Sunday, July 6, 2008

Asencion de Guarayos

We arrived in Asencion de Guarayos late last night, on our way later today to a wildlife rehabilitation centre called Comunidad Inti Wara Yassi (www.intiwarayassi.org), where we hope to volunteer for two weeks. We had travelled by bus from Trinidad after flying there from Rurrenabaque. Again we had chosen the flying option, (not too expensive), rather than a 16 to 18 hour bus ride. Trinidad is a simple busy town with very few tourists, and in fact most travellers head to Rurrenabaque from La Paz, and directly back to La Paz. Motorbikes and scooters are the main form of transport in these towns, and people of all ages use them. They are also the main form of taxi, and we utilised two to head to the bus station in Trinidad to buy our tickets - no helmets are worn ! We had struggled in Rurrenabaque to get our Bolivian tourist cards extended, with a different version of the rules explained to us on each visit. Eventually mine (Irish) was extended in Rurrenabaque, and in Trinidad we went through three officials to extend Heather´s (Canada). The local official though was very helpful using an online translation program to communicate with us - Spanish to English.