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Published: June 23rd 2008
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Right then, we left Cusco on the 7th June and headed to Copacobana, Bolivia to check out lake Titicaca. The bus to Copacobana was somewhat of an experiance but very cheap, costing around 9 pounds for a 12 hour journey. The bus was a local bus down to Puno and was freezing cold, completly full and with one lady carrying a baby lama with her for the trip. At Puno we changed busses and got to Copacabana at around midday. We only spent one full day here which gave us enough time to get a boat across to the Isla del Sol (Sun Island), the boat ride took around 2 hours and when we got their we walked across the island seeing old Inca ruins and the amazing views of the lake and the mountainous background surrounding it.
The next day we were back on our travels this time heading to La Paz, Bolivia´s capital city. The bus this time was a little more comfortable and took around 4 hours including crossing Lake Titicaca at one stage on a small boat whilst the coach made its way across on a raft type thing, didnt look paticuarly safe but made it
across! Once in La Paz we stayed at the brew adventure hostal and headed straight for the bar to take advantage of the free drink you get for every night you stay . That night we stayed up drinking till about 3 and saw in my 24th birthday. The next day we met up with Jules and Andrew, aka Ox and booked plane tickets up to Rurrenbaque to do the jungle for the 13th, and of course celebrated my birthday. The four of us went out for a meal, and then to a bar called Mongoes, where the shots kept on flowing! The next day followed a similar pattern with two or three different bars visited, even managed time for the cinema in the day, its a hard life!
The 13th June came and we were all set to jump on a plane to the jungle, however the flight was cancelled so we went on a mission to find alternative transport. We all agreed the best way to get their would be to do an organised boat/bus trip for three days up through the jungle to get to Rurrenbaque leaving the next day. As we had no plane to
catch we decided to visit San Pedro prison where you pay 250 boliviarnoes to get into the prison and are shown round by one of the prisoners and just hang out with them for a bit. The prison was mainly for non - bolivian people mostly in for drug offenses who pay to be in that prison because its alot safer. Its was a really weird experiance and at times a little uncomfortable but really glad i did it. The prison itself is a little bit like a community, some children even live in the prison and go out to school then back again! Even some of the inmates run and own markets within the prison selling food and drink, very strange.
The next morning we set off at 5 for the three day trip up to Rurrenbaque. The first say 8 hours of the day was spent on a bus getting to Guaney on a very bumpy and slightly dangerous roads in the mountains where at some points usually on corners would be flooded. Once at Guaney we jumped on the boat and headed down the Mapiri river to our first campsite. Once again it was another early
start the next day getting up at 6 and after breakfast we headed down the Kaka river and stoped off at a little community called Mayaya, where much needed alcohol was brought. In the afternoon we went on a walk in the jungle seeing all the impressive fauna and getting bitten by the not soo impressive insects! At the end of the walk we went piranha fishing and set up camp for the night where it rained for hours, great fun! On the final day we hit the river early again and stopped of for another walk in the cloud forest. After around 3 hours of walking we were back in the boat, hit the amazon river and headed to Rurre.
At rurrrenbaque we booked up a 3 day Pampas tour with Jules and Ox to look at the wildlife along the Yacuma river, then met up with a few people at a place called the monkey bar for drinks and food. The next day we had a three hour 4 by 4 trip to the Yacuma tiver on an unpaved road which made for an interesting ride. Once at the river we took a short boat ride to
our eco lodge called the Caracoles lodge. The lodge was pretty good with fairly comfortable beds and hamocks to chill out in and we were lucky enough to have the whole place to ourselves as we were the only four starting the tour that day. That afternoon we went on a boat ride along the river and saw hundreds of caiman and different types of birds, Capybaras, pink dolphins and turtles all either in the water or sunning themselves on the river bank. That night we had an awesome meal and went on the river to spot all of the caiman as you can see their eyes in the water when you shine a torch around, was a pretty eeyre experiance hearing all the different noises and not being able to see where their coming from!! The next day was Andrews (Ox) birthday and the day started by having a four hour walk through the pampas in search of the anaconda, and luckerly enough our guide Victor spotted one straight off just sun bathing in the river bank. On that walk we also saw a different type of snake but cant remember what it was called. In the afternoon we
went Piranha fishing which was great fun, i caught six fish including a couple of piranha´s and a couple of catfish. That night we celebrated Ox´s bday with a few drinks and the chef at the lodge made him a massive bday cake and gave us a bottle of wine to drink which was really good of them. On the final day of our Pampa tour we went down the river the opposite way in search of the black caiman, monkeys and more pink dolphins, all of which we saw, a pretty wicked end to an awesome trip!!! Once back in rurrenbaque we booked plane tickets back to La Paz and went out for a meal with our guide Victor.
On the 20th June we arrived back in La Paz and booked up and did the bike ride down Death road which is known as the worlds most dangerous road and decends 3600 metres from the Cordillera Real to the temperate jungle. The ride was brilliant and in places a little sketcy and it didnt help with the guides stopping of a different parts of the road and telling stories of how cyclists died their! The actual ride took
around 4 hours and we didnt get back to La Paz till around 9 at night which made for a long day!!!!
Next stop for us is Rio in Brazil and we start the jouney today with an 18 hour bus journey to Santa Cruz which is still in Bolivia! Take care all and hope everyone is well!!!!
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Carly Lyddiard
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Travel Company?
Hey there. I am headed up to La Paz shortly and want to check out Rurrenbaque too. Which tour company did you go with (do you remember?) and would you recommend them? Thanks! Carly