Pampas Tour

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Hey all,

I think last time I said we were going on a pampas tour in the jungle.

We had to meet at the travel agency opposite our hostel at 10am and as usual we were running late. I suddenly got a migraine which are rare for me but I was in absolute pain. Got a taxi to the bus station. The bus was a local bus and was the worse bus we have been on so far and it was going to be a 18 hour journey. It was cramped, stank of b.o and was boiling. It was so full that people sat down the aisles. This did not help my migraine but we should have known as our luck on buses is non existent.

Had to have the window open the whole time and we mostly drove along dusty dirt tracks so we were filthy by the time we arrived. My cream fleece had turned brown!!Oh nearly forgot to say. In the middle of the night, when it was pitch black and we were in the middle of nowhere we moved over to the side of the road to let another bus through and our driver went a bit far and went into a big ditch. Unbelievable!! Nik and I didnt realised what had happened at first but wondered why everyone was getting off as we had only just had a toilet break. Then we got a bit concerned that our bus was at a 45 degrees angle. It didnt look safe, so we followed everyone else off. We looked like such tourists because we were laughing and taking photos. They managed to push it out eventually with the help of every bus which stopped.

We didnt sleep well so when we arrived in rurrenabaque at 5.30am we were not feeling our best. Found the office we were supposed to meet our group at and it was closed because we were so early. It finally opened and 8 and he told us we had another hour to wait so we went for breakfast.

Met up with our group and everyone was really nice. There were 3 brits Katie, Lisa and Ashley and three ozzies Jess, Dave and Nik. We then had a 3 hour jeep ride to get to the river. ´

Got to the river and our pampas tour began. We all sat on a really comfy motorised canoe. The weather was gorgeous and we saw so many animals. I will put the photos on soon. We saw alligators, huge birds, turtles and the cutest of monkeys.

I think we went along the river for about 3 hours then we arrived at our base camp. This was actually really cute. We shared dorms, there were six in ours. We had our afternoon snack of popcorn (I love this tradition) and then we went off up the river to a place where we could watch the sunset and buy alcohol and treats. The sunset wasnt anything compared to lake titicaca but it was a cool place to chill. Although Katie gave me a biscuit and I didnt see the cockeral as he violently pecked it out of my hand - I cacked myself to be honest but everyone else got a good laugh out of it - what a cock (sorry bad humour).

When we got back we had such a nice dinner and then we went out on the canoe again in the dark to spot the animals. Just saw a lot of red eyes from the alligators but it was so nice as all the stars were out and he just paddled. Very relaxing.

Came back and we didnt stay up long as we were all exhausted. It was so funny watching everyone getting into bed because we all had mosquito nets and were terrified of opening them up in case any of the evil things got in.

We all slept like babies, got up had breakfast and then went in our canoe to the point where we began our 4 hour trek to find anacondas.

It was crazy, we came round a corner which was blinded because of the trees and we must have been going over 20mph and we went head on to another canoe. The splinters from the wood went everywhere. Luckily our canoe was fine as it felt like we were going to capsize but we didnt have any cracks. The other canoe was mashed at the front though. Dont think it would sink but the guy did not look happy. Our guide seemed in quite a hurry to get out of there so I think it was our guys fault.

The trek was in boiling weather but lucily there was a breeze. We were given wellies because we had to walk through knee high mud puddles. The wellies would have been great if they didnt have holes in the bottom. I had so much muddy water in my boots, it made them so heavy. As well as the mud we had thick grass up which went above our heads at some points.

There was one bit where we had to go through a massive puddle and the mud and water came really high above our boots. I went first out of our group and the guide offered his hand - as i went to grab it I fell flat on my bum because my feet were stuck in the mud. I had water proof trousers on but they dont help when the mud goes above your waist. As you can imagine I was filthy but took it as part of the adventure.

Only problem was I had my camera in my bag which I thought was safe but I think some water had seeped in because it stopped working for a while later. I left it out to dry though and got it working again that night.

As we got to the lake where all the anacondas were we were on grass which was like a marsh. The ground underneath your feet was like walking on jelly. We were wobbling all over the place trying to keep on our feet. We finally came across an anaconda. I was expecting smaller, Nik was expecting bigger but as far as I was concerned he was massive.

Felt quite guilty though because the guides picked him up and we all got a chance to hold him but I felt really sorry for him because he was peacefully enjoying his afternoon not doing any one any harm and then because two groups met up at the same point he had 14 humans grabbing him around the neck just to take a picture. I felt guilty but we still got our pictures.

The walk back was tough and we were shattered as it was so hot and it was so hard walking through the thick wet mud. I fell over again in the same place - what a doughnut. We finished our walk though and it felt good. Had lunch and a siesta then we went piranha fishing. It wasnt actually that much fun as we were all useless apart from the guide. Only 3 of us caught anything and one of them was me. I caught a little piranha but I felt so guilty as it was flapping around my feet so when I finally picked him up (slippery little sucker). I threw him back in. Its a shame thought because we could have eaten them for dinner if we got plenty of larger ones but oh well it wasnt meant to be.

We went back and had dinner then Nik and I had the bottle of red wine we bought from the shop up the river. Another group had joined our camp that day. Most of us sat chatting. There was this american guy from the other camp though who was really drunk and he picked up two toads (there were millions around camp at night time) and he thought they were the ones that if you lick its the same as LSD so he licked one. It was so gross, they must be posonous. The guide just laughed and said thoughs toads are found in columbia but are still poisonous. What a weirdo.

Went to bed after this as we were being bitten by the evil mosquitoes.

I dont think anyone slept as well that night for some reason. We had to be up and out for 5am the final day but the guide didnt wake us until five. By the time we got to the point we had missed the sun rise.

Got back and got back in bed, then had breakfast. After this we went swimming in the river, which is the same river which is alligator and piranha infested water. Dont worry though, we swam with the pink dolphins so the alligators wouldnt come near us and the alligators are only the size of us and a little bigger but too small to eat us. The water looked like mud but actually felt quite clean considering. We were terrified of putting our feet down though because we kept imaging waking an alligatior. The dolphins never came too near though just close enough to tease us.

After this we went back to camp for showers and then had to pack up and head back to finish our tour. It was a really nice journey on the way back until half we went through some reeds and our motor packed in. We were torn between suffering in the heat and laughing because what are the chances of that happening. A couple of the guys helped to paddle for a while then luckily we got the motor going again.

When we got back to main land we got the jeep again to finish with the 3 hour journey.

When we got back we all decided to stay in the same hostel and then went for a really nice dinner that night. Then we ended in one of the only bars in rurrenabaque and treated ourselves to cocktails.

The next morning Nik and I got the bus back to La Paz. Quite a nice bus this time, not so smelly and hot. Got quite cold at night though and was freezing as we got back to La Paz at 5 in the morning.

We went to get our bags from the hostel we had been staying at and the woman wouldnt let us in because she said she didnt have the key to the doors until 9am. So we went to another hostel that the girls from the trip had rexcommeded and he said we either pay for the previous night or we will have to wait until 1pm to check in. This was bollucks, we were freezing so we went to another hostel which let us in then snuck out at about 8 and came back to our old hostel. Luckily the manager had arrived and opened the doors. Could not wait to get into bed.

We slept until the afternoon and havent done much at all today. We went to book the bike ride that is called ´the bike ride down the worlds deadliest road´supposed to be amazing as it starts high up a mountain and goes really fast down hill and takes a whole day. Anyway, turns out the god damn bolivians are going on strike tomorrow because they are upset with the government taxes so there will be no road transport at all. That means we cant get to the starting point. Im gutted!!

Going to try and do it the next day but we will have to leave la paz the same day as we are wasting time here now and dont have time to waste.

Going to go and get ready as we are going out. Will tell you more about what we are doing when we know ourselves.

Love you all like a fat kid likes his sweets. Take Care for now x x

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