Back into the jungle..sort of...
Trip Start
Apr 14, 2004
1
15
25
Trip End
Jul 27, 2004
Rurrenabaque,
Bolivia
Wednesday, July 7, 2004
so yah, after getting over food poisoning, surviving the road back into la paz (on which i gained 5 pounds by eating the dust floating around inside), and spending another day in la paz (which i actually like for some reason, even tho it is a city), i went to a few travel agents until i found one who was willing to and could book me a cheap(ish) flight into the jungle town of rurrenabaque...
the flight was with a military airline and i think the commision rate is lower for the agents, so not all of them are as helpful as they could be...the flight left early so i set a 5am wakeup call with the front desk of the hostel, and arranged a 5:30 taxi, because apparently it is not safe to get taxis in the early am, standing around with all your belongings...i personally think it is just another set up by the hostel to set u up with their friend the cab driver for a more expensive rate than normal, but whatevr...
so in true south american stylies, the wake up call never came, but i luckily heard my watch alarm thru my ear plugs(a constant sleeping companion of mine---the preferred sleeping companions never coming at regular enuff intervals of course!!!)...a mad dash to catch the cab and i was on my way to the military airport for my 6 am check in for a 7 am flight...or so i thought...turns out my travel agent was incorrect, and i sat in that cold-ass airport freezing my bollox off for over an hour before they checked us in for the 8:00ish flight...
i was a little disappointed in the aircraft, as i was expecting an old refurbished military plane with jump seats and stuff, but it actually was a fairly proper airplane that held about 45 people...oh well, i guess one more safe flight isnt the worse thing to go thru, but it woulda been cool as hell to fly over the mountains in some shit ass plane, wondering if you would actually make it...a bit of minor turbulence was all the excitement on that flight, and we landed safely...about three minutes later, it decided to start raining, just long and hard enuff to soak our backpacks as they were coming off the plane...
a short crappy bus ride later, and me and a couple that i met on the plane were on our way to the hostel we had decided on...of course when we got there, they had a double for them, but no single without bathroom for me...they had the more expensive single with bathroom, but who in their right mind is going to pay an extra 2.00 for a bathroom??!!okay, probably everyone, but a cheap ass backpacker...so i made plans to meet up later, and headed on my way to the cheap dump down the street...ahh home sweet home...full screen door security(read: no security), cold showers, and just like everywhere in south america these days, more israelis!!!they r everywhere, it is amazing...always travelling in groups, and always never talking to me...
dropping my bags off to search out tour companies to book a tour into the pampas(not really jungle, but more of a grasslands, but with much more opportunities to view wildlife), i encountered the two dutch girls i had borrowed a guide book off of for a few minutes on the plane...being the lazy s.o.b. that i am, i learned that they had checked out a few agencies, had decided on one, and so i followed along and booked the same...i mean, as if i am gonna run around checking things out for myself, when someone else can do it for me right??!!!besides they they seemed pretty cool, and i needed some good people on my tour...the rest of the afternoon was spent getting about 300 sandfly bites around my ankles, while we sat at an outdoor restaurant getting to know each other...
not trusting my hostel to store my bags for 3 days in the pampas, i checked out early the next am and stored them in the girls hostel, and we were off in an old land cruiser, for 3.5 hours to the river town where we would jump in our boat...we also had a couple frenchies and a couple aussies to complete our group of 7...everyone started off pretty quiet in the truck, but once we got in the boat, the ice was broken by a huge group of small monkeys that had gathered to investigate the boat...once some bananas appeared, we were all getting mauled by them, and we all scrambled to take pictures of each other being ´attacked´ by those cute little buggers out for a free meal...on our 3 hour boat ride down river to the camp, we would view many alligators, capyburras, different types of birds, howler monkeys, etc...my jungle trip in ecuador was an awesome experience in the jungle, but i did not get to see much wildlife, which was why i chose this pampas tour...we had a fantasic jungle dinner, then went to the jungle bar down river for a great view of the sunset...not wanting to return to the camp empty handed, we stocked up on beer for the evening...many card games later, and it was time to hit the sack, as we had an early wake up to go anaconda hunting...
now let me describe anaconda hunting for you...it kind of actually sux, but is a good experience...you put on some shitty ass wet canvas shoes and go walking thru wet, muddy, boggy, cowshit filled, grass lands for many hours...getting completely dirty and wet...i spent the whole walk, mentally preparing myself to catch the snake...our guide explained to me, that to catch it, u wave your hat at it, it will strike the hat, and then you quickly grab it behind its head while it is clamping down on your hat...sounded like fun to me, but unfortunately after 4 hours of walking thru quite rugged terain, we came up empty handed, and had to return to the rest of the group who hadnt made the trek and stayed in the dry grassland due to being too lazy and/or soft...(all 8 israelis and one of the dutch girls- ingrid, u know who u r)...
during our time spent on the boat, we also saw caimans(large aligators), pink dolphins, toucans, pelicans, etc. etc..
after returning to camp and eating dinner we then convinced our guide (who had the most entertaining girly laff ever) to drive us down river a few kms to purchase some white alcohol to fuel our night of card playing at base camp...this of course led to another funfilled evening, which was highlighted by one of our group members runnning a lap around camp naked (for once, the naked guy wasnt me), and the two french guys kissing, as a result of a punishment game gone wrong...
all the alcohol consumption would be a burden the next am, as we were woken up super early to boat up river to a prime spot for watching the sunrise over the jungle...i complained a bit for the first part of the morning, but by the time i saw the sunrise, i was quie happy to have underwent the ordeal for the view...the rest of the afternoon was spent in the boat again, hunting for the ´lazy monkey´or sloth...after a few unsuccesful hours, we eventually saw one...how the guide(from another boat) actually spotted it in the high branches of a tree is beyond me...these guys are amazing in their abilities to find wildlife...i was looking at it thru binoculars, and it still looked like a branch of the tree...
returning to camp, we packed up our shit, and loaded the boat for the voyage home...this in itself was quite entertaining as well, as our guide was racing the other boats, passing them, cutting them off, stopping abruptly, which would force the other boat to stop, but also to veer sideways, offcours, and almost into the bank of the river...kind of a bastard move, but funny as hell for me...another 3 hour 4x4 ride and were back in the village...after 4 days of not showering and being completely covered in shitty, muddy, mosquito spray soaked clothes, it was quite refreshing to have a hot(warm) shower, put on clean clothes, and do some laundry...these r the small things that you really come to look forward to while travelling...
cleaned up and ready to take on the town, we headed to the famous mosquito bar, for yet another alcohol fueled evening...(im not sure what it is, but ever since the pampas tour, alcohol has played a minor role in the nightly and sometimes daily activities)...anyways, we shut the bar down and then some, as we partied till the wee hours of the morning, before retiring to the hostel...somehow or another amidst the drunken stupor, the french guys managed to catch a late bus to brazil, so i hope they made it to wherever they were going...obviously the next morning came and went while i was sleeping, but i woke up for breakfast with ian at around noon, then had another breakfast an hour later with the ingrids, followed by yet another breakfast from a street vendor a little later...the day being all but wasted, i had a great idea...why not celebrate the sunset with a few bottles of wine on the grassy knoll outside of the village...and so it was...after said picnic, it was time to light the fireworks that james had purchased, and were off to the rivers edge...they were only crappy little fireworks and bottle rockets, but they seemed to be quite entertaining....especially when the last few skipped off the water and narrowly missed striking a boat (that we never noticed until too late) entering the port...locals on the beach were laffing, but we were not sure about the ones on the boat, so in the interest of our own personal safety, we bolted from the river with our fireworks, and opted for an entirely different location for the remaining few...no need sticking around to apologize if u r just gonna get the shit kikked out of u, or robbed!!!or maybe they thought it was funny???either way i didnt want to find out...
needing to get up early for the plane ride back to la paz in the morning, we opted for bed instead of the bar, so the dutch girls and i had to say farewell to our aussie companions, who were staying on for a few more days in the jungle...waking up to a thunder storm, i started wondering about the status of our flight...that would take second priority however, to actually being able to ge out of my hotel room...in my ealry morning drowsiness, and hurriedness to make use of the ol bathroom, i managed to break off the key in the door lock...lots of the hotels over here, make use of an automatic lock, so u hafta have the key in the lock in the inside as well to get out...so there i am, early am, needing to take a piss so bad it hurts, almost late for a flight that might not be happening anyway, and i am locked in my room...whats a guy to do???luckily, another guest walked by my window at the point where i was about to kick out the screen, and he went for the morning watchman...originally it seemed that it was gonna take over a half hour to get another key to let me out, until he saw me attempting to take out the door hinge bolts, as well as threatening to cut out the screen...magically, it now only took 3 minutes for him to return with the spare key...
these people are slow down here, but when properly motivated, they do respond...it is like when you are trying to purchase anything, no matter what or where, there is never any change...however, when u threaten to just walk out, or put back the souvenir or what ever it is you were gonna buy, they either magically find change, or go running down the street to another shop to get change...
so our plane was delayed, we had to bus to another little village 45 minutes away which had a dry airstrip for the plane to land(no airports, just smooth grass strips)...but eventually we returned to la paz uneventfully, although i was half expecting some wikkked turbulence because on the way over the guy next to me was telling me how the last time he took this flight, the plane dropped about 50 meters instantly when it crossed the mountains because of some air gap or something...evryone on the plane freaked out and thought they were gonna crash...im not sure if i was half-looking forward to it, or scared shitless of the possibility???
well if you made it this far, congratulations, thats a long haul...gotta run...peace
