Written by an anonymous writer – anyone willing to own up to it???
Chapter One: Death Road
It was a hot sunny day, the perfect day to die on death road, but luckily that didn’t happen. We started off getting kitted up with stupidly aluminous clothing but it was for our own safety. We got given our bikes and we all made up names, for example Ross’s was Seabiscuit and Sarah’s was Penelope. We then started on the asphalt where the Americans took the lead but the British not far behind, we rode the asphalt road for a while watching the beautiful scenery whilst going past. We then started going on the real death road when we started we were quite nervous and found it painful on the hand and forearms but eventually we all got used to it. But then Amy took a sudden twist and decided she was too hard core and wanted to beat everyone down death road and got back in the truck and drove back down the safe way. This made the adrenaline kick in and we separated into groups of fast and medium, there were no slow people. We all cycled and a very fast pace at that, but stopped every now and then took a break to have a look at the amazing surroundings we were witnessing. As we went farther down the treacherous road keeping our wits out for every twists, turns and deadly waterfalls going one hundred miles and hour, (well, felt like it), we eventually defeated the most of road but it had one more trick up its sleeve – a very very very bumpy road which decided the men from the mice. Most people survived people enjoyed going behind Ross because he was apparently not a very good cyclist and found that funny. Everyone almost survived without a cut nor scratch but until the last corner were Nico firstly face planted the wall but left luckily unharmed but then one more person bit the dust and Alice stopped just in time but her bike slowly toppled over carrying her with it creating comedy for everyone. We then finished our bike ride and collected our T-shirts so people can say ohh Jeremy Clarkson did that.
We then caught a short bus ride up to an amazing hotel with a sauna and a pool and relaxed for a night and had chicken fights in the pool. Alex and Metter were a strong team, so were Tyler and Lisbet, Ross teamed up with the skinny leader Matt. It was a tense three on three royal rumble where Tyler and Lisbet KO’d first to leave and epic duel between the last two teams. Alex had the muscle and the stamina on Ross and after ten minutes of intense water throwing and pushing, Ross and Matt were defeated, Alex and Metter were not great winners and weren’t shy on rubbing it in.
We shortly left the next morning to go to Rurrenabaque (spelt phonetically) where the next day we caught a crazy boat ride across to a truck that was supposed to be waiting for us, but being Bolivia was late expectedly. After an hour of waiting it arrived where we were piled on like cows and took the short, felt long, bus ride to Jacj Cuisi the place where, little did we know, would all come to love and hate, and will remember forever.
Chapter Two: “Character Building”
The first day we got to Jacj Cuisi we were all hungry and ravenous creatures but the cooks said the food would be ready by the normal time of 12, again being Bolivian 4 hours later and some very angry people it arrived. To our dismay it wasn’t the greatest lunch either but we accepted it and moved on. The men were then given their orders of being the chiefs of clearing the river which had been blocked the previous night by a frightening storm. After we had our lunch we got cracking on it and the girls created the common room, which later turned into the bedroom for some people.
Clearing the river was a tough job only for the men and Metter because of her amazing work ethic. We lifted trees the size of elephant legs all in the name of team work; up until we came across a mammoth tree, so big we named it… Frank the tank, we had to get and axe to chop it down we took it in turns and in between running away from huge spiders no man could not be scared of. But that did not break our spirits. Half an hour later we cut through Frank, and the manly screams of joy could be heard all the way back at camp. That night was tough after a hard afternoon’s work we came back to a abysmal dinner of lettuce and potato. Matt wasn’t happy with that and kicked the cooks into shape. That was not all the Jacj Cuisi had to throw at us, we later got into our respective tents but Alex, Ross, Femke and Bash found the sauna tents too hot to sleep in and chose the high road of the cooler but bug and tarantula filled common room, which turned into our bedroom.
The sun rose over the tents in the morning which created no need for alarm clocks just people complaining about the heat, the common room people were smug but not for long, they looked down at their arms and had bites from mosquitoes everywhere and they realised they sorely underestimated the jungle bugs a mistake that was not made again. We then split up into groups the first morning mainly consisted of cutting back grass with a machete and raking in the blistering sun which we found very hard, but we eventually cleared the ground with the help of Caveman Alfredo a crazy but amazing Bolivian man.
The other group explored the jungle and cleared a path to dig the foundations of a puma cage with the help of jungle man Keith. The next few days consisted of getting bitten by a lot of mosquitoes and digging the foundations of the clinic and the puma cage. We also had to carry rocks and sand up to the puma enclosure in the blistering heat which took its toll on us all. We all had our parts to play in the team: Femke was in charge of being the chief motivator giving high fives on fellow rock carriers, Mette was the hardest worker who gave it all day after day and was a real trooper, the guys were in charge of supplying the muscle for carrying the the stuff harder than rocks up. Laura was in charge of being the person who kept morale up with her cheerful personality. Lisbet, Amy and Celina were the people who attempted to sing classic songs by Britney.
As the days went past we all got more tired and bitten but we powered through. The fourth day was a testing day for the guys who had to carry up barbed wires which weighed almost 200 kilos which took its toll on all our shoulders. As the days went by, mucho progress was made and by the last day arrived it was a rush to finish the puma enclosure and we had to get up at 6 and start work without brekky and make head way on the enclosure. The muscle men Rory and Ross were put on the challenging job of bringing up the seriously heavy double door cage with other large volunteers helping us, this was whilst the rest of the group were rushing to erect the wire and make it tight. It was a staring contest against time… but time blinked and we completed our task with two hours to spare in which we went back down and admired the wonderful foundations we had created for the clinic. We then went a packed our bags and tents and waited for our cow truck.
Conclusion
We all learned a lot about ourselves during both death road and at Jacj Cuisi; how far we can push our limits and how doing hard work can bring everyone together as both a team and as friends. In the end of it all we were in a lot of pain and not sad to leave Jacj Cuisi but we were also happy that we changed the life of a puma and many other animals. Quote jungle man Keith “you changed lives doing the work you did at that park”
One last comment we didn’t actually go fast on death road we went an average speed. This novel was written for entertainment purposes and is not factual.