JumpEarth Around the World Adventure

After the Passover Seder, we went to sleep. The next morning we flew to Brasilia, the capital of Brazil. Our layovers were in Santa Cruz and Sao Paulo. There, Asher and I ate lunch with Troy. I have a funny story for you! The menu was in Portuguese (Brazilians speak Portuguese), but Asher said it was in Spanish but that he couldn’t read it. Mistake number one. The waitress overheard us and brought English menus. Asher didn’t hear her, opened the new menu, looked through it, and freaked out; “it’s still in Spanish!” Oh, I love this kid… After lunch, which was surprisingly good, I got dark chocolate ice cream. It is the best ice cream I have ever had. It was creamy and rich and DELICIOUS. We landed in Brasilia. You probably assumed that Rio was the capital of Brazil, so why is Brasilia so unheard of? I don’t know, but it is wonderful. Aba and Troy were in paradise, as most of the buildings are mid-century modern. In fact, furniture line called Brasilia Lane was designed based off of the city, and we own a few of the pieces. We got to the hotel and relaxed. The next day was Easter. We spent it at the mall buying new clothes! Also, as it was Easter, I should mention that Asher is the Easter Bunny. Shhh, don’t tell. He’ll deny it, but it’s true! In the afternoon, it poured rain. This was very unusual because it is normally very dry there in April. In the morning, we went on a tour with our guide, Juan. He was very very very fun! All day, he would randomly burst into song (for example, Singin’ in the Rain from Singin’ in the Rain when it started raining) and was very informative about the city architecture, and history of Brasilia, even though he is originally from Uruguay. Our first stop was the JK Memorial. JK was Juscelino Kubitschek, a president of Brazil. He created the city of Brasilia and made it the country’s capital.

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However, the memorial was closed and we moved on. Next, we went to the General Headquarters of the Army, where they also have a cultural museum. We did not go into the buildings, only admired the architecture, but we did stand under a big echo-y arch. Aba ‘persuaded’ me to sing a little (after a lot of prompting). I did a bit of Ave Maria and Joni Mitchell’s “The Circle Game”. At one point, I forgot the lyrics to Ave Maria and Juan started singing it to jog my memory! He was really supportive and I’m very glad he was our guide.

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Fatima Chapel was our next stop. This nun’s-hat-shaped building was built in haste for the architect’s daughter’s wedding, the first celebration held there, but was still elegant and beautiful. We wandered around the residential neighborhoods in the area and noticed how alike the architecture and setup were to Israel, but, then again, Israel was on our minds a lot.

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We took a stroll through a park, then drove to the Dom Bosco Sanctuary. This is a large church that is mostly filled in with beautiful stained glass in different colors of blue. This actually ended up being one of my favorite buildings in Brasilia because of the glass.

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The following church was the Metropolitan Cathedral. We only got to see the outside because, like the JK Memorial, it was closed. However, even that was great. The outside is hard to describe and I don’t want to label it in your mind as anything, so you’ll have to be content with pictures.

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Itamaraty Palace was next on our list. Juan has even dined there as a guest! We visited the National Congress and toured the building, but the Square of Three Powers and the Alvorada Palace were only seen from the outside.

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They were nice, too, though, and we even drove over the JK Bridge and saw some tiny burrowing owls!

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I really enjoyed our time with Juan, so if you ever go to Brasilia and need a guide, find him on TripAdvisor or his website at http://guiajuanluishermida.com.br/. The next day I woke up three hours early and did homework and other chores (opera, etc). Asher woke up at 9 AM and we ate breakfast. Asher packed his bag and we put them into Juan’s car. He drove us to the cathedral again in order to show us the interior, which we had missed the day previous. It was wonderful. Almost as cool as the stained-glass church, this building also had stained glass but was in a dome crown shape. The walls are curved, so a whisper spoken on one side of the large room can be easily heard on the other side. In the nearby baptism room, there was a rounded cement ceiling that gave off a nice echo.

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Next, we went to the Military Culture Museum again. I had practiced Ave Maria the night before and in the morning, but after the first stanza, I couldn’t remember the melody. It was embarrassing, but I had to stop. Next, we went to the JK Memorial again, also previously closed. There, we learned about his history and accomplishments as well as the story of his rise to power. A few interesting objects were the number of sashes and pins presented to him by other countries and another gift from The Queen: An original second edition set of illustrated Shakespeare novels. She was very generous with Brazil! This is the Ministry of Foreign Affairs:

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After lunch, Juan drove us to the airport. I gave him a bracelet I had woven with the colors of the Brazilian flag and we went inside.

Our flight to Lisbon was nine hours long and very uncomfortable. I read, but if I wanted to watch (bad, blurry) movies I couldn’t have because you had to pay for movies. The seats were uncomfortable and much too tall, and if you dropped something it would be impossible to bend down and pick it up. Our eight-hour layover was in Lisbon, but because of our earlier delay (a “safety concern”), we only had 6.5. We left the airport via the subway and ate lunch, strolled, and bought new bathing suits! Our flight to Israel was five hours long and when we disembarked we had to find our family through a crowd of rejoicing united Eritreas. Then, we saw the family. Our uncle Moti, cousin Emri, Tuko (their dog), uncle Oved, cousin Noa, cousin Meital, and cousin Matan picked us up and took as to Savta’s apartment. She was so excited to see us! Our aunt Ronit was also waiting there for us! We ate dinner and later in the evening my cousin Arieli came! We had tons of fun and went to sleep. I’m so happy to be here! 22-4-22

Ella

Hey! We flew out of Rurrenabaque in the morning and arrived in La Paz. Before the flight, a man with a broken leg was hauled into the plane, naked except for a revealing robe and underwear. I wonder how he broke it… We planned to go to our Airbnb straight from the airport (after picking up the luggage we had left at our first hotel), but the person renting it to us was late and we had to wait FIVE hours until we could rest. We made use of the time by going to the mall, and Asher had a three-hour lesson with his new Spanish tutor, Diana. She’s quite short but I think she’s pretty, and I think she and Asher get along well. While we were at the mall, Aba felt sick and nauseous. He could hardly stand up, though now he feels fine. We were eating lunch at a quaint little restaurant when we heard the news: the Notre Dame Cathedral was on fire. Bolivian internet censors live videos, so we could only read articles and communicate with others by text, but we saw the fire and the spire falling. It was dreadful. Dad, as you know, is in Paris, and he could see the flames and sent us videos. I just can’t get over how terrible it is… Did you know that it is almost 900 years old and that the last time it was damaged was the French Revolution? It survived both World Wars! When we went to Paris earlier on this trip, we passed by Notre Dame. However, we didn’t go in. Why? “We’ve seen it before and we can always go next time we come to Paris”. *sigh*, I’m just glad I have been in there before and can remember it. The next day was spent doing homework. Troy made us sandwiches for dinner with mustard, so they were great. I also got to eat pickles! Yum! The second day, we almost ate at a Harry Potter themed restaurant but decided that the food didn’t look good after all. We also discovered some juicy school gossip. One of my favorite teachers got fired for being drunk and high in class. One of my friends’ sisters actually reported him. I’m not going to go into detail because it feels wrong, so I’m just recording this solely for posterity. We also started watching a new TV show, Fauda, and so far I like it. In the morning, we got up early and met with our guide, Denis. He is a friend of our first guide, Sandro. We drove through Death Road, honoring Mother Earth with spilled alcohol in a ritual along the way. Death Road is a road on which many people have died, kind of self-explanatory. It is very curvy and narrow, and it is located right on the edges of cliffs. It is rated one of the most dangerous roads in the world. Still, it was very beautiful and the ride was enjoyable. Diana came with us and spoke Spanish with Asher, and it was nice to have her around. I don’t know why, but I like her a lot. She seems like a nice person.

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Because we left early, we had the road to ourselves. However, we ended up having to wait for an hour for a tractor to clear the way through the day before’s landslide. During this time, we were passed by multiple biking groups, including two groups of Israelis. The first group seemed like classic Israeli millennials (loud, arrogant, annoying, playing irritating music filled with cuss words, etc), but the second seemed slightly more approachable. That is why we played our favorite trick. They were like, “If we had been here earlier, we could’ve DIED, blah, blah, etc, etc”. This went on for roughly half an hour when one of them accidentally bumped into Aba and said “sorry” in English. Aba then replied in Hebrew, and oh, the faces! The faces are priceless! Israelis commonly travel after the army and before college, so we have surprised many of them like this on the trip. I love it so much! It’s hilarious!!!! The man who bumped into Aba said, “You’re Israelis?!”. Aba said yes, and I said, “why else do you think I was laughing so hard at you earlier?” He blushed! Aww, I love it.

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Anyway, when we finally passed the landslide, we (except for Troy) went ziplining a short way through the cliffs. As I was getting hooked up, the Israelis were still trying to decide whether or not to do it because they were scared. I told them, “I’m 14. If I can do this, you can do it, too.” Wonderful. The zip line was really fun. It was too short, but I was lying down and felt like I was flying. Among the green background, there were beautiful purple plants scattered through the trees.

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We ate lunch and Denis told us a bit about the history of Bolivia and its history of war (and its history of losing wars). We passed through some coca farms on the terraced hillsides and then drove back to La Paz. We got there 2.5 hours late and had to cancel our dinner with Sandro. The next day, I woke up early and did homework. I finished a bit before Asher, so Aba and I decided to go shopping/errand-running. Our first stop was a Jewish Center where we bought tickets for the next night’s Passover Seder. That’s right, Passover! No more bread for us! Anyway, everyone there spoke Hebrew but seemed quite religious, wearing yamakas, etc. They even made Aba wear tefillin (look back at Asher’s Bar Mitzvah post) and read from the Torah! Aba also bought Bamba there! After that, we went to the Witch’s Market. We got Asher a shirt for the holidays, a runner for our table at home, and almost bought me a casual backpack but decided it was too large. We stopped at a barber’s and Aba got his hair shaved. Another customer was an 80-year-old man. Before he left, he asked for a porno magazine! I suppose he gets his hair cut every week and replaces them. It was very funny to see, especially because the workers had to take it out of a secret hiding spot. On our way to the mall, we passed a square filled with many folk dancing people. In the square, we bought Asher a chocolate bunny for Easter and a terrified-looking chocolate rabbit for the rest of us. There was a clothing store that we wanted to browse in at the mall and we found two shirts and a jacket that we loved, but when we were about to pay for them the staff told us that the prices were in US dollars! $79 USD per shirt. We did not buy anything, so I can’t imagine what Bolivian does. How does the store make any business? I really enjoy these days out with Aba, so I’m glad we had the chance for one. At 7:30 pm, Sandro picked us up and took us to dinner. There were several live bands, most of them skilled with the pan flute, and a dancing group. This group came on several times and Aba was very popular, a true lady’s man. I danced a few times as well, but what was most shocking is that Asher and Troy danced, too! That NEVER happens! And both in the same night! Incredible!

The next day, Asher and I did homework. While he was in his Spanish lesson, I started working on an opera song called Ave Maria that my voice instructor in Israel, Tamar, assigned me, and a bracelet that I am making for Aba. We watched Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy until Asher returned and then watched Fauda and Desperate Housewives. That night, we went to a Passover Seder! Passover is the celebration of the Jews’ freedom of slavery from Egypt. There were 500 backpacking Israelis congregated in the dining hall, the most I’ve seen since we left Israel, and it was a surprisingly fun experience. The Seder was very slow, but there was a lot of singing out of key and socializing. A funny saying that the host said was that “it was easier to get out of Egypt than to get Matzo into Bolivia”. They wouldn’t let them ship Matzo to the Seder, so they had to smuggle it and make their own.

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From the Salt Flats of Uyuni to the Amazon jungle and Pampas of Rurrenabaque to just La Paz, I have fallen in love with Bolivia. It is one of the few countries existing today in which you can feel that it is untouched by the wrongs of the modern world. I mentioned this before, but who knows how long it will stay this way. Aba got us a ten-year Bolivian VISA, but I don’t even know what Bolivia will look like in ten years. Please, don’t change all that much.

Ella

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April 10, 2019

9:22pm

El Tacural Lodge, the Bolivian Amazon

Ella Shaul

Hi! Before we get started, I would like to mention a few things. Remember how I wrote my Nepal blogs (day-by-day)? Well, that’s how I’m going to write about my time in the Amazon. It sounds more ranger/survivor-y, don’t judge, and I think I like the format better. Also, I am going to be at least a bit more detailed. Lately, I’ve kind of been slacking in the blog instead of treating it like something that I actually want to do, so I’m going to try and write better. I realized that I will probably read this in the future and that others are FINALLY (*cough* Arianne, Selene, Summer, and Noah) reading it. Now that that’s over with, let’s get started!

Yesterday: Yesterday we didn’t do very much. We woke up in Uyuni and flew to our layover in La Paz. We were delayed an hour in Uyuni and there was a problem with Asher’s ticket, but it was quickly solved. In La Paz, our flight was canceled and we had to board the next fight three hours after we were supposed to leave; a total layover of six hours. We ate hamburgers (Troy accidentally ordered us the smallest size) and nuts in the meantime. On the plane, remember it was a combination of two flights, only about two-thirds of the seats were taken. And this was a small plane! When we arrived in Rurrenabaque, we noticed how few tourists there were! One thing that I loved was that when we got in our eight-person hotel van, we had to wait for other non-tour/reservation passengers! The van was acting as a taxi at the same time as transport for us! This may sound annoying to you, and it was at the time, but I loved that we were conserving energy and gas! I’d never seen it before and it was a bit of a nuisance until I understood, but I think it’s a small price to pay for a cleaner world. Before we got to our hotel, Aba had to sign us in at their office. While we waited, I saw this five-year-old boy playing tag with a fluffy black puppy. It was the cutest thing! We got to the hotel, which was nice but nothing special, and I read. We ate dinner at a nearby restaurant and went to sleep after a cold shower. 9-6-4-17  8-21-26-21-17-6 12-6, 4-23-24-6-17 4-13-9 1 24-4-9 23-3 12-21-5-24 8-21-13 1-13 26-24-6-17-6! 1 12-4-9-6 24-1-12 23-24-3-18-6-17 18-6-14-14, 7-21-26 1-26 18-4-23 4 25-3-22! Today was amazing. In the morning, we checked out of our hotel and Aba barely avoided getting scammed. Then, we met our guide. His name is Aurelio (I just try to remember *boo!* Aurelius Dumbledore from the new Fantastic Beasts (NOT Harry Potter) movies), and he seems very nice. We bought an extra flashlight and bottled water and then checked in at another office. Aba and Troy were surveyed about the Amazon by some high school students and Asher and I played with four cats. We only saw the mother, at first, and thought she was a kitten because she was small, but they were all so fuzzy! The next two and a half hours were spent riding in a small boat up the Beni, or Amazon, river. We stayed close to the shore because of the strong currents and were, therefore, able to notice some movement. First of all, we saw a man fishing with floating bait, but wildlife, even on that ride, was also abundant: screeching blue-and-yellow macaws, dark black vultures, swallows, sunbathing turtles, different species of beautiful Heron, were all seen in the water or through the thick jungle foliage. It seemed that in no time at all we arrived at our destination. As we disembarked, we were greeted by a peccary. A peccary, for those who don’t know, would be most likened to a hog with bristles for fur. However, they kind of look like enlarged shrews. This peccary was obviously used to people and almost immediately started rubbing against Asher and nuzzling me. He acted like a tame dog! You will get more familiar with Rambo, as Aba called him, because he followed us to El Tacural Lodge, where I am writing from now. We later learned that his name is really Roberto. The lodge was staffed by four people in addition to Aurelio and when we got here there were only six other guests. Now, it is only us. We rested and I read in a hammock (I’m starting to really like hammocks) until lunch, at which time we commenced with our afternoon hike. It was amazing. Even the vegetation was astounding. There were trees with spikes and tiny flowers; vines on top of vines, one hard and barren and the other soft and coated with leaves; there was an abundance of moss virtually everywhere and remarkable mushrooms littered the terrain, and everything was overshadowed by that overpowering sense of Green. Aurelio had been a guide for nineteen years and on the way, he had seen many things. One of them is a giant tarantula, and he has watched him grow almost every day for four years. I mention this because it’s cool and because we got to see him. He was gigantic! Seriously the biggest spider I’ve ever seen, and I’ve seen some pretty large tarantulas in Texas. I’m worried the pictures won’t adequately show the size, so I’ll just say that he was probably bigger than my entire hand. And thick. Verrrrrrry thick. And hairy. Awesome. Another cool thing we saw were jaguar prints! Like the tarantula, they were huge! I am completely in love with this jungle.

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In addition to what I already mentioned, my favorite part about the hike is how much Aurelio knew and shared with us. He pointed out plants and trees that could be used as remedies for asthma, fevers, diarrhea, nausea, and other illnesses, and told us how they were prepared. He cut a tree/vine plant thing open and showed us how to drink from it (it was tasty, by the way) and Aba was so excited to try the therapeutic juice made from it that he carried it the entire way back to the lodge!

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He taught Asher and me how to use a machete, and he showed me how to swing from a vine. In addition to wanting to do it myself, before I left La Paz I promised my friend Una that I would. She had swung in Hawaii and wanted video evidence of my achievement. Una, this play-by-play is for you.

Aurelio: “Which one of you is the most like Tarzan?

Aba: Puts his hand on my shoulder “Ella is!”

Me: Stepping forward “Well, I did promise Una… Take a video!”

Me: I grab the vine and start swinging “Wooooaaaaah!”

*Crash*

End Scene.

Yes, my very own AFV video. I know, too bad I stopped myself from falling into the water… Those leeches would’ve been fun to play with. Instead of swinging like Tarzan, the much used and swung-on vine broke. Sigh…. I hope I get another chance later. We went back to the lodge but could still hear the magical sounds of jungle birds and bamboo rats, taking a rest before dinner. After our meal, we went on another hike, but in the dark. We couldn’t see very much, as we periodically stopped and turned off of lights, and we didn’t see any animals, but we did see insects akin to fireflies. They let out bright flashes of light every few seconds for a minute or two, but then they went away. It got a choir sing that I had sung in sixth (?) grade into my head, Come Into the Firefly Darkness by Amy F. Bernon, finally banishing Just Give Me a Reason by Pink. It had been in my head for a week! Also, we did see the Bamboo rats that are continuously squalling and a mouse on a vine. We blogged and am now going to go to sleep. Goodnight!

April 11, 2019

9:02pm

El Tacural Lodge, the Bolivian Amazon

Ella Shaul

It’s Thursday evening and Pink is back in my head! Today was filled with excitement! This is appropriate because it’s Trixie’s birthday! Happy birthday, Trixie!! She’s eight years old!!!! Therefore, I have a lot to write about. In the morning, we ate breakfast as usual and boarded a canoe. We rode a short while to an area called Caquiawara where we planned to see birds. It was a long hike up to a high platform, but on the way, we saw some worthwhile things. First of all, we saw a little toad. Remember the distinction I taught you in the Galapagos between turtles and tortoises? The same holds true for frogs and toads. Frogs are in water and toads are on land. This little toad was perfectly camouflaged with leaves on the ground and was quite difficult to spot. In the middle of the path, we started seeing signs and models of animals in the jungle. They were a lot bigger than I expected and life-sized! Before this, one of the first things we saw was a group of orange monkeys. They had black and white faces and dashed through the treetops. This is rare, so we were very lucky. A couple of days before, there had been strong winds, so a huge tree fell onto the path and we got to balance in it. Fun! Next to this was a destroyed beehive that Aba was super excited about. Around the same area, Troy started noticing leaf skeletons and collected them with my help. I also found a really cool piece of vine in the shape of a ring and kept it, but sadly lost it later in the day. We arrived at the bird watching platform and were stunned by the vibrant colors of green parrots like the ones found in Israel, red-and-blue macaws, and other avians. They were nesting in natural holes in a rock wall and there were about fifteen pairs of parrots. On the way back, we saw a gigantic toad about twice the size of my fist, but Aurelio said it was a small baby. Small!! We also saw some amazing non-animal objects. I will list my three favorites. The first two are animal nests. There is a certain species of bird, I’m not sure which, that almost make woven bags. If was wonderful! They’re really bags that you could put things in and stroll with! And made by birds! The second best was the nest of a bamboo rat. It wasn’t extraordinary, but it was interesting to see how these musical creatures live. The third awesome thing was a seed pod. I don’t know what kind, but I’m planning on looking it up so that I can plant it at home. It basically looks and feels like green jelly inside of snakeskin in the shape of a long bean. I must find it! After the hike, we had to cross a river and got our legs soaking wet even though we were wearing waterproof rubber boots because of the strong high water. Our next course of action was to tube in that large, strong river.

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This wasn’t tubing in the traditional sense. When you think of tubing, you probably think of a boat tied to a rubber donut being dragged through the water. Our donuts were just floating along with the current. With my bikini on 4-13-9 12-22 8-1-17-23-26 26-4-12-11-3-13 1-13, we started drifting. Aba and Troy, with their longer arms, were able to better control their movements, but I fell a bit behind and Asher was so far away that we could hardly see him. Aurelio kept emphasizing that we had to stay away from the edges of the river because of wooden debris, but Aba and I got sucked in anyway. There were two big logs in front of us, one on top of and one under the water, as well as smaller and medium-sized sticks. Aba bounced off the top log and continued his float, I was pulled down and trapped under water. This might read a bit tedious and it was actually really difficult to write this, but I want to get everything down as it truly happened. I hit the logs sideways, almost backward, and two separate currents forced me underneath the water. Once under, these currents were directed onto my thighs and my face. The current was so strong that my bikini bottom was almost immediately jerked off of my body and my legs squeezed between the current and a log, but my face was being pummeled the most. I couldn’t see, but all I could feel was water blasting onto and into my face; not just on certain areas, but the entire front of my head. I couldn’t move. I quickly lifted my right arm out of the water and waved it, needing someone to rescue me. A moment later I realized that no one would be able to come (Sorry this is choppy, I’m crying a bit as I write this), the current was too strong. I tried to launch upward and escape, but I couldn’t move. In that instant, I realized that I couldn’t get out. I don’t think I’ve ever felt that way before. It was like everything stopped as this dawned on me. If I could have cried I probably would’ve. Then, quick as it came, that helpless feeling went away and I thought of a way out. Down. I was scared to do it, but I knew that I couldn’t go up or sideways and that no one else could save me and I figured that if, when I went father under, I didn’t get caught in more underwater traps, I could bypass the debris and swim up to the surface. I followed through with my plan and came up. This all probably happened within six seconds. Stop; I know it doesn’t sound like long, but you have to take some measures into account. I didn’t have time to hold my breath; before I got stuck I was just cruising down the Amazon, trying to paddle away from the debris and preparing to push off of it. Next, you try and hold your breath for five seconds without previously conserving air; not your classic hide-and-seek seconds, but a real, slow six seconds. It’s not as easy as you would think, even safe and above water. In addition, I’ve heard that everything slows down when you’re in danger. It’s true, not to mention the fact that one of the currents was battering my nose and mouth the entire time. When I came up for air I breathed, but I didn’t breathe. It’s hard to describe… I knew I was breathing but it didn’t feel like any breath I had taken before. It was as if I was going through the motions of breath but they weren’t working. I still felt like I was drowning. That’s what I had been; drowning. I quickly swam over to Troy, but he was so panicked that I didn’t have time to act frightened. Whatever he saw in the following hour was nothing compared to what I’m showing now, under the cover of my bed. Aurelio told us to get to shore, but the current was still too strong to move against. My swimming was not impaired and my body felt mostly okay, so I persuaded Troy to release my life jacket and I swam us over to the bank. Troy gave me his life jacket to cover up my bottom half, he wouldn’t let me take off mine, and that’s when I started working about Asher. I couldn’t see him and I couldn’t see the boat. We waited for perhaps a minute until I started panicking. The adults had started walking toward him, but the memory of being trapped was still fresh in my mind and my fear began again for him. I came as fast as I could, but we were so far away. The whole time I was talking out loud, practically begging for him to be alright, “Asher, After, let him be okay, he’s just floating down the river, or he saw me go under so he went to the bank, or he’s in the boat, or maybe he’s stuck above water but he’s okay, just don’t let him go underwater, he’s fine, he’s fine, he’s probably really scared and maybe even crying but he’s okay, he’s safe, let him be okay, please, let him be okay…” . When Troy saw me following he ordered me to Stay, and so he would get to Asher faster I did. At this point I was sobbing, so scared as to what might have happened. Troy yelled at me that Asher was alright and I tried to believe him, but I was still terrified because of how long it was taking. When the boat came for me and I saw him on it I finally felt safe. They threw me his underwear to put on and I boarded the boat.

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I’m sure Asher will tell you his version of events, but he basically got caught in the same logs as me. However, he was able to keep his head and hands out of water, allowing the boat to take its time saving him. His wrists were sore, but he only got two small cuts in his right leg. On the other hand, my left side was the most battered. I have a large scratch on the left side of my neck, a huge bruise on the left side of my chest, scratches on both legs, bruises on my butt, and scratches on my right arm. Let’s just say that I am very uncomfortable in my current position.

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Aba told me to shake it off and act happy for Aurelio’s sake, so I did. That’s probably why it’s coming out on this blog, sorry. For the rest of the day, Aba didn’t seem to be too affected by it and in fact called me a drama queen, but I think he’s more shaken up then he lets on. He did emphasize, though, that it is good we had a chance to practice survival skills (and succeeded). I know people may wonder about why I was so frightened of this when I fell off a cliff three years ago, but it’s because this time I had time to be scared. When I fell, I fell, was on the ground, and then it was painful, but I never thought I would die. I knew I would be okay and that there were people with me. Today, I didn’t. That aside, the rest of the day was pretty fun (especially when Troy said, in jest, that stubbing his toe was worse than all of our experiences combined, oh Troy). We returned to Tacural Lodge and rested. After lunch, we went on a hike to a hidden lagoon. I say hidden because there were water plants growing in it so it practically looked like somebody’s lawn! However, Aurelio says that there are fish, piranhas, and other animals there as well. I also finally got to swing on a vine! It was fun not falling! Still, the best part of the hike was that Roberto joined us. I only mentioned him a little bit earlier, so I’ll go into more detail now. He is about seven months old and when his mother died or disappeared he started coming to the lodge for food. He is very friendly with all tourists and is fed our leftover food scraps, so he eats very well. At night, he sleeps under the kitchen to hide from predators. He has taken a liking to rubbing on us, and on the hike he fully embraced us for the first time, marking us with stink as his territory! He followed us for almost the entire duration of the hike.

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When we came to a fork in the road and to chose to take the twenty minute way home instead of the five minute way, Roberto went away. When we got to the lodge, there he was! He took the shortcut, that lazy peccary! Troy dared me to write a Shakespearean type poem titled Eau de Roberto as a play on words with Eau de Cologne, so I’ll write it soon. That night, after dinner, we went out on another hike. We were able to see the eyes of either an ocelot or a jaguar as well as a caiman, an alligator-type creature. Now, after another cold shower, we’re going to sleep. I’ve had a long day, so I think I’ll sleep very well. However, I am very disappointed that today was our last day in the Amazon jungle, I had so much fun…

April 12, 2019

9:10pm

Caracoles Lodge, the Bolivian Amazon

Ella Shaul

I am so sad. Today, we had to leave the jungle. With it, we had to leave Roberto. That cute little piglet rubbed us goodbye as we left in a boat after breakfast. We love you, Roberto! We returned to the city of Rurrenabaque and resupplied ourselves, taking a jeep to our next stop, the Pampas area.

On the way, we saw more sights. One would’ve made my old science teacher, Mrs. Keeney, jealous. Sloths! We saw two sloths lounging and eating in trees and actually got nice views of them! I don’t think I’ve ever seen sloths in the wild before, so this was amazing! We also saw cows and their ‘cowboys’ as well as different types of birds. Other than that, I slept (but let me say that it was the most uncomfortable car to sleep in that I have ever slept in ever, and I’m a 13-year-old kid who can sleep anywhere). We took a boat to our final destination and arrived at Caracoles Lodge. No longer in the jungle, we are now in a very marshy landscape. Roberto had been replaced by a grey cat, Mico. After lunch (El Tacural’s food and service were much better), we went out in a motorized canoe. Before and after we swam with pink dolphins, we saw abundant varieties of birds, more caimans, capybaras (water pigs), turtles, and a few large Black Howler monkeys. I skimmed over the dolphins because we’re swimming with them again tomorrow and they actually weren’t very cooperative. We basically stood in the water and watched them hunt flying fish. Still cool, though. One interesting bird I would like to mention is the Watson bird. It is brown and has a yellow mohawk, but its diet is interesting; it consists only of leaves because its stomach is like a cow’s. Aurelio also taught us how to drive the boat! Asher navigated well but excruciatingly slow, so when it was my turn we jetted fast and didn’t crash! Success! After dinner, we went out on the boat again, planning to look for snakes. However, the mosquitos were unbearable. There were thousands of them and they swarmed around our flashlights. Even on my palms, they were practically drowning in the DIT Troy sprayed there. When we disembarked to search, we could hardly move. It felt like it was raining! We did end up seeing caiman eyes and roosting birds, but the best part of the night was seeing two Great Horned Owls. They hooted and were wonderful to see, though I think one of them had a problem with his eyes. The corneas were noticeably different. We ask saw dozens of little toads, reminding me and Asher of the one we had saved from our room earlier in the day. I have to shower now and my mosquito bites are killing me. I must have thirty of them, at least. Wish me luck.

April 13, 2019

9:52pm

Caracoles Lodge, the Bolivian Amazon

Ella Shaul

Wow. Today has been dubbed, officially, as Water Wednesday, even though it’s Saturday (taking my inspiration from you, The Lego Movie). The reason is that everything awesome and cool mostly happened in the water. First thing in the morning, after breakfast, we went anaconda searching. Our efforts were fruitless but littered with fun experiences. Before I commence with my description, I think I should mention that Aba and Troy made Asher carry their backpack for once when they didn’t, their plan being that the four of us would alternate throughout the day, but Asher complained endlessly for fifteen minutes while we hiked. They finally took it away after getting mad, but it put Aba in a grumpy mood for the rest of the afternoon. I think he would’ve enjoyed the experience more if it wasn’t for that, but as it was, he was a downer the remainder of the hike. In order to get to the anaconda grounds, we had to pass through an abandoned lodge and ranch. Asher loved its eerie creepiness. Around this area, we saw so many pigs! They were domesticated but still looked wild and outlandish, but the piglets were adorable! The skipped around in groups of two or three and were continually “stalking” us. So cute! We also saw monkeys in the area, notably a female Howler monkey with a baby on her chest! See the previous sentence for my reaction, haha, it seems to be a common theme. Troy did find the skin of a grass snake! Though we looked for anacondas in this wooded area, we were really heading towards a marshy swamp because they live in the water. We waded and waded and I even got water in my boots, but we only found caimans and birds. However, the vegetation was a vivid light green and there were bright pink flowers floating among them, so it was very beautiful. One thing that caught my interest were bright pink bubbles in clumps throughout the area. Aurelio enlightened me and explained that they were snail eggs camouflaged with the pink flowers! Aba finally persuaded Aurelio to turn back because of the wet and sun, but I think he was disappointed. Aurelio really wants us to see a snake on this trip. The entire time there was a herd of cattle watching us. They were ridiculous and one-minded in the pursuit of their goal, so I called them the cowvalry. After the wetlands, we returned to the lodge and rested. I read and then napped for an hour before we ate lunch. After a two hour siesta, we swam with the pink dolphins again. Today I will go into detail because it was amazing! Like yesterday, we splashed around in the shallow water to attract their attention and then waited for them to come to us. Yesterday, one only passed close enough to touch once after a long wait, but today was not like that. We were only in the water for five or ten minutes when they started darting nearer and getting curious. They got close to all of us but we couldn’t yet touch them. Then, one came up next to me and stayed there for ten or fifteen seconds. He nuzzled me and circled me and wrapped himself around me and let me hug and pet him. His skin was like scratched slimy rubber, but I was just so happy that he had come to me of his own free will and stayed for such a long time. He let me touch him his entire stay! Troy called him my “Water Roberto” because he cuddled so much, this amazing wild Amazonian pink dolphin. When he went away, we got on the canoe, Caracole III, and prepared for piranha fishing. Now, considering I’d only seen piranhas on the internet and that it has been years since I’ve fished, I’m pretty proud of today’s accomplishments. Aurelio taught us how to use the fishing line, notice I say the line, it was fishing line with a hook wrapped around a piece of wood, and Troy caught the first piranha. However, he released it because it was small and he felt bad about it. I will skip to the tally, only mentioning how difficult and fun it was. Aba and Asher didn’t catch any fish, Troy caught the one I mentioned but let it go, I caught four and one that I accidentally let escape (five), and Aurelio caught 14 not counting escapees, for a total of 18 caught piranhas. Not bad for an hour’s work! Now, about my fish. Anyone who has read George Orwell’s 1984 is familiar with the process of “doublethink”. I employed this method in my tallying. I had caught three fish and accidentally freed a fourth when I vowed to take my revenge on it and recapture it. When I got my fifth (fourth) piranha, I felt vindicated but also counted it as another fish. Doublethink!

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We tried to catch catfish using a dogfish Aurelio had also caught as bait, but we didn’t have any luck. I’m happy though, we got piranhas and got to relax while fishing! While we were getting catfish, we saw a beautiful baby Tiger Heron. Adults are pretty, but the baby’s feather pattern made it look like a jaguar/leopard/cheetah. While we were fishing piranhas (I can’t get over saying that!) we saw three fluffy brown Watson Bird chicks, also ready cute. When we got back to the lodge, I watched Aurelio gut my four piranhas, then we ate dinner. Of piranhas! The four of us ate the four piranhas I caught! There wasn’t too much meat on them, but they were tasty! Asher and I even got to keep a jaw bone each! I also want to mention that we’ve been eating plantains every day and that they are delicious. After dinner, we boarded Caracole III and returned to the woods next to the wetlands. The cowvalry was still there, as were the pigs, but we saw two porcupines in a tree and another species of monkey with mother and offspring. Still no snakes. Aba was terrified the entire trek, don’t ask me why, but every time a pig squealed he would jump up and tell and hang into trees. I know, it sounds very uncharacteristic of him. Anyway, my favorite part of the night was what Asher and I did after exploring the trees, exploring the abandoned old lodge! This “Ghost Lodge” has been abandoned for at least a decade because of the anacondas, and everything is coated in a thick layer of dust. The best part was the main building and the adjoining kitchen. In the kitchen, there are dirty dishes in the sink and smashed and broken eggs on the floor. Everyone left in such a hurry! There’s a case of alcohol in the dining area as well as a pool table. We asked Aurelio of we could take two pool balls as a memento of the trip and he said yes, but as I was cautiously testing for wasps, etc in the hole Asher lifted the tarp from another edge of the table, releasing a wasp. It stung him, but we’re pretty sure he’s okay. There’s only a little swelling. I got the balls but then Aba drew attention to them and Aurelio, either because of a misunderstanding or because he changed his mind, said we couldn’t take them. In the fiasco caused by Asher ‘s sting, I didn’t even think of taking them anyway, but in retrospect, I wish I had. Does anyone know of an old non-touristy Ghost Town that we could explore? We are now obsessed. We just took cold showers and are getting in bed. Tomorrow is our last day in the Amazon, but I don’t want it to end. I wish I could do a survival course here or something, so maybe I’ll come back next year. One more day!

April 14, 2019

9:02pm

Hotel Pampa & Selva, Rurrenabaque, Bolivia

Ella Shaul

Today was our last day in the Amazon. I’m so sad that it’s over! However, the few activities we did in the morning were a nice way to end the trip. We woke up early in order to see the sunrise, but it was pouring rain and we had to wait. Now that’s the Amazon we expected! Anyway, after breakfast, the rain died down and we went to observe Squirrel Monkeys. There were minuscule and yellow and really really really really cute and adorable! We fed them bananas and they clamored into the boat with us, eating from our hands! On the whole, they were very gentle, but there was one bully that kept biting me and shoving the others away. I made him go away and fed the rest of the monkeys.

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This was an amazing experience, and after doing the same thing with another group of Squirrel Monkeys we rode in the boat and observed for roughly an hour. It truly was beautiful. We ate lunch at the lodge and packed, then said goodbye to Aurelio and drove to Rurrenabaque. After resting and dinner, I am now writing the blog and am about to sleep. I wish we could’ve stayed longer, but I’m very content with our experience (for now) and definitely want to return. Bolivia has reminded me of Aba’s experience in Vietnam and Asia when he was younger. It was hard to get in, but so nearly untouched by tourism and retaining so much of its traditional culture that it was all worth it. When I bring my kids here, I wonder if I will feel like Aba does now. So long Amazon. Thank you!

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Ella

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When we got to La Paz, we mostly did homework. However, we also walked around the city a bit. The next day, we went on a city tour with our guide. He drove us around the city to monuments and viewpoints, but the coolest thing he showed us (in my opinion) was the city’s public transport system. Instead of a subway or other mode of that kind, they have cable cars! I talked to my friend Una later that day, and she said that they have the same thing in Serbia. While I’m on that note, remember how I was mad at my friends at the beginning and middle of this trip for not reading the blog? Well, apparently, now they’ve started. Yay. I’m gonna start quizzing them… Anyway, the cable cars are color-coded by line and can transport anyone across the city for only a small fee. Since their installment seven years ago, they have really changed the city dynamic. While the poor used to live on the hilly parts of La Paz, because of the new system the rich are now living there for the view. Similarly, the poor now live in the flat areas of the city. Kids can get to school without waking up early and returning late, so they no longer dread it! I think it’s wonderful that the government was un-corrupt enough to invest in this much-used system. The best part is that they go right over people’s houses, so we can see inside their homes.

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After that, we went to the Sandstone Moon Valley. There, we explored amazing formations so alike to the moon that Neil Armstrong, when he came, said so himself. It was a lot of fun.

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The guide also took us to the Witch’s Market, so called because of the Spaniards’ beliefs that the locals and anything associated with them were heretical. There, we saw different types of potions for sale, mainly about love, and we were each given a love talisman! They were different versions of men and women in intimate positions if you know what I mean… We also learned about and bought a good luck statue! Most interestingly to you, we saw dead llama and alpaca fetuses and young for sale. Supposedly, they died from “natural abortion”, the mothers recognize when it isn’t a good time to have a baby and therefore let them go, but they were so abundant that we doubt they were all natural deaths, especially since some of the older ones were considerably larger than fetuses.

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The next day, we toured the city on our own. Notably, there were a few places to mention. The first was a place we had gone the day before. It was an ordinary plaza, but there were hundreds of pigeons! We bought some bird seed and they practically attacked us! We were in the midst of a pigeon tornado! It was so much fun.

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After more strolling, we wandered into a fruit, vegetable, and flower market! I tried a new fruit called Rambutan. It’s basically lychee but larger and the skin is different. Delish!!! Also noteworthy, there are many many cats and dogs. The next morning, at four am, we checked out of our hotel. We took with us only our backpacks and two duffel bags and headed to the airport. Once there, we flew to the city of Uyuni. We were supposed to be picked up at the airport by our guide, but he wasn’t there so we took a taxi. A guide for what, you may ask? A guide to the Salt Flats of Bolivia! Years ago, there was an ocean in Bolivia. However, over time it evaporated and dried out, leaving only salt behind. This salt “desert” as some call it, it is so large that it can be seen from space. We ate breakfast and met our guide, David, and our driver, Oscar. We drove in a jeep to our first destination: a train graveyard. This was where old trains had been left following an economic crash. They had been used to transport salt. Apparently, American outlaw Butch Cassidy and his gang had been killed there. The prize for their bodies today is two million dollars.

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Next, we went to see how salt is processed at a place called Colchani. We learned about different types of salt, where to find them, and how to turn them into today’s table salt.

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Finally, we went to the Salt Flats. David showed us bubbling water in the ponds on the expanse, but the water was freezing! Odd…

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After that, we went to the first hotel made of salt! It is no longer in use as a hotel (it’s now a restaurant), but we didn’t eat there because we had eaten a lunch that Oscar’s wife had made for us. Instead, we saw salt mounds ready for transport.

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At Pia Pia Island, we took some wonderful perspective photographs. Perhaps you’ve heard of these famous images, but if not, look them up. For props, we used Asher’s hat, a toy alpaca, lollipops, a Bolivian beer bottle, Oreos, Asher’s Spiderman, an apple, a spoon, a Barbie (Raquel from Barbie Life in the Dreamhouse, if you’re interested), a toy dinosaur, David’s toy dinosaur, eggs, Doritos, our jeep, a toy car, coke bottles, and a grapefruit soda bottle. I orchestrated some pictures,

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Troy directed some,

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and Aba did, too.

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I also made one of Troy laying us (hatching out of eggs), but he doesn’t want to put it online. It was so much fun! We got so stained with salt!

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On the way to our hotel, we stopped and saw the sunset. I didn’t mention another reason the Salt Flats are so special. When it rains, the water stays on the ground (salt, in this case) and produces an effect akin to a mirror. It’s hard to describe, but you’ll see in the photos. It was magical. We’ve seen many things this year as well as throughout our other travels, but this has to be one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen. It really is something you must do at least once… It was wonderful. Therefore, it was completely worth freezing our feet in the cold cold cold water.

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We ate dinner at our salt hotel in a village cashed Ajencha and quickly fell asleep. Also, when I say salt I mean salt. Salt walls, salt chairs, salt beds, salt tables, the whole shebang! I was very sad when I realized that we would not see the Salt Flats again for the rest of our trip… Oh! And one more thing. When we go to Israel soon I am going to meet with some small kids I babysat in Boulder. They’re very sweet and I love them so much, so I want to make them something they’ll like. For example, the last couple of times I saw them I made them dragon straws and a robotic hand! Plead give suggestions (either on the big comments or to my email) for DIYs! We woke at seven am the next morning. After a simple breakfast of eggs and bread, we started driving. Miraculously, Oscar had somehow cleaned the car of all the salt we had previously tracked in and it was wonderfully clean! First, we stopped at a viewpoint. There, we saw amazing cacti! They only grow about a centimeter per year, and some of them were enormous!

Next, we stopped somewhere for llama sausages. However, the restaurant was not open and we didn’t get to try them. I hear they’re delicious, though! Still, we got to see beautiful moss. Like the cacti, the moss grows a centimeter per year, though in some areas they only grow three millimeters! We saw a large one and it was as hard as a rock! Nothing can hurt it because animals don’t eat it unless they have to, and touching it doesn’t hurt it unless it is scratched. I mention this because, while we were touching it, some Southern guy came over and said, “d’you suppose they put these rocks here to tell people not to touch it?” We were in a circle of rocks, but David had said it was okay to touch it. Aba replied, “yeah, no need for such a subtle hint.” The man looked so offended! We then drove through the route of Three Lagoons – Cañapa, Hedionda, and Chiarkhota, and had the most wonderful experience. Aba spotted an Andean fox and we paused to take a picture. It looked as if it had been in a fight, we guess it was a territory skirmish, and it seemed hungry. When we started to drive away, it chased us! In fact, we drove about a mile before we pulled over again and it caught up. We threw it two potatoes and whben it ate then we realized it must have been starving. This type of fox eats flamingo eggs, so we fed it three chicken eggs. You are already familiar with these eggs, as they have journeyed with us this trip. These three eggs floated in the salty water hole, were balanced upon in a perspective photo, and were then eaten by the fox. I’m so glad it had something to eat! Aba dubbed him/her Lucky.

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Next, we stopped at a small lake to take pictures of Chilean flamingos. At the next lake, Laguna Colorada, we ate lunch. There, we saw Andean flamingos, Chilean flamingos, and James flamingos. The lake was a bright red from the algae within and was incredible to look at.

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We paused at some interesting rock formations and I got some great photos of a Chinchilla, or Vizcacha in Bolivia. We think it’s because I used Aba’s phone and it was similar to the color of the moss, which they eat, so it wasn’t afraid. It got so close that it nibbled and licked my finger!

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The next rocks we stopped to look at were among the Tree of Rock, a very oddly shaped stone.

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We arrived at our hotel and traveled back in time to Nepal: it was cold, there was no Wi-Fi, there were no lights, there were only backpackers, and we played UNO (I won six games!) So much fun! In the morning, we were supposed to wake up at four am. However, Aba had planned well and we were able to leave at seven. Our first stop was at the Sol de Mañana geysers. There, we smelled the strong stench of sulfur and saw thick stream and bubbling mud. It was really nice, especially because there was no one else there. The tourists had all come at five am!

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After that, we drove through the “Dali Desert”. A fun part of the day was enjoying some natural open-air hot springs. It wasn’t boiling but it was warm, so it was nice to swim in.

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We then saw Laguna Verde. Though it was not green at the time, it was an interesting lake to see because it was filled with magnesium, calcium carbonate, lead, and arsenic, making it quite toxic. We passed through a few towns including San Cristobal (like in the Galapagos) on our way back to Uyuni, but before that, we saw one of the most beautiful sights on our trip. There was a valley. In this valley was a body of water. There was also green grass and marshland. It was connected to adjoining valleys. In these valleys were llamas and alpacas. Llamas and alpacas, llamas and alpacas. It was so beautiful that I can’t even describe it. It was just perfect…

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On the drive back, we continued listening to music. Aba and David alternated DJ-ing, and their playlists were so similar that I couldn’t tell the difference! I want to imprint on you how much I enjoyed this trip. I did not read a single page of a single book, watch a single episode of a show, or even watch ten minutes of a movie. The entire duration was spent touring or watching the scenery, and I’m very happy with it. This is one of my favorite places so far on our trip, and I would love to come back soon. I would also want to travel to Patagonia to see the Marble Caves there if we return.

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Ella

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