Enjoying Bolivia 209the leaf’s celebrated attribute of generating unprecedented
endurance was not a mere legend.
During the trek out of Apolo, the travellers were able
to listen over their guide’s radio to the international Copa
America football matches, including the game in which
Bolivia defeated the United States 1–0.
At a place called Machariapo, the explorers found a
hacienda style house where a Bolivian ex-forestry offi cial,
consumed by the semitropics, had abandoned civilisation
forever, living a hippie existence. He fed the travellers
glasses of orange juice, again and again, until he acquired
the nickname Don Naranja (orange).
Don Naranja, in the tradition of his ancestor Don Quixote,
had a wild scheme. This paradise he had chosen, with the
world’s greatest biodiversity, would become an exciting
tourist lodge. I fear Godot will arrive there before any
tourists do.
Undiscovered Birds and Ruins
The trekkers pushed on, still in search of ancient Inca
ruins. They were able to plot the altitude, longitude and