We´re back now from a fantastic week amongst the Amazon jungle. Our entry point of Rurrenabaque (thanks soooo much to Miss Laurel Simm for that piece of advice) is an 18-24 hour long ´character building´ bus trip from La Paz on which sleep is impossible. With over 100 hours on buses under the belt each, we decided we had developed enough character already and opted for the 1 hour flight with Air Amazonas (think Sounds Air with Bolivian safety standards). We also opted to save our good clothing by purchasing a couple of US$10 kits from the local market, so please no comments on the appalling fashion sense in the Amazon.
The first three days of our Amazonian adventure were based in the Pampas (wetlands), a 3 hour drive from Rurrenabaque along a dodgy piece of dirt road. Joined by a Bolivian family of five from La Paz, a couple of members of the Swedish Volleyball Team and a Dutch girl, we set out on Bolivian time (an hour after the planned departure) with some dodgy sounds (we´re not so good on the mechanical speak) coming from the rear left of the van. Those sounds stopped a half hour in when the van shuddered to a halt and the left rear wheel overtook us and sped a couple hundred metres up the road.
After a half hour search for wheel nuts, the tyre and some other round and substantial piece of the wheel configuration (told you the mechanical speak wasn´t so good), we limped into a village to effect proper repairs. These involved discarding the large, round but unknown piece of wheel configuration (perhaps a disc break?) and angle grinding some new wheel nuts that didn´t actually fit. During the repairs, we we´re joined by a random villager in green stubbies who insisted on standing 2 metres away from the ladies and steering for 45 minutes. Repairs complete, we continued for the Pampas.
Our fellow travellers on the tour were a mixed bunch. At one end of the scale, we had the amazing Veronica and Sara from the Swedish Volleyball Team (and now known as Swede 1/Fartface and Swede 2/Baldy). Great girls, heaps of fun, incredibly funny and great travel buddies who we will miss. Then there was Amy from Holland - a screwed up unit with no manners and a thousand band camp stories based either on her 18 years of life in Holland or extensive two weeks of travelling! She is meant to be in Rio for two months of acrobatics training before returning home to become a surgeon (logically linked). Thankfully, she only shared the story of losing her virginity to her unemployed 34 year old boyfriend with Caroline and the Swedes as Mat´s ginger temper may have flared.
The first three days of our Amazonian adventure were based in the Pampas (wetlands), a 3 hour drive from Rurrenabaque along a dodgy piece of dirt road. Joined by a Bolivian family of five from La Paz, a couple of members of the Swedish Volleyball Team and a Dutch girl, we set out on Bolivian time (an hour after the planned departure) with some dodgy sounds (we´re not so good on the mechanical speak) coming from the rear left of the van. Those sounds stopped a half hour in when the van shuddered to a halt and the left rear wheel overtook us and sped a couple hundred metres up the road.
After a half hour search for wheel nuts, the tyre and some other round and substantial piece of the wheel configuration (told you the mechanical speak wasn´t so good), we limped into a village to effect proper repairs. These involved discarding the large, round but unknown piece of wheel configuration (perhaps a disc break?) and angle grinding some new wheel nuts that didn´t actually fit. During the repairs, we we´re joined by a random villager in green stubbies who insisted on standing 2 metres away from the ladies and steering for 45 minutes. Repairs complete, we continued for the Pampas.
Our fellow travellers on the tour were a mixed bunch. At one end of the scale, we had the amazing Veronica and Sara from the Swedish Volleyball Team (and now known as Swede 1/Fartface and Swede 2/Baldy). Great girls, heaps of fun, incredibly funny and great travel buddies who we will miss. Then there was Amy from Holland - a screwed up unit with no manners and a thousand band camp stories based either on her 18 years of life in Holland or extensive two weeks of travelling! She is meant to be in Rio for two months of acrobatics training before returning home to become a surgeon (logically linked). Thankfully, she only shared the story of losing her virginity to her unemployed 34 year old boyfriend with Caroline and the Swedes as Mat´s ginger temper may have flared.
To get to our thatched hut in the Pampas, we undertook an additional three hour journey by riverboat. The trip provided plenty of sights, with hundreds of aligators lining the sides of the river, monkeys in the trees, turtles perched precariously on branches at the waters edge, fish jumping and magnificient birdlife at every turn. One of the more interesting pieces of wildlife are the Capybara, the largest living member of the rodent family. At a metre in height, and 100kg in weight, these things look exactly like Sylvanian Family toys.
Our second day started with an expedition in search of Anacondas in a swamp the size of Hagley Park. With very little instruction from the guide, we were released on our own reconaissance to see what could be found. A few hours in, with our guide nowhere in sight and our gumboots filled with stinky swamp water, the group was ready to pack it in. This was until Mat made a last ditch effort, relying on some snake whispering abilities, to see what could be uncovered.
Success came as Mat stumbled across an Anaconda sunning itself. Realising that the bit he could see was pretty large, Mat maintained a safe distance while he surveyed for the dangerous end (head) of the snake, which when found nearly prompted another shart. It´s head was the size of a fist, and was drawn back in a striking position. After motioning frantically for attention, Mat was forced to give a girlie shout for the guide to make an appearance. A Mexican standoff continued with the snake until it decided to head back into the swampy water - something Mat was happy to let it do.
The guide finally arrived 5 minutes later with a Cobra in hand which he had nearly stood on when he turned having heard Mat´s shout. After asking why Mat hadn´t grabbed it, he estimated it to be over 5 metres in length based on Mat´s description and probably best not grabbed by an inexperienced snake hunter (especially one who fears snakes). We were fortunate on the return journey that Swede 1 and Swede 2 had located another Anaconda (3 m in length) which the guide from our eco-tourism branded agency promptly man-handled and allowed us to photograph. Mat suggested a photo together if Caroline was prepared to hold the dangerous (head) end. After Caroline went solo on holding the threatening beast, Mat ponied up the strength to combat his fear and held it too.
The Pampas are home to the much fabled Pink River Dolphin. While the name may suggest some beautiful aquatic mammal, the reality is that these are the members of the dolphin family which fell from the ugly tree, only to climb it once more and fall again. An invitation to swim with them, despite the presence of a few Aligators, was taken up by Mat. Swimming with Pink River Dolphins is like swimming with yourself with there being no descernable interaction with these animals (though visibility in the river water is limited to about 10cm).
After climbing back on the canoe to join those not so excited about swimming with fugly dolphins and aligators, a water snake swam by in an awkward motion. A closer inspection revealed it had been wounded by one of the dolphins, perhaps in the dolphinly pursuit of protecting humans! Good thing too as while a swim with a pink river dolphin and the odd aligator was tolerable, there was no way Mat would have got in the water had he known there was a snake lurking.
After climbing back on the canoe to join those not so excited about swimming with fugly dolphins and aligators, a water snake swam by in an awkward motion. A closer inspection revealed it had been wounded by one of the dolphins, perhaps in the dolphinly pursuit of protecting humans! Good thing too as while a swim with a pink river dolphin and the odd aligator was tolerable, there was no way Mat would have got in the water had he known there was a snake lurking.
Our remaining time in the Pampas were characterised by a magnificient sunset, followed by aligator wrangling and an impressive tropical storm which prevented a Piranha fishing expedition. The highlight of the storm came with a lightning strike in camp which sounded like a bomb blast, splintered a tree and moved the earth. The storm also meant our trip back to Rurrenabaque was a drawn out affair with a metre of sideways slide on the muddy road for every 5 metres of forward momentum.
The second part of our tour saw us head 4 hours up river (minus the annoying Dutch girl thankfully) and into the jungle. After the amazing animal life in the Pampas, this part of the tour was a little dissappointing, though still a fantastic experience. Walks in the jungle to learn about the medicinal qualities of the plants were great, as were the hundreds of butterflies and other insects on show.
The funniest moment came when our group asked to check out a vine swing over a creek which we´d heard of. We´d heard of it because a young English girl in another group had fallen into the creek, as shown to us by a Polish traveller who was pretty excited about having filmed it. The guide obliged, and Mat offered to go first.
Our Spanish has improved markedly, but is still not good enough to pick up on the subtleties of the instructions offered. Essentially, the missed aspect of the instructions were that it is nigh impossible to land on the otherside of the creek, and the idea is to swing across and back in one turn. Thus, when Mat attempted to land on the far side of the creek, the kinetic motion to the lateral was overpowered by the gravity motion, and Mat took a dip in water up to the nipples. The guide couldn´t believe his luck (2 gringos in the water in 24 hours) and had to excuse himself as he was laughing so hard. The Polish guy enjoyed it to as he´d tagged along to see if he could film people falling in again.
Back in Rurrenabaque, we awaited the inevitable news that our flight to La Paz would be delayed because of strike action in La Paz. We´re getting used to the inconvenience of strike action in South America now, though suspect that the La Paz strike of the whole population was more an effort to create a four day weekend with La Paz anniversary shouldering the weekend with the strike. We rode out our delay with a swim at a lookout overlooking Rurrenabaque, and by solving a crime. Wasn´t a hard crime to solve though....
While eating lunch, a Mungbean driving a red Mitsubishi Pajero managed to rear-end a parked Toyota Landcruiser on a paved street which could accomodate 4 cars in width. The impact caused the Toyota to roll 70 metres down the road. The Mungbean, after a quick inspection of his efforts, then drove off. A couple hours later, we came across a policeman and the owner of the Toyota, and were able to provide a license plate number and description - ´Loco gringo en rojo pajero, numero 1369APN´ (Crazy tourist in a red Pajero, number 1369APN).
Back in La Paz now and heading south towards Sucre this evening. Our thoughts go out to the family of Claire Solomon who we understand was murdered in a recent episode of Shortland Street. Good luck to the mighty Makos who tackle the amber and gold of the Naki this weekend in the opening round in the NPC (With Jack, Gear, Ralph and the boys should be a good win first up).
And happy birthday to Caroline who will be 28 tomorrow.... Wonder what that good-looking husband of yours has planned!
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