After a hot shower and a decent night’s sleep back in Rurrenabaque we were up early-ish again to get our fix of chocolate croissants and other pastry’s from the French Bakery in town before our Pampas trip began. The Pampas is a wetland savannah area and is full of wildlife. After missing out on seeing any animals in the jungle we were pretty excited for this tour. Running on Bolivian time as per usual we didn’t get going until about 9.30 with the same company we had used for our jungle tour. Eight of us plus the driver piled into the jeep and off we went. With all the rain the town had been receiving, it made for an interesting ride on the mud-logged road. A couple of the girls on our trip somehow managed to get to sleep but with all the jerking around and potholes Jake and I stuck to chatting to some of the others on our trip.
Three and a half hours later of bumping our heads against the roof we arrived into Santa Rosa for a quick stretch and lunch of soup, mystery meat and rice before we hopped back into our jeep. Fifteen minutes later we transferred from our jeep to a long canoe. This time without a roof to protect us from the rain. As soon as we all took our seats and our guide, Taz (who was also our guide in the jungle) pushed off into the murky water alligators and birds seemed to pop out of nowhere. The first few alligators we could only just make out their heads an eyes popping out of the water. But soon we were passing right by them until Taz decided to cut the motor and we were literally half a meter away from them. This was slightly scary and us girls were freaking out a bit but the gator seemed to love the attention and sat around posing for us. Was a strange experience and very different from our crocodile tour we had participated in last year in Cairns where we would only creep up a couple of meters away and the crocodiles would get pretty aggressive and swim away.
From there we all seemed to relax into the couple hour boat ride where we saw plenty of alligators a few massive black caiman (apparently these are the ones to be scared of out here), turtles, many different species of birds and the massive water rodents, the capybara and of course monkeys.
Taz pulled up beside a tree full of squirrel monkeys (they are tiny and sound like squeaky squirrels). We were all oohing and ahhing over how cute they were until Taz got a banana out to try coax them down closer to him to feed. Shyly one emerged in the lower branches and snatched some of the banana from his hand. From there it was a squirrel monkey frenzy! The top dog of the monkeys also managed to steal bread one of the guys in our group had sitting between his feet and quickly jumped off into the trees with all the smaller monkeys chasing after him. When a couple of them were on our boat I was a bit scared of them getting too close to me for fear of being scratched or bitten and then having to turn around back to Rurrenabaque and get a rabies jab. Two of the girls on our boat had already been bitten by dogs and were still finishing their doses so they weren’t too keen on getting bitten again either. Luckily once they had the bread and banana the monkeys were satisfied and all scrambled back into the tree to fight over who would get it. We pushed off and carried on our journey down the river.
Our camp was right on the river’s edge but unlike some of the other lodges we had past was built quite high up above the ground with the pathways linking the buildings also raised. I was glad as when we pulled up to camp an alligator was chilling out right next to the bank. The main reason they have its raised is so that in the wet season when the river is up much higher, the water runs underneath the camp and is full of alligators. I am glad we were here in the dry season. Not that it was very dry with pretty much constant rain the whole three days we stayed there which also meant damp cold clothes for three days and the start of a cold for me.
After dinner on our first night it was back into the boats with our torches to look for alligators. Now I had my fix of alligators during the day and at night everything just seems creepier. Now all we could see was the orange glow of their eyes when a spotlight would chance upon one. Sliding up next to the alligators at night freaked a few girls out quite a bit so we didn’t stay out for long.
After an amazing breakfast of pancakes, doughnuts, fresh fruits and eggs we were fuelled for a day of firsts. First time hunting for anacondas and cobras then fishing and eating piranhas. Taz had given us gumboots which we were thought to stop the mud and water from getting in but he laughed at us and said that we would be wading in water deeper than our knees and the gumboots were protection from leeches. Eek! Someone asked about alligators at that point and he said to make sure you kind of shuffle your feet as to not step on an alligator as that is when it would bite you. Double eek! Why are we paying for this again!? The only good thing, well for Jake and I who both hate snakes, was that Taz said because of the rain we had a 99.9% chance of not seeing any anacondas. After trudging around through the swamp, smelling like we were in Rotorua, for about an hour with no signs of any snakes most of our group was ready to head back to camp out of the rain.
Semi-dry and warm with the sun starting to poke its head out into the boat we headed to try our luck at fishing for Piranhas. On our way up-stream a glimmer of pink emerged from the brown murky river. The Amazon River dolphins found here are multi-toned with the upper half grey and their bottom half pink. They are not as pretty as some of the other ocean based dolphins but their tie-dye effect is sweet. Made for pretty spectacular sight watching them jump around although they also weren’t as playful as some of the other dolphins I have encountered. It also meant we needed to find a new spot for fishing as the dolphins eat the piranhas so we wouldn’t have much luck there.
At first it was a bit daunting throwing our lines in with raw meat attached into alligator infested water but the gators were hardly interested in the minute amounts we were using. Jake caught a piranha pretty quick but it took me a good hour before my bites actually landed a fish on the boat and it was only a tiny sardine. In the end Jake caught 4 fish and I caught
2 with a girl who had never been fishing before landing 9! All up our group caught 27 fish including piranha, catfish and sardines which was good as they were all pretty tiny and we all wanted to try some for dinner. Luckily we also had other dinner cooked for us with the fish more of an appetiser. There isn’t much meat on a piranha as you pick through the tiny bones and they don’t taste like much but we did lick pretty much all the fish clean.
2 with a girl who had never been fishing before landing 9! All up our group caught 27 fish including piranha, catfish and sardines which was good as they were all pretty tiny and we all wanted to try some for dinner. Luckily we also had other dinner cooked for us with the fish more of an appetiser. There isn’t much meat on a piranha as you pick through the tiny bones and they don’t taste like much but we did lick pretty much all the fish clean.
Up early to the sound of more rain I wasn’t feeling a hundred percent and as much as I was quite keen on participating in the day’s activities after breakfast I crawled back into bed to read and listen to the rain. Everyone else headed back to the river in their togs and raincoats ready to risk swimming in alligator and piranha infested water for the chance to see the pink dolphins up close. On their return freezing cold and feeling dirty after jumping in the river they all seemed to have had a great time. Apparently the other guy in our group, Tom, was the favourite with the dolphins frolicking and playing with him more than any of the others. A nice way to celebrate his birthday. I was a bit gutted I missed out but I knew that it probably would have meant making my cold worse so the rest of my trip wouldn’t be enjoyable. I was glad that the previous day the dolphins had come out to play near our boat so I didn’t miss out completely. After a quick lunch we were cruising in the boat back to our truck.
The roads are pretty bad in Bolivia and the drivers tend to have their own road rules. I'm surprised there are not more car crashes. We crammed ten of us plus our driver into our truck on the way back and the front windscreen had massive cracks running through it held together with tape. It had been raining pretty heavy so the dirt roads were now muddy bogs with huge potholes. There was a line of about 4 big trucks with beer and other goods on them pulled up in front of a massive ditch in the road with a lot of people trying to figure out a way to get them over it. One of the other tour trucks had
already tried to drive through and got stuck in the mud so our guide was obliged to help him out. Instead of driving through the mud and pulling him out the other end, to our horror our driver revved up his engine and shunted him with the front of our truck. Of course we didn't manage to do anything and then reversing out we almost got stuck ourselves. Our driver seemed to turn on his brain then and drove carefully through another section of mud with us all cheering as we got to the other side.
already tried to drive through and got stuck in the mud so our guide was obliged to help him out. Instead of driving through the mud and pulling him out the other end, to our horror our driver revved up his engine and shunted him with the front of our truck. Of course we didn't manage to do anything and then reversing out we almost got stuck ourselves. Our driver seemed to turn on his brain then and drove carefully through another section of mud with us all cheering as we got to the other side.
Our next attempt at pulling the truck out was a fail but the third attempt we managed to pull the truck straight out. I felt sorry for the tourists who then had to walk through the thick mud back to the truck. After seeing us successfully get through the ditch and pull our fellow tour truck out the big trucks decided to give it a go. The first truck full of beer gave its best efforts but ended up with its rear wheels stuck in the mud. For some reason the next truck in line must have thought he could do it better and as much as he tried again the truck ended up stuck with its ass in the ditch. Was hilarious from our point of view as we were too small a truck to try and help pull them out. As we were pulling away the third truck in line had started up its engine and was about to try squeeze between the two trucks already stuck. We left before seeing whether he made it through or not but it would have made for a great photo if it also got stuck. It also would have meant that no traffic would
be able to get through until one of the trucks was rescued.
Because of the terrible conditions of the road we had been told it would take a bit longer to get back. Luckily none of us were leaving that night but not the best way for Tom to spend his birthday. To make our jaw clenching bumpy ride worse about half way into our journey our driver asked for a torch so he could check the dashboard to see how much petrol he had. Of course he was on empty and we had passed the only village with petrol between us and Rurrenabaque.
be able to get through until one of the trucks was rescued.
Because of the terrible conditions of the road we had been told it would take a bit longer to get back. Luckily none of us were leaving that night but not the best way for Tom to spend his birthday. To make our jaw clenching bumpy ride worse about half way into our journey our driver asked for a torch so he could check the dashboard to see how much petrol he had. Of course he was on empty and we had passed the only village with petrol between us and Rurrenabaque.
Thankfully we made it back to Rurrenabaque and with time to spare to celebrate Tom’s birthday. Flaming shots seemed to be the regular birthday shots here and we also had some nasty cocoa shots. The restaurant was great, icing and finding candles for the cake that Tom’s girlfriend had managed to find just before meeting up for dinner and drinks. Celebrating his birthday we had a great last night with our tour crew remembering all the crazy dangerous things (that our insurance most likely doesn't cover) we had done over the last few days.
After the past week it is definitely time for Jake and I to find somewhere more laid back and hopefully sunny and dry to spend our last week while in Bolivia. We have heard a lot of great things about Sucre from other travellers so we are thinking after we fly back to La Paz we will grab a night bus straight out to Sucre.
After the past week it is definitely time for Jake and I to find somewhere more laid back and hopefully sunny and dry to spend our last week while in Bolivia. We have heard a lot of great things about Sucre from other travellers so we are thinking after we fly back to La Paz we will grab a night bus straight out to Sucre.