It started raining at the border, but the jungle is still burning. It continues to rain and in the late afternoon we reach a nice little place with a lot of rubbish, but still plenty of jungle. As the name Aguas Calientes suggests, the water here is very warm and comes from a volcanic source. We rested at a simple campsite called Tucan.

That fits, because we really see a lot of toucans. The water is very shallow, but 35 degrees warm. It steams and looks amazing. Surprisingly, although this place is really special, there is no hotel to see.

At night I still sit with a beer in my hand and my feet in the water at the lake. Small fish nibble on my skin and large bats scurry along just above the water surface in front of me.

During the day we go splashing with Leon. He loves water and having a warm, natural pool here is a once in a lifetime opportunity.

The village itself is very run down. Or maybe that’s the standard for a village in one of the poorest countries in the world. We have yet to find out.

Again, Google information is wrong and we have to find a place on our own to find lunch and have Leon’s prepared meal warmed up.

After a full day of rain, it is very stormy today. We ask a few people and then end up in the backyard of a family’s cabin, where the kitchen is no different from a garage, and chickens and dogs and very strange ducks waddle past us. One child after the other comes into the house and we wonder how many there must be. Although there is a sign outside the door saying they offer lunch, people in the backyard are surprised when we ask for lunch. Bolivian Spanish is also difficult to understand. Somehow we order something and get something like beef soup. Plus water and a sweet cool drink called Chicha. This is a very old and very popular drink in the Andean region, as I read later.

And I also read that spit is an essential ingredient and gives the drink its name. Glad I didn’t know that because it tastes good. You take corn or various plants or all together, chew it through and ferment the spat out mass.

The weather was very mixed during our stay. In between it even gets quite cold, so that a bath in the hot springs is all the more beautiful. But it is time to continue our journey. The next day we get to know more of Bolivia’s originality.