Some Culture in the Amazon!

Hello everyone! Wow has a lot happened in the last few days! We got to Trinidad with no problems at all, except for a little paranoia when passing other double-decker busses on the little one lane dirt roads that map the Bolivian Amazon. The first thing we did was rent another motorcycle to whirl around in the city. We ended up riding most of the day, travelling into thick Amazon jungles and though some port cities on the Rio Mamoré. We must have rode 100 miles that day! We stopped occasionally to get some fresh sqeezed OJ on the street and Ice cream, but the most fun by far was when it was Kim´s turn to give the bike a go! I rode on the back at first, but immediatly got off for fear of falling. Then I got to sit back and laugh histerically as Kim wobbled throught the street (a very untrafficked street I might add) while all the local boys came out to watch and more-than-willingly offer their ¨professional help¨. Not surprisingly, Kim got the hang of it pretty quickly and I hopped on the back. We rode back and forth down some dusty roads for a while until we got tired and went home. What a great day!

Next on the agenda for the Amazon was the famous San Ignacio de Moxos celebration! Every year, for about a week, the small city about 4 hours from Trinidad celebrates The San Ignacio Saints Day. We got there on a camioneta, which is Spanish for a flat bed truck which uncomfortably packs 60 people and their luggage into a hot confined space where the stupid kids in the front don´t know the ¨don´t spit into the wind rule,¨ and angry fat bolivian ladies yell at you for squishing their kids with your backpacks. The front tire popped halfway through our ride which thankfully gave us time to strech out our legs and wipe off the spit. The bus dropped us off in the middle of a raging market (presumably for the festival) and a nice lady pointed us towards the plaza. We tried several hostels and walked around the city for hours until finally we resorted to following other white people around, hoping they were luckier than us. Wow! power in numbers! Within 5 minutes a large italian looking man drove up to us and offered us a room. Turns out, the guy turns his house into a hostel every year for the fiestival and he´s pretty much the God Father of the town! Lucky us! The next day, we climbed the roof to see an amazing parade! It was full of local kids dressed in indigious costumes, others dressed in animal pelts and macaw head dresses (they´re recycled every year), bands, people on stilts, a giant statue of San Ignacio, and lots more cool stuff. At some point, the ¨Don¨ learned that Kim´s family was from Mexico. He told Kim how everyone in Bolivia wants to be Mexican and points to his Mexican boots and talks about how much he loves Mexican music. From then on, he only adressed Kim as ¨Mexico¨. Later he learned her dad´s name was Ignacio so he drunkingly and repeatedly cheered and toasted for Mexico AND her dad. On the third day we went to the bull-teasing rink. Let me just say the stands were built in about a day and were really just 20 foot wooden poles shoved into the dirt with planks tied across them with some wires, with no stairs but plenty of home made ladders that got moved around to help people up! At first I felt sorry for the bulls as they were roped and dragged into the rink, but then they got loose and totally kicked everyone´s ass! There were a few fist fights too, which were at least entertaining, but not at all painful looking (the drunk contestants fell over more on their own than from opposing blows). Over all, a great time and I was happy the bulls didn´t die. Later that night, we watched a dangeously awesome fireworks show! Two of the rich locals competed on the street with their fireworks displays while pieces of hot cardboard flew into the audience. What a blast! We searched for some non-fried foods afterwards, but we ended up eating a bunch of empanadas anyway (emapandas are a pastry dough filled with chicken stew and then deepfried -- tastes like a chicken pot pie). Later we watched as costumed guys with fireworks coming out of their heads chase all the local kids around. The next morning, we awoke to a rediculously loud Moxos band that the wasted ¨Don¨ had hired to, probably, play a joke on all of his hungover residents. Overall, the three day long party was awesome, and we were sad to go, but we won´t miss hearing the loud banda style bands that only beated one song the entire time we were there!

The next day was full of travelling. We caught three taxis for 15 hours on some of the most dangerous roads in the world to finally get to La Paz! The altitude is tough, but we´re hanging in there. Until our next update, peace and love to all!