Tuesday 8th March

Woke up at 6, and jumped in a at taxi 6.30. It was supposed to be 45 mins to airport but we were there in 20 mins! We had breakfast then got onto a very small 19 seater plane. The flight was fine apart from being able to see the runway from the pilots window!

We arrived in Rurrenabaque and as soon as we got off the plane the heat hit us, it smelt and felt like the reptile house at the zoo! We all jumped on a bus and were driven about 5 mins to meet our tour company (indigena tours) we jumped in a landrover with 4 others (Nick from perth and girlf Mel from Canada and Colin and Jamie also from Oz) with our driver and tour guide Jamie we drove for about 3 hours into the amazon basin.

We stopped in a place called Santa Rosa for lunch (noodle soup and bolognase) then headed back into the jeep and drove to the river Yacuma, we had to drive pretty much through a river to get to the river, the guide told us it's the worst rainfall they've had for 20 years!

Once at the river our guide had to empty the water out of our boat then attach an engine and we were good to go! So 9 of us piled in.. Our group from the jeep plus the guide and cook with her 1 year old son! Joe called shot gun so we sat at the front! We had to travel 3 hours down the river to our accommodation for the next 2 nights, on the way we saw a turtle, pink river dolphins, squirrel monkeys, capachin monkeys and lots of birds.

About an hour in it started to pour down! Colin and Jamie didn't have waterproofs and got drenched! We eventually arrived at our accommodation which was basic but pretty cool, it was built on stilts so in the river!

We had tea, biscuits and popcorn and chatted. Our guide spotted an alligator out the window. So we all went out to see it. It was about 2.5 meters long and it was hanging around for ages and at one point Joe put his hand out and it jumped out the water! The boys spent ages watching it, but it was defiantly hungry so as it got dark they came inside!

We all had dinner (spaghetti and tomato and veg sauce) then headed back out in our boat in the pitch black to hunt for alligators! Armed with torches we set off, it was mad.. Pitch black with all sorts of jungle sounds (frogs, crickets, birds) and the sky was so clear you could see the whole solar system! We were out for about an hour and spotted a few alligators (we had to shine the torch and look out for red/orange eyes.)

We then headed back to the hostel and Joe and I went to bed, under our mosquito nets!