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Getting there is half the fun!
Aaaah, Miami! The gateway to most of my escapes.
Jeff and I always meet up in Miami from Indianapolis and LA respectively. It's a tradition to head out to South Beach and grab some cuban food and entertainment at Mango's on the beach.
We flew LAB (Lloyd Aero Boliviano) directly to Santa Cruz...but if you can avoid this carrier, please do. American Airlines flies to Santa Cruz (thru La Paz), but the worst and oldest planes of their fleet are relegated to duty to South America. Recently, on a trip to Uruguay on American Airlines, Jeff took his seat at the end of an empty 3-seat row and the entire row lifted like it was a see-saw.
Still, AA is better than LAB.
Shrinking glaciers atop the Andes. On the Amazon side of these peaks is one of the newest and most diverse national parks of the world - Madidi National Park. I'm told it puts Manu National Park in Peru to shame. Madidi and the fishes of Rio Beni are in my future. The Yungas, as they call it, is the Andean foothill area and is a prime coca growing area.
180 lbs. Once in Trinidad, Bolivia, we found out that LAB had lost our luggage. What were we going collect with? My collecting gear, jungle food and clothes were nowhere to be found. I didnt think I'd miss my clothes the most because 2 days after we arrived, a wicked blast of cold air (called Surazo locally) dipped the temperatures into the low 50s F. Well, at least losing the luggage came in handy at my weigh-in time before getting into the chartered Cessna.
There are quite a few air taxis that operate from Trinidad to the northern border towns in the Amazon. During the rainy season, land roads are underwater and the only way in or out is by air.
This was fun, until we looked in the back seat and saw a few open pails of airplane fuel.
And I think the pilot was smoking. A little nervous...
...but not as nervous as when I looked at the dials and gauges in the cockpit - they were all dead. None of the needles or gadgets were moving or working. The pilot was flying with just his GPS and his horsesense! He had to make a few quick moves to avoid hitting giant Jabiru storks with 8 to 10 foot wingspans, cruising at about 3000 feet.
Grassfires on the savannah reduced visibility and air quality, but they are set by farmers in the summer with a belief that it hastens the onset of the rains. We didnt know it, but these fires were going to affect our plans to get back home drastically.
Men about town...Ted Muhs, Spencer Jack and Jeff Cardwell return from a local shop after stocking up on some supplies, like shoes, since LAB lost our luggage. We'd not see warm days like this for the rest of the trip.
All photos by J. Cardwell, S. Jack and V. Kutty
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