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PAMPAS TOUR
Our departure point for the pampas and our mode of transport for the next few days - the long canoe After nearly 2 weeks in La Paz it was high time to get the hell out of there for a while and see another side of Bolivia. Along with my trusty Hardcore Adventures, Emily and Ben, we picked up another Aussie Adam to head north to see the Amazon Basin. The night before we left we all accidently had a long big night in La Paz, when would we all be back in La Paz was the arguement I seem to remember. So that meant that the day we were flying, yes we took the luxurious option of flying rather than a very long 18 hr bus ride over the Andes, we stayed up to watch sunrise over La Paz and then hit the sack around 7am. So when the time came to head to the airport there was a few fragile moments but we managed to board and be on our way. That included flying over the Andes and literally past mountains, some were taller than our altitude, and then into the jungle area - needless to say the sights were pretty amazing and good to distract us from how small the plane was. After a very short 45mins
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On the way to Rurrenabaque we touched down in the middle of the jungle to find nice humid and sticky weather - just what the doctor ordered after being in cold weather for too long. After a short ride into town where we sweated a lot as we were still dressed for La Paz, we arrived in the small and wonderful town of Rurrenabaque. Back to the tropics which also meant back to people riding motorbikes everywhere with countless people on the back, thongs, warm nights, mosquitos, fresh fruit, friendly people and outdoor living. We found our hostel which came complete with lots of hammocks and places to chill out and now we were all in paradise. After a lovely hot shower and time to relax we were off to have a look around town. We didn´t get far as we were all exhausted so we stopped to enjoy cocktails at happy hour and some freshly caught river fish before calling it a night as we had our pampas tour starting the next day.
Up early the next day and on the mission to try and find some anti-mosquito gear which we now realise we don´t have enough of, not much luck today as
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The mountain that we flew past on the way over the Andes banks are closed and we have no money. Not long after that we are put into the back of our 4x4 along with an English girl who would prove to be a pain in the arse and a lovely French girl who spoke limited english but great spanish and who ended up being our interpreter for most of the trip - which I am sure she hated. For the next 4 hours we bounce, wobble, eat copious amounts of dust and rattle as we head towards the river along a very unmade road. Arriving glad to be out of the back of the 4x4 and at the start of the real adventure. Our mode of transport for the next 3 days is what looks like to be an oversized canoe, about 8m long, that is powered by an outboard motor and fits us all in perfectly. Once we off load our gear onto the canoe we are off up river to our camp, stopping along the way to look at lots of different wildlife including monkeys, aligators, Capyburras (largest member of the rat family), turtles, countless birds, pink dolphins and a whole lot more. We arrive at camp to find
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Our small but trusty aeroplane a very basic set up including cabins made from plywood apparantly enclosed, beds with mosquito nets (thank god!), a great chill out area with perfectly placed hammocks and our dining room. Time to relax for a while and take it all in before heading further up river for the sunset. Sunset is in a beautiful setting just off the river but we are welcomed by the largest and most unfriendliest swarm of mosquitos I have yet to encounter. Let´s just say that they had no problems attacking us all through all our layers and proceeded to make watching the sunset no where near as enjoyable as it could of been. Saying that though mother nature put on a spectacular show for us and after moving inside to a mossie free zone we could watch the end of it in peace. That night after dinner we jumped back into our trusty canoe for a silent cruise down the river to see if we could see aligators on the side. We saw a few but what capivated me more was the fireflies and also the amazing starry sky above. On returning from this I was in bed early as it was the
RURRENABAQUE
A local home on the way to town only place that I could hide from the bastard insects!
Day 2 brought an adventure and a half.....going looking for anacondas in the fields to start with. The story was that no one had found one for a few months as the area was still too wet for them to move down from the trees, but we were trying to be optimistic. We geared up in gum boots and every piece of long clothing we had to avoid the invitable mossies. So there we are dressed in gear that you should be wearing in winter, covered in suncream and mossie repellant, walking into the wilderness that included long grass and plants and lots of water and mud to find some bloody big snakes and all of this in the blazing sun. We weren´t all that optimistic but we wanted to give it a go, but after about 2 hours trekking around in these conditions I must admit I was hoping that we would find a snake or head home. Poor Emily was feeling sick with a cold and she was not enjoying herself one bit, I felt really sorry for her as it was not comfortable when you felt
PAMPAS TOUR
Our bumpy, dirty and squashed ride to the river in our 4x4 good, and if she could of imagined one thing that she would least like to be doing at this time it would of been looking for anacondas in the conditions we were. Finally we decided to call it a morning, unfortunately without finding a snake but with lots more mossie bites, and we were off back to camp for a long needed swim. The swim consisted us going off the side of the canoe at camp in a sporatic swim as we had met the resident aligator earlier which lived across the river.
That afternoon we were on the hunt for some more wildlife, this time pink dolphins. We steamed up river again to a more open area, apparantly where no aligators are, and where we would hopefully find some pink dolphins. I had my mask and snorkel with me and so I jumped in first excited over the prospect of seeing one of these amazing creatures underwater. It didn´t take long for one to bump into me and as I looked underwater I found a dolphin about 1m away from me. Not sure if I scared it more or if scared me more - but because I had
PAMPAS TOUR
Us on the boat on the way to camp my mask on it could see my eyes and it stayed there for about 30 secs just checking me out. I had been told that they can´t see that well so I don´t know if it could see me eyes but most people just swim in the water and don´t have a mask to look under, so I am convinced that the dolphin was curious about me. About 5 mins later another one came my way and did the same thing, this time in an upright position, and fully checked me out as I was checking it out. I couldn´t believe my experience and was absolutely ecstatic with the interaction that I had experienced. Imagine that - my best dolphin experience was in a river with a pink dolphin in the Amazon Basin! We were also told that when there were dolphins around then the aligators took a wide berth...who knows if this is the case but you´ll believe anything the locals tell you. We finished off an amazing day with a stop at the Sunset Bar down river where fittingly we watched another beautiful sunset over the pampas. This time we had meet some people who were more organised
PAMPAS TOUR
Cruising along in the pampas through the water plants than us and had their own mossie coils, so sunset was a lot more comfortable this time round. Again another early night purely to get into the mossie net.
The last day of our tour we set off for a couple of hours of wildlife watching. This included cruising up the river to new areas and just seeing what was around. Again we were treated to many great encounters seeing numbers of birds, pink dolphins, aligators, a cayman, some kind of snake, capybaurras and monkeys which were quite vocal. After our last lunch we packed and headed back along the river to where our trusty 4x4 and driver were waiting. On the way back we were lucky enought to pass a rather large aligator, about 3m long, sunning itself on the bank. We did at this stage wonder about the theory that if you swam near pink dolphins the aligators would stay away...as this big boy didn´t look like he would take shit from no one. Luckily we all did leave with all limbs intact, full of mossie bites but completely relaxed. Our ride back to town was again bumpy and dusty but we did find a so far
PAMPAS TOUR
A Capyburra - apparantly the biggest member of the rat family elusive anaconda on the road. Our guide was quick to jump out and grab the snake before it headed off to safety in the wilderness. It probably was around 2m long and absolutely beautiful as it wrappd itself around the guide´s arm - saying that though I did not want to have a hold.
After a good hot shower to de-dust in Rurre we hit the town again for happy hour cocktails and another good feed, but we were not long out of bed again. Ben, Emily and I decided to stay in Rurre for a few more days and enjoy the tropical weather. Sunday was a perfect day to head up the hill on a taxi motorbike to a place where you could swim all day and laze around a pool with a view over the town. Sounded wonderful to us and is exactly what we did. The following day I decided to brave the Bolivian wilderness, the roads and bus company´s reputation and take the bus back to La Paz. I had heard many things about this bus ride and how terrible it was, but due to a diminishing bank balance I couldn´t justify another plane ride
PAMPAS TOUR
Our friendly monkey back. So I arrived at the bus station and boarded the bus along with what also seemed 50 others and off we took. I had to laugh as we left Rurre as the sign said it was 450km to La Paz but the ride was going to take 18 hours....some dodgy roads ahead I gathered. After all that I had heard about this ride I was absolutely stoked that I decided to take it as I had a great time. I was surrounded by Bolivian families with their kids who eventually warmed to me, the lady in front buying me cough lollies for my throat and then mate which was supposed to make me better, I shared my ride with dogs and chickens, stopped at the craziest little towns in the middle of no where, saw beautiful scenery, was amazed at where and how these people live, managed to sleep a little, travelled on some very sketchy roads and was stunned at how many people and bags that they can fit on one bus. It made me want to see more of Bolivia and I felt like this is what I came to see...the real Bolivia!!!!
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