Day 247 to 252 - The Amazon jungle & Pampas tour - Tuesday 19th to Sunday 24th June 2012

Today we were very excited as we were going to Rurrenabaque to start our five day Amazon jungle and Pampas tour, so we packed the night before and we up bright and early for our taxi ride to La Paz airport. After a quick free breakfast provided by our hotel we took the forty minute taxi ride to the airport. Once there we tried to check in but were told (quite firmly) by the airline rep to come back at 9:25am… it was 9:10 when I asked?! So fifteen minutes later we checked in and then waited, and waited, oh and waited some more until we were told that the airport was now closed for an hour because the Iranian President was landing. I was pretty excited and watched all the police, military and Bolivian officials marching and getting ready whilst Soph ordered some coffee to warm us up. After about an hour of waiting I returned with plenty of pictures of the entourage but none of the president. I happened to mention it to a couple we met and the guy literally popped off for a quick look only to return five minutes later with a perfect picture of the president - annoying!! To waste a bit of time we found some scales and weighed ourselves - apparently we've both nearly lost a stone since we left England! We both certainly do not feel like we have - must just be muscle!

We finally boarded to plane four hours later; it was tiny, 22 seats to be exact, and that included the pilot and co-pilot! The flight was forty five minutes of both amazing views and sheer fear as this tiny jet bumped and nudged through and over the Bolivian mountain tops! Mind you, the flight was worth it especially when two weeks prior the twenty hour bus service from La Paz to the Amazon skidded, swerved and crashed off one of the many mountains killing all on board - so the scary plane was an easy choice! Once we landed (thank god!) we checked into a local hotel and then went to the beautifully named Moskiquito bar for the England v Ukraine game… and we won 3-2! After the football and a few beers we checked into our tour company and collected some info and then ate a bit of dinner with some people we had met in the bar before we hit the sack.

Wow 5am start, which means we were up at 4:30am!! We grabbed our bags and headed to the camps office where we met Louis who was to be our guide for the next five days. After the annoying process of re-packing our day packs and rucksacks - very annoying and no one likes rushing at that time, we finally boarded the boat, which is really just a big canoe and started our boat trip along the rivers Beni and Tuchi. Three hours later, and with a very sleepy wife, we reached the eco lodges. We were shown our room by one of the staff and were really surprised how nice it was, the hut looked brand new and was right in the middle of the jungle. Bags down and we headed straight to breakfast in the jungle lodge. After a huge breakfast Louis suggested we relax in the hammocks for an hour so we just chilled and read our books. At about 10.30 we started our three hour walk into the jungle where we saw a variety of plants which Louis explained how the local Tacana people use them - this includes medicinal purposes, food and construction uses. Whilst trekking through the jungle we kept collecting various seeds and nuts which we would be using tomorrow when we have a morning of making handicrafts planned. Along the trail we tried to spot different animals including spider monkeys, howler monkeys, wild pigs and a number of different birds, plus a variety of insects and spiders. We spotted all of these apart from the howler monkeys and the wild pigs. To liven it up Louis stopped at a suspicious hanging vine and informed us it was Tarzans. Within seconds Soph and I were quite literally swinging through the jungle, it was awesome!! We were also shown the 'Man Tree' (see photos) - Soph was very impressed! We got back to the lodge for another massive lunch and some more hammock time. In the afternoon we went sardine fishing; we needed the sardines so we could use it for bait for some bigger fish for dinner, so with some wiggery grubs as bait we started to fish - Soph caught two, and I caught nada! Then we went big fishing on the river - we caught nothing but Louis caught a massive cat fish! I have got to say that in all the places we have been so far, the jungle has the most mosquito / miggies / biting ants / flying biting things ever!!! Luckily I don't seem to get bitten but Soph must taste like the insect equivalent of Steak and chips!! After fishing we washed up and had Louis's cat fish for dinner. Then after dinner we did a night time walk to try to find some nocturnal animals. We found loads of taranulas, most of them on the roof of where we were sleeping!! We also witnessed one catch and eat a moth, with a little accidental help from Soph!! Great first day in the jungle.

After breakfast was arts and crafts time! I was quite excited about making jewellery out of seeds and things found in the jungle - I'm not sure if Ad and the Aussie boys who were also staying at the lodge shared my view! As it turned out, Louis, as well as being a great guide and an excellent hunter, was also great at making stuff! Ad and I on the other hand were not so good! First off we started by making rings out of these little light brown seeds - Louis drilled them for us and then we sanded them down with various grades of sand paper until they were black, then Louis rubbed them in ash to make them shinny! Next up was necklaces. Louis got a miniature coconut and cut off a chunk only to find three litter wiggery grub in the holes. Louis said that they were good to eat and popped one in his mouth!! Not to be outdone, Ad and Greeno promptly followed and ate the grubs (I sat back and took the pictures) - apparently they tasted like creamy coconut! Back to the necklaces; we were happily crafting away and getting to the end so we asked Louis what he thought "not very good" came the answer!! We walked away from our craft making with two necklaces and three rings - not bad for a mornings work! After lunch we set off for our three hour walk into the jungle - tonight we were going to be sleeping deep in the remote jungle! It was tough going as it was quite muddy and very humid but Louis kept us entertained along the way by explaining the trees and their purposes - one even stank of garlic! We arrived to our sleeping spot in the early evening and were pleasantly surprised that there was a shelter of wood and tarpaulin and a lady to cook us dinner! We made up our mossie nets and set up sleeping bags and sat down to eat dinner to the sounds of the rainforest. It was a pretty special night!

We woke at 5am to do our early morning walk into the jungle to experience the sounds of the rainforest awakening and see what animals we could hear and possibly spot. It was pitch black, raining, very muddy and the forest floor was slippery and uneven - a great combination for trekking seeing as Ad was wearing a pair of vans and I had water absorbing shoes on! We started the walk and within about ten minutes both of us had nearly fell over about a million times - note to everyone, vans trainers and teva water shoes are not suitable for jungle terrain! We heard howler monkeys in the distance and also saw jungle chickens. Suddenly Louis heard jungle pigs nearby and being the expert he is, started to run through the jungle in search of them shouting at us to follow him. Well that was a funny sight! We were struggling to walk let alone run! Unfortunately the pigs heard us coming and so we eventually gave up and huffed our way back to the tarpaulin shelter for a breakfast of fried doughnuts and pancakes with fruit. Once breakie was done, we set off for another two hour walk to the mirador viewpoint to take in the panoramic view of the jungle. Before getting there we spotted quite a lot of jaguar footprints and then we reached the lookout another guide arrived about ten minutes after us and said that he had seen a jaguar footprint on top of one of our footprints meaning he'd been just behind us - scary stuff!! The views from the lookout were stunning and we sat and watched the colourful macaws flying overhead (and under us) for a while. At the lookout was what looked like a gravestone so we asked Louis and he told us that an twenty two year old Israeli boy had accidently fallen over the side a few years before - it made us very weary of getting too close to the edge! After the lookout we walked to another spot for lunch of rice, meat and salad and had a quick hour's cat nap! Feeling fresh and ready to go we headed to the bottom of the lookout and looked up to see the nests of the macaws. They are so loud and colourful and really cute as they are always in a pair - apparently they mate for life, ahhhh. After another hour walk we reached the river just in time for the heavens to open! The rain was unbelievable! Our boat picked up the group of Aussies and headed for where the two rivers meet further downstream. We couldn't quite work out why we were there but then Louis explained that when the river was high it was easier to catch fish. So Louis and the other guide set up a huge net and dragged it along the stream - within ten minutes they had caught eight fish! Genius! We jumped back in the boat and motored to the lodge and once there had a well needed shower before getting some dinner, fish of course, before heading to bed. The rain was still hammering down as we drifted off to sleep!

Another early morning start but this time it was because we had to catch the boat back to Rurrenabaque so we could catch a car to the pampas. The journey back down the river was beautiful - we could actually see everything this time as the sun had risen! Once back at the office we jumped into a car with a nice German couple and an American man and set off on our journey. Louis, our guide from the jungle came too, which we were happy about! About an hour into the journey we came across from can only be described as a car, van and bus mud bath! It had been raining for three days on and off and the road (not paved, but a dirt track) had obviously seen the worst of it. It was like nothing we'd seen before - huge buses and vans were literally buried in the mud and were on their sides verging on falling over, people were digging, most people were completely covered in mud. I'll be honest and say that I thought we weren't going to get through, especially given that we were in a people carrier but after getting out of the car and walking for about a kilometre we finally spotted our car being dragged through the mud by another 4x4. It was quite amazing and never was the saying "where there's a will, there's a way" been appropriate. Back in the car and our driver was driving like a loony trying to make up for lost time - the journey should have been three hours but with the mud disaster it turned into nearly five! We finally arrived at the lodge, on the way stopping to see a couple of sloths hanging in the trees, just in time for lunch and so filled our tummies and chilled of an hour on the grass in the sun. Once our lunch had gone down we set off in a little boat to spot caiman, birds, turtles, lots of different kinds of monkeys and some pink river dolphins. The pink river dolphins were so cute - they followed the boat along for ages until we got to a spot where the river opened up to a lake. The sun was out and the dolphins nearby and so we all decided to jump in for a dip and swim with them! It was great fun, there were about five or six swimming around us. Where we got out the water Louis pointed to what looked like a log ten metres from where we were swimming - this log turned out to be a five foot Caiman Croc!! But no panic Louis said he was not hungry!! Then we spotted a group of capybaras on the shore so we wandered over to them and took a few pictures. Back in the boat and we cruised around for a bit and then headed back to the lodge for sunset and dinner. The day spent in the boat was so relaxing and a welcome break after all of the jungle trekking. After dinner we got welly'ed up and went searching for nocturnal animals. The mozzies were insane!! There were millions of the b*****s! They were militant size and so bloody persistent! I swear those suckers drink pure deet shots for fun! In between being bitten to death, we went wading in the swamp in the dark and spotted a few caimans by the glint of their eyes in the touch light. After an hour we headed back to the lodge for bed.

By 6am we were all in the boat and were cruising the water. It was pretty amazing to watch the sun and then fog rise from the boat and listen to the rain forest awakening. After touring around for a couple of hours and seeing numerous birds and monkeys from afar we finally spotted a group of capuchin monkeys feeding at a nearby tree; Louis turned the motor off, pulled in next to the tree and announced to was our breakfast time and proceeded to hand out banana's, apples, bread, tea and water melon. This was when the frenzy began - the monkey's spotted the bananas and before Louis could say "watch out for the monkeys, they like banana's……." several of them had clambered onto the boat and were pinching our breakfast! It was hilarious and really fun! I opened up my banana and held it out for them and one came over, put his little paws on my hands and started chewing on the banana!! Breakfast with the capuchins was definitely a big highlight of the trip. After a while the monkeys got bored (and probably full up!) and headed back into the shelter of the trees and so we finished up and headed back out to the water to spot more animals. We saw some really big howler monkeys in the trees and some more capuchin as well as a couple of hiding caimans and turtles. It was a great morning and come lunchtime we headed back to the lodge for a delicious meal of steak with pepper sauce, rice and salad. After lunch we were keen to head off so we'd get to Rurre for our 4.30pm flight check in and given that the journey back should be three hours but would be longer with the road still being muddy, we were a little concerned if we'd make it in time. Our car finally arrived at 1.30pm and we were relieved to see it was a 4x4 so should, in theory, make light work of the muddy road. Well that theory went completely out of the window as the driver was so rubbish at driving!! What with his slow driving and the American man falling asleep on the drivers shoulder (at which point my giggles took over), it was touch and go whether we'd make it, especially when a van got stuck in front of us and had to be dug out of the mud. But we eventually got to the check in office at 4.45pm - by the skin of our teeth! We checked in and boarded the tiny plane and were off back again to La Paz. After arriving back at La Paz airport and stopping for a quick submarine (hot milk with a chocolate bar melted in it - yummy) and sandwich, we headed straight for the bus terminal to catch our night bus to Uyuni. We'd heard that the ride was a bit bumpy as the majority of the road was unpaved but nothing could prepare us for what was to come; I can only compare it to being in trapped in a bus whilst a ten hour earthquake was going on!! It was the most surreal bus journey we have ever been on. At one point I went to look out of the window only to find a very thick layer of ice covering the whole inside of the window - obviously it was cold outside! We managed to grab a couple of hours kip, in between vibrating all over the place!