Pampas, Jungle, Sweating and Mosquitos
Trip Start
Unknown
1
24
62
Trip End
Ongoing
Rurrenabaque, Bolivia
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
As we got out of the plane the heat and humidy just hit you, and the sweat starting pouring down our bodies, what a change form La Paz, sooo rural and sooooo poor and very humid it had very few cars around, all scooters and motorbikes. Even the taxis are motor bikes. Luckily there was a bus waitingat the airport to take us to the town. Ang said the place remined her a lot of Thailand, very tropical , strange to think it was a 45 min flight from La Paz and the vegetation and climates changes so drastically. We alked to our hostel which thankfully had a fan. Met up with a swiss girl and guy that we had met at the wild rover, so we all went out for dinner. We went to a fish restaurant on the River Beni, it was just amazing, the fish we ordered came in a foil bag filled with garlic butter, my mouth is watering now just thinknig about it. Ended up heading home early as needed some sleep as knew the next few days might be difficult in the heat and with the mozzies flying around.
Wednesday 22 September Pampas Tour begins
Met at the tour company at 8.30am, and met a group of kiwi that were eating some delicious looking pastries, we asked where they got them from and they said there was a french bakery just around the corner, so we hastily ran off and bought some yummy goodies for the trip. got into a 4x4, which is not the standard 4x4 you are all thinknig of,pretty old and basic, but hey the most bumpy dusty trip ever,3 hours on the road, literally eating dust, thank God for ipods......... Arrived in Santa Rosa for lunch, what a wierd place, there were the strangest animals about this place wild bores, which were tame, lying under our tables, a deer, pigs, a stalk all so random and they just seemed to walk about as we ate our lunch. A bit like a comedy skit.
We then arrvied at the place where the 9 of us were to catch a ride in a boat, not very big, kind of like a rowing boat, with a small motor on the back. The ride was just beautiful , so peaceful, and cool and saw soooooooo many animals. Alligator galore, turtels, birdlife and the largest rodents in the world called Capybaras. they were soooo cute, they just loved the water. At times we got stuck as it is the dry season, so parts of the river were low, so our giuide then asked us to get out the boat and push the boat. But remeber we have been passing hundreds of alligators during the trip, so we all said no way!!!! but top be very honesy if we didnt get out we were going no where, so we got out absolutley terrified, dont thin i have ever seen Ang looking like that she had changed colour, there we were pushing our boat , the water ankle deep, as just scanning for alligator along the way, as soon as we got knew deep,we all jumped back in, quite an experience i must say. We slowly learnt that alligators only really haung around deep water, so we werent as nervous the next few times. We even got that brave that we even sman in the river while the alligatoer were sunbathing on the riner banks,of course there was always someone watching......
Got to camp and enjoyed chilling in the hammocks and checking out our spectacular views, it was very hot and huimid, with the combination of sweat, mosquito repellent and no showers, you dont want to be doing this trip with a new boyfriend..... We were all dying for a beer and the guide said there was a bar 5 min away, so he would go and buy them for us. So off 2 guides went and 2 hours later they arrived, absolutely pissed out of their faces, we had to serve our own dinner as they hadnt come back in time for that too, we got our beers, and sure they carried on drinking theirs and they stayed up singing all night while the rest of the tourists tried to get a good night sleep..... only in Bolivia or maybe Africa...... Nest morning we woke up to a view of another guide literally holding the other one up and walking him to the shiwers, he was falling all over the place, to be fair he somehow managed to come right and after breakfast he was waiting on the boat to take us Anaconda searching....
We walked for 4 hours in incredible heat, the water we were drinking was like bath water, but heyit was liquid, we found no smakes, but saw many birds and two black howling monkeys just chilling in a tree, which was cool. I am not really a bird lover and certainly not an expert, but must say the birdlife was phenominal, just loved it. just dont know how how guides coped walking in that heat with a hang over..... got back had cold shower and then ate lunch, siesta time for all, and at 4.30pm we went down the river to go pirana fishing this was fun, but our team was pretty useless, only caught one, which we threw back, others caught 5, 6,or 7 so they took them back and cooked them for dinner. by the time we set off back to camp it was getting dark, so we were all a little nervous as this boat is small and there are of course our favourite frineds swimming along side us. Anyway as we were going along something for the river jumps into the boat and lands on my legs, it was wet and slimy but couldnt see anything, well you can just imagine, I screamed so loud, with that Angie nearly jumped out of the boat she got such a fright, it was just a fish, our guide was in stitched, probably thinking stupid Gringos.....so the mad Swiss girl that was with us on the trip decided to make the story more juicy and she told the others back at camp that a pirana attacked me.... some believed her. Evenings were very chilled, just spoke to other travellers and to be honest was usually in bed by 9pm.
Next day Friday 24 September, set off again on our baot to search for pink dolphins, unfortunately we didnt get to see one close up, just got a quick glimpse of a tail.Just set off back home, loved the boat ride, just soo relaxing and cool witht he wind, had lots of time to think about others at work and how lucky i am to be on such a long holiday, life is good......
That evening we spent the night back in the village, Rurrenabaque, and went back to the same fish restuarant for our delicious garlic fish...mmmmm. Bed early and off to the Jungle next.
Saturday 25 September Our jungle tour
Woke up at 7.30am bought snacks for the trip and visited our favourite French bakery. We set off on a different boat this time sdlightly bigger, and had a sunroof, so at least we were out the sun. Rpde for 3 hoursd on the River Beni and River Tuichi, amazing to see the different vegetation, this timne is was very tropical with tall, dense trees. As we got deeper into the jungle it got hotter and hotter and more and more humid. Eventually we got to camp, it was very basic, a thatch hut. The camp was lovely but my word the insects and bugs were not, I have never seen soooooo many different specias of insects in all my life, onyl pretty ones were the butterflies hundreds of different colours. We could feel ourselves been bitten so out came the strongest, Bolivan instect repelent you could get, it actually made your skin burn. After lunch we started our first trek in the jungle, it was really good, besides the facts that goggos of all shapes and size are dropping on you head and falling down you top.We got to see woodpeckers, massive ants, termites, many different plants ,rubber trees, coconuts, just huge trunks, amazing really. The best was seeing an enormous tarantula eating a beetle right in front of us. Was good to get back to camp, to have a cold shower, ate dinner and then climbed into bed with my mosquito net and toxic repellent.We were supposed to stay another night but we decided that 1 night in the jungle would be enough.
Sunday 26 Sept
We spent the entire morning walking deeper into the jungle, 4hours, which was cool got to see 2 massive snakes lying in the trees, must say was pretty scared after that though as you just never know what you will come across. Heard wild boars, saw some monkeys again and also learn more about the plants, there is even a viagra tree, apparantly if you put bits of the bark in hot water and drink it... well everyone will have a happy ending...... quite funny really.
Set off after lunch back to village, we were all very happy to wave goodbye.
Ang went off that night as she needed to aclimatise for her mountain walk, but Purdey and I decided to stay another night, what fun we had, enjoyed eating watermelon form the local market, ate some dinner and then endugled in some ice cream. We stayed at the funniest hostel, is was on the river, but our room only had 2 wall, the rest was open, we had amazing views, but of course is also felt like to were outside, so again had to watch out for those dam mozzies. Was a stunning place to relax.
Next morning lazed around alot and njoyed the view and then caught a flight back to La Paz, what an adventure it was...... I think we all like the idea of visiting a jungle but the reality is the conditions are quite tough, so wont be running back to a jungle again, but very glad I did it.....
Comments
I've never seen anything like it...it's a hard life! You guys are having just the most amazing experience. Very envious!