Rurrenabaque and the Amazon Basin

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Our journey to the Amazon basin began with a speedy taxi ride to the northern bus terminal to find our 'flota' (long distance bus) to Rurrenabaque for a three day trip to see the wildlife. Of course, the taxi arrived late which meant we had to zip through the rush hour traffic in order to meet the 11am departure but this didn't turn out to be a problem as the bus was over an hour late leaving anyway. We arrived into the chaos of the bus station where buses were being packed full of strange packages along with passenger luggage since buses once again seem to act as a makeshift parcel service.

Eventually we set off and made it about 50m up the street before the bus pulled over for another half hour while huge piece of wood were being pulled up the side and tied on top. When this was over we made it a further 100m up the road before pulling over for the sellers to board, offering everything from snacks to reading material and puzzle books for the 20 hour journey ahead. The road took us up hill as high as 4700m and passed the point where we'd started our bike trip a few days previous before descending down the newly constructed road into the valley.

There's the option of flying to Rurrenabaque from La Paz but the long bus journey didn't worry us too much as we thought it would be relatively comfortable but unfortunately the paved road didn't last for long and soon became a winding dirt track not much better than the death road on which we'd cycled. As such, we spent most of the day being shaken around and looking out at the sheer drops. Amazingly, despite the condition of the road, we did manage to sleep quite well and awoke in Rurrenabaque at 6am having arrived an hour early.

As our bag came out of the luggage hold, we saw that despite locking it, the zip had been popped and someone had looked through it. After checking the contents, we were amazed to see that nothing was missing and decided that it must have been done at one of the police checkpoints along the way as buses & baggage are often searched for chemicals used in the manufacture of cocaine. After this minor setback, we got a lift to the tour company office that we'd booked with and waited outside in the dark for it to open before checking in and heading off for a tasty breakfast of steak & eggs- yum!

Despite being told in La Paz that we'd be able to take our big bags on the trip, the tour company insisted that this was not possible so we had to pack what we needed for the three days into our newly acquired day pack. Amazingly we managed it although the bag was filled to the brim and with additional carrier bags hanging off of the sides but it did the job, was put on top of the Jeep and we headed off into the wilderness. The Jeep driver looked very similar to 'Tyrone' from the movie Snatch so we had a good joke with the rest of our tour group as we drove along yet another dirt track for three hours to reach the pampas.

The five other members of of group were all from England as well so it was nice to be able to have conversations instead of the usual sitting on the sidelines while people blurt out Spanish all around us. Reaching the river eventually after a brief stop for lunch, torrential rain had begun and we had to wait under a shelter for it to clear before heading out in the boat.

Later on we met our tour guide Victor and helped him load up the canoe with the luggage, food & water supplies before jumping aboard and venturing up river. Almost immediately we were surrounded by wildlife including Capayvara (huge river dwelling rodents), exotic birds and hundreds of Cayman (a species of crocodile) who were all sitting on the river bank looking out menacingly. We stopped to look at some yellow spider monkeys that were playing in the bushes and after pulling alongside, they decided to come aboard to have a closer look at us.

A few hours up river and we reached the 'ecolodge' in the jungle where we'd be staying for two nights. All the buildings were on stilts and connected by raised decking a few meters high which is needed for the floods during the wet season. We were shown our dorm with single beds and makeshift mosquito nets which were a nice reminder of being in Asia before going to the kitchen for welcome coffee, biscuits & popcorn (they love the stuff over here!).

We had some spare time before going to watch the sunset so used the opportunity to take a shower in the wooden huts where the drain is served by the gaps in the wooden floor boards to wash away the memories of the previous day's bus journey. That evening we sat in the hammocks for a while and listened to the sounds of the jungle before heading to bed for some much needed sleep!

In the morning we awoke to a delicious breakfast of pancakes with chocolate sauce and other goodies and then were given wellies for our trip to the wetlands to look for Anacondas. We squelched through the stinking marshes in search of these infamous snakes for ages, some of us with leaky welly boots, until one of the guides eventually found one. The thing must've been a good couple of meters long with a bright yellow belly and some people chose to pick it up and hold it - but we opted out as it started to look quite agitated and slithered away into the marshes at the first opportunity.

After a tasty lunch and a siesta session in the hammocks we went out once gain in the boat for a spot of piranha fishing. We baited the hooked with fresh cuts of beef and threw them in to the water and were amazed to feel tugs on the line almost immediately as the little fish with razor sharp teeth began to gnaw on the chunks of meat. Actually getting them into the boat was a challenge since they seemed to have a knack of getting the meat and avoiding capture. As well as piranha's, people also caught small catfish and sardines, most of which were released except for the unfortunate few that were cut up and used for bait. Getting the hooks out of the piranhas' jaws was a event as they squirmed around, gasping for air and chomping on the hook with it's little fangs. Stacey managed to catch a rare orange piranha and get the hook through its eye! Luckily our guide manage to 'pop it back in' before throwing him back :-)

Later on we went further up river for a beer and a view of the sunset over the wet grassland (or pampas as the locals call it), waiting until it became totally dark to set off back to the main camp. Having been warned to bring flash lights with us, we shone them them out from the sides of the boat to see the eerie glow of hundreds of pairs of orange eyes-those of the Cayman that were lurking on the river banks banks, all but invisible but for their glowing reptilian eyes.

We were awoken at 6am by Victor for a trip out to see the sunrise. As we dragged ourselves out of bed and into the canoe, the jungle was already awake with life of birdsong and the wild shrieks of black howler monkeys that sound like a pack of angry boars. We'd picked up an extra passenger before setting off- a girl from another tour group who just happened to be going to the toilet as we were leaving and seemed excited at the prospect so decided to tag along in her PJ's and bare feet. We stopped at one of Victor's favourite spots and scrambled up the steep muddy bank to a huge section of savannah grassland for a nice orange sun rising out of the morning mist.

After heading back for another delicious breakfast, it was time for swimming in the river and hopefully some pink dolphins. We stopped at a wider stretch of the river to see the 'friendly' cayman the the guides had named Peter who kindly sat at the river bank and posed for photo's, only occasionally snaping at us and making us retreat a little bit. He was about 2m long and was recognisable for a disfigured snout due to a fight with a black Cayman (a larger species).

Some of the group decided to take a swim there on the assurance from the guide that the cayman don't 'usually' bother humans. We decided to give it a miss, not so much because of what lurked beneath but because it was the dry season so the river was at it's lowest and the water was a very dirty brown colour. From our group Sarah, Harry and Tom all ventured in and sure enough after a few minutes splashing around, three dolphins came along and start to play nearby surfacing occasionally. The pink dolphin is fairly small compared to one that may dwell in the sea but never the less it was amazing to see them swimming around the swimmers in a playful way, all in a small section of river. Unfortunately they are very nimble and don't stay on the surface for very long making photograph attempts unsuccessful.

When folks had had enough of swimming in the lovely water, we headed back to camp for the last time so they could shower and we could pack up and have an early lunch before heading back to civilisation. Over lunch we all agreed that we didn't want to leave and pretended not to understand when Victor said that it was time to leave- unfortunately with no success!

Back down the river a few hours later we said our goodbyes to Victor and loaded our stuff onto a waiting Jeep for the 3 hour ride back to town. The journey along the dirt track seemed longer than we'd remembered with the sun beating down on us so we were pleased when we reached Rurrenabaque where we were grateful to see that the backpack we'd left still remained safe and untampered with. As we'd gotten on so well with our tour group, we decided to stay in the same hostel for our last night in Rurrenabaque before heading back to La Paz in the morning.

After a nice hot shower, we went out and bought sandwich supplies from the market for the long bus journey that awaited. In the evening we relaxed in a set of hammocks strung up in the hostal courtyard , drinking wine and chatting to the guys from our tour group- a good end to a great tour!

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