So I survived five days in the jungle, or the pampas rather. The pampas are the wetlands in the Amazon Basin. So after way too long in La Paz (which tends to happen to me), I finally headed off last Thursday for Rurre, an 18 hour bus ride or a one hour flight (guess which one I chose). Arrived and at the airport ran into some friends from Cusco, one as far back as Quito and the Galapagos, who told me where to stay, an awesome chill place with loads of hammocks by the river called Residencia Jislene. Pretty basic, but the hammocks sold it, plus they have parrots or mackaws or some sort of bright green birds who speak in spanish, its pretty amusing.
Anyway, booked with a random agency that had been recommended, called Indigena Tours. They are eco-friendly... so i was a littler concerned with getting a good group ,asnot only are would i be stuck with them for the next three days, but Sat, the 10th was my birthday, so I wanted to make sure the people were fun (I know they could not actually be as fun as me, but close). But worries were for not, as the group was awesome. Two couples (one from Oz and one from Galway, Ireland), but they were good couples, not overly lovey-dovey, which no one wants to see, and they hung out with the rest of us. Very cool. Plus an American girl, an american guy, and another Irish guy. so anyway, really good group, really fun, and totally insane.
So we left Friday morning and headed for the boats to the pampas. Log, thin boats, where we all stretched out on the seats and kept our eyes out for alligator, caymen, turtles, cool birds, monkeys. After about an hour on the boat we arrived at the lodge, which was pretty nice. All the beds had mozzy nets (essential, seriously), there were hammocks, a big log that stretched out over the river (really good for jumping, especially good for cannonballs, and we just ignored the caymen we had seen downriver), and a really cool cat. Plus, a family of howler monkeys literally right above the buildings (not as cool at sunrise, sort of the roosters of the jungle, extremely loud roosters).
So the first night we went to a local farm to watch the sunset, and there was a soccer pitch, and we had a ball, so thus began round one of 'El Mundo v. Bolivia'. I, proud to say the only girl who would play, took up my old position as left defender. Not too bad a performance, as I haven't touched a soccer ball in about 15 years. Actually had a really good header, and a few really good blocks (with bruises to prove it). But the Bolivians actually knew how to play, so it was a bit of an ass kicking. Then we cruised the river for alligator (there eyes glow red when the flashlight hits them). Incurred about a million more mosquito bites, had dinner, broke out the guides guitar, and played and sang until really late. An awesome first day. So I need to go try to sort out my flight home, so thats all for now, more later, miss you all,
-A
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