Reflecting in the Amazon

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Sat 31st we had our flight from La Paz to Rurrenabaque for our Pampas Amazon tour the next day. The landing strip was a dirt track that from through the pilot´s window looked verrry short but did the job. When we arrived there was meant to be someone from the company meet us at the airport but there was no one insight we got on what we thought was a free bus, but wasn´t, and got to the plane company office in town and there was someone to meet us and drive us to the tour office which was the next block over! We had an arguement with the guy in the office about the transfer and he said he would call the lady we booked through and speak to his boss. We had been in the office the day before when she rang them and confirmed that they would pick us up!! Sucker. So anyway we went and booked into a hotel along the road which was nice and only 30Bs each with an en-suite. Lorna was really hungry, so hungry her tummy hurt so we went to find lunch. Went to the Monkey bar which was meant to have the best pizza, but I wanted fish which turns out they didn´t have, so ordered a steak and he came back a few mins later saying they had no steak. So we left and went to a family run place which had amazing fish and home made lemonade. Lorna had one bite of her food, if that, and was off to the toilet. Turns out her sore tummy wasn´t hunger but a tummy bug. So I ate my lunch while she looked at hers and paid hommage to the porcelain god.

It was sooo hot in Ruri, even the fan in the room didn´t help much. Lorna had a lie down and I went for a look around the town which took about 5 minutes. Went down to the river and saw the dudes bringing in boatfulls of bananas, then went and found an internet place for a bit. Got bombarded by an awesome butterfly while in there. When I got back to the hotel Lorna was still sick so I went round to a pharmacy, where they spoke no english, and said my friend had a sore stomach and was being sick, and got white pills for the sore tummy and pink pills for the being sick. The pink pills apparently worked wonders cos she stopped being sick.

Sunday 1st Feb was the start of our Amazon tour. For breakfast I went back to the river stalls and got empanadas and some of the wee bananas we´d tried in Ecuador. Near the tour office was a white dude selling homemade banana bread so got a chunk of that as well, and was so good I got another piece later when he came to the office selling it. There were 8 of us in the group, 2 aussie twins, a guy from Holland, a guy from England and a brother and sister from Belgium. The 3 hour drive out to where our boat left from was very bumpy and hot and dusty. We got to see a sloth hanging out in the top of a tree. When we stopped and all got out he did very slowly move to hide but we still got photos. We finally arrived at our lunch place just as the rain properly began! After we´d finished eating the road had flooded and the ditch between the resteraunt door and road was one lake so you couldn´t see where the bridge to cross was! The driver and another guy had to get a plank of wood and poke around to find it and put the plank down to make sure they didn´t step off it! We had to wait until the rain stopped as the next part of the journey was a 2 hour boat ride to our huts. I had my jandals on which got stuck in the mud and broke : ( And I didn´t have my superglue with me so it had to flop around. In the end just took them both off and walked barefoot which was mucky and squelchy. The guide, Negro who was an awesome guide, said the man at the campsite would be able to fix them, which he did yay.

The boat ride was pretty cool, the water is gross and brown though and the plants that are on the water line and yuck and brown around the water and above the water nice and green. The rain finally cleared and we got to see loads of birds and stopped along the way to say hi to some wee monkeys but by doing so the mozzies invaded our boat! When I say boat I mean canoe with a motor! When we arrived at camp there was an alligator sitting beside the steps to the cabin, and we thought it was a dead one until it moved it´s head! Turns out Pedro lives there, tho does head off for a few days but normally comes back. There was also a caiman living in the bay but I can´t remember what its name was and it was huge! Pedro was tiny compared to the caiman. So we were careful when getting out of the canoe and when found out he was rather slow all had goes posing beside him.

After lunch we went for a cruise around the waters and saw more birds and monkeys and sloths. That night we went caiman spotting which involved being in the canoe in the pitch black darkness and shining our torches by the river bank and their eyes reflect red in the light. Depending on the angle of the light depended on whether you would see anything so to start with I didn´t see anything and then all of a sudden there were 2 red dots in the darkness which was pretty cool.

The next morning at about 7am I was washing my hands (the bathroom was outside toilets but still flushed) and the caiman was just floating down the river past camp, was not a sight I imagine I will see again! Well except when I look at the photos I guess. After breakfast we went anaconda hunting, even though it is off season. Not sure if actually wanted to find one or not! Didn´t get to find one, but found lots of mozzies, well then found us, and some caterpillars and loads of dragon flies and a tiny frog. We found some monkeys in the bush around camp so feed them our left over salad from lunch. They loved the beetroot but threw the lettuce back. In the afternoon we got to go dolphin swimming, with the pink amazon dolphins. Tho the water was pretty gross so I opted to sit in the canoe, so while our boat were swimming Negro took me on a tour around the waters and it was so beautiful, totally clear waters perfectly reflecting the trees and sky. There were a few dolphins swimming around but cos the group were quite big they didn´t come right up to us. In the afternoon we went to the pub/bar and hung out in the hammocks waiting for the sunset, and went caimen spotting again on the way back to the camp.

Our last morning we all wanted to go piranha fishing even though it wasn´t the season, still wanted to try. We went along to a bit in the river and there was over 100 birds sitting in the trees that all flew down river when the boat came past, was pretty cool. It started to rain on our way there but stopped a bit. I had thought we would sit in the boat to fish, so had my jandels on, but we had to walk through plant bush stuff to go to a river and the bank was a bit muddy and I got stuck in the mud a few times ended up just taking them off again. The homemade fishing rods were some fishing string tied to a bit of wood with a hook at the end, not sure what the bait was, some kind of meat. Think we gave it ago for about 20-30 mins, while Negro went looking for anacondas. No fish were caught but it was fun trying, apart from all the mozzies! It started to absolutely bucket it down so was a slippery walk back to the canoe in bare feet! After lunch when we went to pack our stuff there was a scream from one of the twins and there was a big hairy spider on her bed! Then another one ran across the floor while we were all standing there looking at the first one, so eww. Said good bye to the camp and Pedro and boated it back to the mainland to have our 3 hour drive back to Ruri. On the way we got to see a snake on the road and we all agreed it must have been a baby anaconda : )

That night we all went out since it was Lorna and the Belgium guys birthdays the next day. Lorna didn´t get to make it to mignight cos wasn´t feeling well so we all carried on having made the most of the half price cocktails. The Anaconda in the River was like drinking strawberry ice cream with lots of alcohol in it, were so good. Went to bed about 6am and had a flight at 9:30am so I was not feeling too good before the plane journey. Fell asleep on the plane and woke up later when the plane dropped out of the sky and was very nearly sick! Luckily we were only 15mins from La Paz cos there was no way I was being sick in such a tiny plane. Sat there having hot and cold sweats while I tried to think of anything else. As soon as the door was opened I bolted out to the loo but wasn´t sick but really didn´t feel too good. Figured it was self inflicted but when still felt as ill 2 and 3 days later reckoned on it being a tummy bug, and had that for about 6 days which was not fun while doing our salt flats tour.

Didn´t do much when got back to La Paz except sleep most of the day. We had our bus to Uyuni the next night at 9:30pm so Thursday was also a lazy day which was good cos was still quite ill. We got a taxi to the bus station, and turned out our bus didn´t leave from there and we got told we had to walk about 20 minutes to the company office! With our bags we were not walking, and had to be there in 5 minutes (got to be there 30mins before departure) so went to get another taxi and they were like no just cross the street and tat he next corner! And then the bus was running late anyway. The hostess lady on the bus was really nice, when she came round serving tea I said I wasn´t eating because had a dodgy tummy and she said if I needed anything just to let her know. And she would come and check to see if I was ok and could she get me anything. I had bought a wee thing of green pringles and found ginger ale so stuck to that and managed to avoid dramas on the journey thankfully.

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Photos

Reflecting in the Amazon
I liked this photo so wanted it first!

My feet dirty and muddy
and my broken jandal on the right

Fighting for the banana
Imagine what they'd be like if that banana boat went passed!

The caiman
no patting him!

Comments

[Beth]

wow
Great to get all your news again. I'm suprised that you haven't had more tummy upsets. lorna has had her fair share and must be thin as a rake by now. Fancy being willing to touch a crock, Those little mozzie's are pesky. Take care look forward to the next installment. love Beth. PS like the sound of the strawberry icecream cocktails.