Blogs from Rurrenabaque, Beni Department, Bolivia, South America - page 25

After a chilled out couple of days in Copacabana we moved on to Bolivia´s capital city La Paz. Bit of a shock at first coming form small lakeside Bolivian town to the hustle and bustle of La Paz, but it didn't take us that long to settle in. We actually really liked La Paz, it was super cheap, with great accomodation and some great restaurants! The witches market was interesting, where you can buy all sorts of delights for your Cauldron including dried llama faetus's, condor claws and dried toads- delightful! After a couple of days wandering around checking out the sights we decided head off to the Jungle town of Rurrenabaque, where we booked a three day tour of the Pampas (sort of swampy wetlands), in search of Anaconda's! The flight to Rurrenabaque was entertaintment ... read more

After several days of exertion and freezing my ass off around La Paz I needed a bit of warmth so I opted to travel up to Rurrenabaque to see the Amazon Jungle and defrost. I took off from La Paz airport in a tiny twenty seater propeller driven aeroplane and had quite an eventful flight, within minutes of departure we flew past Huayna Potosi the flight path afforded us spectacular views of the ascent route and of the summit; which of course was cloud free. Then over the next fifty minutes we dropped from the 4000m altiplano to just a few hundred metres above sea level, skimming just above the rainforest, all the while flying through the most incredible turbulence. The plane did eventually land on Rurre’s grass runway smack in the middle of the rainforest. ... read more

Since the beginning of my trip I was successful to circumvent the worlds most biodiverse region the Amazon without touching it. Safe the best for last could be my motto but the truth is that I was always to far away or it was just too expensive to go. I finally got my chance in Bolivia. The main hub for the Amazon jungle and pampas tours here is Rurrenabaque (or Rurre) which must the one of the best (and cheapest) places to go. The rainforest here is in near pristine condition as not many people live around here and it is quite hard to get to. That they put the whole place under protection and made a National park out of it might have helped. The normal way to get to Rurre is to take ... read more

The best place to view wildlife in Bolivia…surrounded by jungle and rivers. I had high hopes!! Someone should have, however, warned me about the 15hour bus journey getting there! Crammed in the right back corner, with a family of Bolivians and their extended family for 15 hours is uncomfortable. Not been able to open the jammed window was suffocating. Being eaten alive by invisible mosquitoes and god knows what else was enough to convince me that I was definitely getting a flight back!!! Day1 Straight from the 15hour bus trip, onto a jeep for the next 3 hours that covered the same road that we had just come from…can no-one think of logic here!!! Then came the boat trip throught the Pampas tour, which visits the wetland savannas…7 people in a 1metre wide long boat, powered ... read more

Leaving Samaipata I was completely ready to break with my penny-pinching ways and try and fly from Bolivia’s largest city, Santa Cruz, to the small town of Rurrenabaque, where I would hopefully be booking myself onto a couple of tours - both of the Pampas wetlands and of the Rainforest. However, in what seems to be Bolivian style, the flight no longer existed and so it was on the bus for young Marky. The journey wasn’t too bad at all, given the horror stories from other travellers, and I broke it up with an overnight stay in Trinidad. Not the Caribbean unfortunately, but a bit of a hole whose “highlight” - Laguna Suarez - was a muddy brown lake with gale force winds and the worst, most expensive food I have yet encountered in Bolivia!! Anyway, ... read more