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The roads in northern Bolivia are almost always made of red, Amazonian dirt, and are hell in the rainy season. This is why it can sometimes be preferable to travel by river. The easiest route to take by river is Trinidad to Guyaramerìn, along the river Mamorè. You will have a hard time finding free passage, but what you can do is work for your trip; gasoline barges and river freighters are always in need of a few extra hands, and many of the capitans will take you in exchange for a little manual labour.
[[File:Patrickdepthfinder.jpg|rightleft|thumb|300px250px|[[User:Themodernnomad|themodernnomad]] searching for the bottom of the river with a stick; if he struck bottom, he had to immediately inform the capitan to change course or risk running argound aground and being yelled at]]
The type of work you do will vary depending on the season;[[User:Themodernnomad|themodernnomad]] worked for a few weeks in the dry season as a 'human depth finder' with a large stick. The task was to make sure the river was deep enough for the boat to pass since sophisticated equipment such as depth finders are few and far between in Bolivia. You also may have to hose down gas barges to keep them cool, fish, refill 55 gallon drums of diesel fuel, and cook.