Day 1
We set off early in a taxi on wednesday morning at 5.30am.We needed to get to the airport 1 hour in advance for our 7.30am flight so we left plenty of time, or so we thought! The journey went very smoothly until we realised the taxi driver had taken us to the wrong airport! Despite telling him we needed to go to the Military airport for TAM we went to the International one. So off we went again. We arrived at the military base at the bewilderment of the driver and checked in with the armed military man, we both starred at each other in disbelief! What were we getting ourselves into? At least we were there.....
So next thing we know the taxi driver is lost in the military airport, and he's stopping to ask the soldiers where we should go. They point us in one direction and the taxi driver literally follows their direction and heads off down the landing taxi strip to the main runway with everyone looking at him in disbelief and with us having kittens in the back seat! We have never wanted a taxi driver to drive as fast, we were absolutely flabbergasted! We just couldn't believe what he was doing!!
Anyway, we whizzed round into the airline loading bay and hopped out before we would get shot at by the soldiers! We arrive with 1 hour to spare in the freezing cold. Close one...
We took off in a tiny 20 seat propeller plane and were forward to getting to Rurenabaque to a) get out the plane safely and b) to warm up after being frozen to the core in La Paz!
Well we successfully met both a and b above! The landing at Rurenabaque was partly into a field which was surprisingly smooth and it is very hot! We then herded onto the back of 2 motorcycles which were our 'taxis' into town (apparently the only form of transport there)... eeek!!! We were so exhausted from fear of death when we got to the hostel we fell asleep in our hostel for 4 hours and awoke to jungle thunderstorms!
Day 2
Thursday would see us head off into the Pampa's to explore the rivers, go searching for Anacondas, swim with pink dolphines and crocs plus hunt Piranhas! All very exciting. We met our group too who were all English! Leanne and Simon, Cat and Michael and Annie and Gina. We all loaded up on bug spray and prepared outrselves for 3 hours in a jeep followed by 3 hours in a large canoe to get to the lodge.
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| Black Cayman |
The best bit was getting into the canoe and spotting hundreds of crocs, alligators, caymans, monkeys, birds (over 1200 species including kingfishers, herons, parrots, eagles, vultures, falcons, plus many more) and Capybaras.
Later on we tucked into dinner and fell into the hammocks before the bugs came out to play!
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| Our Lodge |
Day 3
Friday was Anaconda searching day! We left at 8am before the heat really set in. The walk was an hour out to the 'snake' spot. We trudged through swamp up to our knees and found two of the beasts beneath our feet! Unfortunately we both had holes in our wellies so our feet were soaking wet with swamp water- a very unpleasant feeling. We trudged back in the blazing heat through fields of grasses which were as high as our shoulders. We were all very aware of the ticks and bugs that could latch onto us!
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| Hunting Anaconda's! |
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| Country Casuals... |
We got back to the lodge exhausted from the heat and all had cold showers before lunch and falling asleep in the hammocks for 2 hours. In the afternoon we set out to go Piranha hunting!!
James was skilled (lucky more like) and got 1 which we put back. After all our bait had been used (and the boredom set in) we went to a sunset bar to have a drink, play with the animals and hang around in hammocks for night fall. At this point Sarah was freaking out at all the bugs and wanted to go back to the safety of the mosquito nets at the lodge, but we were going out Cayman spotting in the dark with the torches. So we had to man up and face the bites...
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| Sunset in a hammock...bliss! |
Day 4
Saturday- We set out to swim with the crocs and pink dolphins before we headed back to the town of Rurenabaque. We were really fortunate enough to see several dolphins and James risked his neck to swim with them by getting into the water with all the Caymans, alligators and cros around him. CRAZY!!..and he survived!!
The long jeep journey back was exhausting and Sarah's back was suffering alot from the lack of suspension. We thought the black trombone (aka the civic) was bad....We fell out the car, collected our things that were in the safe at the office and we all checked back into our hotel for a long shower before drinks and dinner.
We headed off to the local gringo bar 'Mosiquito' for a few cocktails with our new found friends and played pool before heading back to bed. Our flight was at 9am the next morning so we couldn't be too late.
Day 5- Back to La Paz and the cold!
After spending 5 days in the jungle and hot climate we were looking forward to the cold again. We hopped back on our motorised taxis to the airport (which looks like a house) and landed safely in La Paz.. Fffewwww...
By the time we checked into the hostel it was past lunchtime so we needed to grab some food. But unfortunately we couldn't find our money. We had over 400 bolivianos (over £40) stolen out of our moneybelts without us even knowing!! BAD TIMES. We couldn't believe it!! This is the first time anything like this has happened to us before so we were REALLY pissed off and down. We couldn't quite believe it!!
So this is where we sit now, grumpy and cold. We had arranged to speak with lots of friends and family but have been totally distracted by the whole situation. Bolivia- this is not cool!!
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