A warning for woman travellers planning to do jungle tours
from Rurrenabaque in Bolivia. The guide Negro (I┤m sorry
but I┤m not sure of his surname) continues to drug and rape
women who participate in his tours. On the final night of
the journey he offers participants ┤pills┤to help them with
their mosquito bites. These will either be sleeping tablets
or valium, depending on whether you are the chosen victim or
not. Women then awake in the middle of the night to find
they are being assaulted, but so groggy from the valium that
there is little they can do. Some women are not sure if
they have been raped or not. Negro then disappears into the
jungle until things settle down. The Bolivian police are
reticent to help.
There are two guides in Rurre called Negro. Negro the
serial rapist is highly recommended in Lonely Planet┤s
Bolivia guide. The other Negro has a missing finger and he
is a competent guide.
I hope others will also join me in encouraging Lonely Planet
to somehow enter an erratum or similar into their Bolivia
guidebook which is still for sale. People continue to use
Negro as a guide as he is highly recommended in the book,
and there is no information available to the contrary in
Rurre.
Viki Cramer
[There are 6 posts - the latest was added on Tue 25 May, 6:20]
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I will be in Bolivia next year and I DO appreciate the
warning. I hope LP takes action to warn women about this
(espcially as they have highly recommended him).
what fool idiot would take pills from a stranger? is this
chick for real?!?
You sad thing. You travel and travel and this guy comes recommended and is your guide and you don't trust him? I think most people *would* trust someone in this situation, and sadly it seems that he's preying on the fact that too many do. Just how isolated and far-removed do you make yourself when you are travelling? There is a difference between not accepting candy from strangers and being a closed, cynical bitch, you know. Don't knock these poor women for having been *victims* of this guy. All travel is about trust and if you try to isolate yourself from it completely, why do you bother going? Why not just stay home where you know the FDA has checked everything out and you can sue if you have any problems? Silly little girl shouldn't be allowed out on the road.
As the person above me mentioned, there is a degree of
truct that you must have in going on a trip like that. For
example, maybe it wouldn't have been in a pill, but what if
they put something in the drink or food that they were
serving on the trip? For #2 poster above, are you saying
that you never eat the food on a trip or the water offered
on the tour? If the tour is recommended and you have
travelled together with the person for a few days, there is
a trust and a comfort zone that usually develops. I can
totally see how that could happen. Anyway, Viki is only
doing all of us a favorite by reinforcing that s**t like
this does go on so next time we will all be a little more
careful.
The other agencies know about this guy Negro and what I have
heard is that Negro and his brothers had opened a new agency
under a new name.
I went with Amazonias Tours which I strongly recommend. The
supernice guide Valdemar made it a success. (He's a great
cook too!)
Anna
Just an additional note. I was not raped. I did not even go
to Rurre. I just thought that someone should post something
on the Thorn Tree to warn women. Personally I would not
take pills from someone as I travel with enough medication
to cover most situations. I am dissapointed with the
comments of ┤c┤mon women travellers┤, however - surely a
little compassion for some women who trusted a guide after 6
days in the forest being totally reliant on him wouldn┤t go
astray?
Viki Cramer