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This last weekend was amazing! Mary Beth and I went to the pampas in the Santa Rosa National Park, just outside of Rurenabaque. There are two tours that people can choose from, the pampas or the jungle. In the jungle tour, you go to Madidi National Park and you do more trekking and get to see big trees, different kinds of plants, insects, and some animals. In the pampas tour, you go to Santa Rosa National Park and you see a lot more animals and spend most of your sightseeing time on a boat that travels down a river. We chose to do the pampas tour because we wanted to see more animals. Thursday and Friday of last week were holidays so we decided to fly to Rurenabaque Thursday morning and start our 3-day, 2-night tour then. The planes that fly to Rurenabaque are very small and they land on a grass runway at the Rurenabaque Airport. It is hard to even call it an airport because all it consists of is a grass runways and then a small building in which you can wait for your flight. After we safely landed, our driver and the five other people in
our tour group were waiting for us. There was a couple from England, Stu and Steph, and three boys from Denmark with Mary Beth and I.
We immediately got into a jeep and travelled for three hours on the most rocky and dusty road I have ever experienced. By the time we arrived at a restaurant to have lunch, we were all covered in red dust. Mary Beth even had a sunglass tan on red dust. After lunch, it was another half an hour to the river. Once at the river, we met our guide for the next three days, Jose. He was very nice and fun, and had the best flat top haircut I have ever seen :D Once we got our stuff into the dugout canoe we travelled for three hours down the river. During our boat ride we saw lots and lots of alligators, different birds, capybaras, which look like giant guinea pigs, and turtles. It was crazy to be so close to the alligators and to see so many of them, that it felt like it was fake and that I was at the zoo. There are also Caiman, which is a different type of
The road we had to drive on for 3 hrs
It was pure rocks and dust. We were filthy by the time we got to Santa Rosa. alligator that is a lot bigger and more aggressive. Two Caiman actually charged at our boat and dove underneath it. It was really scary!
After our boat ride, we arrived at our ecolodge. The ecolodge consisted of several cabins on stilts and walkways connecting them. There was a relaxing hang out room with lots of hammocks and there was a bar. The showers were cold and you maybe could get a steady stream of drops if you were lucky. Otherwise the shower just slowly dripped. There was also lots and lots of insects, especially at night. Thankfully, we had mosquito nets around our beds so they couldn’t bother us while we slept. After we unpacked our bags and found our cabin, we just relaxed in the hammocks and enjoyed the rare warm weather. Later, we ate dinner, took showers, and then went to bed. They cooked us all our meals at the ecolodge so it was very convenient and we always ate together. It felt like being back at science camp, the way you stay with your group the whole time and do everything together.
The next day, Saturday, we woke up, ate breakfast, and got ready to
go anaconda hunting. Little did we know that anaconda hunting consisted of sloshing our way through a cow manure infested swamp that went up to our knees. We took a boat downstream and then arrived at this grass field where we started making our way towards the swamp. The tour provided us with rain boots for our trekking through the swamp, but both of mine had holes in them and it didn’t even matter because the water went up to our knees anyways. The guide told us to split up to look for anacondas and then yell out if we see one. It was pretty frightening and surreal that we were sloshing our way through this disgusting swamp in search for an anaconda that could possibly kill me if it wanted to. Luckily, I wasn’t the one who found one. The other guide was able to capture it and we all got to hold it, or in my case touch it. One snake was definitely enough for me, as I quickly got myself out of that swamp. Hunting for anacondas was definitely an experience, one in which I don’t think I will do again.
After our hunting, we went
back to camp to rinse off and eat lunch. Shortly after, we went back out on the boat to go swim with the pink dolphins that live in the river. Since the dolphins aren’t really trained to actually swim with us, it was more like we were swimming in the river amongst the view dolphins that we saw around us. Either way, it was a really hot day so the swim felt amazing. I just tried to not think about the fact that I was swimming with piranhas and that there were alligators 20 feet away from me. After our swim, we went to this flat away of land where there was a soccer field, some tables, and a small cabana selling beers and snacks, to watch the sunset. It was really cool because all the other tour groups came as well, so it was a nice time to relax and have a good time. After the sunset we went back on the boats and took a night tour of the river. Most of the alligators hunt for fish at night so there were lots of bright eyes and open jaws in the river. Once we got back to camp,
we just hung out and then went to sleep.
The next day, Sunday, we went fishing. Our fishing poles consisted of some fishing line with a hook at the end and our bait was rare red meat, perfect for the piranhas. At first our guide was the only one catching fish, but then I caught one! I got a very small catfish. It is surprisingly really hard to hook a fish. You can feel them nibbling on the meat, but you have to pull at the right moment in order to snag one. Most of the time I was just feeding the fish, because I went through 20 or so pieces of meat and I only had one fish. Some of the boys had better luck than me though. Stu caught a decently sized red piranha. They are the most aggressive I guess and have very sharp teeth. After about two hours of fishing, we went back to camp to have lunch and pack our things. We had to start the very long journey by boat and by jeep back to Rurenabaque.
When we arrived in Rurenabaque, Mary Beth and I checked into the same hostel that are
friends from the tour were staying and just relaxed on the hammocks in the courtyard. We later went out to dinner and eventually met up with our whole group of 15 people. The next morning we took a flight back to La Paz and made it home safe. This was truly an amazing trip and I met a lot of really awesome people. I guess that is what happens when you are all stuck in the jungle together for 4 days :D
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anonymous
non-member comment
Fantastic pictures and what an adventure! You are brave! I would not hold the Anaconda either! Glad you are making the most of your Journey! We miss you and keep the pictures and stories coming : )