The Mighty Amazon

After being at altitude and in the cold for so long what a welcome relief it was to touch down on the grass landing strip in Rurrenabaque and feel the tropical heat and be able to breathe easily. Rurrenabaque is a gorgeous little town nestled in the Amazon basin with a big touristy feel. There wasnt much time to relax as we had already booked our tours so we tried to make the most of the afternoon we had with a hike in the surrounding jungle.

It seems that my misfortune has not yet come to an end as not only has she cracked a rib through coughing when we tried to find the trail for our walk we came across some particularly unfriendly local dogs, one of which took a nip out of my ass. Well, that put an end to the walking idea but luckily it was a domestic dog and not a roaming ferril one. Feeling sorry for myself we fortunately found a local soccer game to watch instead although we sat and watched the opening match instead of the feature event!

Onto the good stuff, we started our Amazon adventure with a 3 day pampas tour. After enduring a 4 hour dusty rollercoaster 4wd ride with 2 flat tyres to the entrance of the National Park we were soon rewarded with more animals than you can shake a stick at (or point a camera at!) Aligators, monkeys, many birds, turtles, pink dolphins (yes pink...), capibarra, caimans and more than enough insects.

There was so much to see on the water, but there was more for us to find, on the second day we headed out on the hunt for anaconda. A 3 hour walk through the humidly hot pampas grasses wearing clothing that covered all of us to avoid being eaten alive by mosquitos and we had nearly given up hope. On the way back to the start our guide heard rustling and much to our delight was the beloved anaconda! No glory photos around the neck, guides are not supposed to disturb them anymore, but we were happy! That night we cruised out and went pirana fishing. Man those little freaks can eat a piece of meat off the end of your line in about 2 seconds! Chris raked in the 2 biggest and was salivating at the thought of scoffing them that night for dinner, which we did. Quite tasty little morsels, not much meat on the bones though.

Our final day was topped off very nicely with a swim in Amazon with the pink dolphins. We all waited paitently in the boat until our guide dived in as we were a bit tentative about aligators, piranas and other lurking creatures of the deep. We all survived though and the dolphins were shy until we left on the boat and they came to life jumping in front of us and escorting us off the premises.

After an excellent 3 days in the pampas we wondered if it could get any better. We had a nights turnaround to shower and freshen ourselves which ended up being a night out with the other tour members, well actually a night to destroy the English and Isreali at pool, and then it was off to the jungle for another 3 day stint.

A more relaxing and stunning boat trip of 3 hours and we were at our base camp. Very basic but comfortable. One of the first sights that greated us was an Isreali traveller with more mosquito bites on his legs showing than skin. We quickly dug out our long pants and drowned ourselves in deet.

The jungle tour was very relaxed, that afternoon we prepared for a 3 hour walk into the jungle, just as we thought about leaving the heavens opened and we were treated to a tropical downpour. Off we went anyway, it is all part of the experience right! We came across a baby turtle, deer, pigs GALORE (unfortunately we were unable to snaffle one up for dinner as they are protected), tarantula, giant snails, gorgeous butterflies and frogs. We were supposed to go again that night but it was too wet.

2nd day and we woke leisurely in the heat for another 3 course meal (all meals are ridiculously huge) and then set off into the jungle again. What a walk...not only did we see the beloved Tucan, Macaw, monkeys, parrots, some squirrel thing, hundreds of pigs, millions of ants and learn about the versatility of tree species in the Amazon (we are talking rubber trees, milk trees, blood trees, poisonous trees, healing trees) Chris actually had a tarantula on his head and here is the photo to prove it!

After such an action packed morning we welcomed the chance to go fishing for salmon in the afternoon. Our hopes were high but our catch was non existant. The camp guru (aptly named Mr Miagi) showed us all up by dragging in a monstrous salmon, he must know the good spots...and probably for 50 bolivianos would have shown us.

Last day in the jungle and we got to make necklaces and rings out of natural Amazon stuff, I loved it and surprisingly Chris seemed to as well. After all that stress we went tubing down the river before being picked up and taken back to civilisation.

It was sad to leave the Amazon, not only for the hot weather but for the amazing things we saw and experienced. We are back in La Paz now struggling for breath and wheezing like old men. Tomorrow we are mountain biking the worlds most dangerous road...the fun never seems to stop in Bolivia, there is so much to do.