The Amazon Rainforest - Part 1, Rurrenabaque.

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A very dry day in La Paz doing no more than looking around the city and booking a bus to Rurrenabaque later we were on that bus, the one that would take us into the heart of the Amazon Rainforest. We had heard many stories about the bus ride from the capital into the jungle being a nightmare but we were both, surprisingly, looking forward to it.

It was due to set off at 11.30am and we didn't leave until 2pm, it took the guys ages to load all the goods onto the top and underneath of the bus. Its a good sign of things to come! The bus itself was no more than a public one with semi reclining seats and costing £8 for a 24 hour ride, safe to say we were sceptical now. we set off into the mountains before descending down a section of what is known all over the world as 'The Death Road'. The ascent over the mountains was slow and the decent even slower, the death road much more easy going than it had ever been in the past. The narrow gravel roads and near vertical drops had been replaced by Tarmac and guard rails, making you feel much safer than we would have before. We had a solid 2 hours of going down this kind of road but then it all changed as we took a turning towards Rurrenabaque.

Tarmac and guard rails were replaced by gravel, mud and steep, steep drops. This must be the new death road and the reason why not many people get the bus. We fell asleep to the sight of trees on top of trees and the sound of squelching mud under the tires......until the babies started crying and the guy behind started playing his polyphonic ringtones until past midnight. It wasn't going to be a good night of sleep.

The ringtones may have stopped and so had the babies squawks but the road slowed down a lot. We had joined a convoy of lorries all carting goods to and from the jungle, and all of them got stuck in the same places. When a lorry gets stuck it means everyone in the convoy stops for up to 2 hours at a time, and all we did was dose and wait for the engine to start up again. The bumps themselves on the road were not bad at all, the temperature in the bus was nice but it was the stop, start and struggle that kept us awake for the majority of the night.

I'm writing this part of the blog as we are stuck in a convoy at 10am in the morning (we should be in Rurrenabaque by now). We've been here for the past two hours and showing no real sign of moving, the odd engine start here and there but then it turns off again. The babies onboard are crying again and a woman thought it a good idea to bring a dog onboard, Laura swears she can smell its droppings. We cannot wait to get there!

2.30pm; still waiting to go! We've asked at least 5 different people how long it will be until we get going; we've had 3 answers, all different ranging from 1-3 hours. It was over 1 hour ago I first asked so that's him out. The truth is none of them have a clue and my guess would be as good a theirs.

But, after a whopping 7 1/2 hour wait we were on the move again. What was all a very tranquil affair of queueing turned chaotic as they opened the road. Horns blaring, people shouting and everyone trying to get going down that road. Prepare for a traffic jam!

In the end it took us a record breaking 40 hours to get to Rurrenabaque, and by the end hours passed like minutes. The journey was the longest that I've heard of. We got into Rurrenabaque at 5am, 2 days later, and didn't fancy wandering around the town at this time, so..... We asked to spend more time on the bus and continue sleeping until 7.30am. They allowed us to and once we were awake we were rather refreshed and ready to find a trip into the jungle. We were two very excited people.

The first agency we saw was Dolphin tours, one that had been recommended by our hostel in La Paz, and so 20minutes later we had booked and paid for our 2 trips, the first into the pampas and the second into the jungle.

We had a spot of breakfast (a good plateful of pancakes and a bowl of muesli) and then we were back at the operator and rearing to go. We met our team mates, a couple from France and a Dutch guy with his Peruvian girlfriend, got into the car and settled in for the 3 hour trip to the boat. The first thing we passed along the way was a lorry with its back left tire' sunken 5 foot into the mud. Its axle looked ready to snap and all they had to get it out was a woman armed with a pick axe. I don't the that they were going anywhere fast. After making our way past them it was another 2 1/2 hours until the end of the car ride.

The journey went quickly and smoothly along the dirt track, with the driver taking it nice and steadily. We found ourselves then in a town having lunch before boarding the boats into the pampas. When we arrived at the boat launch we were noticed that we weren't the only ones there, there were at least a hundred more people all getting onto their longboats. It seems that its a popular activity.

No sooner were we on the boats when we saw our first animals. Pink river dolphins playing besides all the boats as they were setting off. And the good news is that where the dolphins are the alligators aren't, meaning that the water is 'safe' to swim in! We didn't go in at this point. From here it was another 2/3 hours up the river to our waterside lodge.

We gently made our way upstream passing all kinds of wildlife from turtles to squirrel monkeys to what looked like prehistoric birds with Mohawks. The river was calm and the trees scarce so we had a good 100m visible radius around us. It was easy to see why it attracted so many people.

2 hours of cruising later and we arrived at the lodge, half a dozen wooden buildings sat on stilts with with boardwalks connecting them. The lodge had its own staff, its own bar and its own lookout. What we didn't expect was the resident alligators, hanging around below the boardwalks waiting for loose food and a drunken tourist to fall in. Attacks weren't unheard of, but you had a very slim chance unless you fell in or mastered Steve Irwin's crocodile wrestling technique. Because they were so close we got some awesome photos of them too. We unpacked our things and then jumped back into the boat and sailed off to a spot for sunset.

The sunset spot was tactically placed next to a makeshift bar and small, rough cut football pitch. The game looked like it had been underway a while and instead of joining in we opted for a beer. The sun set and the mosquitoes came out in full force, even with our 28%!d(MISSING)eep repellant on we were getting murdered by them. The mosquitoes were unlike any I've seen before, a centimetre bigger than most and more determined to draw blood than any other. They didn't bat an eyelid at the repellant and they lapped up the challenge of getting through thick clothes, which they did with ease. We stayed for near on an hour and then the mosquitoes became too much, plus we were hungry! On the way back to the camp we all got out the flashlights and gave alligator spotting a whirl. Deep into the reeds at the side of the river we would see big red eyes glaring back at you and in the 20 minute journey we saw at least 10 sets of eyes.

The food on the trip was one of the highlights. All the meals were hot, buffet style and some of the tastiest food South America has dished out. We had all sorts; Spaghetti Bolognese one night and chicken and potato salad the next. They make sure that you don't go hungry.

Day one came to an end quite quickly but it was the second day that we were both looking forward to; anaconda hunting and swimming with dolphins. After a big buffet style breakfast we went back to the same place as we had been the night before, the sunset point. We then donned the wellies and went against every single bit of human instinct and common sense, into head high grass, filled with snakes and mosquitoes looking for the Amazonian anaconda. We had 2 hours of tentative tiptoeing around in the swamp land with no luck, I guess this could be seen as good luck as most people couldn't think of anything worse than coming across a cobra or python but we were desperate to see one. It wasn't to be and heads down we went back to the makeshift bar. Laura and I didn't stop there, we left the group and had our own miniature hunt around the edge of the football pitch, still no luck though. And then we got a call, our guide, Oscar, had seen a group of people in the grass acting like they had found one. Once we got there we found a group of people with their heads stuck in a bush and arms searching. They pulled and pulled at this snake, ripping it out of the tree, the whole 2m of it. I don't know why they couldn't just leave it there or why their guide didn't say anything but the snake did not want to be picked up. They got it out, passed it round the group lopping it over their shoulders for less than a second to get a photo with no interest actually in the snake. It wasn't good to see. It turned out the joke was on them, to what they thought was an anaconda turned out to be a boa constrictor, just a shame it didn't squeeze!

Rather than being happy for have seen a snake we were wound up. The afternoon was certain to cheer us up though. It was more late afternoon than afternoon when we set off out again, we had a 3 hour siesta break in the middle of the day after lunch to break the day up. We were on our way to a non alligator and piraña infested part of the river to find some pink dolphins and hopefully swim with them. When we found the spot our group were the only ones there and within 5 minutes a pod of 4 dolphins had found us. At first we all just watched them, took some photos and eventually plucked up the courage to join them in the water. In we went, still in disbelief that no alligators or piraña's were here too, and we started swimming around. We let the dolphins come to us and it didn't take them long before they popped up right infront of us, our French friend, Gabriel, got more than he bargained getting dolphin nose shoved up to where the sun doesn't shine! They stayed with us for almost an hour, swimming around us and brushing past our bodies. It was something I will never forget. And day 2 was over.

The last day was a short one, including only the one activity, piraña fishing. This had the means to be awesome but as with the anaconda hunting we were there in the wrong season. The best time would have been a little later into the dry season where the concentration of them both are more concentrated to one or two areas. Instead both the fish and the anacondas have a massive underwater world all to themselves. Each of use were equipped with a piraña rod, nothing more than a ruler sized stick and a few meters of line. At the end of the line was the hook loaded with raw beef, apparently a piraña's favourite. We fished in various mosquito ridden places for 3 hours and came away empty handed. It wasn't our day. It was back to the lodge for our last meal, again a huge buffet with more food than we could manage and we then rolled ourselves into the boat for the journey back to the car drop off.

Oscar did the journey back in half the time, taking every shortcut possible and stopping for nothing. He was on a mission to get back in time to pick up his next group. We were back to familiar territory and back again on dry land about to get in a car for the final 3 hours of the first half of the jungle adventure.

Back in Rurrenabaque after a very quick and bumpy drive back we checked into our complimentary hotel. It was then back out of the door to book the BUS (we must be mental!!!) back to La Paz. They guaranteed us this time that the journey would take between 18-24 hours so we will find out in a few days, I'm not convinced. With the bus booked we sat down in an Italian restaurant for tea, Laura having a good old steak and I had the pasta, and then we went to meet the rest of our group for a few drinks. We found a place with free pool tables so we were sold. We had a couple of drinks and then parted ways.

The next morning we were up early and ready to start the second half of the adventure, into the jungle adventure. This time however when we got to the office we were the only ones there and we thought we might be in for a private tour. It wasn't to be, we were asked if we wanted to do a 3 day trip instead of a 2 for the same price and so we agreed. The woman in the office went and changed our bus tickets for us and then lead us down to the riverside were we hopped aboard a boat, with the 3 other travellers all ready and waiting. We had 2 guys from hull and a girl from the states with us for the next 3 days.

The boat took us 3 hours upstream into the heart of the jungle, there were no other boats on the river and we were guaranteed to be the only people in this neck of the woods. The ride in itself was one of the best bits, going through mountainous, treed valleys on a fast flowing brown river. We caught a glimpse of another alligator and one of the biggest members of the rodent family, looking more like a pig than a rat. It was clear from the start that we were going to have to look a lot harder to see animals on this trip than the last.

Once we arrived at our camp a few hours later we offloaded the boat of all our bags and provisions and then went to meet our guide, Seron. Then we got a shock, he didn't speak a word of English! So for the next 2 days we had to piece together sentences and understand what we could to make the most out of our time here. It was not going to be easy though. He was a fairly charismatic fellow so from his hand gestures we could half understand what he was talking about, it was only the fine details where we really struggled.

By the time we had lunch and sorted out or beds we were off into the jungle on our first of 4 walks. The trees were so thick at every level, small bushes on the floor and a huge canopy above providing shade from the middle of the day sun. Only 20 minutes in and Seron was onto something. He picked out amongst all the sounds of the jungle the sound of a few pigs cracking open some nuts a few hundred meters away. We crept behind him for the next 10 minutes, stopping every 30 seconds or so to try and work out what direction the noise was coming from. We got closer and closer to them, so much so that we could smell them. We heard a rustle and knew they were just there but before we saw them they smelt us. More than 70 pigs all stampeded off into the forest denying us of a sight and leaving us with only their crushed up nuts. We were back on the trail, just not after the pigs.

A few minutes later he spotted something else, a red and blue macaw high up at the top of the canopy. Even after he pointed it out we still struggled to see it, but eventually we found it and managed to get a good couple of photos. From that point on, for the next two hours we saw nothing else. The pace was slow and we stopped every 20 steps so that he could listen out for things, but it was no use. Only on the way back to the camp did we see something else, a group of small monkeys. Initially there was only one but Seron made some monkey noises and the next minute we had 5 or 6 all looking down at us. They didn't come any closer than 20m but we could clearly see them all and we went back to the camp satisfied.

After dinner we were suppose to go on walk two, a night walk leading into the jungle in search of spiders, bugs and other nocturnal creatures. We chose to postpone the walk until the following night as the other 3 were tired from their early morning flight. Instead we got an early night ready for the next days walks. It was a good job we didn't do the night walk though as none of use would go to the toilet on our own or without a torch, we weren't mentally ready for it.

We woke up to the rain patting down on the roof, not sounding like it would continue for long. We got a telling off for being late to breakfast by the cook, informing us that it had all gone cold and that we should be on time the next day. Once we had all showered it was time for the second walk.

The first day we had seen a fair bit but the second walk we saw almost nothing. A couple of footprints and medicinal plants were all that broke the slow walk up. But Seron knew his customers and how to cheer them up, he took us to a rope swing, fashioned from a vine and suddenly the spirits were high again. It didn't finish there, just before making it back to the camp he saw a colourful bird in the tree, one that looked very similar to a dove and started to copy their noise. A few moments later and 20/30 of these birds came flying in. He knew how to finish on a high.

By the time we got back it was 2pm and after lunch it was 3. This left us with the rest of the day light to go piraña fishing, round 2. It was a 20 minute walk to the lagoon where he said we were guaranteed a fish, but we had heard that before. Once we arrived and he'd showed us the technique of it, still using the same sort of set up, we were fishing. Owen pulled out the first one after 2 or 3 seconds, coming in at under 10cm and not enough to feed us. A short while later and Emma pulled one out, another small one. Then Seron showed us how it is done pulling out the biggest of the day, around 25cm long and a set of teeth Cilla Black would envy. Neither Laura or I caught a thing, only giving the piraña a good feed. Seron pulled out another fish, not a piraña this time but a small perch like thing and that was all that we caught. Good job we weren't relying on it for tea. Once we had finished it was verging on dark and when we re entered the forest it was dark. But instead if going strait back he had a treat in store, leading us to a tree 5 minutes away from the main track. It was here where he pointed out the biggest spider I've ever seen, a massive 7-8inch wide tarantula. Owen let out a squeal and it scurried back off into its tunnel shaped web in the tree. We walked back to the camp in the dark which gave us confidence for the night walk to come.

We were all apprehensive and anxious about the walk to come but when it came down to it we were fine. We had 3 torches between 6 of us and a guide that new this section of the jungle like the back of his hand. In total we spent 2 hours walking around in the pitch black looking for and finding spiders, weird insects to Laura's delight and monkeys. Seron would spot things on the ground that we would have ended up stepping on, frogs and spiders hidden away under the leaves. Before finishing up for the night he took us to a tree directly outside our front door, a door that doesn't shut in the day as well, shone the light of his torch into it and picked out another massive tarantula. Its a good way to make you sleep well at night, just a good job we have trustworthy mosquito nets.

And so we were into the last day of the jungle trek. We had an option; another walk or arts and crafts! Walk. We only had a couple of hours this day before we had to be shipped off on the boat. He lead us along a track that we hadn't yet taken in the hope of seeing something else. It was our lucky day, he picked up on the sound of the infamous and hard to see pigs. This time however we were quicker and quieter stopping right where we could see movement in the bushes. A couple of minutes later and they started coming slowly in our direction, over a hundred of them. One suddenly showed itself looking straight at us bus not seeming to care and then the rest followed, we had about 10 of them all within 5m of us, babies and all. One of the pigs must have picked up our scent and they bolted off into the undergrowth, making a load of noise for the next 2-3 minutes running in every direction. Other than that we didn't see much more in the wildlife department. He took us to a cocoa tree and opened up one of the pods revealing a seed coated in a smooth, jelly like fruit. Once the fruit it gone and the seeds are dried, its then that the shell can be used to make cocoa powder and then chocolate. We also stumbled upon a massive ant colony, which of course he had to stir up by stamping on the roof of it bringing out the huge, inch long soldier ants with pincers that would easily cut the skin. As usual we finished on a high, going to another massive vine swing that he had tailored himself to make the ride that little bit better. Laura took on the ride and nearly knocked herself out on a tree.

For the last time we arrived back into the camp for lunch. The food, again, we had not been let down by, the same buffet style banquets for 5. The only thing they missed was a pudding. Once we had finished our final lunch it was back onto the boat and back to the town. The 3 hour journey in was done in just over an hour back, the difference being we went with the current this time. Back in the town and we grabbed a load of food to cook for the bus journey back to La Paz, for a price a 3rd of the UK. We stopped by the tour agency to let them know that we didnt understand a word that the guide said, after paying for an english speaking guide. in the end we got a load of money back and left happy. We went out for tea with the guys, to the same bar for a couple of free beers and games of pool and then the adventure was over.........until the bus ride back.

So far so good, 7 hours in and 7 hours of constant movement. Praying for it to stay the same.

5am the following morning we arrived into La Paz, we were stunned! A Bolivian bus has arrived ahead of schedule and after the nightmarish first ride we didn't expect it. Time to sleep after barely a wink.

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