Bolivia Team 1 out on the Uyuni salt flats!

After a very long and difficult journey filled with landslides and mud, we finally arrived in Rurrenabaque, to find the river too high to cross, so we were forced to stay there for the night. We were pretty pissed off about it as we wanted to get to the park, but we found out Rurre is actually pretty cool and we had an awesome night. We crossed the next day, and finally arrived in Jacj Cuisi. It was very basic accommodation, with straw mattresses on the floor all in one room together, bathing in rivers, and a bat living in the longdrop.

After the first day of constructing the enclosure, we had all exhausted ourselves, crippling our backs and having huge blisters. The week consisted of carrying bags of rocks and sand up to the site, digging holes, mixing cement and putting up the fence posts. Although we were set back by a day and a half due to weather we were able to see how much work we had managed to do, but also how much more there was to be done. The food was AMAZING, lots of carbs and fried vegetables, and regular “rock offs” for who had to do the washing up. James did not enjoy these.

On the second to last day we were all allowed to see Luna the puma which was a really nice surprise after we had all been working so hard. It was awesome, and it made us all really excited about the prospect of working with cats at Ambue Ari in the coming weeks. All of the other volunteers were really nice and friendly, and made us feel very welcome. They were all so grateful about the work we had done for the park, and how much it was going to help Sacha, the puma the enclosure is for.

We spent a day travelling back to Rurre stuck on one side of the river, when it shoulld have been a two hour trip, but after some strings were pulled, we made it across the river safe but not so dry in time for the surprise treat that Emily had promised us for our hard work. We went to a great restaurant, the food was delicious, and we then had a great night out afterwards. The town is currently the most flooded it has been in 7 years (we take the rain wherever we go!) so we are waiting again to fly to Trinidad, where we will get a supposed 4 hour bus ride to Ambue Ari!    

love James, Tiahna and Jess xxx