I am sure I have paid well over the odds to take this train, but then, I am a tourist and to these people I am rich.

There is one thing that annoys me when travelling, and to some degree I am guilty of it myself, but I do try to not let it become a huge issue. This thing is the constant way of thinking that whenever we are in a poorer country we are constantly being ripped off. Yes, I know that most backpackers are on a budget, but just take a look at that budget for a second. Including flight tickets, insurance, souvenirs, good food, many beers, tours, trips and 'treats' it is normally in the region of 'thousands' of dollars. We get to countries where people earn less than $1 per day. To save up the amount we have in our bank accounts would take these people about 10 years. They would have to save everything, and that means not feeding themselves or their families, not clothing themselves, not doing anything. Then their chance of actually getting a passport and an entry visa to our country would prove to be a virtual impossibility. When we arrive, expensive clothes, boots, cameras, CD walkmans and the like and quibble over a few cents, how do you think these people look at us? Turn the tables a moment. If Bill Gates walked up to you at home and you were having a garage sale, would you maybe ask for what you thought you could get, and if he started quibbling over a dollar or two, what would be your thinking then?

Yes, sometimes we do pay over the odds, but really, is that few cents or few dollars actually going to make a big difference to us? Maybe we have to travel for a few days or a week less, but to my way of thinking, at least I haven't spent the whole trip stressing about something that really isn't that important after all. Someone said to me recently; "If you had a choice, you were not ripped off" Good point! Also I would much rather pack as much in, do & see what I want to do, have a great, worry free time and yes, I'll finish my travels a mite earlier, but boy, have I had a great time!

To save up the amount we have in our bank accounts would take these people about 10 years.

Anyway, I get on the train having paid my $25 for the overnight journey and walk into the carriage. Quite frankly I'm amazed. The seats are as good as those I have been on in Business Class flights on British Airways (ahh those days of luxury travel!), tonnes of leg room (something that is always a problem for me being 6ft tall with long legs!) and the seat reclines until almost flat. We have a 'flight' attendant who will bring beers and food and I'm not crowded next to any screaming children. I'm beginning to think it was worth it.

When the train departs I am even more grateful. Railway maintenance is not a high priority in Bolivia and the train is extremely bouncy and sways violently from side to side. At several moments in the journey I am convinced that we have left the track and, maybe even the ground too. The return to constants jerks and swings however, comforts me that we obviously haven't and I try to relax again, taking another sip of my beer, this time without pouring into my right eye!

After sunset we are brought blankets and the lights in the carriage are turned off. I attempt to get some sleep and fail miserably. I am happy though, had I not paid those extra dollars and taken the train I wanted, I would be sitting bolt upright on hard wooden seats in a crowded train with just enough room to breathe. I would also be watching my backpack vigilantly, constantly afraid that someone would think it was far too heavy for me to carry and thoughtfully lighten its load to make it easier for me in the future! It happens!

...the public phone boxes on the streets are made to look like huge animals and birds!

When daylight finally breaks I am amazed. Normally I hate mornings, I'll sleep as late as I can and socially, I am not at my best! I stare out of the window and all about me is tropical vegetation. Not huge trees rising above me, but a thick forest of small trees, plants and bushes. The sky is clear and the sights of the sunrise, the surrounding forest and the colours are beautiful. Enough for me to be unusually happy about being awake at this ungodly hour. Then I notice some birds flying over the train - they are parrots! Wow, it always amazes me to see parrots & parakeets in the wild as I only associate them with cages back in England. To see them flying around in flocks is a beautiful sight. I see all sorts of other birds and I have no idea what they are until, wait, was that a toucan? Surely not, yes there it is again! It's one bird I've always wanted to see, it's just like off the old Guinness ads! I'm so awake now looking at every movement and stunned by the dazzling amount and different types of bird everywhere. If you had said to me a few years ago that I would get into bird watching I'd have called you crazy! But then, it is a bit different than sitting in the garden and seeing a starling or a sparrow fly overhead!

The train continues for many hours to it's destination of Quijarro right on the Brazilian border. It's the only way to get there, there are no roads in this part of Bolivia. I get invited to the cab as smoking is not allowed in the carriage. I think I would have been better off in the back, not smoking, but where I couldn't actually see the state of the tracks. I have a good imagination, but now I can actually see them getting narrower, widening again, sleepers missing and large gaps where the rails should join together I am thankful we have made it this far. The driver seems quite relaxed though, so should I be worried? Err, yes!

We eventually arrive at Quijarro, a small country town and I get a taxi to the border. I wait around until it opens, and then as usual another forty five minutes until they actually start to work. You get used to this in South America.

I get across the Bolivian border and arrive for my first time in Brazil - it's quite exciting. The land of the mighty Amazon river & it's surrounding rainforests, of Rio and carnival, of beautiful, scantily clad women dancing erotically to exotic music on pristine palm tree lined beaches, beautiful sunny days, all these inviting images rushing through my head. I get a bus to Corumbá, excited as to what I might find. I'm disappointed! No scantily clad women anywhere, it's cloudy now and the town looks pretty much like any normal South American town. It does have it's differences, the buildings are of a slightly different architecture and one of the strangest things I notice is that the public phone boxes on the streets are made to look like huge animals and birds! A stork here, a macaw there, a crocodile on the corner! I make a call with my head stuck inside a toucan's belly! The town itself is quite small, it has a main park and two or three mains streets where everything you need is located. I find a hotel and set about finding details of how I can get to the Pantanal to do some serious wildlife watching.

 

©Ian Picken 2004