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Published: November 19th 2005
Well we eventually made it to Rurrenabaque after 10 hours in La Paz airport. I had a horrible flight as it was a little 12 seater plane and shortly after leaving La paz and the beautiful snow capped montains behind we were submerged in thick dark grey cloud and rather sever turbulance at one point the plane dropped what seemed like a few hundred feet and let out a large beep (never known a beep mean anything good, I´ve not said a prayer in a long time but I said one then). Andrews hand was white from me squeezig it so tightly! As we were coming into land we came out of the cloud had a quick glimpse of thick forrest and a wide chocolate brown river and then we were on the rather bumpy grass runway and landed.
We landed just before night fall (luckily as there are no lights for the runway!) on the grass runway surrounded by jungle and a rather small airport building. It was damn hot and sticky. As we had been delayed by so much time there was no one to meet us at the airport as was previously arranged.
We jumped into
Feeding time #2
This is not trained expert or guide this is Richard one of the New Zealand guys we met on the tour, please do not attempt to do this at home!!the airline minibus which took us to the airport office in the centre of town and by this time it was dark. We found where we needed to go to our hostel and as we were walking along the frogs were whislting and croaking really loudly in the open drains along side the road. We definately felt like we were in a jungle town with the frog and insect sounds, hot sticky climate and grass topped houses with wooden slat walls.
We arrived at the hostel and the owner looked a little confused at our arrival. We were shown to our rooms at the hostel, they resembled something like our garden shed back home but more basic and not as structurally stable, but as we were both knackered we agreed to stay. We then asked about our tour that we were meant to be going on in the morning and again he looked a little confused. He said he would take me to the tour office to try and sort it out, so I trotted outside expecting a car and instead it was a motorbike! So I jumped on and held on for dear life as I had never
More Monkey's
A Howler Monkey, can't remember if it's a male or female. been on a motorbike before. I quite enjoyed it once I had relaxed.
When we go the the office it was closed but the hostel guy managed to find the lady we needed (Cynthia). She too was very supprised to see us and she apologised for not meeting us at the airport, but she had been told by the airline that our plane had been cancelled and that we wouldnt be there until the next day! Still all was sorted out and we were on for the tour the next day. Also when the hostel guy found out that we were meant to be there and that there had been a big mess up he said he would move us to a room with a private bathroom. When i got back to the hostel we moved to the other room which had a double be 3 singles and 2 hammocks in it. I can see why he initially wanst giving it to is as they charge per person and not per room.
We got our selves sorted out and I got a sudden reminder of where we were as I took a shower a transular crawled out of
Our first sighting of a Sloth #1
If you follow the branch that goes up to the top left hand of the pichture, just before the branch makes a v, it's there on the right hand side, honest. the plug hole and sat on the wall looking at me, we then crashed out to sleep early as we were exhasuted from the traumas of the day. When we awoke in the morning we walked out side the room only to find our hostel was on the banks of a massive river and there were hammocks and chairs overlooking the river - nice. We had a fantastic breakfast of pancakes and fresh fruit and then we were picked up to start our 3 day 2 night tour into the Pampas.
We met our group who all already seemed to know each other. It appears that they did the death road bike tour together where they met, then the travelled from La Paz together and then all got drunk together last night! The group consisted of 3 Kiwi guys, Richard, Joe and Brendan, an english couple Amy & John and an American / Canadian couple Tom & Becks.
We had a 3 hour drive in a 4x4 then we stopped for dinner at this dodgy place (Andy and I didnt eat hardly anything!) and then got on a little wooden boat. We loaded all of our belongings into
Our first sighting of a Sloth #2
There you go conclusive evidence that we saw a sloth in the jungle!! the boat along with our food and water for the next 3 days and were introduced to our guide Lewis. From here we had a 4 hour journey up stream to our camp for the next 2 nights. We were the furthest camp upstream and the further you went the more animals and birds we started to see. At first we were all like wow look! theres an aligator, but by the time we got to camp we had seen so many we were board of saying it. We saw a capybura, pink river dolphins, some sweet little squirrel monkey's but they came down to the shore and we fed them with bananas. They were so gently. They wrapped their little soft fingers around your hand and ate the bananas. I freaked out and dropped the banana at one point when about 4 of them piled onto my hand after the banana!
When we got to the camp we had a quick drink and rest and then headed out after nightfall to go and look for Aligators. We had torches with us and you could see so many eyes twinkling in the bushes and on the river banks, the
Pink River Dolphin
About our 6,000th attempt to photo these illusive creates and this is the best we've managed. river is infested with them!
The next day I awoke with my back side covered in mosquito bites! As we had gone to bed in the dark I had failed to notice a gaping hole in the seam of the mosquito net over my bed. Therefore as I was sleeping peacefully thinking I was safe from the ferocious mossies they had been feasting on my tasty butt cheek! I had 15 bites on one bum cheek alone!
After breakfast we were armed with wellington boots and wooden sticks and we set of annaconda hunting (for the second time on our trip). We went out into some marshy wetlands and it didn´t half pong! My wellies were two sizes too big so when my feet got stuck in the mud my feet came out and not my wellies! I almost lost balance so many times but I made it without falling in. I almost went over whilst trying (but failing miserably) to save Becks in our group from falling in. The down side to falling in aswell as being smelly was that the shower was open to the elements and was the local mossie feasting establishment for prime Gringo
Rump! Unfortunately we dint find any Anaconda but we had a good walk in the Pampas and saw some proper cowboys!
The next day before leaving camp to return to Rurrenabaque we awoke early to go and watch the sunrise over the Pampas which would have been perfect if we didnt have to permentanly swat ourselves to stop the mossies from biting us, they are fierce! We also stopped off in the boat to see a Sloth which Lewis our guide had spotted the previous day when we had been returning to camp. Unfortunately we didnt get a great view of it, but still I was glad I had seen one!
That night we returned to Rurrenabaque and went to the Mosquito Bar to celebrate Brendand´s birthday and we all got quite drunk. We spent the next day day lounging by pool side enoying the local music of Daddy Yankee and Pappa Shanki, the South American answer to Eminem.
We decided to change our planned jungle tour to join John and Amy as they had booked to go to a community with a day in the jungle and then a trip to see a Shamen.
The
tour was kind of put together in a rush as it's not a normal trip that is put on and only 3 other groups have gone before. Our guide Moguli was kind of dropped in at the deep end, given a few boliviano's and food for the 3 days and sent on our way to try and sort everything out. Somehow it all fell into place quite nicley, after a local bus journey and then a ride in the back of truck we got to the community we was visiting. Moguli took us into the jungle for a walk and swim where I discovered that I'd got a little friend attached to my ass, after dropping my shorts to show our guide he informed me that it was just a tick and removed it for me. We returned to the village and after a quick shower (a big bucket of water with a smaller one to pour the water over your head) dinner was ready where we had to share the dining room with a tarantula, which moguli decided he wanted to put on mine and Johns face and started chasing the spider round the room, thankfully the spider got
Aligator
Just one of many aligators that infest this river. away.
After dinner we we´re taken to meet the rest of the community, we had a pleasant evening presenting the leader with several bags of coca leaves and a few packets of cigerettes. Later we were presented with the local band playing music. We impressed the kids with our magic cameras, well all except one who seemed quite scared of us and began crying when the flash went off, I tried to calm him down by showing him the pictures to which he cried even louder and ran off! Thankfully much to the amusment of the rest of the community.
However at the end of the night we got the distinct impression that not all the community wanted us there, as we said before only a few groups have come here before, and they are still trying to sort out how touist are going to come to village (ie, just put buses on and let them roll in and out as they please or by booking through a tour company and coming with a guide as we did) or not at all. This, plus the fact our tour company hadn't sent the money for the community probably angered those apposed to tourism even more although that didn't stop one individual obviously apposed to our presence coming to our room to ask if we had any more coca leaves for him. One of the first things we asked when we booked our tour was do the community mind us being there and if we'd have known the situation we wouldn't have gone. Although those who wanted the tourism we're very friendly and hospitable.
After a good nights sleep (in the grain store) we were taken back into the jungle where we made fans from palm trees, shown simple survival techniques like which vines you can drink from, fruits to eat, trees that produce milk and also making Tarzan swings from vines (another boyhood fantasy fulfilled), we saw wild turkeys, lots of birds and more monkeys, but seeing animals is quiet difficult in the jungle as theres plenty of places to hide and they can hear you coming a mile off.
We were told we could not eat for 6 hours before we went to see the Shamen so after a light lunch we left for the main village. On our return journey to the main village where we were to see the Shamen, we taken on the back of local truck along with birds, pigs, dogs and far too many people that the truck could hold and as with Sue and Andy's luck with transport we got a flat tyre and had to stand around swatting Mossies for while.
After leaving our things at our lodgings for the night we set off to the Shamens house which was a little wooden hut. As we went in we saw the outline of an old man on a hammock in dim candle light. We had been told to take some candles with us, so after lighting some of them we could see that the Shaman (also know as the meastro) was an old man in his eightys who was frail but had the biggest wodge of coca leaves stffed in his cheek i have ever seen. We were took a bag of Coca leaves and a packed of extra strong Casino cigarettes to for him as a token of friendship. He imediately opened the cigarettes, tore the filter off of one and started puffing away with a heavily weasing chest.
The Shaman then started the ceremony to Pachamama and gave a blessing listing all the names and ages of the persons present and sprinkling coca leaves on the floor. The shamans aprentice then brought over a pan full of liquid and filled up a halved coconut shell with the contents. The Shaman then passed John the bowl (as he was meant to go in order of age but must have got confused by Andy's youthful looks and passed it to the much older looking John) and after offering some to Pachamama (pouring it on the floor) drunk the contents. I have to say after drinking it myself it wasnt the nicest thing I have ever tasted. The purpose of the drink is to bring you closer to nature the Shaman guides you on your spiritual journey. We had to bow our heads and the Shaman blew smoke on each of our heads and whilst holding a stick chanted some words. Not long after when I closed my eyes I could see a dense forest filled with colourful snakes, spiders and butterflies. When your eyes were open everything was normal (More or Less) but we felt lethargic and slightly euphoric. It was a strange experience and I did definately felt closer to nature. It is as though the animals come up close to you look at you and then pass you by. Only after we had drunk the contents of the bowl were we allowed to see what the drink was made of, which was basically a bowl full of bark and leaves which are then boiled up with water. The drink itself looked like murky yellow river water with bits of plant in it.
The effects wore off pretty quickly and the ceremony was drawn to a close. After which we returned to our bed for the night and a bit of an interesting time putting up a mosquito net, as our room was full of them. The beams were high, but with the help of a chair a drawing pin and a spare pair of shoe laces 10 minutes later we had our mosquito net assembled. We unfortunately didnt sleep to well due to the blaring music from a Police mens fiesta which went on until 3 in the morning but when we did sleep we had nice colouful dreams filled with butterflies and animals!
The next day we had a lie in and had a go at making jwellery out of seeds found in the forest after which we returend to Rurrenabaque and the mosquito bar and Karaoke until 3 in the morning! Everywhere you go in Bolivia there seems to be a Karakoke bar or three, they seem to love it here!
Rurrenabaque is a bit of a travellers hangout, you can see why people get stuck here. It is so relaxed and chilled and has a defiante tropical feel to it, there are a couple of main strees which are cobbled but the rest are dirt tracks with children, dogs, pigs, ducks and chickens all wandering around the roads. There are then the vehicles which are mainly mopeds and motorbikes which weave between the pedestrians and other hazards on the road.
The day after returning from our tour we were invited for dinner at the house of our tour guide Moguli, where we were introduced to two other travellers that were actually staying in our hostel, it was nice to see how people actually live although visiting their bathroom, that was one experience I could live without. More Photo's will be added when we get time and a decent internet connection!!
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Steve
non-member comment
Bloodsucking creatures... nice
Really enjoying your blogs guys, sounds like you're having such an amazing time. I'm sure that everyone else reading these is as jelous as me. I do however remember my dog having ticks so I'm certainly not envious of you having one attached to your rump, but I guess this is a small price to pay for what you're getting to see. Sorry to hear about the hassle with cards being cloned and hope that this is solved now. Keep enjoying yourself and keep the stories comming. Right, I'm off to take a nice hot shower and lay some cables in my nice porcelin toilet!