We caught an early morning flight on the military planes that fly into Rurrenbaque. The scenery was amazing, as we flew from the Andes into the Amazon basin. It was an absolute pleasure to step out of the plane into the jungle heat after freezing in La Paz! I hate to think what it is like in mid summer, as by 9am it's as bad as Durban in January! We found a hostel and decided to relax for a day. We sat in the shade of a cafe an drank Jugo´s (100% fresh fruit juice,made while you wait - will be missing that!). Met quite a few people, including some saffers we had met up with in Cusco (it's amazing how many times you bump into the same people).
We left early the next day for 3 days in the Pampas and 1 day hiking in the jungle - we wanted to go for 4 days in the pampas but the agency gently suggested that we might not have any blood left after 4 days! We headed out by boat up a narrow river for a couple of hours - within 5 minutes we saw an alligator and we saw many more after that! The birdlife is amazing. About 45 minutes before we reached our camp we got caught in a torrential downpour - thank goodness for the poncho! I was under the misapprehension that mosquito´s couldn´t bite through clothes, so had some serious blood loss by the time we arrived. The only thing that works is to cover yourself in poison from head to toe, 24 hours a day (combine this with suntan cream and you look, smell and feel great!) This has interesting implications when considering using the bathroom and showering. So we didn´t shower and I´ll leave the rest to your imagination! Our camp was fairly simple (read, bed and mosquito net and not much else), but the cook was amazing. We were supposed to go alligtor spotting on the first night but the rain kept us inside. We left early the next day for a walk in the pamaps in the hope of spotting anaconda. The pampas is grass that grows in stinky,muddy, knee deep water. Thank goodness we had wellies that went up to just below our knees! One wrong step in the mud and the water was over the top. I managed to get both feet stuck in the mud and landed up on my butt in the water, yeugh! Only one Cobra (which our guide dived into the pampas to catch!???) and no anacondas, but we did manage to see one later that was in a hut as it had been trampled by a cow. Pretty huge! That afternoon we headed out to look for pink dolphins and saw quite a few. The guides insisted that when the dolphins are around, the alligators won't bite. A few people dived in, but we decided against it, seeing as the guides themselves weren't swimming... After that we went for drinks at ´The Sunset Bar'. The beers were cold and game of volleyball ensued while the mozzies feasted away.
The next morning we went piranha fishing and caught quite a few (strangely enough, while there were dolphins around...)! The trick was not to jump out of the boat once you had flicked the piranhas in! Our guide had a good laugh at us anyway. Then it was a long boat trip amd car ride back to Rurrenbaque. A quiet dinner followed by drinks at the Mosquito bar...
Into the jungle the next day. It was just J and I and our guide and he wasn´t just taking two tourists for a nice walk and pointing out a few trees. After climbing several mountains in about 45 degree heat, being hunted to distraction by insects, and running out of water at midday, we threw in the towel and told our guide we were turning around! The insects were so bad that every time we blinked, they got squashed between our eyelashes. We could not stand or sit for moment, and I think that they found the insect repellant quite refreshing! At last we got out of there, but we had come in by boat, so it meant long, thirsty 3 hour wait for salvation! We were so glad to get back to ´civilisation´! (not as hardcore as we thought we were:)
We had optimistically decided to catch the bus back to La Paz (seeing as we had 'splashed out' by flying in) that night. Ignoring the warnings of fellow travelers who had come in by bus, we went to the bus station at 10.30 pm as directed, and were told that the bus would arrive `sometime between 11 and 1´. No problem. At about 2am, the bus office shut, but the guy manning it insisted that the bus would arrive in ´30 minutes´. Suspìciously, we were the only two suckers left at the station by this time. AT 4pm he came out and told us the bus was in fact not coming. No kidding! We caught few z´s in the hammocks at the hostel we had been staying and headed straight for the airline office when it opened. Our local, friendly agent told us that ´he had some seats´, but he had to wait until 10am to check the reservations, as there was no electricity (there hadn´t been any in the whole town since we arrived!). Surprisingly, no seats were available when we went back and he couldn´t promise any for the next day as´no electricity´. So we ran for the 11am Bus From Hell. I can´t belive I complained about the bus in Peru. They haven´t heard of aircon in Bolivia and when its 40 degress and there´s a chicken or two on the bus, it can get downright nasty! It is a dirt road nearly the whole way, so every part of us was just covered in dust and grime (and, of course, the sweat of the person next to us). Unfortunately we were in the back seat, which meant that the seats didn't recline at all (although the ones in front of us did - the 'sandwich effect'), there were no dividing arm rests and the gentleman next to me seemed to have no concept of personal space. It was a case of person with the braodest shoulders wins!
Eventually got to La Paz 18 very long hours later, at 4am. We found a room and slept for a few hours and I am , at this moment, sitting in the bus station in La Paz waiting bus (which is already 3 hours late)ride to Uyuni! We were planning to go to Sucre and Potosi but there are blockades in Potosi and we didn´t want to get stuck, so we are going straight to Uyuni from where we will head out into the salt pans, and come out the other side in Chile. It is minus 25 degrees celcius at night on the salt pans, going to be a bit of a change from the jungle!
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