Welcome to the Jungle - Pampas tour!

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Well that's a tiny plane. Really tiny. Minute. Can that thing really fly? About 12 people aboard the miniscule plane to Rurrenabaque in the Bolivian Amazon. About 12 people having a minor panic attack every time the plane bumped, jiggled or dropped. What's that beeping? I really don't like being able to see in the cock pit. That beeping is still going! Oh god. Oh god. Oh god. But then we are there, touching down smoothly at Rurrenabaque "airport" and it seems like we've all been a little silly really. The "airport" is really just one room of a house and we sit on some plastic seats in the sweltering oppressive heat and wait for our bags. Everyone is already shiny with sweat and flopping considerably, but one Swiss girl and I are loving it. Heat heat heat! This is like a real holiday!
We check into our hostal, and soon make plans to head to the pool! Hopping onto the back of motorbikes, the form of taxi here (just like asia) and giggling as they struggle up the bumpy hill, we get dropped off at Oscars Pool. Here we unwind in the swimming pool, drink pina coladas and watch the sun go down. Bliss. Our moto drivers race each other on the way home, but the strong gusts of air are a welcome relief in the heat. That night we go to bed early and try to sleep, our bodies sticky, the fan swinging feebly overhead.
The next morning we set off early for the beginning of our Pampas tour! Me, Alex (a friend from La Paz), three Australians Mel, Tegan and Yaana and two Danish girls Nadia and Lisbeth are ready to go at 9 o'clock and excited for the adventure. We hop into a jeep that has definately seen better days with our guide Ernesto and start the three hour bone shaking, bum numbing ride to the river. Poor Lisbeth is very unwell, but the rest of us chat, giggle and sing along to loud 90s pop. We arrive at the river port just in time to meet the groups that are coming back from the three day tour. They are exhausted, hot and bitten and only give us negative groans and comments. I am determined to stay ultra positive and try and ignore their comments, most of the others aren't so optimistic.

A long thing boat with rickety seats and water pooling in the bottom was to be our transport for three days and soon enough we are floating along the muddy brown river, the sun beating down relentlessly on our shoulders, the river occasionally splashing us with a welcome spray of water. Before long, we get our first view of wildlife. Tortoises sunning themselves on logs, birds of all shapes colours and sizes skimming along the water or atop the trees. Alligators. Lots of them staring beadily at you from the all too close banks. Capiwaras, literally giant guinea pigs. Im not even kidding,about the size of a wombat. I never got sick of them, it seemed like some kind of hilarious joke. Being dry season, all too often our boat became jammed along the ground and we had to get out and push. At first we looked at Ernesto like he was insane. Get out, into the cloudy water, with alligators smirking at you from 5 metres away. Are you kidding? But soon we realised that there was no way around it, and it was actually pretty fun! So whenever we ground to a halt and Ernesto said "Okey Dokey", we would jump out into the water, pushing the boat and sneaking up on each other, or grabbing peoples legs like an alligator.
Our lodge was a wooden number on stilts, with hammocks and a beautiful little boy called Rafael who was the son of the cook. He was lonely being the only kid there, so loved playing with us, and soon had multiple girlfriends. We watched a spectacular sunset with spectacularly cold beers and then retreated home. It was stifling in our mosquito net beds but I was in heaven back in the heat. Alex couldn't sleep. The surprisingly fresh food had filled our bellies and we all dropped off obscenely early.
The next day was another of extreme heat and lively spirits. We waded across the river in holey gumboots, we rolled under electric fences and watched keenly for lurking cayman. We went anaconda hunting in the mosquito infested scrub, finding instead cobwebs, black howler monkeys, shells and crabs from the wet season, a snake body, a cayman body and a mysterious foot and leg bone of some animal. Eventually though, Ernesto found an anaconda curled in the hollow of a tree, he predicted that it was 3 metres long. After a delicious summery lunch with salads (!) and a siesta, we went piranha fishing. We balanced in our boat and held our fishing lines with lumps of meat on the end, shrieking at every tug and rejoicing when we caught something (even if they were babies and catfish). Then a typical tropical downpour started out of nowhere and we rejoiced even more as the rain cooled our skin. Ernesto caught a full sized piranha and kept it for us to lok at, by letting it swim in the water pooled at the bottom of the boat, right at our feet!
That night we went for a beer at the nearby sunset bar, and on the way home in the dark, our boat got stuck. We had no choice but to get out, even when someone shone their light on the banks to reveal thousands of eyes blinking menacingly at us. Once all our limbs were safely inside we turned off our torches and watched the fireflies sparkling in the trees.

We woke with surprise to hear rain thundering on the roof and us shivering in our beds. We arose for a delicious breakfast of pancakes, dulce de leche, fried bread, fruit salad and empañadas. We waited in our lodge, hoping for the rain to abate for our ride home, but no such luck. We could avoid it no more, so wrapped our dry clothes in bags, stripped to our bathers and rain coats and hopped in the boat, in the middle of the downpour! Our shivering and misery were soon forgotten as we journeyed out, giggling at the situation and actually relishing having to push the boat as the river water was like a bath. Most of the animals were hiding or looking soggy and miserable, but the alligators were happy as the extra water brings extra food. Oh dear. But eventually we arrived, changed into our dry clothes and ate some comfort Twix. Then another 3 hour bumping jarring jeep ride and we were back in Rurrenabaque on Halloween!

Unfortunately we only had the few clothes we had brought to the jungle, so no costumes were made, but we celebrated the night, the heat and the tour in the Mosquito Bar with lots of cocktails, dancing and head banging.
Nadia and Lisbeth were having one day of rest and then doing a further 2 days tour walking in the jungle, so I decided to join them!
We spent the day in between reclining next to the swimming pool overlooking the down, and celebrating over the inexplicable French patisserie we found in the middle of this tiny jungle town. It was run by a French man name Thierry and the mushroom/garlic pastries or chocolate croissants melted like heaven on our tongues. Splendid

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