The jungle and death road
Trip Start
Feb 14, 2006
1
6
9
Trip End
May 30, 2006
Rurrenbaque, Bolivia
Tuesday, May 2, 2006
Met our guide and headed off down the river in a motorised canoe in search of crocs, monkeys, birds, and dolphins. Spotted all of them along the journey and on a few occasions got very close to groups of monkeys. A brave little monkey came right up close to us and grabbed a piece of banana of my hand, was pretty cool. Headed to our hostel for the night and an early night before trekking for anacondas in the swamp the next day.
Three hours of tretching through swamp with water coming up to my thighs we sucessfully saw nothing. Apart from a few cows and a few birds, no anacondas, needless to say this was not the highlight of the trip. Alex took a spill about 10 metres from the rest point and ended up covered in mud which was to be the only entertainment for the morning.
On our way back we came across a school of dolphins and some other tour groups. A few of them jumped in, so I quickly followed suit albeit it at the apprehension of our guide. Apparently paranas and crocs were known to be in the area aswell. This situation was helped by the fact that the water was so murky you cold not see anything. Swam around as the dolphins popped up within metres of us, it was an amazing experience! Headed back for lunch and siesta as we were all knackered from the swamp.
Back out to swim with dolphins in the afternoon where we found a family with young. All by ourselves until two other tour groups roar past scaring the dolphins away. Waited 10 mins and then went back and got in the water. This time though they were not as friendly and the mother dolphin kicked her tail at our guide forcing him back into the boat. They were protecting their young. Was pretty cool to watch them pop their pink snouts out of the water. The dolphins eat the algae which turns them pink.
Headed to a look out point to enjoy the sunset whilst drinking a few beers and then out to dinner before croc spotting. We found a fair few crocs and got within 30cm of a young croc. The corocs eyes turn red at night and are easy to spot with a flashlight.
Last day - fishing oh joy! we fished for baby paranas which were swimming around in big schools. It took about 3 secs for the bait on my hook to last, it was almost impossible to catch them. One of the girls in my group caught one but she was the only one along with our guide who caught a few. Got a good close up of thier teeth which were quite impressivly sharp. Headed back to Rurrenbaque after lunch to conclude the tour.
Found out that the only plane company´s planes were out of commission which was really bad news as my schedule was very tight. Got the last seat on a chartered plane, the other four passengers had been waiting days for someone to take the seat as like me they did not envy a 20 hour bus ride which goes over the death road.
Headed out that night for dinner and drinks with people from the tour and we ended up in a karaoke bar where I dazzled the many locals and tourists with renditions of classic 80´s tunes.
Up the next day and onto the chartered flight where I got to ride in the co-pilots seat. I was given strict instructions not to touch the steering wheel or the pedals. We flew really close over the jungle and the views were unbelievable, the flight was well worth the money I paid for it, a real highlight of the tour so far. The only regret was that the pilot packed our day packs under the plane where all of us had our cameras, so only memories remain of the trip.
Back into Rurrenbaque where I found out there were more transportation problems, apparently there was a strike on the monday and I may not get to Cusco and that the company that runs the direct service were having the day off. Bought a ticket with no certainty that I was gonna get there and was feeling quite nervous as if I miss the inca trail on the specified day that is it. Took the chance though and booked to mountain bike down the most dangerous road in the world the next day before heading of monday to cusco which was to be the bus ride from hell.
Up bright and early and a group of 13 of us tackled the most dangerous road in the world. The ride took about 4 and a half hours with the vast majority of it being down hill thankfully as the up hill was so hard due to the altitude. Passing trucks on the veyr narrow road whilst trying to make sure not to fall off the side which was a huge drop and no chance of survival. There were plenty of crosses to signify where people had died along the way and I found out after the ride that approximately 50 odd people die every year. May have thought twice about doing it had I known that information before hand.
With my great balance I took to the road with gay abandon and flew out into second place where I eventually finished the ride. The road was incredibly bumpy a lot of the way down and I was suprised that one way person had a severe crash, he cut his lip to his jaw and smashed his two front teeth with both being cut. Luckily though he didn´t go over the edge. I ran into some people who were on the tour and they had a girl come within a foot of falling as she got stung by a wasp and then crashed.
Onto the bus ride from hell - I will save you the pain of hearing my rant but my patience was at an all time high and knew how Laurie was feeling on his disaster day. Eventually arrived about 4 hours late making it a 20 hour bus ride in horrible buses. Was gutted that the company did not run the direct service!!!
In cusco now and will write after I complete the inca trail in about 5 days
