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Into the pampas on a dugout canoe
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To see the rainforest, we opted to fly to the jungle town of Rurrenabaque. The 55 min flight was a surprisingly inexpensive and attractive alternative to the 18 hour (and sometimes 3 day) bus ride along a rutted dirt track. Unfortunately, our original departure was pushed back 24 hours and we spent another depressing day in La Paz praying that it would go the next day (which it did). The twin prop 20 seater plane bounced us to a safe landing on Rurre´s grassy airstrip. We stepped off the plane into the heat and humidity of this little tropical paradise; a small palm-thatch village perched on the shore of the Beni River and surrounded by lush jungle. Looking into tours, we were faced with choosing between a wildlife rich pampas and mysterious rainforest. Playing it safe, we decided to cancel our return flight and do both. The next morning, we piled into a jeep with Chris from Vancouver, Ryan and Sean from the UK, and our local guide Rene, a very Rambo-esque figure. We bumped 4 hours up a hot dusty track to the pampas waterways where we loaded ourselves and our gear into a large dugout canoe powered by a semi-reliable 15Hp outboard. Because it was the end of the rainy season, the water level was several meters above the level of the dry season. This made our navigation easy but wildlife viewing more difficult. We cruised through the surreal flooded forests and grasslands to our rustic camp. Along the way we saw many interesting trees and birds, an alligator, some pink river dolphins, and we even got to play with a troupe of squirrel monkeys. Our camp was situated on one of the dry patches of land. It consisted of a bunkhouse, kitchen, outhouse, and a shaded hammock lounge. The camp was run by a husband and wife with their 3 cats and one pet alligator. "Juan Pedro" was a constant presence at the water's edge and earned his keep as a garbage disposal. Feeding here is quite a show. The climate was oppressively hot; sitting perfectly still was enough to break into a full sweat. During the day the mosquitoes were tolerable, but the second the sun went down they came out in force and rivaled the ferocity of their northern counterparts. Thankfully, we were supplied with good mosquito nets. After a delicious dinner (the first of a succession of delicious meals- Emily the cook was great) we retreated to our mosquito free beds and struggled to drift off in the heat. The second morning we set off further upstream in search of anacondas. Along the way our guide spotted tow well camouflaged sloths and several howler monkeys. We wandered around in a knee deep marsh looking for the elusive snakes, but came up empty handed. On this little trek we were introduced to and sampled several pampas edibles. In the afternoon we got to swim in the tepid river water amongst a couple pink dolphins. In fact, you ONLY swim with the dolphins here; they scare away the alligators. That night we went for a boat ride in search of caimans and gators by scanning for the reflection of their eyes with a flashlight. Again, we saw nothing, but it was still fascinating to see and hear the pampas at night. The following morning we tried our hand at fishing pirrhanas, and guess what? We didn't catch any! (it was still fun to try though). Afterwards, we started the long route back to Rurre and arrived hot, dusty, satisfied, and craving a cold beer and shower. The tour company, in a stroke of marketing genius, provided us with free promotional t-shirts which we immediately put on and wore around town because they were the only clean thing we had to wear.
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