Lazy Rurre days

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When I look out of the window at my first jungle dawn, all the discomfort of the previous 20hrs melts away. It´s so good to be down from high altitude and surrounded by lush green...didn´t realise how much I missed trees! And the air is rich with oxygen and moisture, it´s a heady mix and I feel wide awake and really excited. My skin, which at altitude had been parchment dry with old lady hands is now reborn baby soft...god I love the tropics!

We get off the bus in Rurrenabaque just after a rainfall...it smells great and must be the most I´ve enjoyed rain in a long time. It´s like we´ve woken up in a different country: lush and green, hot and humid and humming with life.

We choose Hostal Tucans de Rurre as it has a winning thatched roof terrace as well as the obligatory hammocks. We have views of low mossy hills behind us and the river is spread out in front. A mist is hanging over the hills and the clouds look low and heavy, ready for another downpour...it´s like we´re in the rainforst or something 😊

It´s easy to spend a few days here, swinging in a hammock in the listless heat. Rurre is not very big but offers all sorts of unexpected luxuries...an infinty pool is just a half hour walk up at the mirador, a Frenchman called Pierre does the rounds every morning selling fresh croissants and pain au chocolat, a cafe serves pizza topped with capers, roquefort and olives, the local store sells the coldest of beers and an excellent Bolivian wine for $2.

I can see how people get ´stuck´ in Rurre, we meet a few that came for a week and stayed for years. One, Daniel, sits at our restaurant table one lunchtime. With a shock of white hair, one misted blind eye and a weathered jungle look, it´s no surprise to hear he´s been here more than 20 years. Over a shared table and his generously shared wine this wanderer tells us of a mispent youth, running away from his native Italy for London at 14. He´d chosen Rurre after getting ´tired of the world´, the only thing he felt missing was a woman crazy enough to live in the jungle with him.

After a couple of lazy days we make a decision to go on a Pampas tour before another into the jungle 4 days later. We had been tempted to blow the budget at a plush ecolodge in the jungle, but had a reality check on working out that it was a splurge of two weeks money for just 3 days. We reign ourselves in when we realise we can get 3 days touring the pampas, then another 3 days deep in the jungle and stay on budget.

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