June 29, 2017 - Trinidad

Trinidad

When we broke through the clouds, I saw water and green.  Rivers, streams, lakes, ponds, and swamps as far as the eye can see.  Forest green, lime and emerald, and even neon.  That was my welcome to the tropical rainforest of the Beni.  From here, stretching thousands of miles is the Amazon River Basin, a rainforest that takes up more than half of South America, and about half of Bolivia.

And there are a million motorcycles here!  I walked out of the airport and a dozen motorcycles were offering me a ride.  I am not quite prepared to die, so I asked for a car.

My first impression of Trinidad is that it looks like the Old West, with dusty roads and buildings that look like Old Mexico, adobe with wooden posts.  Except here are millions of motorcycles.  Trinidad was founded in the late 1600s, but flooding has forced the city to move several times.  Trinidad is built on vast plains of the Mamore River.  It is flat, so when the river swells, being fed by almost every river in Bolivia, the city floods.  Open drains surround every building and are on every street.  This is necessary to divert the water during the rainy season.  Dikes have been built in several places to control the flooding, though every year the streets look like Venice and cattle are drowned in the farmlands.

And Trinidad is hot.  I knew it was going to be hot, but still it hit me.  There is not the steady breeze like we have in Santa Cruz.  The rainy season is past, so it is dusty.  I realized I was going to have to be creative to survive the heat.

My hotel is plain on the outside, but my room was one of the nicest ones in Bolivia that I have stayed in.  The air conditioner worked well.  The bed was comfortable.  The room was clean.  There was even a little terrace outside my room.

I was starving when I arrived.  My first goal after finding my hotel was to find a place to eat.  The crowded plaza had no places open to eat at 11:15.  I searched for a taxi (car, not motorcycle) and eventually found one.  I told the driver I was hungry.  He asked what I wanted to eat and I suggested alligator.  I know you might laugh, but the Beni is swarming with alligators and is famous for chicharron de lagarto, fried alligator.

The little restaurant was slow, but I didn’t care.  Soon a plate full of alligator, rice, yuca, and fried banana arrived.  A truly tropical meal.  I will admit, this alligator tasted like chicken.  I might have been tricked.