El Chapare

I´m not sure how I went from sipping wine on a Houston rooftop to trekking through the jungle with a machete, but it sure happened! Rodrigo and I drove 4 hours through the mountains to arrive in El Chapare. It´s surprising how much the climate changes in such a short distance, because here in Cochabamba it´s dry and temperate, while in El Chapare it´s humid and hot like any other rain forest. Here´s a picture from the drive: breathtaking.

Rodrigo´s family owns 40 acres of land in El Chapare where they plan to raise cattle for meat. During our 3 days we cut through the rain forest to define the perimeter with barbed wire and picked the leaves of the coca plant, which is used to make the cheap cocaine that is exported to the US. No, I did not try any :) While trekking we came across beautiful flowers, bananas, and monkeys.

One of the workers went hunting and killed a pig-like animal called "jochi."

Here´s Rodrigo gearing up.

Here´s me with my huge boots and machete.