Santa Cruz Butterfly Park

South America - Day 32

Santa Cruz Butterfly Park

It's Sunday today and we quickly found out that Santa Cruz shuts on Sundays (everyone's at church).

There was nothing to do to the point where even finding breakfast was tough. Late morning we piled into taxis and went out to the butterfly park. It was a little way out of town but it was a good option to fill in some time. The butterfly house itself wasn't that interesting as it was small & most of the butterflies had damaged wings. The little rotters wouldn't sit still to get their photos taken either!

For a butterfly park the pick of its attractions is its aviary. It is one of those free flight type aviaries. These Scarlet Macaws seemed quite content.

There were quite few of these Blue & Yellow Macaws. The cheeky little sots would sneak up on you & try to nip your ankle.

Above is a better photo of a Scarlet Macaw. They're such a striking looking animal. No wonder they are so popular as pets. (Not that I condone it).

Not to be out done, this Toco Toucan was also a bit of an exhibitionist.

Still in the aviary, there were other creatures about. We saw two of these sloths. Totally unexpected but also pretty cool. I don't think I've ever seen one other than on the TV. They're such curious creatures & even though they move so slowly they're strangely captivating to watch.

From the aviary we set off for the pool complex nearby. Along the path we saw these leaf cutter ants going about their business. It was funny watching leaves parade past us.

The swimming pool complex was slightly odd. It was a series of concrete pools connected by slides and waterfalls. The water came from somewhere that I couldn't identify (maybe the small lake in picture), ran through the pools, finally emptying into the lake in picture. (I'm not sure why, but I didn't take any photos of the pools for some reason.)
It was a good day to relax & immerse the body in water after weeks in the arid Andes Altiplano.

On the way back to the front gate we said hello to some tortoises in a big shallow grass pit. Pit sounds bad, but it was more like a shallow recess in a large lawn area. The animals seemed happy enough.

The afternoon was spent wandering around the city centre looking in trinket shops etc.
Pictured is the town square. It''s much bigger than the others we'd seen and covered in tropical trees and plants. I was so glad we were in a green place again.

The evening of the butterfly park visit we boarded the "Death Train" that would take us to the Brazilian border.
I'm not sure why they call it the Death Train, but we all wanted to kill ourselves by the time we finally left the train at the border some 16-1/2 hrs later. The rail line was very bumpy & the rail cars seemed to bounce violently non-stop.

Santa Cruz

South America - Day 31

Travel to Santa Cruz

The three leaving us set of quite early that day. We caught them before they left to say our final goodbyes. There were concerns about the clouds/fog delaying flights or closing the airport for the day. Some flights were delayed, but not by much.

We left for the airport late morning and set about having lunch at the airport. What a disaster! The food was average, but not the main issue. We waited over 30 mins to pay the bill and that was while we were standing at the counter. I have no idea what was going on, but the guy even took a big note off us but didn't give us change for ages. He even served & let other people pay in the meanwhile. I was so angry! I couldn't wait to get out of the place.

When our plane arrived (on the very short little runway), I realized that it was on old Boeing 727. The Australian airlines haven't used these for about 15 years because they we just too old to maintain. It was a bit nostalgic and a bit scary all at the same time.

After a slightly worrying take off in Sucre, the flight was actually quite pleasant and we arrived safely in Santa Cruz. The first thing we noticed was the humidity and the heavier air. It was so good to be able to breathe properly again. We were now on the outskirts of the Amazon Basin.
We settled into our hotel and went for a wander around the town. It was pretty much what I thought Brazil was going to look like. Apparently the Bolivians down in the lowlands think of themselves more as Brazilians than Bolivians. The place has that Brazilian feel.
That night we caught taxis to a barbecue restaurant where we had a mega meat feast. The lowlands people like to eat like their neighbours as well. (We found out not long after that, cattle aren't at all scarce in Brazil & Argentina.) It was great to be able to get a decent feed again.