After a few days at Coroico we got on the back of a ute and got a lift to the bottom of the hill to where the bus was to picking us up to head north. After a 3 hour wait (working on 'Bolivian' time) our little bus finally arrived. Unfortunately, as we didn't get on in La Paz (even though we had bought tickets) they thought they had better sell our vacant seats again. So we were lucky enough to find 3 seats in the back of the bus (which were harder than cement and didn't recline). Add to that the usual filthy stench of Bolivian buses and the families packed into the isles, the trip was going to be long. A fine start to our 16 hour bus ride. Then there was the road. As I noted, the road is single lane with the occassional off ramp to let oncoming traffic pass. Firstly you need to stop in time as you meet the oncoming traffic on one of the countless blind corners (which I could see well from my seat in the centre of the back), and then you have to reverse back to the edge of the road to let the other bus or truck pass. Given that this made the locals nervous (they all stood up whenever we reversed to make sure they could still see the edge of the drop), I was in search of valium (which you can get over the counter here by the way). At times all you could see was dust dropping off the edge of the huge drop as our bus driver nudged back to the edge. I'm sure he values his life too, but I'm always concerned about the false sense of security a picture of the Virgin Mary above a windscreen can give. After making our way through drug check points (they are very thorough up here as it's one of the key production areas) and bouncing through shocking dusty roads we finally arrived.......shaken, but alive........and ready to find out about the cost of flying back to La Paz. After we had recovered, we found ourselves a guide and headed out to the Pampas. The Pamapas are a huge (insect and maleria filled!!) river system and jungle. We jumped in a boat with our guide and went to a small hut (with a very cool host) on the river where we would base ourselves for 3 days. Our guide (Freddy) knew everything there was to know and had some special vision that allowed him to see a small bird 4,000 metres away hidden in scrub. On the first day we headed down the river looking at tortoises, amazing bird life (which usually sends me to sleep), monkeys etc. and then enjoyed the sunset (and the mosquitos) before heading back to our meal (we had a guide, host and 2 cooks for just 3 of us!). After dinner we went on a Alligator hunt back up stream. With a torch you could see little sparkling eyes all around as we walk along the river bank. The next morning we went on an Anaconda and Cobra hunt. Freddy bought out the Coca leaves before we started. Chewing Coca leaves is common through a lot of SA to make life a little more bearable. You just get a handfull of leaves, add the 'catalyst' and shove it in your mouth, dulling any pain, hunger etc. I can't stand the stuff, but I bet they hate Vegemite too. Unfortunately, after 5 hours we gave up. I guess if I wanted gaurantees, I'd go to a zoo, but the Anaconda's up here are meant to be huge (there's an 8m one near the local town). After lunch it was in search of 'pink dolphins' (I'd never heard of them either). We found plenty of them down river and had a swim with them (and the alligators I guess). After the swim Freddy moved the boat a few hundred metres, gave us each a handline and told us to start fishing........for Parahna's of course. He assured us that they only go after blood if you're swimming with them. Nice. The last day we headed down river again and found some little monkey colonies to play with. Very cool. After a sad farewell to our Amigos we went back to town to arrange the flight back to La Paz (I ain't getting back on that bus). For about $50 you can get on a decent size twin prop. military plane for a 1 hour flight. No questions asked there. The next day it started raining and raining. The flight was delayed to the next morning. Of course it rained and rained more so at 7am they said come back at 12pm. I had a quick breakfast and went back to bed. An hour later, the stomach started. And then it got worse and worse, and then by 9am, breakfast was back! It was either the OJ or coffee at breakfast, but whatever it was, I was in all sorts of trouble by the time I was about to board the plane at about 5pm that afternoon (they flew anyway, even though conditions were even worse than yesterday). Luckily the plane had a toilet so I didn't have to spend the plane trip with my head in a bag (lucky for the person beside me too). As I was sitting on the toilet and vommiting into the shower beside me at about 10pm, I remembered I had a little first aid kit that had some wonderdrugs that some very kind friends back home had given me before I left. Within an hour I was keeping water down and recovering. If only I'd remembered 12 hours earlier. From La Paz it's onto another Bolivian bus up to Copacabana on Lake Titicaca.