Bolivia was one of the craziest, difficult and challenging months one could ever imagine on the entire World Race. Hiking 32 miles into the jungle?! That’s something people do on Expedition routes… not something your average team gets assigned. Yet somehow God uses the difficult and the challenging to bless and grow you more than you could ever imagine. Despite the challenges, Bolivia ended up being our most influential and memorable month. It would be a novel to write out the trip from beginning to end, so here is a compilation of the challenges we faced.
After spending numerous relaxing days wandering around our jungle town of Apolo, we packed as light as we could muster for our nine-day adventure (still struggling with the abandonment side of physical belongings so it was a bit challenging). We hauled all our things on top of a 4-wheeling minivan of sorts and crammed inside for a three-hour ride through the Madidi National Park (jungle) to arrive at the Tuichi River. We unloaded on the bank of the river and saw there was no bridge across, no pulley system (broken), and our guide Odell (whom we later affectionately named Mowgli) informed us the boat was also broken. Wow. Well, the only option we had left was to swim across.
We waited for the locals of the village across the river, Virgen del Rosario, to finish up in the fields and come to help us get our packs across. Sure enough, a few hours later, buff Amazon superheroes appeared with inner tubes and rubber sacks (one complete in a Brazilian-cut Speedo) to help with the packs. The two men swam across complete with tubes of three to four packs each like river dolphins, such ease and finesse. Our team was a little freaked out to swim across. The current was very much alive and well and it was getting dark. We asked numerous times to ensure no creepy, slimy things lived in the river that could bite or eat us.
Into the water we slowly waded. It was definitely not warm, but not freezing. Refreshing. We waded until the current knocked us off our feet and we began to float down. I led the pack feeling quite confident as a strong swimmer (thank you childhood of growing up on Lake of the Ozarks). Soon I was fully immersed and bobbing in the river. Some rapids splashed over me and the water became a shocking chill to my lungs. It was go time! I realized–oh, I’m going to need to put some effort into this to cross the rapids before missing our exit point. I began to breaststroke with some might and I realized it wouldn’t be too challenging. I started laughing and looked back to see the rest of my team getting taken in the current and beginning their swim. A few strokes more and I was across and could touch the bottom with my feet again. I had done it! What an experience!! The rest of my team made it across and we fiercely congratulated ourselves and declared, “We just swam across the Tuichi River! We are pioneer women!”
We camped in the village there that night and officially began our hike the next morning. While we had been praying for our safety and endurance for this hike for weeks, we had no idea what was actually in store for us. We’d heard all the horrors we could/would face and read a number of the blogs of other racers who had trekked to Mojos. There were the leafcutter ants that could cut up and demolish our tents, the HUGE bullet ants whose bite feels like a bullet, poisonous snakes lurking, pumas and cougars we could encounter, deadly steep cliffs where mudslides had wiped out the trail leaving only tiny footholds to cross, flocking swarms of mosquitoes, bot-worms that bury eggs into your skin and later hatch huge worms. There was a lot to fear and freak out about. Yet we remained secure in the promise that God had called us here and to remain within God’s will is the safest place we could be.
On we began our trek. Instantly the heat and humidity of the jungle hit us. Because the river was high it rerouted our path through thick foliage. It was like walking into the armpit of the jungle. Hot and moist. We hiked up a mountain that felt like the ups would never-end. Remember this is with roughly 30-40 pound packs on (we also had to carry all our food and such for the nine days) and the elevation here wasn’t awful but about 4,000-5,000 feet. I can’t say the actual outside temperature was higher than say 85, but with the humidity inside the jungle we were pouring sweat. It continued to rain off and on covering all the trees and plants with water. Therefore when we walked through sections of waist-high foliage, our legs would get thoroughly wet. We’d cool ourselves by dipping our heads or headbands in the streams we would pass. The whole journey we were intensely moist to wet. The question was always there– am I wet from sweat or water? We never really knew.
We did become aware of the stench we gained. With the ridiculous humidity it became impossible to dry our clothes or really anything. The option of washing our clothes was ruled out because they couldn’t dry and would get a funk smell if we tried to pack them. Wearing one of our precious few other articles of clothing were saved for our time actually in the Mojos. Therefore we each had one singular jungle outfit we wore the whole duration of our three day hike. Jungle stank is the word. We were filthy! Sweat soaked through every inch of our clothing. Dirt, mud, stickers, velcro leaves, small bugs and insects, smeared and lined our clothing. We were a sight to see. I said this in the jungle and I will stand firm behind it now, I have never felt so entirely gross and disgusting in my entire life. Moisture, sweat, stank, mud, bug bites—everywhere.
As we hiked deeper into the jungle the bugs intensified and came alive. The common housefly appeared in droves. Any break to catch our breathe or refill water, our legs, our packs, our faces, everywhere became a landing spot for flies. No exaggeration we would each have between 50-70 flies on us. Crawling, buzzing, flying and relanding. When we were walking they weren’t an issue, but as soon as we stopped they appeared. Therefore any break we took didn’t actually provide much relief or comfort. Just inspired us to keep hiking.
Considering the majority of our hike was on the side of a mountain, the cliffs were definitely a point of concern. We walked along a very narrow path where if you made the wrong step, you could literally fall off the side of the mountain. At some points where there had evidently been a mudslide, the path became miniscule footholds of crumbling shale rock. It was TERRIFYING. But with the help of Mowgli and the Lord’s faithfulness, we always made it safely across.
The next immense annoyance and terror were the bees that invaded our camp the first night. After crossing one of the deadly cliffs previously mentioned we were eager to find our camp alongside the river. We quickly dropped our gear, changed into our swimsuits, and walked a few hundred feet to the Mojos River to cool off. It was sandy, cool, and beautiful. We laughed, joked, swam, found refreshment, and even baptized Calli. The Lord gave us a full rainbow that stretched over the sky, a promise of His faithfulness. Then we began to notice that sweat bees were a bit swarming our shoes by the river. They were literally covered with bees and now buzzing all around. I got stung by one as I grabbed at something by my armpit. I thought oh that’s annoying, let’s go set up camp now. No. The bees were even worse at our campsite!
Literally thousands just buzzing everywhere. Covering our packs, covering our clothes, and now covering us. Just crawling and enjoying our sweat. They didn’t actually harm you if you just let them be, but it’s not easy to just calmly allow dozens of bees to climb all over you. Mowgli assured us they would go away when the sun went down, but that was hours away. Setting up our tent and making dinner was terrible! Slowly navigating taking things out of your bag without disrupting the bees and ensuring the ones crawling on you weren’t smooshed in the process. It was AWFUL! Finally as nightfall came they left. Then sure enough at 5:30-6am the next morning they were back and we had the same experience all over again as we packed up camp. Each one of us got stung (some in unfortunate places while squatting to pee) except for one teammate Megan who is allergic to wasps (maybe bees) and deathly terrified of bees. Praise the Lord for His faithfulness to dearest Meg!
The bees and flies continued to be an ongoing annoyance anytime we stopped. Bees and flies all over us, always. I doubt I’ll ever react to a singular stray bee again anytime soon. A couple of girls saw a puma jump down into the path, look around, then jump back up. Terrifying. We encountered a 6 foot Bolivian python on the trail (thank God Mowgli was in front at that time). We heard grunting in the distance and feared it was the rumored wild boars we’d heard of. We encountered fields of butterflies. Bright green, blue, orange, purple butterflies. Everywhere and all over everything! Finally that was a welcomed insect and made for quite a remarkable experience!
We hiked up hills. We hiked down hills. We hiked through thick bamboo forests that had to be cleared with machetes. We hiked over huge tree roots turned up. We hiked through lush green jungle foliage. We hiked across rocky bluffs. We hiked through slick mud and slipped dozens of times. We hiked through creeks and riverbeds. We hiked through ridges filled with wild pineapples. We hiked it all. So. much. Hiking.
There was one section of steep, steep rocky cliffs that we came to after several hours of hiking. I was in front with my teammate Mallory. As we continued to climb up, the face of the mountain seemed to only get steeper and required the use of our hands to climb. With the breeze blowing and unsteady, exhausted muscles, I felt like I could easily falter. I was close to my breaking point. My muscles didn’t have the strength anymore. I was at the end of my rope and literally had no idea how I was going to get up this thing. But God was so near and present, I just cried out to Him. “Lord, I literally cannot do this without You! Strengthen my legs. Give me the energy!” And with every step I cried out to Him and sang His praises. Screamed them, really. (Teammates further down asked if we were okay because they were alarmed by the volume). Mallory and I both were just yelling to God praising His faithfulness and asking for His strength. And He showed up! We reached the top and received the view of a lifetime as we caught our breath and rested our muscles while the rest of the team caught up.
But God didn’t just give me the strength to get up that cliff—He gave me strength in abundance. Almost an hour later a fellow teammate was at her breaking point. She no longer had to strength to keep going and was at her breaking point. (After hours and hours of hiking, we still had not reached our lunch spot.) Feeling good and strong, I knew I could do it and handle the extra burden. Already wearing my own pack on my back, I took her pack and put it on my front to carry them both until we reached our lunch location. How on earth I had the strength and endurance to do that when I so recently was struggling myself? I can only accredit that to my Lord and Savior!
The Lord continued to provide His strength and protection throughout the duration of our journey. No one fell off the cliffs. No one was bitten by a snake or anything deadly. The list goes on (and will be continued upon in my next blog) And as a team we made it to the Mojos all in one piece! Praise the Lord!
Check out part 2 of the Mojos saga soon!
Please also enjoy a vlog my teammate, Shannon, created about the experience. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2-2vEKul98&t=348s
