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Menu,
Main pages: About us - Our
location - The
Eco-Lodge - The
Madidi National Park - Tacana
Community - Volunteer - FAQ - Programmes - Contact Menu,
Additional pages: Introduction -
Testimonials, page
1 and page 2 - Ethics - Links - Contact form - Volunteer English
teaching - Equator Prize |
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San Miguel del Bala, Bolivia. Community Eco-Lodge &
Eco-Tourism Rain forest hikes in and around the Madidi National Park. Comfortable lodging in cabins with electricity and private bathroom. |
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Welcome to our page # 2 with testimonials and journals/diaries from our visitors
Visitor January 2007:
Michelle from South Africa / United Kingdom
“What an
amazing time I had!”.
“I felt really sad as
we were heading back to Rurrenabaque...it had been such a wonderful experience
out here! I really felt like I had been a priveledged visitor
to another world, home of things that are greater than ourselves...loved it!”
Michelle travelled in Bolivia for 4 weeks from 22nd of January, 2007, arriving from Brazil to
Bolivia in Guayaramerín on the Mamoré River, east of Riberalta in the most
northerly of Bolivia.
Michelle’s travel blog can be read at
www.getjealous.com/michelle_matthee
For three days in January Michelle visited San Miguel del Bala. The
following testimonial is an exact reproduction of the last part (60 %) of her
diary entry “Out of this World...”, written 31st of January 2007: Getjealous.com/travel-blog/diary/michelle_matthee/262278
Alternative link (printable version): Getjealous.com/printdiary.php?diary_id=262278&username=michelle_matthee (This link works, December 2008).
This excerpt from the diary entry is published here on our site with
permission from the author Michelle Matthee.
Out of this World...
Hey hey hey!
(The first part (40 %) of the diary entry has
been omitted here. It tells about the
arrival from Brazil, the time in Guayaramerín, and the very long bus ride to
Rurrenabaque).
[…]
I also got to take a motorbike taxi in Rurre from the bus station to my
accommodation, which cheered me up.
After a shower and a nap, everything
was all good again and I set off to find a tour operator that would whisk me
off to the great outdoors... Either the pampas (savanna wetlands) or the selva
(‘jungle’ - I really hate that word!)... I could have done a trip in Brazil,
but the Amazon is in far better condition here than on the Brazilian side...and
it is cheaper here! Tour operators abound here, but yet, it was very difficult
to find a company that I was willing to give my cash! Every company seemed to
have photos of some grinning gringo clutching a caiman like it was his best
friend, or some chick holding a sloth as you would a small child - no thanks,
I’m not into the wildlife manhandling! I just want to go and see them! Just as
one operator was looking promising, a customer returning from his trip walked
into the office, babbling on about the great time he had... and the ”well-tamed
caiman”, that ”eats spaghetti”...well, guess who didn’t go with that company?!
I was about to give up, I was willing
to leave Rurrenabaque without going on a tour, if it meant avoiding supporting
some animal-abusing business (the problem lies more with the visitors, as
guides feel obliged to give them what they want... some gringos dig it...
self-appointed Steve Irwin replacements...grrr...). But then, I discovered San
Miguel del Bala. This is a community-based, built and run operation which does
trips to the jungle along ancient Tacana hunting routes, whilst providing
information about the traditionally used medicinal plants and culture. I
decided to spoil myself and go for a three day trip...
What an amazing time I had! Reached by
boat, the lodge is lovely - the cabins are superb (clean as, like Cindy
Standard Clean!), mosquito nets, great beds and lovely showers (own bathroom!).
All the buildings are made from natural, local materials and were built by the
San Miguel community. The food was superb too - I felt so spoilt! I had my own
guide (you usually go in groups of two or more), which was good, because of my
foot issue, so we could walk as slowly as I needed to. We did so many cool
things - visited the community, went for walks in primary and secondary forest,
ate mangos straight from the tree, as well as the fruit of the chocolate tree
(see, chocolate might as well be one of you 5-a-day fruit and veg!!) which
tastes and looks more litchi like (the seeds are the chocolatey bit - dried and
crushed); drank freshly squeezed caña de azucar (sugar cane juice) from a
‘trapiche’ and found out about loads of medicinal plants too. I also saw the
infamous and hotly debated coca plant - chewed by locals to relieve hunger,
thirst and ward of fatigue (not a drug! The stuff schnarfed by Westerners needs
to be extracted and processed). This was only day one!
Day two we went to the Madidi National
Park (by boat), which San Miguel borders on. We went for long walks into the
jungle and saw loads of cool things along the way - breeding pairs of
green-winded macaws (aka red and blue and green macaws) in their nests - which
are holes in a sheer cliff wall; tapir and jaguar tracks; a tortoise; many,
many butterflies (including huge electric blue ones!) and the view from the top
of the cliff was unbelievable! As the wind moves through the trees, it gives
the illusion that the whole forest is dancing, swaying and moving to its own
internal beat...breathtaking...
On the way back down to the river we
had some action! Sandro, my guide stopped and said ”pucurara”...Huh? A type of
snake!!! Yep, a very large (over 3 meters), beautiful snake was having its
Sunday afternoon sunning session on a branch right on the path, at eye level!
WOW! Sandro was eager to move along, because it is apparently a very venemous
and highly aggressive snake. So after some photographs (thank goodness for my
camera’s zoom!) which were not appreciated by the unwilling subject
(accidentally used the flash once, which was not clever - snake drew back into
striking position!!! Sorry!) we took a bit of a detour off the path around the
snake...it never took its eyes off us, watching us all the way! How exciting! 
Thought of you so much Simon (and the other
ophidiaphobes in my life)!
That evening we went on a night walk, which
was great! Walking around at night is a very different experience that during
the day - you never know what is watching you! Tee hee! We had torches and the
moon was nearly full, providing lovely silver light. We saw a kinkajou, which
is very cute (related to raccoons, but look more monkey-like)!
The third and final day we went out to
the canyon, which was unbelievable!!! I had a bit of an ‘Alice in Wonderland’
moment, the walls of the canyon are not your typical straight down type, no no,
these undulate, they are wavey! It is so fantastic! There is a small stream
running through the canyon, which to avoid wetting my shoes completely required
some spiderman moves - hands on one wall, feet against the other! But Sandro
was very helpful and rearranged the river stones so I could always cross easily
(I didn’t need to be Spiderwoman...but I wanted to be!). On the way back
through the canyon, there it was: another snake! This time a small, slim one,
but just as beautiful. It was also venemous I was told, but not so aggressive.
After some (flash-free) photos, we moved on. The snake promptly sped out of
there too - we probably scared it more! In the afternoon (after another great
lunch), we went fishing! YAY! I had dinner on the line, but lost it off the
hook as I lifted into the boat - darn it!
I felt really sad as we were heading
back to Rurrenabaque...it had been such a wonderful experience out here! I
really felt like I had been a priveledged visitor to another world, home of
things that are greater than ourselves...loved it!
Check out the website for San Miguel
del Bala: http://www.sanmigueldelbala.com
Wicked company, wicked community worth
supporting! They were so accommodating and flexible...fantastic!
Why aren’t we all there right now?
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Copyright © 2007 Michelle Matthee. Source: http://www.getjealous.com/travel-blog/diary/michelle_matthee/262278 The weird but disturbingly beautiful canyon out near
San Miguel del Bala... amazing... Link to photo:
www.getjealous.com/travel-blog/photo/michelle_matthee/2019746 |
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Alternative
link: Getjealous.com/getjealous.php?action=showimage&image_id=2019746&go=michelle_matthee
The photo (2019746.jpg)
is also shown below.
Go to page # 1
with testimonials
2007-02-23
Menu at top added 2008-12-22