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Published: October 7th 2013
Expecting to be leaving La Paz on a some sort of elastic band powered bi-plane, we were pleasantly suprised to see a modern jet-engined 50 or so seater. It was only a short and bumpy journey to Rurrenabaque. The views out of the window were breathtaking, snow capped Andes quickly changing to low land jungle as far as the eye can see, a beautiful sea of green. The airport was cool, one concrete runway, one mud runway and a wooden shack for a terminal. The heat hit you as soon as you got off the plane. About 20 minutes on a minibus and we were at our hostel.
Rurrenabaque is a small riverside town, a literal gateway to the Bolvian Rainforest, nothing much to report here other than our hostel has a swimming pool and a resident Toucan. The Toucan managed to freak Jen out by cleverly disquising himself as a piece of stuffed furniture decoration, when it started moving and blinking the shriek I heard was unmistakably Jen's. I took an instant liking to that Toucan, I'm not sure why but you could tell he was a good guy.
The next morning we were to start our 4
day adventure in the Bolivian Rainforrest. Bearing in mind we both had a BIG and normal size backpack, we were picked up by 2 guys on mopeds. Fortunately this was a short, hair-raising, ride to the river where our longboat awaited. The 3 hour ride up the river to our lodge was an adventure all of it's own, slowly leaving the small amount of civilisation behind and delving deeper and deeper into the jungle. This is what it's all about. During this journey we stopped and visited a nesting area for Macaws, they were so colourful but they are very noisy. It was cool seeing the Macaw couples sitting in their holes, on the side of a cliff, in the middle of the jungle, miles away from anything else. That was our first experience of the jungle. We were also lucky to see a whole host of animals on the banks of the rivers, there were turtles sunning themselves, spider monkeys swinging from trees high up on the banks, lots of different types of birds to.
The lodge was a nice little set up, it was a clearing comprised of 3 buildings, 1 shower (cold) / toilet block, our
building which was 4 rooms all fitted with moquitoe nets, beds and a hammock outside the front door and the last building also had 2 rooms but also a covered area used for showing maps etc. In another clearing, a short walk away, was our dining hall / kitchen - where amazing food was served up to us 3 times a day. The lodge is situated in the Madidi National Park and is run by the local community who own the land. Their main community is another 4 hours up the river.
Each day consisted of a 3 - 4 hour hike during the morning, the same again in the afternoon and a night walk if we wanted it. There were various different routes around the area which would bring you into contact with different wildlife and flora & fauna. So what we saw everyday was different. We got to see Spider Monkeys, Howler Monkeys and Capuchin monkeys moving through the trees. We managed to see some Caiman sunning themselves on the riverbanks, wild pigs, too many birds to name, lots of different types if ants, a few different size and types of spiders and we learnt about the
different types of trees, how they are used, different types of plants and how they are used as medicines. Our guide, Alejandro, was very knowledgeable and would be able to spot things from a mile off. The night walks were really interesting. We had to wear wellys as a precaution against ants but we had to make sure there was nothing in them before we put them on, some poor lady had the fright of her life when she thought her boots were clear only to discover there was a Tarantula hidden in one. She had litterally put her foot into the boot but took it out after she thought it felt like there was a 'sock' already in there! Being in the jungle at night when we turned all our torches off was cool, you couldn't see your hand in front of your face and the noise was enveloping.
On the morning of the last day we got to do a little fishing. Armed with a line, hook and some beef we set off. I was pretty lucky as I managed to catch a baby Catfish, small Pirahna and a normal size Piranha. Jen nearly got a Piranha
but it landed too close to the water and managed to escape! But to be fair we had to chuck them back anyway. It was a short boat ride & hike to where we fished and when we got back to the boat the driver had been fishing himself and caught a 5 kg Catfish, it was huge!! We did a bit more 'unsuccessful' fishing in the main river, the driver then caught a giant Piranha, another huge fish! Then we got to 'tube' down the main river back to where the entrance to the lodge was, a very relaxing and fun way to get down the river - sitting in a giant innertube! Fortunately giant Piranhas are not aggressive so we came away with 100% body parts.
All in all it was such a great experience and I would recommend it to anyone!
Our flight home was in the smallest plane I've ever been in, with one seat either side of the isle and also propellers! We were in the first seats, I was pretty much assisting the pilot / co-pilot I was sat that close to them! This flight was only step one of our monster
journey! After we arrived back in La Paz it was straight onto another flight to Santa Cruz, where we had 15 hours before we ventured onto the next plane destined for Costa Rica, via a 3 hour wait in Panama Airport. The wait wasn't all bad as I had an amazing burger, albeit at 7am in the morning, at an American burger place. I guess this is the American equivelant to the British custom of having a pint at 6am in the morning before you board a flight. This journey took it out of us, 4 planes and 24 hours later we arrived at our destination!
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Momma Toni
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great photos!
The plane back to La Plas looks so small like a remote controlled one! the 100 year old tree is beautiful do you know the name of the tree? the accomodation set up looks so clean and lovely and craig looks very cosy in the hammock, you must be both so fit with all the walking and your lung capacity must be so much bigger with the higher altitude you have been tolerating, i would die if i put my foot in a welly with a hairy tarantula in it ugh! i really like macaw parrots there used to some down the road at the garden centre which used to fly around in the trees and make a lot of noise but they are so pretty, look forward to next instalment lots and lots of love x