Rurrenabaque

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The zip line!

From La Paz we took a short plane ride to Rurrenabaque, a little town on the banks of a river, in the jungle. The plane flies past huge snow capped mountains and feels like it goes downhill the whole way as the landing is so much lower than take off. There was huge temperature difference when we arrived, really hot and humid compared to the chilly La Paz.

The town was different to what we had seen elsewhere, as motorbikes were the vehicle of choice. It was a little adventure town with lots of things to do and see. There were more markets and little food joints that were all cheap.

We went on a Pampas tour, which involves a two hour 4wd to a river, then a 2 hour canoe ride along the river, through the floodlands. The place is home to many different types of animals, most of which we saw during our time in the canoe. There were aligators, caymen, monkeys, pink dolphins, snakes, bats, heaps of massive birds and Thousands of mozzies.

A highlight was when we went swimming with the pink dolphins, but it was hard to tell where they were going to pop up because the water was brown. Our friend Jane brought her snorkel so a few people including Em managed to spot these inquisitive animals peering at them 10cm in front. They had a habbit of nibbling on your toes, but it didnt hurt.

There were huge stalks with massive nests high up in some trees. The sticks they used for their nests were more like big branches. So many differnt types of birds too. Some got scared when we passed so they jumped off their braches and dropped straight under water never to be seen again.

An advantage we had was being able to float quietly down the river with no engine as not to scare the animals away. One morning we woke up early and drifted along to hear the jungle wake up. There were so many weird noises going on that it was almost unbelievable. The loudest was the howler monkeys that carry on for 10 or 15 minutes before quieting down. They make a lot of noise when they´re in the tree above your hut in the morning!

We went to a nice bar that was perched above the river on poles and watched the sun go down. On the way back by using a torch you could see the eyes of aligators and caymen glowing orange. There were quite a few around hiding on the banks. The next morning the local aligator Fredrico joined us for breakfast. Right where we had been swimming in the water the day before. I even reached down and touched his head a couple of times.

After a couple of hours trudging around in gumboots looking for anacondas in the long reeds, we thoght that we wouldnt see one. But luckily for us in the 4wd on the way back we saw one lying on the dirt road. It had some awsome patterns on it, but the poor thing would have been glad to get let free after not only our car but the following 3 gawked at it for a bit too long.

Returning to Rurrenabaque we relaxed in a nice pool overlooking the whole town, rode motor bikes around exploring the village and surrounds and went to the Mosquito bar for lots of cocktails and cheap dinners.

Another cool thing we did was the zip line canopy tour. A short ride in a canoe and an hours walk through the jungle got us to the first of about 8 wire lines that were linked to platforms high up in the trees. Sometimes really fast you had to slow down with your leather hand break.

No toucan though..... 😞 Still searching...

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