Blogs from Rurrenabaque, Beni Department, Bolivia, South America - page 10

I travelled to La Paz on a night bus from Sucre and was astounded to discover that the pictures weren´t lying and it REALLY was a full cama (bed) seat. I didn´t sleep too well at first because of the altitude and windy roads, but in the end I had a good old kip. Actually getting on the bus was a bit of a palaver as unbeknownst to me, you needed a ticket to get on to the platform, and once I made it there, I discovered that I was supposed to leave my luggage at the ticket office upstairs. With five minutes to go until departure I raced up the stairs as fast as I could go with my rucksack, waited stroppily while a local pushed in front of me, deposited my bag, collected my ... read more

Op 16 maart vanuit la Paz de bus genomen naar Rurrenabaque om een tocht te doen in de pampa's en de jungle. De bus moest slechts een afstand van 421 km overbruggen, maar dit kan 18 tot 30u duren afhankelijk van de toestand van de onverharde weg. We hebben uiteindelijk veel geluk gehad, geen regen en een mooi uitzicht vanaf het laatste deel van de death road in de vallei. Na 20u aangekomen in Rurrenabaque en direct een moto-taxi genomen naar het 'Indigena-tours' een agentschap dat tours in de pampas en de jungle organiseert. We hadden het geluk met ons mee en konden twee uur later met de hele groep op pampa-tour vertrokken. Op de rivier yacuma zijn we 3u onderweg geweest naar onze lodge. Onderweg hebben we paradijsvogels, waterschildpadden, aapjes, alligators en kaaimannen gezien. Aangekomen ... read more

We flew from La Paz to Rurrenabaque on the morning of the 29th. We chose to fly as, with it being the wet season, both the weather and roads can be unpredictable and make the 18+ hour bus ride a nightmare. Fortunately flights only cost $75 USD/person so it wasn´t that bad. What was bad though was the condition of the landing strip in Rurrenabaque. I have never been afraid of flying but bumping our 23-passenger plane down onto a narrow dirt strip in the middle of the jungle was enough to make me bury my face into my hands and hope for the best. Fortunately we made it but only to step off the plane and instantly be dripping in sweat. (It is impossible to stay smelling good here!) This, however, is where Braeden and ... read more

So having skipped the jungle in Ecuador and Peru I finally made it there in Bolivia. The intention was to avoid the 18h bus journey and fly there but due to the rain and the fact that the landing strip in Rurrenabaque is just a field, therefore rendered useless in the rain, I was forced to take the bus. The road was reminiscent of the "Death Road" I'd just cycled and it was quite scary when the bus had to reverse along the side of a huge drop inorder to let other vehicles past (which was fairly often), nevertheless we safely arrived in Rurrenbaque in the pouring rain. We decided to take a day to look round the town and recover from the bus journey before we ventured into the Pampas and the Jungle. After an ... read more

The Amazon rainforest... what a beautiful place. It contains so much life, it’s impossible to ignore it. A world away from the city I live in, which is full of dead concrete, bricks, cement and poor excuses for parks. I yet again was blown away by how rich the rainforest is. This time we went a little more hardcore. Rather than pussyfooting around the jungle in a canoe or on light walks, this time we went deep into the jungle for hours on end, trekking through, following animals. Yet again I got to see my favourite critters, the monkeys. These mischievous little guys really do fascinate me. One way in which we thoroughly witnessed their mischief was when they wouldn’t sit still for a photo. They’d be still until they saw your camera come out. I’m ... read more