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The nice thing is I kept all my fingers. The bad part is I lost a couple toes. Apparently the pirahna hadn´t been fed. Anyone have any antibiotic?
After a brutal 17 hr bus ride along cliffs, jungle and a quick 1 hr stop to let rocks be blown up with TNT so we could continue, I arrived in the humid and mosquito infested town of Rurrenebaque. This town is more like what you would expect in Vietnam or Cambodia, including the appearance of the locals. Everyone rides around on motorbikes, women sidesaddle carrying kids and locals honking horns as they make their way through town. It was a small town of roughly 10 X 10 block that sat at the edge of a fairly large river that nestled up against the beginniong of steep mountains to the west and vast plains to the east. I wasn´t able to join the tour group I had been scheduled to for whatever reason, which actually worked out since I wouldn´t have been able to return to La Paz on the 2nd anyways due to national elections. Everything just shuts down, no driving, flying, etc. So with my day to explore in Rurre.
I took a ciesta, did some laundry and headed up the near peak where a 15 ft cross sits and overlooks the town. After a serious sweat session and some journaling, I headed to the rivers edge for a beer and sunset. Here I met up with an older gentleman from the Carolina´s who I had crossed paths with a few times in town. We talked all kinds of shop and he introduced me to a great restaurant for more drink and food.
The next morning I met up with my group to head into the pampas (amazonian wetlands) and to my delight I was the token male amongst 8 females. This should be a good few days I reckon. These gals were wonderful, half from Australia, 2 from London and 2 from Switzerland. All of which brought their own flare to the group. We ventured down a pothole, rutted dirt road for 3 hrs with copious amounts of dust being inhaled along the way. Upon reaching our ¨port town¨we loaded into 35 ft long canoes and continued up stream for another 3 hrs. Before we even left, we could see dolphins swimming and alligators resting on the shores.
The next 3 hrs were filled with combing the shores to get as close to the gators as we could, pissing off Howler monkeys in the low laying trees and sending all kinds of birds aflight. The most random animal was the worlds largest rodent (whose name I can´t remember) that looks like a guiney pig the size of a large pig with brown wirey hair filled with dirt and flies. These things are a trip. Upon reaching our campsite we settled in for a short while and made our way alonga an elevated boardwalk to the mirador for an incredible sunset over the pampas for which we to hike thru the next day. But before we got there, we loaded the boat again after dinner for some night cruising thru the tributaries to look for gators with flashlights. This was another fantastic experience, actually all the boat cruising was fantastic,like Mutual of Omaha´s wild kingdom with a splash of Steve Irwins Crocadile antics.
The next morning of course started early with monkeys ¨howling¨and birds a chirping. We were off for a hike in the pampas to chase down an anaconda. After an hour or so of trudging through
wild grasses and marsh we came to a remote lagoon filled with creatures dying for a random tourist to slip into. With mud up to my knees and sweat dripping profusely, 3 of us joined the guides into the reeds and surrounding marsh to find either cobras or an anaconda. After some 30-40 minutes our guide made a quick swipe in his waste deep reeds and came up with a 7-8 ft anaconda. Quite an experience in all, as this restrictor wrapped itself around his arm. After a few minutes of show and tell, we let the snake back into its home and made our way through another brutal 1 1/2 hr trudge back to the boat. We took a short cruise thru the river and back for lunch before the afternoons activities. By now it kinda felt like animal camp. After a brief ciesta, we put on our bathing suits and headed upstream for 30+ minutes to our swimming spot. Don´t mind the gators resting on the shore staring you down, nor the small splashes on the water surface where pirahna are feeding on bugs. With no hesitation our guide was overboard for a dip in this chocolate colored
water. After a 30 sec. self convincing session, Iwas headfirst over the edge with one other adventurous girl. we treaded water for a few minutes as the dolphins began getting friendly and surfacing within 5-6 ft of us. After a little convincing the rest of the crew was floating around in this stew of a river, filled with who knows how many types of animals and whatnot. As dangerous as it seems, I never really felt all that threatened, except for maybe a few of the cuts and scratches on my body with who knows making home in me. We slowly made our way downstream for a stop at some random futbol field for a game of Bolivian vs. Isrealis and yours truly. Barefoot style! This all taking place under an amazing sunset. From here we were back for dinner and an early night as the next day would start with a sunrise over the amazon. We cheered on the new day with a pre-dawn boat ride to where we would walk to the plains and watch an incredible sunrise (sorry batteries were dead by now, no photos). Back for some breakfast, a short rest and out again to go
fishing for pirahna and our lunch. Whats that saying about ¨teach a man to fish and he eats for life, give a man a fish and he eats for a day¨. Lets just say I ate for the day as I was unsuccessful in actually getting any fish in the boat. However, regardless of the lack of success, the experience was awesome and sweaty. Seeing a theme here? The remainder of the day was pretty mellow as we had to sit longer than normal due to the elections and no transportation back until 7 pm. This was no big deal until we actually got back to the port and got back on the dirt road. After an hour or so of bouncing and criss-crossing our driver decided he wasn´t going to move right while a small semi/ cattle truck came for us. The view over his left sholder lookd like disaster was about to strike, but by some grace of god, We didn´t hit head on, only against the side of the truck. Rubbin´is racing right!? Minimal harm was actually done, but we were inches from major disaster. With that past us we were on our way only to run
out of gas in the middle of nowhere 45 min later. What a joke this was. I´ll spare you our feelings as a group as we stood in the road and hoped we would see gas before some Bolivians with guns, as you unfortunately often here about in this country. Not to worry, an hour later we were on our way home and headed for pizza and a much needed cocktail.
Yesterday basically included taking off from a grass runway and flying back thru the Andes to La Paz where I sit now in preparation for an overnight bus ride south to Sucre, Potosi and Uyuni. This next week will be very cold and amazingly beautiful, so I´m told.
So far, no signs of malaria, Yellow fever or slowing down. With a new sleeping bag for the bus rides I´m heading back into the mountains for some unique landscape and culture. Stay tuned for reports form the mine tour where I´ll be detonating dynamite deep in the earth.
Good luck with Pronghorn boys! I´d say I´m due to hear about an amazing golf experience instead of talking about one. Hit em straight.
Ciao from La Paz!!!!!!
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