Thursday, June 16

I woke up and was in a taxi by 7am. There was some confusion about which Mecapaca I wanted, which led the taxi fare to jump from Bs20 to Bs100. I could have caught a trufi from the first Mecapaca, but I have followed the pattern of taxi out, public transport back so as not to lose time in the morning. Arriving in the main square, I continued walking the main road along the hillside, coming across Tufted Tit-Tyrant, Rufous-naped Ground Tyrant, White-winged Black Tyrant, White-tipped Plantcutter, Blue-capped Violetear, Giant Hummingbird and Red-tailed Comet. Turning towards the river, I found Blue-and-white Swallow, Bar-winged Cinclodes, Picui-Ground Dove, Roadside Hawk, Andean Gull, Andean Lapwing, Puna Ibis, Mountain Caracara, and Picazuro Pigeon. 

Andean Lapwing

While I birded through the plots of land neatly arranged in squares along the river plain, the locals went about the daily necessities of rural agriculture: breaking up hardened soil with pick-axes, hacking at reeds to feed the cattle, and communing in small groups for lunch-time tea surrounded by potato plants in full bloom.

Tea break, Mecapaca

Working my way through these potato patches and reedbeds, I saw Common Moorhen and Plumbeous Rail. I explored the area around some abandoned buidlings, finding American Kestrels, White-tailed Plantcutter, Cinereous Ground-Tyrant, Brown-backed Mockingbird, Saffron-billed Saltator, Grey-headed Parakeet, Ash-breasted Sierra Finch and Greenish Yellow Finch. There was scrub and trees to the left of a tin-roofed house, which was the best area of the day, producing Bolivian Earthcreeper in addition to a male White-winged Black Tyrant, Brown-backed Mockingbird, White-tipped Plantcutter, Blue-and-yellow Tanager, and Spot-winged Dove.

Plumbeous Rail

Bolivian Earthcreeper

I enjoyed a bowl of soup at a small restaurant in the main square of Mecapaca, but did not have an appetite for the chicken, potatoes and beans that followed. I swallowed some of each to be polite then caught the trufi (235, Bs4.50) back to La Paz. I met BK for dinner at a French restaurant (La Comedie), but my health quickly deteriorated over the course of the meal. The soup was quite good, the ceviche mediocre and the potato gratin maybe the most disgusting thing I have eating in Bolivia. It was essentially 2 sliced potatoes drenched in 3 sticks of butter. I returned to the hostel with my muscles and joints aching, my stomach churning and my whole body shivering. Truly, one of the most miserable nights I have endured.

Bird tally: 9 new, 9 lifers