Sorata to Rurrenbaque - from a frozen mountaintop to the tropical Amazon Basin by bike, boat and zip-line – 600km in five days
The village of Sorata is a three hour combi-van trip north from La Paz or, in our case, it involved two combis from Lake Titicaca and a roadside social with the Bolivian army who kindly stopped a decent looking 4x4 at their checkpoint and persuaded the driver to take us the rest of the way! (Emma using all her powers of persuasion!)
After two nights camping in the riverside garden, a night in one of the rooms at Sorata's Altai Oasis hostel was pure luxury.
Day 1: After a swift bucketful of porridge, we jumped into the waiting LandCruiser laid on by tour organiser Travis and his Andean Epics partners Alejandro and Mauricio.
We then had a long climb from the small town of Sorata up through the pass that marks the divide between eastern and western Andes. From our vantage point at 4860m we could see the clear line of the watershed. All rain and snow falling to the west runs out across to the Pacific while everything falling to the east trundles its way down the mountainsides and into the giant Amazon basin, eventually making it out to the Atlantic.
Getting out of the truck proved something of a shock. While loading up in Sorata it had been around a gentle 25C. However, getting out at the top everything changed as it was all covered in a thick crust of ice with 70mph gusts making for a decidedly chilly feel – not the weather for shorts, Nick!
Travis had provided us with some particularly impressive steeds - $4000 full-suspension downhill bikes with disc-brakes and 150mm travel from forks – the business.
Immediately on departure it became apparent why such high-spec machines are required for our descent through the clouds. Not much else would survive the rutted, rocky 4x4 trail. In that first day we covered some 80km and finally came to rest in the charming village of Conzata, having descended some 3600m.
Day 2: Next morning we loaded up in the jeep once more and headed back up into the hills for another big descent.
Things became a little less fast-paced (and a whole lot more strenuous!) after lunch as we began a series of ups and downs that eventually led us to the riverside town of Mapiri.
After a swift dinner and a few beers it was off to bed ready for the start of our big boat ride the following day.
Days 3-5: In a predictably South American style we were to be disappointed with our early start – our boat’s outboard engine was broken so it was mid-morning before we set off in our overgrown dugout canoe.
Over the following three days we travelled the length of the river punctuated by stops for jungle treks, waterfall leaps, meals and sleep in some very wet tents!
Finally we arrived in the centre of jungle tourism – Rurrenabaque - and after finding a hostel, booked ourselves onto a zip-lining expedition.
Set up by a local community (we only found out afterwards that you can stay in their village!) it involved another trip upriver, again by Yamaha-powered dugout canoe, a 45min trek through the jungle and the village’s various plantations and then a total of 9 zip-lines right up in the jungle canopy – fantastic.
Here’s a video:
