TRINIDAD – Riding a motorcycle, seeing the pink dolphins . . .

I can’t believe it has been over a month since I arrived in Bolivia. It seems like so much has happened and time is going so fast. This past week I had the opportunity to travel with my host family and Michael’s (the exchange student from Ontario) host family to Trinidad, Beni, Bolivia. (Check out the map posted below).

It was one of the best experiences I have had since I’ve been here. Once again I am so grateful for having such a wonderful host family. It started on the 20th of September at the bus station. I had never seen a bus station that crowded! Honestly there were people everywhere, and my host dad said that it was normal. When I heard that we were taking a bus to Trinidad (which was going to take about 9 hours) I wasn’t expecting it to be very … comfortable. BUT to my surprise it was a double decker bus with very comfortable seats. I mean it was better than the greyhound back home LOL. We left in the evening around 9:30pm which was nice because I slept for almost the whole trip. When I woke up we were about an hour away from Trinidad. Once we got off the bus the first thing we did was get two taxis … I believe this was the first time I have ever been in a taxi with 6 people crammed in! Meghan (another exchange student who also came with us) and I shared the front seat LOL. We got to the hotel and changed and headed out for our first day. Now I have to say it was no later than 10am and I was already sweating like a pig! It was SO HOT the whole time we were there. It is hard to describe but I think the best way would be to say it was like literally being in an oven. I have found the heat a challenge since arriving in Santa Cruz. To put it in perspective, the people from Santa Cruz find Trinidad HOT so for me it was boiling. You just had to work through it because there was so much to see and do. Trinidad is located on the southern edge of the Amazon basin, it is hot and humid at all times. It goes without saying that you are constantly sweating. This is the jungle like part of Bolivia. Flooding is a common occurrence in the province of Beni and Trinidad has open sewers all around it to help control the water. When we walked through the plaza in the centre of town we saw sloths in the trees and horses and cattle wandering around the streets. It was very green with palm trees and tamarind trees everywhere. It was amazing. I saw beautiful old churches, buildings and the open market. We ate fish everyday … fish … fish and more fish! We went for a ride on the Amazon River and saw the famous pink dolphins. They were bright pink and very cool. It was hard to believe I was actually on the Amazon River.

pink dolphin of the Amazon

absolutely beautiful

The bus ride to Trinidad was very modern but once we were there the transportation was quite primitive. When we were going sightseeing I found out that we would be travelling by motorcycle. Trinidad is known as the city of the moto. They are everywhere. It’s not uncommon to see whole families riding on one motorcycle. Not like the motorcycles we have in Canada, but older more dilapidated ones. There was no helmets, no pavement, no stop signs, or road lanes … just dirt roads with lots of pot holes and lots of (what seemed to me like) crazy, fast drivers. I didn’t think I would be able to get on one. I truly panicked. I offered to walk, run or stay behind but my host dad patiently told me these were not options. Finally he convinced one of the drivers to go really slow and I did get on. It was about a 25 minute ride and the whole time I just thought “We are going to be hit by one of these other motorcycles”. By the end I was able to smile for a picture and relax my “death grip” on the driver’s shoulders but I was certainly happy to have arrived alive.

Trinidad, Beni, Bolivia

motorcycles and more motorcycles ….

While on the ride we saw areas of Trinidad where everyone is living in poverty and I was surprised at how happy the people looked when you could see they had absolutely nothing. I was shocked at the conditions of the “shakes” they lived in. That is one thing about being in Bolivia that I have noticed. There are many people living in poverty. (I had a chance to help a medical team at a village near Santa Cruz de la Sierra. I will write about that in my next blog. It was very rewarding) . . . Now back to Trinidad. We also went to a zoo and saw some very unique animals. (check out the photos). The next outing my host family told me they ordered a bus. I was glad to not have to get on another motorcycle. When the bus arrived it was smaller than our family van at home. We crammed 9 people in and we were off. In the words of Rotary “it’s not good, it’s not bad, just different.” My host family has friends that live in Trinidad so it was nice to meet everyone and spend time with them. We spent three nights and four days on this trip and it was amazing. I’m hoping to share more soon. That’s it for tonight. It’s late and I have school in the morning.
Love and hugs,
Kate

Hangin’ in Trinidad

Fruit seller