Day 14 Amboro

Today was the day we had been waiting for since arriving in Bolivia.  Finally, it was time for trees, rivers, jaguars, and monkeys.  Jo and I were ridiculously excited and packed up quickly, anxious to get going.

Even though we were ready to get to Amboro, we made time to take this picture of the local pay phone.  I wish the pay phones in America were shaped like animals.

After making a quick stop at Rene's store, we threw our packs in the back of the truck and hit the road.  The park entrance was about an hour and a half away, so we had a long and bumpy ride in front of us.  The following is a photo tour of our day.  Enjoy!

A Photo Tour of our First Day in Amboro

The drive was really, really gorgeous, even if it was bumpy.  Our driver, who rocked, insisted we stop so we could take a picture of this scenic view of Amboro.  This is where we were off to!!!

Check out all that green.

We passed various small farms, towns, and orchards-like this one- along the way.

A pic of the scenery, taken from the truck.

This is our guide, Hernan.  I was amazed that he was able to sleep, since the road was extremely, extremely bumpy.  His head was floppin' around as we hit various bumps and ruts, but the guy just didn't seem phazed.  Jo said that he had slept on similar rides.  I was truly impressed.

The area was obviously super rurul, as demonstrated by this cattle herd we passed along the way.

After driving for an hour or so, we left the road we had been following and started driving along a small road that would actually take us to the park.  There were several river crossings along the way, and we just drove along the banks of the rivr for awhile.

After arriving at our destination, we got our gear together and hit the trail.  Our awesome driver left us to the forests; he would be back in three day.  We met up with another guide and his charge, Patty.  Then we took off.

Tons of ferns everywhere.

Jo found this pretty little heart-shaped leaf.

Pink flower.

He's a little blurry, but check out this stick bug, which our guide spotted.  Jo and I are both super impressed by stick bugs, and spent awhile admiring this handsome fellow.

This looks like a boring, nondescript branch, but this branch is actually super interesting.  Why? you ask.  If you look on the stalk, you'll see a small hole.  There is a certain species of ant that lives in the stalk!  They've evolved with the plant so they're not hurting it.  Isn't that cool?!?

This is a type of palm tree.  The spines were impressive.



Another type of palm.  Hernan called this a "walking palm."

Centipede.  Or millepede?  I always forget.

The trail followed a river, which we crossed numerous times.

 A little river spider.

River crossing #1, out of about 8.

Here's The Boy, happy as could be to be out hiking.

It was a hot day, and the river water felt awesome.  The water here was pure and fresh; we could drink straight from the river.

Another river crossing.

Another variety of ants, which have built a nest of sorts around this flower.  We saw so many species of ants that it was mind boggling.

This spider is scary looking, but our guide assured us that it's not poisonous.  Still, I kept my distance.

A flower?  Or berries?

Our fearless leader, Hernan.

Jo spotted this white forest eagle.  Gorgeous.



An unfurling fern.  How lovely.





Where we were going.



Where we had just come from.

I am Chelsea.  Hear me roar!

Awesome, colorful caterpillar.

Dainty fungus.  (Yes, a mushroom can be described as dainty!)

This was our awesome lunch spot.  We could have just continued on to the campground, but Hernan was nice enough to take us on a side hike to go see a waterfall.

These bees shared the overhand with us as we ate our lunch.

In order to get to the water fall, we climbed up and over the cliff that made our overhang.  Here's Jo, Indian Jonesing it.

A tree root cliff we had to traverse.  I was mere inches away from certain death.

Some giant ferns.  We're talking Jurassice style, folks.

The trail was super narrow.  And absolutley spectacular.

Fern tree.

What goes up must come down.  After climbing up the side of the cliff, we headed down again until we reached a valley bottom.  It was shady and mossy and green.

The river, over millions of years, had carved out the rock.

Mossy rocks everywhere.

We were in paradise.

Hernan spotted this tiny hummingbird nest for us.

There wasn't actually a trail along the valley bottom.  The three of us picked our way around the rocks and followed the river upstream.

Beautiful.

The water wound its way around the rocks.

Lookin' for monkeys.

Every available surface was covered in green.

Just around this bend, our guide assured us, was our destination.

We made it to the waterfall!



The waterfall was tiered, with a pool of cold clear water at the base of each tier. We couldn't resist, and dunked ourselves in the deepest pool.




We love us a good waterfall!  After getting a good drink and dunking ourselves, we climbed back down and headed back.  The camera card had reached capacity at the waterfall, so we didn't take a single picture on the way back.



Back at our lunch spot, we changed into swimming gear because there was an awesome swimming hole that we just couldn't pass up.  There was even rock to jump off of.

The water felt sososo good!  Here we are attempting to use the timer function to get a picture together.  It didn't work out so well for us, but it sure was fun trying.

"The Jacuzzi"  Soon after this we reluctantly left our little swimming hole so we could continue on to the campground.  We were having so much fun and could have stayed there all day.  Alas.

This is a "Morpho" butterfly, which flitted around us as we were drying off.  I tried my best to capture the brilliant blue color of its wings, but the darn thing wouldn't keep them open enough to snap a decent picture.  Just take my word for it: the thing was spectacular.

Back on the trail.  More river crossing!

This was an amazing sight for National Geographic lovers like Jo and myself.  These are orependulum nests.  These forest-dwelling birds weave these incredible hanging-basket type nests.

As we continued on, the valley started narrowing and its wall started getting sheerer.

Our campsite was just around this bend.

After one more river crossing and a trek through the mud, we were there!

Our campsite was more amazing and perfect than anything I could have imagined.  We had our own private beach, protected from the elements by an overhanging cliff.  It was glorious.

Our view.

Jo and I were in awe of where we were.  I truly couldn't have picked a more perfect spot.  Dinner that night was so fun- all of us sitting around the fire and talking.  Well, I mostly listened (Hernan's spanish was a bit too fast for me to understand.)  We had had an incredible day and were so excited to get out the following day to explore.