Blogs from Rurrenabaque, Beni Department, Bolivia, South America - page 28

well its that time again. about a month ago now I tearfully said goodbye to colombia and took a plane to laeticia the southern most tip of colombia where people go to visit the jungle and some take yague from a shaman (a cleansing halucinogenic which apparently never fails to make one uncontrolably poo and urinate the first time you take it, the second time something else bad happens dont remember what and then afterwards its all ok again. though personally i have had no need for a drug to inspire diarrhea having just been in the throes of my eighth bout (god bless my delicate stomach and its attempts to adapt to south america). laeticia is a nice place and i went there in order to get a boat from tabatinga just the other side ... read more

Part two of my Bolivian Amazon adventure was a three day visit to the pampas or ´grassland´. After a relaxing night of amazing cocktails and some curious dinner menu items (“Winner Chicken”), we were up an at 'em early for a loong trip by jeep to the river port where we would transfer to our motor-canoe. This bumpy and generally uncomfortable trip allowed us time to get to know the other members of our group and to occasionally smash our heads into the roof as the wheels found another pothole. Roxy and I had fallen in with two other Australians (retired teachers from Sydney), two Brits (a cool young doctor and her boyfriend) and an abrasive American stand-up comedian making a documentary with a CNN-style video camera. The temperature had soared again and we were all ... read more

We got to Rurrenabaque on the 27th November after a fantastic flight in a Cessna Grand Caravan (for the flight enthusiasts, a 12-passenger single prop aircraft). The flight was 1 hour, early in the morning, and you can see some of the pictures we took - the views were spectacular as we headed for a gap in the mountain range, and then flew over the land as it dropped down, first through cloud forest all the way to jungle and pampas below - we landed over 3200 metres lower down than we took off. And it was hot, and very very sticky when we arrived. Into the Jungle!!! After being met and meeting the group we were going with (3 swedish girls, aged 21) we all hopped into our riverboat (about 10 metres long and a ... read more