Caymen, dolphins and illegal aliens

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So after our 5 day mountain biking and jungle extravaganza, we decided that we hadn’t had enough of tours so upon arrival in Rurrenbaque, we immediately booked a 3 day Pampas tour (mainly due to the fact we now have to get a wriggle on to get to Peru to do the Inca Trail!). We took a 3 hr drive deep into the jungle on the world’s dustiest road to our eco-lodge. Nice room(although finding a huge tarantula in the lodge on night one was a bit scary!) and great food – especially when dinner on day one was piranha that we caught ourselves that afternoon with just a hook and a bit of meat for bate (up yours Bear Grylls). The 1st night was Carrie’s birthday and there was no booze in the lodge so no partying – not a happy birthday girl!!!

We did about 3 long boat excursions into the jungle and the highlights were as follows:
- Fishing for piranhas (Carrie caught 2 after I taught her how to do it, I stopped trying after catching one!)
- Hunting anacondas unsuccessfully – but we did see a dead one on the road way back to town!
- Seeing loads of Cayman (crocodiles) in the day and just their eyes at night
- Swimming with pink dolphins (in the same river as the piranhas and the cayman – the guide was very sure that it was safe) – this was amazing especially given the fear factor!
- Seeing the world’s largest rodent
- Seeing loads more wildlife including monkeys, tucans, turtles and loads more birds
Got back to Rurrenbaque for an early night then went to the airport early the next morning for our return flight to La Paz. The next day turned out to be possibly the most stressful day of the trip (probably including the malaria day!) for the following reasons…
- Woke up early to get to the airport to find out that the flight was delayed due to fog/clouds – the bit of the runway that we had seen looked like a ploughed field so landing with minimal visibility seemed scary! We did get to fly 3.5 hours later, and the runway was actually tarmac so that was ok.
- The plane was a tiny 21 seater which wasn’t the most stable and we were flying very close to some very snowy mountains – and when the plane dropped a couple of meters and I lifted off the seat I was thinking about the film Alive - about the Uruguayan rugby team so I had a look around to see who would be a tasty meal! I also lost all circulation to my hand due to Carrie holding on a tad too tight!!!
- We had been told that there were protests at the Bolivia/Peru border and these were confirmed when we got to La Paz – cue running round like banshees trying to find a way to Peru in time for the Inca trail – eventually found a boat option which we booked as the only other option was the last seats (business class) on a flight for over 500 quid. (I am sure that the evacuation of Dunkirk was less of a logistical nightmare)
- I had agreed with Carrie to have a go at ‘The World’s most dangerous vindaloo’ at a British Indian in La Paz – I couldn’t back down but was apprehensive as I recall getting the curry sweats from a spicy Rogan Josh once and had never even had a normal vindaloo before! But never mind, like the brave soldier that I am I gobbled it up using the now patented technique of eating naan and a mouthful of lassi between each mouthful – free T-Shirt and confirmed to Carrie that she made the right choice when I asked her to marry me! She didn’t say that that night…stinky!
- When we got back to the hotel room after the curry (later had to be de-contaminated by the haz-mat team) I checked our flight that we had booked from Lima to Iguazu for after the Inca Trail, only to find that they had been cancelled – aaaaarrrrgggghhhhh!

So the next day, with a certain Jonny Cash number going through my mind, we headed to local LAN office and managed to get on new flights for no extra charge, then headed off to Copacabana (not the Barry Manilow one) on Lake Titicaca, confident that we would be able to get to Cuzco in time. Problems started when we arrived in Copacabana to find that the border was closed and the boat didn’t go that day and wasn’t going the next day – a phrase that rang with clucking bell sprang to mind! So we spent the evening stressing and evaluating (then discarding) the option of getting an illegal fishing boat across the border. Luckily, when we arrived back at our hostel that night we found that a boat was going the next day so we decided to miss out on the attractions of Copacabana and get into Peru asap.

So started the new most stressful day of our trip! We got a boat across the lake but found out after a few hours that the protests had spread to Puno (and we later found out that they actually burned the customs house down) our destination, so we couldn’t dock there (and where we were promised that we could do the necessary passport stamping etc) so we went to a nice little village further down the coast and got a bus to Juliaca (possibly a bigger sh1thole than Delhi) where we could get buses to Cusco and where we were told there was an airport where we could legally get stamped into Peru! That was another misleading statement we had been told – nobody had ever been able to do that at the airport so they called the police to ‘help’ us – which despite my fears that we would be arrested, they actually did help but Carrie (now very stressed Spanish speaker) and a Columbian girl had to go to the police station (free ride in a police car – don’t tell Carrie that it sounds cool because she will assure you that it is quite the opposite!), turn down their offers of bribing them and a free nights accommodation in the cells and get letters explaining our situation so that we could get stamps in our passports in Cuzco!

So we got the bus to Cuzco that night (still illegal aliens – not exactly relaxing travel) and arrived at 5am (having left at 8am!) but at least we could do the Inca Trail. We spent the next day recovering from the previous day’s ordeal and watching the Champion’s League final (boo) and the next day we headed off to see some of the local Inca ruins and Carrie bought a daft hat – decide for yourselves. We went to Sacsayhuaman (pronounced sexy woman …Carrie got confused and kept referring to Sexy Mama to the guide!), Qorikancha, Tambomachay and Pukapukara – very cultural! Monday morning the Immigration office opened and after a nervous wait, finally got our stamps – no longer illegal immigrants and I now can’t get that Sting song about legal aliens out of my head. Bring on the Inca Trail….

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Comments

[Graham and Irene Starkie]

Tarantulas ......
No, sorry, the thought of a tarantula anywhere within 200 miles of me just sends me into shivers. Our GREAT nephew has one in a glass tank and I am afraid I don't visit very often! Back to the real World. Gosh you should write a book after all your excitement. Glad you are no illegal immigrants..... Anyway thanks for all your news.. we luv to hear it all. Lytham St Annes will seem very tame after all that. We have just returned from Llandudno after the national Barbershop convention. Graham's chorus, Thames Valley Chorus, came 6th which is 2 places up from last time. That has got to be good but those avid supporters (no bias whatsoever) feel they were dun out of 3rd place..... They put on a fantastic performance, and anyhow what do the judges know???? The first placed chorus - Bolton - fully deserved it. However after that ...... ! We had a great time meeting up with old friends - eating too much, drinking too much water???? ... and laughing lots. It was pretty cold up there compared to Dubrovnik, but no rain until the return journey, so we thought we were lucky. Luv to you both as always Auntie I and Uncle G. xxx