Jungle juice and Anaconda madness
Trip Start
Jan 16, 2007
1
10
40
Trip End
Jul 08, 2007
Rurrenabque, Bolivia
Monday, February 12, 2007
We spend the day checking out the town, booking a two day jungle trip (with a different Israeli guy) and heading down to the Mosquito bar for happy hour. The next morning bright and early we head off on our Jungle trip.We have to go some of the way by boat and then by motorbike to reach a ranch in the middle of Madidi park. On the back of the motorbike was mad and Edel even managed to fall off, she wasn't hurt though-just very dusty! There were others already up at the ranch who had arrived the day before, four mad Aussies and a Canadian who luckily for us were all very nice. We loaded up our bags with 2 days worth of food and headed off into the jungle looking for excitement and adventure! The highlight of the first day was seeing an owl in a tree, we're still not sure if it was dead or alive as it never actually moved... Nelo (our guide) said it was asleep...very convenient-we still have suspicions that it was a plant by the tour company! We trekked around for a few hours and eventually made it to camp where the cook had set up. After lunch our guide showed us jungle skills by fixing the zip on one of the tents with his bare hands, our cook not wanting to be outdone make a cheese grater from the lid of a can! If it came down to unarmed combat between our cook and our jungle guide the safe money definitely would have been on the cook! After he got the zip fixed we headed back into the jungle, this time spotting loads of "mas toxic ants" and going to see two small waterfalls, which were really amazing-it was nice to get into the water and cool down. The next day was pretty much more of the same - (loads more "mas toxic ants") going to three more waterfalls which were all amazing and walking round the jungle. We did manage to fit in a bit of Tarzan stuff...swinging from vines high up in the trees! That was pretty cool! After lunch (which was pretty amazing considering what the cook had to work with) we packed up camp and headed back for town. The Aussies were in a serious hurry to make happy hour at the Mosquito bar. Catherine was really looking forward to it too, myself and Edel were looking for something a little more cultural but I suppose we were in the jungle and decided it would be rude not to join our new friends for snifter of port at the bar! We all decided to go on a pampas tour the following day and booked with Anaconda Tours before we headed to the bar.
The next morning we got up for breakfast feeling a little tired, during the night we heard noises which sounded like wild animals, (but it sounded like it was coming from inside the hostel!) which kept us awake for awhile and indeed if we had of heard these noises in the jungle they would have been very scary!
When we met at the office the next morning I noticed Karen, one of the Aussie's was looking tired too. It also turned out Henry and Ladle, 2 Kiwis from The Inca Trail were booked in to go with us. To get to The Lodge in the Pampas it was a three hour jeep ride and another three hours in a boat. If we didn't see much wildlife in the jungle then this tour defiantly made up for it. On the boat ride we saw loads of animals including Chinchillas, (small little monkeys), birds of paradise and even a few of the pink dolphins we had heard about! The Lodge itself turned out to pretty special too, it was built up on stilts and even had its own bar. That night we were supposed to go out crocodile spotting but our guide Louis (who was the real deal jungle man) smelled rain and decided not to head out till tomorrow night. It rained that night.
The next day we headed out looking for anacondas and after a 2 hour trek in water up to our waist we found one stuck in a hollowed out tree. Louis managed to get it pulled out and in the process slapped the other guide across the face with it! Pure Hilarity! It was just a young one about 1.5m long (they can grow up to 6m long) but it was still pretty special to see it. We also touched alligators and swam with the pink dolphins and so much more wildlife I can't mention it all, it was amazing. That evening we went up river to another lodge to watch the sun set over the amazon basin, unfortunately though the cloud moved in and so did the mosquitoes, and they were very hungry! When we got back to our lodge we lounged around in the hammocks and were treated to a few original tunes from our resident Aussie musician- Liam Gillick. He wasn't quite Kevin Bloody Wilson, but his songs were alot more mellow and we spent a relaxing evening playing cards and listening to the jungle stories of our guide while he whittled amazing rings from small nuts for the girls. That night we went out spotting alligators eyes in the dark with a flashlight, it was actually scary the amount we found...made me think twice about swimming with the dolphins the next day!
The next day we spotted loads more wildlife and did in fact get back into the water to swim with the dolphins, this time the dolphins actually touched Edel and some of the girls although Edel said it was a really weird feeling! We then headed back for town stopping for a spot of piranha fishing (our guide was the only one to catch one) and even spotted a Capybara which is the worlds largest rodent,(about the size of a small pig). We couldn't delay long though cos the Aussies were in a hurry to make it back for happy hour...
