Raft Making Antics

In the afternoon of our second day in the jungle we had to make a raft. Well, Stu and Action Man made a raft and I supervised. Chopping down trees and making rope is man's work (it's actually very hard and I was pretty useless). I thought the raft was for a bit of fun on the river, but then as Mario got quite serious and pensive about the type of wood that was being used and where the wood was being placed, Stuart realised that this was no 'bit of boy fun' but actually our means out of the jungle. By late afternoon it was taking shape and as the heavens gave way to some proper jungle rain, we took it on a trial run on the river and floated back to camp. Mario was quite funny and happy to whip off his shorts to reveal his little, tight, semi see-through, white pants at any given moment to go into the river. I didn't know where to look! That evening we did some fishing and watched the tropical storms over the mountainous jungle in the distance.

When Mario came to his tent that night, he had encountered a monkey in the camp. We heard a bit of scuffle through the trees and Mario had said that we had to get out of the tent. 'Peligroso! Peligroso!' he shouted, which to means 'Danger!'. I panicked once again and was ready to run for my life in my nightdress, but the excitement was soon over. He kindly informed us that monkeys can be very dangerous in the jungle, but a rare sight. Unfortunately it was pitch black and we didn't manage to see him.

The next morning we were a hive of activity. The boys went off to finish the raft and I washed up. A lot of work went into that raft and in the end it was really impressive. It had to be finished by 9.30am so we had enough time to get to the meeting point. All the camping equipment had to fit on the raft and be kept dry along with all three of us. The raft finally took shape and looked great with a shelf for all the equipment and a little place for us to sit down. We wrapped all the luggage and camping gear up in a plastic sheet and fastened it tight to the shelf. Mario seated his passengers and we set sail. Three hours of sailing, a bit of fishing off the raft and some crazy rapids later we reached the little beach where we were being met, safe and completely dry. Our only tale to tell was sunburnt feet and knees!

Sailing down a river in the Amazon Jungle on a raft that you've made is pretty cool thing! It will be one we'll remember. Unfortunately, we don't have any pictures of our little journey as the camera may have got wet, but the photo above is of the half made raft.

Me Tarzan, You Jane

When we got back to Rurre, we settled in for a bit of luxury (bed, cocktail, table, you know, the normal stuff) as we were about to venture up river into the Bolivan jungle. This trip was more about the sights, sounds, plants and trees, rather than animals. In the jungle the animals are lot more savvy and so tend to hide away from pesky humans!

We travelled in a fast river boat up the Beni river for three hours until we reached our camp - a very basic home for the next three days. There was only Stuart, myself and Mario our guide, AKA Action Man. He was pretty hardcore! We were sleeping in tents and the only luxury we had was a gas burner for cooking. There was no cover from the rain, no seats and going to the toilet was going to be ´au naturale´ for the next few days!

The first thing that struck me was the noise of the bugs. All shapes and sizes, and all sounds - car alarms, ambulances, whizzing, wurring, buzzing and so on. It was really incredible and the evening was to be even noisier as more bugs come to life.

On the first day we went for a short 2 hour trek through the jungle. I don´t think we went far, but when you´re hacking through plants and trees, it´s pretty hard going. The vegetation is amazing. You really can swing from the vines ala Tarzan as they are filled with water and so have quite a fair amount of flexibility. They´re a good source of water if you can´t find any, and some can contain up to 4 litres in the length of one metre. Beautiful flowers, trees and palms litter the ground and it´s truely a feast for the eyes. It´s pretty amazing, although I spent more time worrying where I put my hands as it was essential to hang onto things for balance whilst avoiding the millions of bugs! This worry soon passed away, when I realised that we were going to be here for the next few days! At one point Mario left us to try and find the way back to camp. He was gone for about 30 minutes and this became particularly eery with the hum of the bugs and distance growls of Howler Monkeys. I almost began to panic thinking that he wasn't going to return. Fortunately we began to hear him chopping through the plants and we were on our way. My imagination at that point had been running wild though - leaving two tourists for dead! When we got back to camp, there was no rest for the wicked and we were set straight to work by fishing for our dinner. Unfortunately we didn´t get anything. I was useless at casting out the line and Stu and Mario kept getting their lines crossed. Luckily the guys on the boat caught a fish at lunch, so we had that.

The next morning we went for another trek through the jungle and as we climbed the steep hill it interesting to see how the vegetation changed from thick plants and vines to more trees. The trees were very strange with ones that look they have legs (Walking Palms) to ones that phallic roots that sprout out half way up the trunk - that certainly got a giggle from us! There are also trees that have garlic smelling bark, rubber trees and menthol vines used for medicinal purposes. We had a couple of goes swinging from vines again and eventually made it back to camp after sweating about 3 litres water each!

Playing in the Pampas

After checking into our hotel with our new friend Heidi (she was also stuck in La Paz waiting to get to Rurre), we rushed straight out to book a tour for the next few days. We settled on a company called Indians Travels for three days in the Pampas and three days in the Jungle. So we celebrated with a mohito or two and settled down for a good dinner because early in the morning we were to set off to the Pampas.

The Pampas is an area surrounding the the jungle that is lush, tall, grassland and home to lots of animals including capybaras, caimans, monkeys, anacondas, piranas and lots of crazy bugs. It´s almost like a savannah. Our journey to the camp was three hours by jeep along dirt tracks, with nine of us squished into a Land Cruiser, and then three further hours by dug-out canoe. The canoe trip was our first opportunity to see the wild animals, which was really cool. We stopped at a wider section where we could swim with Pink Dolphins - they protect you from the aligators and caimans. I sat in the canoe like a chicken whilst Stu braved the murky waters. It´s funny, the animals aren´t really phased by the canoes and humans. It seems they understand that in a canoe, we´re pretty harmless. Out of the canoe is a different matter and they all stay pretty clear, which is a relief in some cases. The highlight of the first day was two capybara having sex! These are the largest rodents in the world and are about the size of a Labrador. In the evening we went to our look out, where Billy gave us cool beers and we watched the sun go down over the grasslands.

The second day we were woken by Howler Monkeys in the trees behind the camp. This was the strangest sound and so loud it can carry for miles and miles, and they´re only little. In the morning we did a long trek (in the boiling hot sun) in search of anacondas. Unfortunately, Stu had a little too much to drink the previous night and so wasn´t feeling so good. This coupled with walking in 35 degree heat in wellies with no socks wasn´t the best idea from him. He eventually threw up and then felt much better. He blamed it on the anti-malaria tablets, but I think we all know the truth! The snakes weren´t coming out to play that day, so the two guides, Reynaldo and Action Man left the group under a tree whilst they went in search at a nearby lagoon. Their advice to us was to climb the tree if we saw a snake. Unfortunately, the little tree we were sat under wasn´t going to support 11 of us! We all sat there waiting for them to return, with our fingers crossed that the snakes didn´t find us first! After about 40 minutes, they returned with another guide and 2.5m anaconda, which luckily had recently fed. This was obvious from the big bulge halfway down its body.

It was good to get out of the camp and see more of the grasslands on foot, rather than in the canoe. Unfortunately, the land owner is burning much of it down to make way for cattle, much to the detriment of the local flauna and wildlife. I think this was probably one of the reasons it was difficult to find the snakes. I was quite glad to get back to the camp as the trek was a really hard slog in the humid heat of the Pampas.

That evening we went piraña fishing. They´re fast little buggers, ripping the meat of the hooks within seconds. They even jump out of the water for the meat! Unfortunately, we didn´t catch any, but I did manage a cat fish, dog fish and a sardine. Not quite enough for dinner.

The final day, we got a little closer to the wildlife. We watched the monkeys have breakfast which was a real treat. They´re so cute! A little later we were going to get even closer to some wildlife - aligators! Stu gave one a little stroke on the head!

The Pampas was really great - a real treat for wildlife lovers. I have to say, that the heat was immense and I was pretty glad to get back to Rurre and some well deserved Mojitos!

18 Seats and 2 Small Propellers

After spending two days trying to get to Rurrenabaque, we finally made it! It was a short flight, only 40 minutes (the alternative is an 18 hour bus ride) and the scenary is amazing. As you get closer to Rurre, the landscape changes to jungle covered mountains with steep sides and a dirty river in the valley. It looked just as I imagined the Amazon Basin would.

The airport at Rurre was a mere shack with a large grass landing strip. Since it was grass, it has to be dry in order to land, hence all the delays at the airport back in La Paz. It was a strange landing as you could see right in the cockpit and through the window to the landing strip. Interesting. I wasn´t entirely happy about that, but it seemed to get us to the jungle!