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Published: March 28th 2008
Well....here I am back in La Paz after a super time in Rurrenabaque (including a tour to the Pampas!!). I last entry ended with us setting out to the Pampas so I will start from there.....
Like I mentioned before, we arrived in Rurrenabaque past midnight and hit the sack early. The next morning we were out at 8am trying to jump on a tour for that morning. Luckily, and thanks to the help of our Jeep driver, we found a great company called Shayna Tours that set us 7 up for a 10am departure that morning. At 10am, we all piled into a minivan and set out to the Pampas for a 3 day/2 night tour. The drive was about 3 hours to the boat...and then another 3 hours on the boat got us to our ´hostel´ in the Pampas. Each tour company tends to have their own set up out there...their own lodging with a kitchen. The Pampas is basically all water so the lodges are built up from the water and have walkways to the different buildings, etc. Quite neat to see at first minus the fact you think you are in a remote area and sadly
find it loaded with all of these different tour places. One even has a bar so the different tour companies boat the groups to the bar once in a while...a bar in the Pampas! :P The driving part was rather uneventful....just a typical drive through South America with horses and cows and chickens and pigs and dogs and ppl....scattered about the roads. Definitely a normal daily occurrence around here. lol And surprisingly...they are some smart animals!! You VERY RARELY see one hit on the road....they are very street savvy. Once we got to the boat for the 3 hour journey to the lodge...we were welcomed with the true beauty of the Pampas. It was GORGEOUS!! Picture beautiful still water perfectly reflecting the massive trees scattered about....lush green vegetation....100s of bird calls going on all of the time mixed with the frogs....so tranquil and peaceful. Everyone was caught up in the beauty and in a state of awe throughout the entire 3 hour boat ride. We saw tons of different birds....including parrots, cormorants, pelicans, raptors, herons, egrets, tons of misc. water birds....etc etc etc. The view was incredible!! And when we thought that was enough....we saw monkeys!! All the names of
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Group shot before we started our descentthe different species of monkeys we saw has slipped my mind but we saw at least 4 different species. So exciting!!
Before going to our lodge, we stopped at the infamous bar for a beer...or two...and watched the beautiful sunset. Around that time I noticed some ppl standing around the water at the end of some steps that went down into the water. I walked over to check it out to find a massive Cayman head sitting there...quietly.... I seriously thought it was fake. It didn´t move and just sat there. I kept saying to some friends that it was fake...it had to be....and they agreed. Then a crazy Isralean came up to me and said ¨it is not fake...it is real....do you dare me a beer to touch it?¨. I said, heck ya, it is fake...... So he he went down the steps to the edge...1 foot from the Cayman´s head....with ppl telling him to get back....he put out his hand and petted the Cayman´s head just between its eyes. When he did this...the Cayman closed its eyes slowly and then slowly went under the water. I was rather astonished but still not convinced....but I did owe him
a beer...a bet is a bet right? Then...not even 2 mins later, one of the bar workers came out and saw what was going on and told everyone to be careful as it WAS real. Apparently his name is Juan and they feed him scraps so he tends to stick close. He then threw a chunk of meat into the water and SNAAAP! The Cayman flew up and snatched it sooo quickly and violently it was rather frightening. This is a WILD Cayman....and that dude petted the freakin´ thing on the head!! Soooo not smart! That could have been such a massive disaster. One of the locals was saying how fortunate he was and that the Cayman was likely not very hungry hence it being more docile. Close call!! And I am definitely a bit guilty since I made the bet with him....sigh. The thing was a good 3 meters long at least. Nuts.
That night we had THE MOST AMAZING meal at our lodge. The food for the entire tour turned out to be honestly...probably the best food I have had since I have arrived in South America. The lady was an incredible cook and made the greatest
dishes ever filled with TONS of different veggies, etc. Yummy!! We rested fairly early that night so that we could be up early for the next day´s activities. I should mention...the mosquitoes are HORRENDOUS right as soon as the ol´ sun drops. Wow. They are tough buggers!! We all coated ourselves in deet and they were STILL biting us. Some ppl even had 90% deet and were getting bitten. It made the night time a bit more rough than we would have liked....
The next morning we headed out on an Anaconda hunt first thing in the morning. Little to our knowledge....this involves you walking through...well...butt deep water for a good hour. Our guide gave us rubber boots to wear before setting out so none of us knew what we were in for. It was tough taking that first step where the water was going to be higher than the top of the boots...but once you hit that point it was easy going. haha We just got deeper and deeper...walking to a dry area where we were to look for the snakes. It was quite the experience! I am not sure why they bother to give you rubber boots...they
need hip waiters!! Ah well...a little bit of water never hurt anyone...right? They did reassure us there were NO leeches...thank goodness! Once we reached the dry area (in which we found out was man-made...many many years ago) we went on an Anaconda hunt. We did not see any but we did see a Cobra! Our group was sad though when a couple of guides from some other groups wrestled the thing to hold it and then held it for over 20 mins. We felt it was waaaay too invasive and felt quite sorry for the snake. They even allowed an Israeli to hold it even though he had bug spray on his hands (of course he claimed he didn´t which is pure BS). At one point, our guide grabbed the snake and tried to release it to then have another guide grab it from him and hold it for more pics. FINALLY they let it go and I can assure you...it will NOT be back to that area! our guide ´Monglio´ said it is getting harder and harder to see any snakes in that area because of things like that happening. It is sad...but a true reality I suppose in
this tourist riddled area. I am just glad we got a guide that was not so invasive. After the release of the cobra, we saw some birds and a lizard and that was about it. We set back out for the hour walk back to the boat and then back to the lodge for lunch. After lunch we headed out to where there are Pink Dolphins that we could swim with. It was amazing!!! There were only about 4 dolphins in the area but they were quite content to hang around us and play around...even nibbling lightly on some ppl´s feet! There are apparently pirrahnas in the water too but they are smaller ones and are not dangerous like the larger ones. I am sure there were alligators and/or caymans too but luckily we did not see any. A few of us swam in the water for a good hour or 2 with the dolphins...me being one of them of course. :P It was sooo dreamy!! I just could not wrap my brain around the fact that there I was...in a remote area in Bolivia...swimming with the endangered pink dolphin! Even touching them! What a dream come true!
After
the dolphin swimming we headed back for well...some beers of course! lol We chilled out in the hammocks at the bar drinking cervezas until the sun went down. It was quite beautiful amongst awesome company. I should mention too....I met a cute Frenchy on this tour....who was also on the death road bike ride earlier.....sigh....I shall say no more.... 😉 Our night also consisted of some group drinking games and Monglio...our guide....telling us some Jungle legend stories (he is from the jungle) and teaching us a machete jungle dance. It was a beautiful night that I won´t forget anytime soon.....
The next day we were up at 5am and on the boat by 5:15am so that we could watch the sunrise. It was really quite beautiful and sooo peaceful. We saw a cayman or 2 on the boat ride back for breakfast and more monkeys...and of course more birds. After breakfast we setted out for some pirranha fishing. Unfortunately, due to us not wanting to be crowded in the same area as some of the other groups...we did not have a single bite. But that is ok...I rather that anyhow. 😉 Those that know me will understand my ecological
ways.... Some of the other groups came back later with a good dozen each so they definitely had some luck. They were quite small...about the size of my hand...so nothing too big for the most part.
That afternoon we had a great lunch and then sadly....had to jump on the boat for our 3 hour return back to the van. As we were eating lunch before departing...there was an incredible lightning storm. Lucky for us, the weather had been soooo nice our entire time we were there. It was probably close to +40 C during the days (yes...perhaps TOO hot but still nice) where we were permanently wet from sweating and then the nights were still around +30 C. This storm was the first we had seen and lucky for us...striking when it came to home time. The bummer part is that we were all dressed in somewhat cleaner clothes to head back and about 5 mins into our 2 hour boat ride it started to pour...and I mean POUR!! It pelted down sooo hard that you couldn´t even open your eyes cuz it stung so hard and there was soooo much water. This lasted most of the boat
ride so you can imagine how much we resembled drowned rats upon our return to the dock. Luckily, we had our bags under the tarp so we had dry clothes to change into before jumping on the minivan for our 3 hour drive back to Rurrenabaque.
To our surprise....and why we were surprised I am not sure...it is South America after all!!....our drive home was anything but normal. We found out after changing and drying off that our minivan was not there and that well...it could not get there due to the roads. Because it had rained sooo hard...the clay type muddy roads were a complete disaster. Most groups had Land Cruisers and so some of them were making it through...but there was no way our minivan was going to make it. So, they informed the boys that they had to walk 1 hour to the next village...in the mud....while they put us 3 chicas into a Land Cruiser with another group. Kind of sexist but hey....I will take it!! haha We made it about 5 mins up the road to find 4 Land cruisers and a minivan stuck in the mud. The boys were digging and pushing and
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Shawn (Swiss), Martin (Irish), and myself we even had to get out to lighten our Land Cruiser since it was getting stuck and almost tipped over a couple of times slipping down the side. We thought we would never make it! One by one the Land Cruisers started to get through and then the odd minivan slipping through behind them following their tracks. It was quite the adventure! The boys were happy when they found our minivan had made it part of the way so they only had to walk about 30 mins through the mud. We were ALL covered in mud by this point...of course the boys much more than us girls from them pushing vehicles out. We all piled into our minivan to find we had a crazy ass driver that basically was flying through the mud fishtailing back and forth and back and forth....4x4´ing it without 4x4. haha At one point we got horribly stuck and figured we would be there awhile but the boys pushed and the driver rocked it hard and we were out of mud that was a good 3 feet deep in about 15 mins. It was pure madness!! We finally made it back to Rurrenabaque that evening and
were quite relieved!
The plan for the next morning was for Martin and myself to fly back to La Paz...plane tix already purchased....for 8am. A bit of a longstory....mostly involving the Frenchy boy.....I decided to not board the plane that morning and instead sold my ticket to my friend Sjirk and went back to bed. I then stayed another 4 days in Rurrenabaque and so did Lorna and Fergal...and of course Arnaud...the Frenchy. We had an awesome time which included watching some spectacular sunsets along the water.....drinking wine under the stars....renting motorcycles and ripping it up around the area including the airport strip. Sorry mom, you probably don´t like to hear that...no helmets either....they don´t even have helmets to offer.... But I survived!! haha And Arnaud taught me how to drive a motorcycle! Wicked fun!
So....that sort of brings me to now.....I caught a plane out of Rurrenabaque last night and am now back in La Paz. I have lost my traveling buddy Martin...he is already at my next destination...so I am going to wait here a couple of days and head to the Salt Flats with Lorna and Fergal then. It is a 3 day tour that
I would prefer to do with some good friends...and Lorna and Fergal are just that.
So....off I go.....to do some shopping and chilling in La Paz before heading to Uyuni....Argentina in 1 week! Until then.....adios!
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