The Pampas - 7th to 11th April

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What better way to break away from the crazy city of La Paz than to visit the beggining of the Amazon rainforest. Also known as ´The Pampas´, these wetlands go on for miles and miles in rainy season (which we were lucky enough to be in) and has to be one of the most remote places that we have ever been!

No runways - you could tell that we´d landed somewhere remote!
After taking a flight from La Paz to Rurrenabaque (we did have the option of a twenty-four hour bus along windy trails similar to the infamous ´death road´ - no thanks!), we were picked up bright and early by our tour agency and set off ... on a 3 hour jeep ride along bumpy - and we mean bumpy - dirt paths to our boat. But we didn´t allow this, or the swarms of mosquitos, to phase us - we clambered in with 6 other people and off we went! Once we reached the boat, our camp was a another three hour sail away, but the wildlife that we were constantly finding made it go in a flash. We even caught a glimpse of the allusive Capybara - the biggest rodent on the planet (it looks like a giant guinea-pig).

For a rodent those things are HUGE!

Cheeky monkeys!
Our camp was by no means luxurious, but it was a bed and that´s all we needed. Who needs a comfy bed when you have sunsets like these:

Breath-taking!
Three days and two nights went so fast. We spent the first morning hunting for anacondas (didn´t seem too sensible to me - thank god we didn´t find any!) and the rest of our trip was spread around activities like swimming with pink dolphins, piranha fishing (in the same water that we´d been swimming in!) and enjoying those sunsets with a cold beer!

In search of snakes!
Probably the most impressive thing we did was aligator ´hunting´at night under the stars - not as dangerous as it sounds, since we just went around in a boat and shone light into the river banks, the aligators eyes reflecting them back. Since it was a clear night with no moon, the stars were simply breathtaking and star-gazing soon took over from looking for ´gators.

That looks dangerous...
We were sad to leave the Pampas - but not sad to stop being bitten by mozzies! An overnight stay and a pizza in Rurrenabaque and it was time for our flight back to La Paz...

It´s a hard life!

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