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Published: September 8th 2007
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We travelled to Rurrenabaque, Bolivia in a tiny 16 seater airplane.... with a crash history to boot. However we landed safely on a dirt runway in the jungle area after a fantastic view of the snow capped Andies. It was quite different then the rest of the country, stinking hot and humid and in the 35deg heat we were still dressed in our warm clothes needed for the cold, high altitude climate we had just left.... so we set off in search of accomodation so we could change. We then went in search of good food, which we thought may be hard after passing only the normal touristy pizza/pasta joints. However, just around the corner, away from the other places we found Casa del Campo. Paul had just fallen sick, so a decent helping of fresh cooked river fish and homegrown vegetables was just what the naturopath ordered..... and at Casa del Campo we got that and more... it was brilliant and we ended up eating breakfast, lunch and dinner in the same place eveyday we were in town, quickly becaming friendly with the chef and owner.
Now the reason we had flown here was to go on a tour of
either the jungle (selva) or pampas (to see the animals) of the bolivian amazon. However, as we went through the many tour agencies enquiring as to what they offer, we came across what we considered as something special.... and worth paying extra for! It was Mapajo Lodge, which was set up by several of the riverside communities, living a few hours up the Beni River...... life is hard for them there, especially during the wet season, and so rather than ignore or fight the growing tourism of the area, they decided to make it work in their favour. As it was becoming increasingly necessary for them to leave their homes in search of work, they instead decided to work together and develop a lodge that would provide the local communities with a regular income and allow them to continue their age old traditions and way of life.... in fact it would ensure their traditions continued as the project would rely on it. They built a lodge where a few tourists at a time could come and not only see how they lived but also participate in there way of life, whilst being shown parts of their local area and being
taught how they utilised it for their sustainability. We decided that supporting such a cause could only be worthwhile and so paid the fee and set off up the Beni river to what was to be our home for the next three days. The trip was a lot more difficult than expected with the river so low at this time of year! Many times from that first trip onwards, it was necessary for many of the passengers and crew to jump out and push the boat over the river stones...... Paul got in everytime.... Narelle avoided it the first day, but guilt got the better of her when she saw kids jump out and push and from then on she pushed with the best of them!
We arrived at a clearing in the dense rain forest about three hours upstream, and settled into our lodgings. The day we arrived the locals were preparing for a couple of days of festivities for their anniversary and we were fortunate enough to enjoy watching a few games of soccer played within the amazon!! Members of the Communities made up the different teams and we watched on drinking from coconuts from the nearby coconut
trees. That night, some of the locals under a little coca courage (and a lot of the local brew), took Narelle for a spin around the outdoor dance floor.
The following day our guide asked us, if it was alright for him to delay our walk the next morning so he could attend his children's baptism. Of course we couldn't say no so we accepted the invitation to go along and watch. Two hours passed, the Missionaries were still preaching and the baptism was yet to start so we made a hasty exit, with Narelle quite disturbed at having seen the missionaries in action.
From that afternoon on we got to really enjoy the surroundings. From swimming in the river, to long walks spotting monkeys (with our skilled guide performing his monkey call) and viewing the giant Mapajo trees. On the final day, after being shown all the tradtional ways of living that still continue (from manually dehusking rice to spinning cotton freshily picked form the plant) we requested a fishing trip..... so we loaded up the boat and set off in search of a catch. Paul caught nothing, however our boat driver got a big one and Narelle attracted
all the sandflies in the area, who had a feast of her arms and legs. Time passes quickly in the jungle so far away from cilivisation, and her luxuries, so before we knew it we were loading up the boat and returning to Rurrenabaque and a return flight to La Paz...... which was a lot rockier than the first flight.... and a little concerning when on approach to La Paz the autopilot starts alerting the pilot to ´pull up, pull up´and the pilot and co-pilot just laugh and mimic the warning to eachother!!
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