On prehistoric trails

June 26/27

Our tour continues in Bolivia.

After 2 stops in the cities of Potosi, where we visited a mine tour, and the 'white city of Sucre', which deservedly earned its name, we arrived in one of the largest cities in Bolivia.

Yes, what could be one of the largest cities in Bolivia? Let's recall our geography knowledge.

No, not La Paz, but the million city of Cochabamba.

Funny name 😅

We arrived in Cochabamba in the early morning hours, where we caught up on 3-4 hours of sleep on the hostel couch since our rooms were not ready yet.

A few hours later, everything happened quickly. We met Rotem, Hadar, and Omams. 2 girls from Israel and a girl from England.

In no time, we exchanged our plans and quickly realized that the Toro Toro National Park was on everyone's to-do list.

So the next morning, we had breakfast and took a taxi to the appropriate agency and went by bus to the national park.

Yes, but it was not as easy as it sounds...
We had only been on the bus for an hour when suddenly there was smoke and... the bus stopped!

About an hour and a half later, our replacement bus arrived.
We quickly rearranged all our stuff and off we went!

Sometimes uphill, sometimes downhill. About 2 hours before our actual destination, we crossed a beautiful valley.
Huge mountains on both sides, in all possible colors. With the afternoon sun, it was simply a great compensation for the waiting on the bus.

Once we arrived at the national park, we looked for accommodation and quickly found it for a laughable price of 5 euros per night.

Since it wasn't too late, we had breakfast first.

Did he just say breakfast?

Yes, he did. Cooked by Rotem and Hadar. A typical Israeli breakfast.
Onions, tomatoes, tomato sauce, and eggs. With a tomato-cucumber salad.

Super delicious!!!

The next morning, we went to an agency. It seemed to be the only one in town.

Shortly after, we set off on foot with a guide, an American, and someone else.

Near the town, we first visited some footprints, of a special kind.

Can anyone see how the circle closes to the title?

Sure! Prehistoric kind.
There were actually footprints of various dinosaurs in the stone, which had walked these plains millions of years ago.

And something like this not in the museum, but in the great outdoors.

Next, we walked through a dried-up riverbed, which was an experience in itself due to its split rock layers.

After I got a little taste of my own fear of heights again when we had to cross a natural bridge, we reached the 2nd highlight of this tour.

The canyon. Beautiful!!!

Well, I observed the spectacle from a bit of a distance because the height was getting to me more than a few moments before.

I won't even start talking about a round platform that was attached a little above the canyon...

I just said to Omams, 'Here's my camera. Can you please take a photo?' 😅

But why just see the canyon from above when you can also stand in the middle of it?

Dozens of stairs down. It's a weird feeling when you know you have to go back up as well 😂

Once we reached the bottom, between gigantic rock walls, pointed and misshapen rocks, and a shimmering river, we followed a small path, which only the guide could mostly recognize 😅

The goal was a waterfall.

Surrounded by rocks, ivy, and lianas.
After an hour's break, we headed back.

We had to go up all the stairs we had previously gone down.
By the way, you shouldn't underestimate this effort because the altitude makes it harder to breathe, so after a few minutes, you're panting like a little poodle.

Unfortunately, that was it for our trip to the Toro Toro National Park, as the bus breakdown had messed up our schedule a bit.

And so we leave prehistoric traces and return to our own time.