The Amazon

The whole Amazon experience has definitely been one of my favourite parts of South America.

The fun began when we asked our receptionist in the hostel in la Paz to book us a taxi but as expected she forgot which set us behind schedule. Then when we finally got a taxi, the driver had to pull over half way up a hill as there was smoke coming out of the bonnet and the car had conked out. In typical Bolivian style, he told us not to worry and that another taxi would be along in 8 minutes. 20 minutes later another taxi pulled up. Luckily we got to the airport on time and as there were only 18 people on our flight that needed to check in it didnt take too long. I had heard the plane was small but was gobsmacked when I saw it – small is an understatement – it was the most minature plane I have ever seen - it was literally the size of a minibus chopped in half length ways.

Jemma boarding our smarties tube plane

There was just enough room for two seats next to each other, nowhere to put hand luggage, no aisle, and we were sat directly behind the tiny cockpit which was completely open. It was literally like a tiny smarties tube, I cannot express how small it was (mum, you would have hated it). Once in the air you could feel every tiny movement and although the journey was only 30 minutes, I sweated the whole way. It was boiling hot and I felt very sick with travel sickness which I do not normally get (except for once on a helicopter over the grand canyon). At one point we flew in between two mountains – not over them – in between. Jemma was staring out the window the whole way admiring the views but I just sat in silence trying not to be sick. When we finally landed on the dirt track runway in Rurrenabaque I felt extremely sick but had to explain to the little girl in front of me how to undo her sealtbelt. The heat hit us when we got off and I just had to sit in the tiny departure 'lounge' (a little wooden hut) whilst Jemma got all of the bags. We then piled onto a little minibus and put our rucksacks on the roof to drive into the town where we would be staying the night before our tour (Rurrenabaque).

We quickly found the hostel that Jemma had seen in Lonely planet and were quite pleased with our choice – it was quiet and had a courtyard with a tropical garden, hammocks and a fan in the room and it only cost us £3.50 each for a private room. The first thing I did was have a cold shower in the shared outdoor bathroom. I remember being extremely scared about the insects at this point and the heat was so intense I wondered how I was going to cope.

I hung my mosquito net up in our hotel room

As soon as I had had the shower I was drenched in sweat again within 10 minutes. We were both hungry and so headed out to get something to eat before it got too late. We had free vouchers with our flight tickets for cocktails in the 'mosquito bar' near our hostel so we went there first to claim them and got talking to a French girl called Sylvie. I was so hot at this point I could barely sit up, never mind talk. It was about 20.00 but it was still sweltering hot. After the free cocktails we left and went back to the hostel for another shower and went to buy some water. Then we went back to the mosquito bar for food. I had 'river fish and vegetables'. I wanted burger and chips but could hear Lid and my dad's voices in my head saying ' you're in the Amazon and you're eating bl00dy burger and chips?!' So yes Lid, I had river fish for you, and it was actually not too bad...

That night we went to bed with the lights on because I was petrified of the bugs. Before I got into bed (which I had covered with my mosquito net), I went to the toilet and went to shut the door only to find a massive frog staring back at me. It was at this point I knew I was in the Amazon basin.

In the morning we got up and rushed to a near by french bakery to get some breakfast before our tour started. We were only aloud to take a small bag with us on the tour so we packed our little day sacks and stored the big rucksacks in the office of the tour company.

We were on the tour with two Germans (Sandra & Jan), one Swiss (Stephan), and one French girl (Sylvie who we had met the night before in the mosquito bar). The bags were all loaded onto the top of our 4x4 along with the food and water for the next 3 days and off we went, along the dirt track roads, through the jungle villages to the river where we would catch our boat to the pampas.

The jeep ride took 3 hours and on the way we stopped for lunch at a cafe. We also stopped to inspect a sloth that was lying by the side of the road. The tour guide tried to move it a few times with his foot (not sure how ethical this was) but it did not stir. It wasn't dead, just sleeping, as sloths do. When we got to the national park area, we got out of the jeep and changed into our swimming gear and plastered ourselves in sun cream because we knew we would be sitting in the sun for three hours on the canoe. The first thing we noticed when we looked at the river where our canoes were was that it was teeming with caimen (crocodiles).

Our boat

The six of us got into the canoe, along with our bags, the food for the next three days and our guide, and then off we set down the river. (The canoe was motorised and the guide did all the steering). There was also another group in another canoe that stayed with us from the same company. 

The ride along the river was without a doubt my favourite part of our rtw trip so far. It was like something out of pocohontis. We rode along a tropical river under tropical trees and on the way we saw so many different animals and birds, it was fascinating. We saw hundreds of capabayas in family packs and every time we saw a group of them our guide would pull our boat up right beside them so we would get a very close look (inches away). We also saw herons catching fish, toucan

ns, lots and lots of terrapins.... 

Family of capybaras

Terrapins in a line

One of the scariest sights at first were the hundreds and hundreds of caimens (crocodiles). Our tour guide was very young and immature and every time we saw some crocs he would beach the boat on the shore right next to where the crocs were, and the worst thing was that me and Jemma were right at the front of the boat, literally centimetres away from these crocs. It was actually like a Disney ride, like jaws or something. I felt like I was on a ride in Orlando, except it was real, and we were inches away from these crocs. It felt very much like we were dicing with death and I was petrified. So much so that I was screaming at the guide to pull away from the shore but he found it funny and didn't listen. One of the crocs we saw looked so fake, we thought that maybe the company had planted it there as a prop to scare us, in proper Disney fashion. It just wasn’t moving and it looked plastic. Jemma said to me, thats not real, thats a fake one and I thought it was too. The whole boat was convinced it was fake because it was just sitting there smiling with its mouth open and all its teeth showing, just sitting perfectly still with a grin on its face. So we asked the guide if it was a hoax, and then all of a sudden it just took off really fast and ran into the water and swam under the boat!.At one point we were beached alongside a massive black caimen and we tried to pull back off but the boat was stuck. The driver was revving the engine and we finally came away from the shore but then the driver was teasing the croc and all of a sudden it leapt round and swept its tale across, drenching us all with the river water. It was really angry and the tour guide off the other boat actually stopped to ask us if we were ok. Our guide looked genuinely scared and must have had a shock because after that he stopped ploughing us into the caimen.

The croc we thought was a fake

About half way along the river we stopped and the guide told us we could all jump in to swim in the river with the pink river dolphins. So, most of us did (despite the fact that the waters were still teeming with caimen, the guides assured us that the caimen were scared of the dolphins so would not come near). I didn't stay in long because one boy got bitten by a pirhana and I didn't fancy the same thing happening to me. After three hours travelling down the river, we arrived at our eco lodge which was nestled amongst the forest. We were in a big dorm with the other people on our boat and everybody had a bed with a mosquito net. We put our bags down, doused ourselves in some more insect repellent, got our head torches and then headed straight back out in our boat to go and watch the sun set at the sun set bar further along the river. It was basically just a hut that sold cold drinks and had hammocks but it was an amazing place to chill out and watch the sun set over the pampas, with the fireflies flying over the trees and a random group of chickens running about. Jemma found a bag of corn behind the hut and was sending the chickens wild by throwing corn about.

Lying in a hammock with a cold drink for sunset

When the sun went down and it was completely dark we did the most fantastic thing ever, we got back in the boat and went searching for caimens along the river in the dark. It was so much fun, again like a disney ride but real. It reminded me of the pirates of the caribean ride crossed with jaws, crossed with the tikki room. Everywhere we shone our torches, we could see the crocs glowing eyes. Sometimes you would shine the torch next to the boat and see a florescent pair of eyes right in front of you. It was exhilarating.

After our caimen searching, we returned back to the ecolodge for dinner – spaghetti bolognase. Nobody wanted to stay up late as we were all tired so we headed straight off to bed in our dorm. The rooms in the lodge were separated only by green insect netting so it was really just like one huge dorm of about 100 beds. I quite liked it as it made me feel safe from all of the animals. I picked a bed away from the walls and tucked in my mosquito net before going outside to the sink to brush my teeth and have a shower. It was sweltering hot still at this point so I just washed my hair and went to bed with wet hair. It was very refreshing to have a cold shower at 21.00. It was a new experience trying to manoevre everywhere in the dark and have a shower in the dark with frogs, flies and spiders around but I actually really enjoyed it.

The next day we got up early for breakfast around 6.00 before heading out to look for anacondas. We got in our boat and sailed up the river to a spot where the guide said they didn’t take people very often because they usually didn’t have enough fuel to get there. It was a cloudy day but we were all covered up in hats and long sleeved shirts, trousers and also wellies. The guide told us it would be an hours walk to the place where the snakes would be and that we would all need to take a 2 litre bottle of water with us to keep us hydrated. I expected the walk to be difficult but I had no idea of the kind of terrain we would be walking through. We walked through untouched jungle with long grasses and reeds that came above our heads which we just had to struggle through. We walked at such a fast pace through the long plants that sometimes I stumbled and caught my foot in the branches. It was really really difficult to walk through and we really marched fast. Add to this the fact that it was boiling hot, humid and I was sweating out all of the water I drank. I was also worried about which animals I might encounter – this was after all the habitat of anacondas. When we finally arrived at the marshland after an hour of solid speed walking my shirt was stuck to me with sweat and I had drank over half my supply of water. We went straight into the marsh which was like quicksand and the wed mud just engulfed you. I had forgotten to tuck my trousers back into my wellies so my trousers were caked in mud right up to the knee. After about 15 minutes of everyone trudging around in the mud looking for snakes, one boy signalled to the group that he had found one and we all hurried over to have a look. It wasn't an anaconda but a fast moving cobra that was slithering amongst the mud and reeds. 

Look closely and you will see a cobra...

We took some pictures and then spent about another hour looking for more snakes. We never actually saw an anaconda (apparently it is is really rare for a group even to see one snake) but we did see a second cobra which again, the guide showed his immaturity by poking it with a stick and provoking it. He stopped after it made a dive at him. The hour long walk back to the boat was awful because I had sweated off all of my suncreme, was drenched in sweat, had very little water left and was really hungry. Also, by this point, it was midday and the sun was extremely hot. The walk back was 10 times harder than the walk there and it was a real test of stamina and physical strength; I wouldn't like to have to do it again- it was definitely one of the most physically demanding things I have ever done in my life (second to hiking the grandcanyon and running out of water).

We got back in our boat and sailed back under the baking sun to the ecolodge. When we arrived I didn't even stop to take my shoes or shirt off, I just ran straight in the shower fully clothed and then hung all of my clothes out in the sun to dry. An hour later they were completely dry.

We had lunch and then after lunch we chilled for a bit in the hammocks before heading out along the stream to go pirhana fishing. We had a pot of raw meat to use as bait and everyone had a little bit of fishing line with a hook. Some people caught a load of pirhanas, including Jemma who caught a little one. I didnt catch any as they all wriggled off the hook and after a while I just felt tired and faint from the heat so I just sat and watched the others fish. When we got back to the camp we had the pirhanas for dinner with pasta and vegetables.

Piranha and pasta

 We watched the sun set one last time over the pampas before heading back to our mosquito netted beds. I was woken up at about midnight by the sound of a torrential tropical thunderstorm which continued all through the night and was still going when we woke up. It was a monsoon that completely submerged our boat and meant that we couldnt go out the next morning to look at the wildlife. I quite liked it as it was quite cosy being stranded in the little lodge watching the rain pelting down into the river. There was a little boy staying at the lodge who was the son of one of the cooks. He was called Raphael, he was four, and he was SO CUTE. He kept me entertained the whole morning, teaching me about all of the animals and birds in the rainforest. He really was the cutest little boy ever. I want a Bolivian baby.

Raphael

The rain finally stopped just after lunch and we sailed back up the river to where we had started, watching all of the caimen and terrapins as we went. We then had a 3 hour jeep ride back to Rurrenabaque along some very muddy roads (because of the rain). At one point we passed a lorry that had come off the road and was trapped in the mud. We also saw pigs who were really enjoying themselves in the mud.

When we got back to Rurrenabaque (our little jungle town), we said goodbye to our guide and then we all decided to meet up for dinner. We had a quick shower and then went to the local bar for dinner and 2 for 1 cocktails. (Mosquito bar). It was a really nice evening with great international company (French, German, Swiss...). Sylvia, our friend from Grenoble, decided to take the bus back to la Paz (rather than flying, because there were no flights for another 3 days). I hope that she will be ok because the buses are notoriously deadly and drive along the famous death road to get to la Paz. When we first arrived in Rurrenbaqe, one Dutch boy told us about how the bus he had been on had gone over on its side into a river and all the windows had smashed and the bus started filling with water.   To be continued!

Photos: Amazon photos