Rurrenabaque - Amazon
Trip Start
Jan 25, 2008
1
23
36
Trip End
Jun 01, 2008
Rurrenabaque,
Bolivia
Thursday, April 10, 2008
The plane came to a bumpy landing on a grass airstrip and it was like we had landed on another continent. We´d gone from the chilly mountain side city of La Paz to tropical heat and lush green scenery with the sound of crickets buzzing in less than an hour. Rurrenbaque was more like the Carribean than South America. The travel agency picked us and two Austalian girls, Chloe and Jessica who were on our flight up from the airport and took us to their office in town and organised a hostel for the four of us. We hadn´t paid for our tour or return flight yet as we wanted to make sure we could actually get there given that a lot of flights had been cancelled the week prevoious because of rain. Stupidly we assumed that as the office in La Paz took visa, so would the Rurrenabaque office - there was no visa machine and no cash point so we ended up having to use all of our emergency American dollars. The hostel was lovely with rooms set around a garden with a dozen hammocks to chill out in, after packing for the tour the next day we took a walk down to the river and watched the fireflies over the water.
The next day we got up early and met up with the rest of our group, two German guys and a Dutch couple. The eight of us then embarked on an extremely hot and bumpy two hour journey in a four wheel drive to the part of the Amazon river where we met our guide, Oscar and boarded our motorized canoe! It was a gloriously sunny day and as soon as we set off down the river it was just like being in National Geographic. Ten minutes down the river, our guide stopped the canoe and pointed out some pink dolphins coming to the surface for air. They´re called pink dolphins because they blush when they´re mating. Two minutes later, we were all in the river, fully clothed and swimming with the dolphins and trying not to think about what else we might be swimming with! Then the dolphins left and we got back in the canoe (not the most graceful of manoeveres), quickly drying off in the sun. We spent the next few hours cruising down the river spotting wildlife including lots of crazy birds we can´t remember the names of, tortoises, aligators and monkeys. At one point we stopped the canoe to take pictures of some spider monkeys and they decided to board the canoe!
We arrived at our riverside lodge in time for tea and were all impressed when we got served a tasty two course dinner. After dinner we boarded the canoe again and were taken down river to the Pink Dolphin bar to have a beer while watching the sunset over the Amazon. It was beautiful but as soon as the sun went down the mozzies came out in their droves and everyone covered themselves in repellent as they saw the swarms on the surface of the water. We finished our beers and got back in the canoes to go alligator hunting! It was pretty scary getting in the canoe in the dark and as we made our way back to our lodge we were shining our torches along the banks of the river hoping to see the alligators eyes reflecting in the light. It wasn´t long before we found one and Oscar steered the canoe towards it, just as we got close to it, it made a sudden movement, the girls screamed and with a splash it was gone! Back at the lodge we stayed up until the electricity was turned off and went to bed. Katie woke up in the middle of the night needing to wee, and then woke Neil to come with her as the toilet was outside at the end of a platform and she was scared she might get eaten or something if she went by herself.
The next day we went anaconda hunting which seemed to consist of trapsing through the jungle and wading through muddy puddles up to our waists, again trying not to think about what was swimming about in there! We were given wellies but the water just came in over the tops and we spent three hours squelching about in a fruitless search although we did get to hold a baby alligator and see some woodpeckers and parrots! After lunch we went swimming with the pink dolphins again and Neil got a shock when one of them bit his foot!
We had free time that afternoon and evening but managed to persuade a couple of the guides to take us down the Amazon on the canoes to one of the bars for a quick beer and playtime with some 2 week old kittens. On the way back Oscar turned off the motor and just let the canoe drift in silence down the river while we looked at the milky way and the fireflies. It was so peaceful, it was beautiful.
Once we arrived back we went straight bed as we knew we would be getting up early the next day to see the sunrise over the amazon. Unfortunately the other canoe (occupied by some over excited 18 year olds) had managed to persuade their guide to let them stay longer at the bar and polish of a bottle of spirits in a drinking game. They came back, woke everyone up and two particular idiotic boys decided to steal one of the canoes and go sailing off down the Amazon themselves with all the alligators and snakes in the water!! The poor guides were really worried when they found out and were about to set off to find them when the boys returned laughing and joking!
The next day we were all really tired but had to get up at the crack of dawn and board the canoe to watch the sunrise over the Amazon, it was all golden yellows and orange even more beautiful than the sunset. We returned to the lodge for breakfast before setting off for a morning´s piranha fishing. Me and Neil were useless, the fish just nibbled the meat right off the hook but one of the Dutch guys managed to catch about six. We were quite disappointed though when we discovered we would be throwing the fish back in the river instead of cooking them up for lunch!
That afternoon we boarded our motorized canoe for the last time and made the two hour trip back down the amazon to where we started sunning ourselves along the way. Then it was back in the bumpy jeep for the return to Rurrenabaque where we made a quick stop to watch a sloth up in the trees. Everyone was estastic to get in a shower (even if it was cold!) and once we had rid ourselved of pampus filth and were slightly feeling less ferrel we hit the Mosquito in time for half price jungle themed cocktails!
Comments
Lovely!
You swam with dolphins! Were they totally wild? What a wonderful bonus to your Amazon tour!
Louise Brown
TravelPod Community Manager