In the jungle, the mighty jungle, the mosquitos bite real bad

We flew out of La Paz on the 31st January, bound for the Bolivian Amazonian Basin. There are two ways to get there from La Paz. The first option is to catch a 20 hour bus along a very ha¡ry piece of road, that drops off to about 100 metre cliffs in some sections. Not very appealing. Option 2 is to catch a flight with Amaszonas Airlines, which takes around 40 mins. Sounds very appealing. Not when you are then told it is in a 19 seater plane. Both are probably as dangerous as each other, however we chose the flight as the 40 min travelling time was just too appealing.

The flight in the end wasnt that bad. It was bumpy sure, and the fact that you can see into the cockpit is slightly disconcerting (especially when something starts beeping in there, and you see the co-pilot pull out the manual) but all in all it was fine, exciting almost. We arrived to arround 35C weather, which was so perfect after coming from the cold of La Paz, and being at sea level instead of 3600m above it was also such a relief as it felt like you could actually breathe again.

We spent the afternoon there scouting for tour agencies who we could go explore the pampas with, and eventually decided on Fluvial Travels. And for US$15 a day, with all food and accommodation included, who could really complain. Ah the joys of Bolivia!

All in all, the pampas tour was such a great laugh. We had 9 people in our group, who weren´t the most exciting people in the world, but good fun nonetheless, and we spent 3 days and 2 nights just cruising around the river checking out wildlife. Some of the activities you get up to include feeding the monkeys (i finally got over my fear of these wretched creatures), swimming with the pink dolphins, fishing for piranhas (i caught one, which to those who know my fishing ability, is remarkable), searching for alligators, and hunting for anacondas (this would have to be the low-light of the trip, as it involved wading through waist high marshland, with reeds up above your head, whilst being bitten by bugs, all the time looking for all things, a snake. Ridiculous!) In the meantime, we spent alot of time just cruising down the river in our canoe, lying in hammocks, having beers whilst watching the sunset, and being attacked by mosquitos. Seriously, God should be taught a lesson somehow for allowing these things onto the Earth. The do nothing except piss people off constantly. The most relaxing time of the day was the moment when you got to jump into bed, and hide under your mosquito net, as this was the only time when you were safe from their awful fangs!

We were going to fly out the day after arriving back from the tour, however as there was a massive fiesta being held in Rurrenabaque over the weekend, we decided to delay our flight by a day so we could get involved. And we were so glad that we did as it was such a laugh.

First thing on the Sunday morning was a motorbike race, which was the most ridiculous thing i have seen in a long time. Firstly, the bikes arent in the best shape at the best of times. Secondly, the roads are shoddy. And thirdly, the guys were probably still drunk from the night before and they were cruising down the streets at 150-160kmh. Lunatics. Add to this that they didnt actually sit on the bike like you normally would, but instead held the handlebars, and lay down with their stomach on their bike seat and their legs dangling in the air (im assuming to reduce wind resistance??) whilst showboating to the crowd with gestures and waves etc., and it was a recipe for disaster. In fact, there was disaster the day before as someone came off apparantly and killed themselves, but that didn´t stop these guys from still going nuts.

After this, a group of us that were hanging around town went to the bull fighting that was being held. Now this was Bolivia at its finest. Basically, everyone was absolutely wasted and in the bull ring, with bulls running around trying to gore them etc. There was the town idiot who kept pulling his pants down at the bull, and then diving at the bull as it came to him; there was the town hero, who had the red rag and constantly took on the bulls as they came towards him (he eventually came a cropper when a bull came at him, and perfectly placed the horn right between his pants, ripping his pants open and exposing his arse to the entire crowd); and the town bully who wanted the red rag off the town hero, and proceeded to have a brawl with him in the arena. It was just pure hilarity the entire afternoon, and something that i will never forget. I dont think ill see such stupid behaviour for a long time to come.

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