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Published: February 11th 2011
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Since James was doing the 6088m ice climb, I decided that this wasn´t really my cup of tea and headed off to Rurrenabaque to do a jungle pampas tour.
After catching the collectivo (Bolivian minibus) to the airport, I boarded the plane to Rurrenabaque - the 16 seater that had a direct view of the cockpit and propellers! Might as well go in at the deep end for my first solo flight! Luckily for me the flight was only 45 minutes long and we only hit turbulence at the end, when alarms started going off in the cockpit.
Upon arrival at the small town, I found myself a hostel recommended in the guide book and was shown to my (very basic) room. Since it was only midday and my tour was not due to start until the following morning, I decided to spend the afternoon at a public swimming pool I had read about that had a bar and restaurant that you paid B$20 to get into. After enquiring at reception (who did not know what I was talking about) I headed into town to find a taxi, to discover that everyone gets about by motortaxi, so ended up
whizzing off to the pool on the back of a motorbike (sorry mum). Now I am pretty sure that the motortaxi driver did not take me to the right place as although it did have an outdoor pool, they did not charge me and there was no bar or restaurant, just Bolivian ladies folding up a big pile of swimsuits and the only other people who were there were a couple of Bolivian families. As soon as I got there I trod on the grass and it felt like my foot was burning, I looked down to see my foot covered in fire ants which were biting me! I stayed for an hour before walking back into town. That evening I met a group from Scotland who I tagged along with for dinner and drinks before the early morning start.
The Pampas Tour - Day One
I met the rest of my group for the next 3 days at the tour office at 8.30 in the morning. A couple from Sweden, 2 girls from Mexico and one of their German boyfriends, a guy from Chile and his (much older) girlfriend from France. First we had a
4 hour jeep ride to the river, then a 3 hour cruise to our lodge. On the river we saw aligators, all kinds of birds, capybaras (worlds largest rodents), grand cayman crocodiles, tortoises and a lot of monkeys. When we found the monkeys the boat pulled right alongside the tree and a few of them even came onto the boat - then our tour guide Ronaldo (standing behind me) got out a couple of bananas. Monkeys love bananas!! They were everywhere, most of the time standing on my head! At one point I had about 5 standing on my head and shoulders fighting over pieces of banana.
After dinner we headed out to a sunset bar for a beer, catching our first sightings of the pink dolphoins that live in the amazon rivers. I didnt manage to get a picture of them so will find one off of the net but we saw them a few times whilst out on the river. Once the sun had set we went on a night cruise for crocodies. At one point Ronaldo got out of the boat and came back holding a baby alligator! I was quite scared at this point as
it was pitch black and I was sure its mum was around somewhere ready to attack!
The Pampas Tour - Day Two
After breakfast we donned our wellies and headed out hunting for anacondas, the worlds largest snake. After a short 5 minute walk through dry grasslands, Ronaldo announced that we would have to wade through some water. I assumed it would be knee deep, hence the wellies. When we got there, it was in fact a full blown swamp river that came up to my chest!! This bit was not in the brochure!! As we crossed in single file I kept trying not to think of the alligators, crocodiles, anacondas and piranhas in the water with me! Once through this we came to a large lake (full of crocs) and after some searching, found our anaconda. This one was said to still be quite young as it was only 2-3m long, but it was big enough for me!!
In the afternoon, after lazing about in the hammocks for a while, we went piranha fishing, which turned out to be more like piranha feeding as they took the bait straight off the hooks and the
only person to catch one was the guide. We were lucky though as one of the Scottish guys on another group caught an alligator who jumped right up at the boat!!
The Pampas Tour - Day Three
In the morning we headed out again on the boat in search of the pink dolphins in order to swim with them. After a couple of hours we spotted a couple of them and some of the group got in. I decided that I had already been in the snake/croc/piranha infested water enough times and that I would watch from the boat.
After an early lunch we packed up and headed back on the boat and jeep. I was quite anxious as I had a flight booked for 5.30 that evening back to La Paz and had to be at the amazonas office at 4.30. We got back to town at 4.35 and I raced over to the office, to find that the shuttle to the airport had already left!! Yet again I found myself on the back of a motorbike, although this time I had a massive backpack, a smaller day bag and a large bottle of
water to carry. It is not easy to balance all of this whilst trying to hold on riding down a dirt track!! I made it to the airport (which was like a shack) in time and boarded my flight back, grateful for the cool air when we reached La Paz. I had a great time in the jungle and saw a vast amount of wildlife, I also now have more mosquito bites than I can count, despite wearing long clothing and 100% Deet!
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Amy
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You brave brave girl! Cannot believe you did this all on your own! Go Janey!! xx