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After La Paz we spent a few nights in the beautiful valley town of Coroico, surrounded by colourful flowers and luscious greenery, even though it rained it was a pretty blissful spot. We stayed at a hostel up on the hillside, with hammocks, spectacular views and morning yoga classes. We walked to some waterfalls, although the scenery en route was more impressive than the falls themselves, as we walked passed coca fields, orange and banana trees and had great views across the valley.
From nearby Yolosita we embarked on night bus to Rurrenabaque, the bumbiest bus ride I have ever experienced! The roads out of the valley were narrow, windy and on the cliff edge and for the rest of the way completely unsealed. At one point my bum left the seat so much my head hit the roof! Needless to say, we dindnt get much sleep on the journey. To top it off they put a dog in the baggage hold for part of the journey and my rucksack emerged stinking of dog wee!
We were relieved to arrive in Rurrenabaque and it was nice to step out into the warm air of the amazon jungle. It´s a
busy and well visited frontier town; where the road ends the jungle begins and it also sits alongside the river Beni. We spent a couple of days relaxing in the town before heading off on a 3 day jungle tour.
After a couple of hours on a little boat along the river Beni, passing nothing but dense green jungle at the river banks, we arrived at the Mogli campsite in the Madidi National Park. The campsite was made in a ceared area, with shelters made from bamboo and pots cooking on the fire. It was just us two on our tour, although there were some other groups around the camp at the same time, accompanied by our guide Miguel: Miguel grew up in the jungle and had an amazing knowledge of the plants and wildlife, he also had a pretty good sense of humour but didnt speak any English so it was a test of our Spanish skills (I think we manage to understand most things)!
On the first day we went for a walk through the jungle, in parts it was like rainforest I´ve been to in Asia or Africa, but other parts were completely different. In
fact, there were many sections of the junge where all of a sudden the plants or trees would change and at times we were surrounded by towering bamboo. There were even trees that could move, with their spider leg like roots, to reach more sunlight or water. But almost every tree has a use for the indigenous communities; whether it´s leaves produce lilac paint for rituals, it´s root is medicinal, it´s wood gives food a flavour of garlic, or sniffing it´s bark gives you a high! You might question its legitimacy, but when we were bitten by red ants, within minutes he´d pulled up a plant root and cut it up for us and it instantly took the sting out of the bites.
The second day started with a trip along the river and after another walk, we arrived at a clearing by the cliffside; where pairs of colourful parrots sat in the crevices of the cliff. They were impressive birds, showing off bright red and blue feathers as they spread their wings. We continued to walk to the top of the cliff and all you could see was miles of jungle, interrupted only by the curves of the
river Beni. We also managed to glimpse a few wild pigs on the walk too, although in general the animals in the jungle are so hard to see; they have much space to hide in and you can rarely go off the path as the trees and plants are too dense to get through.
That night we walked futher into the jungle to camp, and it really felt like we were deep in the amazon. We sat around the campfire and Miguel showed off some impressive bushcraft skills, making us beautiful rings from tiny coconut shells. he guys who live there seem to be able to make pretty much anything they need with the use of a machette and the resources of the jungle. The nightime was not quiet, full of the buzzing, ringing and singing of insects, but suprisingly sleeping under a plastic sheet and a mosquito net was pretty comfortable.
To complete out jungle experience, on the last day as we sat in camp, one of the guides brought over a large curled up leaf and sat in it was a tarantula! I managed to hold it for a little while, although obviously didnt quite maintain
the same level of calmness as it soon jumped out of my hand. Then, shortly after, me and Stu were walking up from the river bank and sat metres away was a big black snake! This was possibly Stu´s jungle nightmare, but the snake quickly left for the bushes and we both manage to return to Rurrenabaque with no more than a few mozzie bites!
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