8:50 A.M.
Right now I am hanging out in a hostel in Rurrenbaque, Bolivia. I am even so lucky as to be in my own room! It is so nice to have privacy and alone time for once. My flight leaves in 4 hours, so I have a nice amount of down time. After spending the last 3 weeks traveling with someone I was not getting along with, we ended up parting ways, which is absolutely for the best. Before you decide to travel with someone, make sure expectations are clear and you know them well enough, otherwise you can get very resentful and not enjoy your trip as nearly as much. I have had a great trip, but would have enjoyed it more solo. Anyway, now I am enjoying some much needed down time, which means blog time!
Like the Macchu Piccu trek, there was no wi-fi in the jungle, so I journaled along the way and am now updating from that:
Wednesday, July 10, 2013
8:10 A.M.
I have been up since 4 a.m. today. Right now I am in Rurrenbaque, Bolivia, about to go on a 3-day tour of the Pampas, or marshland region of the Amazon, that is filled with animals. The plan today is to take a car, then take a boat, explore some wildlife and eventually take a night boat ride. Tomorrow, we go anaconda hunting, swim with dolphins, and fish for piranhas. The last day we see a sunrise and explore some more. I am so excited!!
It was not east to get here though. I had reserved a cab for 4:30 from my hostel. The cab arrived, we had been driving for about 5-10 minutes when all of a sudden the cabbie started to pull over. He got out of the cab, looked at the car and went to the trunk. At this point, I was absolutely terrified. I had my backpack on, purse in hand and was ready to run. Where I would run to, I had no idea, but I was ready. I breathed a huge sigh of relief when he pulled out a jack and that thingie that screws the bolts back on. We had a flat tire. Thank you I Love Lucy for showing me what those look like!
The cabbie obviously knew what he was doing as it only took him 5 minutes and we were off. The airport, like many I have seen in South America was tiny. I was still surprised at how small it was for a city as large as La Paz. The plane however, I was not prepared for. This thing was tiny. It had 19 seats, no cabin crew, and you could see the pilot the entire time.
Being so tired, I feel asleep for most of the 45 minute flight and we safely landed into the Amazon and into the smallest airport I have ever seen. One gate, no security machines, and just one room. The bathroom was outside. I got off the plane, took the bus to the "town" and checked into my tour company.
Above: smallest airport ever
9:07p.m.
Right now, the electricity at the "lodge" is turned off. It only runs from 6p.m. to 9p.m. I am only able to write for a short while as I am using my headlamp to write and don't want to run out of batteries as that is my only way to see anything after 9 and there are Caymen (alligators) that hang out on the banks of our "lodge". Thankfully, the lodge is on stilts. Here is a photo of the lodge:
Below: mosquito net beds
Anyway, my trip that was scheduled to leave at 7:30a.m., ended up leaving at 10a.m.because of road strikes. It has become the norm for me to see protests now. The first three hours of the trip was pretty bad. The road was horrendous. Cars were going in both directions, but you could not stay in a lane due to the holes, rocks, animals and uneven terrain in the way. It was not a paved road, just dirt, so dust was blowing everywhere. The windows in the car were open so we wouldn't sweat to death from the heat, so we too were covered with dust. Also, the drivers seem to aspire to be drag racers so they were speeding trying to pass all the other cars. It was a hot, bumpy, dirty ride.
O.k., I have been up since 4, off to bed.
Adios.
Present time writing. I did outlines on the trip as I was too occupied during it to really write!
After about an hour we had to stop and get out and walk for 10-15 minutes with all of our stuff and gear in the heat. Thankfully, I now pack light so the weight wasn't too bad, but the heat was insane. We had to walk to switch cars due to the strike and part of the road was blocked. No idea what the strike was about, but pretty lame if you can still cross the road, not that I am complaining.
After we loaded up again, we were off for two more hours of fun. I was pretty miserable at this point. I was hot, sitting in the sun, had insanely cramped legs, was a bit carsick and pretty dehydrated. Often I am dehydrated on these trips is there are not places to stop to use the bathroom, so I drink less. Stupid, I know, but when in a boat, you can't pullover next to a caymen to pee. We finally made it to the lunch spot, ate and were off to the boat.
On the way to the boat, again in the cramped car, I was able to help the guide and our group a bit as he spoke no English and I was the only one who spoke any English. This was fun for me as I like to help out and feel needed.
Anyway, we got to the boat, met our guide, and were off for a three hour cruise down the Yacuma River, which feeds into the Amazon. The boat ride was amazing.
Along the ride we saw Caymen (alligator type animals), birds, capybara (the world's largest rodent), holler monkeys, squirrel monkeys, and other animals. Not to brag, but I happen to be quite good at spotting Caymen. I'd like to think I inherited this skill from my grandfathers, who both were avid hunters. I also like to think this skill has value as in I could spot them and move quickly if needed.
Above 3: Caymen
Above: capybara - so cute. They apparently get eaten by Caymen a lot. They are also the world's largest rodents.
Above: Bolivian version of Timon and Pumba
Above two: squirrel monkeys!! They are so friendly and cute.
After the boat, we arrived at our lodge, unpacked, ate dinner, relaxed, played cards and were off to bed as we had a sunrise to see the next morning!
Thursday morning we were up at 5:30 to see the sun come up. It was a beautiful sunrise, but not too much else to say. Usually, I only see the sunrise if I am up that late, so it was kind of neat to see them when I actually woke up for one. The Mosquitos here are awful and it made the sunrise slight uncomfortable, but still worth it.
We took the boat back to the lodge, ate breakfast, got sized for rubber boots and were off for some Anaconda hunting. If you are like me, and did not know, an Anaconda is a snake that kills its victims by strangling them. Our guide instructed us that if we were to find one, we should pick it up quickly to show our group. Let me just say, we had the mid range priced tour which came with a mid range guide. I can't imagine the budget tour'a advice. Our tour was around $130 usd for three days, and included the van, the boat, the guide, food, water and housing. The guide apparently was to speak English, but I still needed to do some light translating for basic items, and I am pretty sure he should not have been telling us to pick up Anacondas.
Anyway, we walked through the marsh, which was quite difficult as it was through water and mud. Also, we were under the hot sun. I still had a blast though - how often can a girl say she went Anaconda hunting?
So the first snake that was found was a cobra. Highly poisonous. Glad I did not pick one up.
Here is what the inside of a Cobra's mouth looks like:
Here is an anaconda:
After an easy morning of anaconda hunting, it was lunch time followed by a siesta. The afternoon was an afternoon of dolphin swimming! It was a total blast swimming with them. They love to swim with humans and were so cute. It would have only been better if I could actually swim as I got winded early and had to cling to the boat for dear life.
Above: Dolphins!!
After the dolphins, we went to a bar, where I drank some wine (surprisingly, Bolivian wine isn't too bad) and played some volleyball. I watched the sunset and the stars come out (so mesmerized by the stars) and headed back for dinner and bed.
The third and final day, we slept in a bit and then went fishing for piranhas. This was ok. I was a bit annoyed as our guide didn't show me how to catch them and this wasn't the fishing I was used to. Much more yanking involved. It was o.k., but would have been better if the guide explained what we were doing. Surprisingly, piranhas are tiny. No one in our group wanted to eat them, so I had 5 and had maybe 5 bites of fish.
After lunch, it was back to the boat and and another long bus van rude back to the town.
O.k., well now I am starving so off to find some comida.
Adios!
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