfy as staying in a 5-star resort. But throughout the trip I was like a prince: no need to work, someone cooked for me... isn't it amazing? :D
            • Yes, that real 1:1 small group services of both guide and hospitality. +1
        • Perhaps you have had lots of experience and skills of living near and on the sea?
          • Not really. :p I don't know how to sail, how to fish using a net, etc...
        • Could I know how much (roughly) did you pay for the guide or the travel agency? Please don't be offended. I have no intention to dig your privacy numbers,
          but just want to learn the local economic conditions and estimate the possible public safety issues for travellers. Thanks for your understanding.
          • I paid the agency. Around USD $320. It's an expensive one according to Bolivia standard. Regarding safety, Latin American countries are not so good on this issue, especially in big cities. Avoid going out after sunset.
            • 6 days' adventure for $320. The cost is low. It's a good deal as long as no robbery or other safety issues.
              • The service is minimum though... :D Among the several Latin American countries I've been too, Bolivia is safer, especially in the countryside.
                • Thanks for sharing your adventure experience!