Welcome to the jungle!

20th - 24th August 2012

On Monday 20th August we left the Wild Rover at 8.30am to go to the military airport to fly to Rurrenabaque, a small town in Northern Bolivia from where we were doing the La Pampas amazon tour from Tuesday until Thursday. Myself, Ronan, Kate and Alice had booked to do it together. We got onto this tiny 24 seater plane and I started cursing the fact that we took the cheap option.

Our flight cost b$846 (€97) with TAM vs the other airline b$1,350 (€155) . However I later found out that the passengers on the more expensive airline had a worse experience than us, but at the time of take-off in this shaky little plane that was so old I was cursing our choice! The flight was only 40mins and it did turn out okay if just a little shaky on take-off and landing. The alternative was a dangerous 24 hour bus ride on really bad dirt roads so I was glad we went with the flying option. We landed in Rurrenabaque in a field full of grass - there wasn't even a proper runway and there was a tiny wee shed for the terminal building! Quite funny really! We landed at around 12 in the afternoon.  There were 8 of us on the flight who knew each other (including another Irish guy!) from the Wild Rover so we stuck together and went to get a hostel which we did easily. We were all starving so first port of call was to get lunch. We found a restaurant and ordered at about 1pm. Then we waited and waited. And waited some more. We finally left there at 4pm! It took that long for everyone to get their food and eat, crazy! We were getting pizzas and burgers so nothing too complicated! Afterwards we wandered back to the hostel and just chatted and chilled on the hammocks. At around 7pm we headed out to a bar for a few drinks. It was happy hour so all cocktails were half price - under €2 for the most delicious strawberry and peach daiquiris yum yum! We had a fairly calm night as we had a couple of big days ahead in the tour.

The next morning we were up and checked out of the hostel at 8am before heading for breakfast.  My arms were covered in loads of bites (I mean loads - maybe 15) which were all very red and angry looking! No one else got bitten and there were insects in our room so not sure if I got the bites in bed but Ronan was fine. From about 5pm the previous evening onwards I had put on leggings and a long sleeved top to cover up and protect from the insects. So anyways not sure where I got these bites but I was fairly itchy and uncomfortable!

We were due in the offices of our tour company (Indigena tours) at 9am so we were taking a risk only leaving an hour for 8 of us to be served breakfast! But it turned out okay and we made it to the offices in time. There were three other Irish lads and an English bloke there aswell doing the same tour so we were split into groups - the four of us plus Mark, the English bloke were one group and the other four from the Wild Rover and the three Irish guys were another group. It was funny that out of the 12 on this tour half of us were Irish!

We got into our respective jeeps and started the tedious, awful journey out of Rurrenabaque to the starting point of the tour. It took us over three hours including running errands for the driver, picking up extra people just to give them a lift and a puncture. The road was basically a dirt road and it was so bumpy and shaky we couldn't even do anything except sit there! I was feeling slightly ill and put it down to travel sickness as the journey was so bad even though I don't really get travel sick ever! Also there was no aircon so we had to leave the windows open and all ended up getting filthy from all the dust that had risen and was coming in the windows! It was everywhere, like in our ears and everything!

Eventually we made it to the village beside the starting point for lunch - the other crew had just finished eating as we arrived! They didn't have it all easy though as they had to push their jeep to get it started!

After lunch we headed out to the Yacuma River which is the proper starting point for the tour. We had to wait around for about 30 minutes before our guide was ready and eventually we were off! It was about 2.30pm at this stage. As soon as we set off we started seeing alligators, caimans (basically just like alligators but smaller, they are native to Central and South America), pink dolphins, capybaras (largest rodent in the world, also native to South America), turtles, monkeys and heaps of birds like herons and vultures. The tour was advertised on the basis that you get to see all these animals but I though we would get a glance at them over the three days, I didn't think we would be surrounded by them immediately! It was fantastic!

Our preferred mode of transport for the trek!

Capybaras - largest rodent we have ever seen!

We came across three pink dolphins in one part of the lake and we had the option to go in swimming with them! Which we all jumped at obviously! It was kinda crazy to look around and see all the alligators and caimans around the edges of the water that we were swimming in and knowing that we were in piranha infested waters! Apparently the dolphins protect you though so we were safe! The dolphins move so fast that we didn't get a photo but we have the memories! I felt a dolphin brush off my legs at one stage, I screamed and was extremely freaked out!! After swimming we continued our cruise down the river and continued seeing more wildlife!

Swimming with dolphins!!

We reached the 'ecolodge' (a patch on the river bank cleared of all the unsightly trees) of the tour at about 5.30pm so we just had enough time to have a quick drink and snack before heading out for sunset in a nearby field which just happened to have a random bar in the middle of it. Sunset was nothing spectacular but there were loads of other tourists there so we just hung around chatting and watching a few games of volleyball!

Then it was back to the lodge for dinner before going back out in the boat. At this stage it was pitch black and as we were sailing down the river we could see the caimans eyes lit up like cats eyes along the river! It was great craic. Although we did say to each other that if we read in the paper something happened to some tourists sailing down a river in the amazon in the dark, we would be thinking what do they expect, going out on a boat in the pitch black! So it may not have been our smartest move. The sardines in the water kept jumping out of the water into the air and a few landed in the boat. Then I got a massive smack to the mouth from one that had jumped into the boat! In hindsight that is hilarious but at the time it was bloody sore!

After this experience it was back to the lodge again for a quick shower before the electricity went off at 9pm. After this everything was done by torch and candlelight. There was a hammock room with about 20 hammocks so we were just chilling in there for the evening.

The next morning we had to be up for breakfast at 8am. When I woke up I saw that my bites had gone crazy and this is what I saw:

It had all blistered up but there was one massive blister in particular. I had one bite in Costa Rica years ago that went the same way but I was still slightly concerned! The guide gave me some cream and tablets. They rest of the crew were going anaconda hunting in the jungle which we had heard was hot and tough going so I decided to sit that bit out as I was feeling lethargic and not myself. The travel sickness yesterday was probably all caused by the effects the bites were having on me!

I sat in the hammock room for the morning, listening to nature around me, reading my ebook until the others came back at around 12pm. The anaconda hunting didn't go as expected! They didn't see any snakes but had tried to rescue a cow that was stuck in the mud for a considerable length of time but she was so weak she couldn't even stand. Ronan ended up getting a headbutt from her horns, of course he got stuck into the middle of it! So they couldn't do anything with the cow and she was left there to die. As they left they said they could see the vultures circling overhead, not nice. They were all completely covered in mud and cow shit so had to shower before lunch!

After lunch we had some downtime in the hammocks where everyone read and/or slept for a couple of hours before it was time to head out on the boat again. It was time for piranha fishing! This was great craic and we were using raw bits of steak on the end of a bit of fishing line. No fancy rods or reels around here! I caught two and Ronan caught two. Alice and Mark caught one each and poor Kate didn't catch any but came close so many times!

Catch of the day!

After this we went for another cruise around before heading back to the place we were yesterday for sunset. Everyone else in our group had a game of volleyball but I didn't feel up to it so I was chatting to 5 Irish girls who had arrived in our lodge today! Out of 19 people staying in the lodge this night, 11 were Irish! What are the chances!!   The dinner this evening was really good and our evening followed the same format as yesterday with some more wine and beer thrown in. Kate wasn't happy with the progress of my bites so I started taking some antibiotics that she had with her.

The next morning we were up at 5.30am for sun rise before coming back to the lodge for breakfast. After breakfast it was time to get on the boat to go to an island and do a trek around there looking for more animals. We found a cobra skin but no cobra.

Sunrise over the amazon

We also saw a couple of toucans in the wild which is apparently pretty rare. It was so hot going through the jungle so after the walk it was back to the lodge for showers and lunch before starting the long trek back to Rurrenabaque. We left at about 12pm and had a 2 hour boat ride before reaching the area where we were meeting the jeep. This time we actually ended up in a car with air conditioning so although it was really squashed we were more comfortable than on the way out. We didn't do any errands or stops so made it back in less than 2 hours! We had to find another place to stay as there was no way I was going back to the other one in case that is where I got bit. We found a decent hotel with a pool and wifi so pretty pleased with that! First stop was the pool! Afterwards we went for food and drinks. Back to the place with the deadly daiquiris although I only had one alcoholic drink as I am on the antibiotics but kept drinking the savage daiquiris but without the alcohol!  Myself and Ronan headed back to the hotel fairly early while the rest were on a big night out! I would love to have had a proper night out but still wasn't feeling great.

The next morning we had a nice breakfast in the hotel before getting to the airport to fly back to La Paz.   All in all it was a good trip and it was nice to spend five days out of big cities. But I was glad to leave cos all the insects here seemed to love me and I woke up the last morning with even more bites from the 20 second walk to and from the pool the day before. I have been wearing leggings and long sleeves in the sweltering heat to avoid having any skin available to insects to eat! Our flight back to La Paz was uneventful and again we heard that the more expensive airlines flight practically fell out of the air a couple of times on the return flight that day! So again it sounded like we had a lucky escape!

Yacuma River in the amazon!