Toro Toro

We set off on friday afternoon for Toro Toro. Our "4wd" which was really a taxi picked us up and slight apprenhension crept in after hearing of the road quality and seeing our vehicle. But we set off nevertheless. It was not long before we were out of the city and onto the dirt and cobbled roads (actually it is really difficult to define them as roads) for 4 long hours, apparently the road quality has been significantly improved over recent years and journeys use to take 8 hours. Honestly, if this is them improved I would hate to see what they looked like before. The drive though is a beautiful one and well worth it despite the completely numb arse from the constant bumping of the car.

As we crossed river crossings, drove through little towns (one of which to our amusement we thought was called Gomoria, but later actually discovered this just means rubber in Spanish, and so its location on a tyre was not the name of the town) were chased by wild dogs and blocked on the roads by a random assortment of animals we got closer and closer to Toro Toro. The roads started to get windier as we crept up the mountains, by now it was dark, which in some ways is a good thing because it meant we could not see the rather terryfying roads winding up mountains, with sheer cliffs, and no discernible road surface.

We finally arrived in Toro Toro in the evening, at which point our driver rather embarrasingly asked directions to our hostel when we were parked right outside it- The huge sign outside obviously not a big give away to him.

Felix came to greet us and we had our own little bungalow for the weekend. In fact we had the entire hostel to ourselves for the weekend as there was no one else staying there which was kind of nice, especially as it meant we could go to dinner on saturday evening in our pyjamas...bonus! The hostel was really nice, very clean, nice room, staff were lovely.

We woke on saturday and after one very cold shower (we did not figure out how to use it until Felix heard one of our cries of anguish at the cold shower and told us how to work the hot water) headed to breakfast. It was really nice, cereal, bread, and the cook even brought me another scrambled egg after I informed her I was vegetarian (the first one had ham with it) which was really sweet.

We then set off to the tourist office to get a guide and pay the park fee. As it is a national park you are required to take a guide round the park. We set off with Justino (our guia) in tow. We headed to the man sized caves called Itas, we were really lucky to get to go there, as they do not like to drive their. After driving the rather perilous road (again, not a road!) to get there it is easy to see why. It was pretty awful, at one point a taxi infront of us got stuck going uphill and our guide and driver had to go and help them push the car, hilarious until the same thing happened to us, and this time it was us doing the pushing.

Finally we arrived and set off on our hike to and around Itas. This was the start of two days of pretty intense hiking, the terrain is pretty rough throughout the entire park, so if not a hiking fan you might want to give it a miss. We climbed up and down boulders, rocks, cliffs, and finally arrived at the caves, some of which were used as temples in the past. They were pretty cool and definitely worth the perilous road journey, however getting back to the car was more of a challenge. Climbing up a sheer cliff with a rope when you are not clipped in is a rather scary experience but we all navigated it safely.

Then we drove down to the smaller underground caves of Umajalanta. By this point it was mid-afternoon and we had not seen a tourist all day, which was heaven. Not that you really see many other tourists in Bolivia as a whole anyway, but here there was nobody. The wilderness and scenery was peaceful and unspoilt which is definitely one of the bonuses of Toro Toro. It is not the sort of place that has a gift shop selling tacky dinosaur keyrings and cave magnets.

On the way to Umajalanta we came across a tiny old women and her house, we found out she was 97, which was mightily impressive, more impressive was the fact that she was charging people to use her bathroom 1bs which is 10pence, London prices! I guess you do not live to 97 without having some smarts. Anyway the bathrooms were horrific, but due to my appalling bladder I had to use them.

We hiked to Umajalanta and donned out helmets and headlamps for the proper caving to come. We descended into the cave and it gradually got smaller and smaller until at one point we had to crawl to get through the chamber, we then reached a very steep descent where we had to rope down, it was very slippy and wet but I made it down safely. We made it into the next chamber which was the concerto chamber, and our guide proceeded to sing a song for us, highly amusing. We decided not to go any further as you had to crawl to get through, which was a shame as we did not get to see the blind fish in the lake. The cave was definitely worth it for the beautiful stalagmites and stalacites. We walked back to the car and headed back to the hostel.

They made us a delicious dinner, I had vegetarian lasagne which was really yummy after all that hiking, even better enjoyed in one´s pyjamas. We were so shattered that we were in bed by 8.30 in preparation for the early start the next day.

We had to leave at 7.00 so we awoke early for breakfast, and after telling them the night before not to go to much effort, just something simple as it was so early, they made bread and little cheese saltenas, which was very sweet of them.

On sunday we headed to the canyon. It was a good walk along many beautiful natural sites, dinosaur footprints and fossils. We arrived at the Canyon viewing platform and had an awesome view, this was a proper canyon. We proceeded to do the Garden State scream into the Canyon (yes we are that cool) at which point our guide probably thought what did I do to deserve this lot.

We descended the 800 steps and 300 metres to the bottom of the Canyon, it was a long way down, but the realization only hit at the bottom that we had to get back up it! We walked through the Canyon to the waterfall Vergel which was really pretty, you could swim there, but only Amy was brave enough to go in, it was bloody freezing in fairness, though I did paddle my feet, which was nice and cooling after all the walking. Our peace was interrupted by a group of Bolivian tourists who were slightly braver than us about going into the falls. We made the long hard slog back up the Canyon in the hot midday sun, it was hard work but definitely worth the effort.

Then we walked right along the several canyons and stumbled upon more cave paintings, dinosaur footprints (including the brontosaurus which was massive) ,no T-Rex though, apparently that was elsewhere iun the park.

We ended up back in Toro Toro village, utterly exhausted, packed our things and headed back to the city. This time it was in the light, which meant we could see the beautiful landscape, but also meant we could witness the sheer terror of the descent. Blind corners, random animals blocking the road, amongst other hazards and dangers. Honestly I wished it was at night again.

The landscape of Toro Toro is unlike anything I have ever seen, beautiful mountains everywhere you look. I think it is probably the most beautiful place I have ever been, and I was very sad to leave. It was defintitely worth the visit, and is a place I will never forget. The lack of other people especially tourists there, means it felt like we were some of the few that have seen this place which is truly special.

This weekend I am going to La Paz for the Gran Poder festival, so I shall fill you in on that next week.