Erin & Regan's South American Adventure

Hola,

We took a 17 seater plane from La Paz to Rurrenabaque, after waiting an extra day for the weather to clear.  The plane lands on a grass runway and can only land when it´s dry.

Some shots of the jungle from the plane, and a shot of our plane at the "airport" in Rurre.

The day before we left we happened to bump into some people we met earlier in Cusco, Peru.  They recommended a company in Rurre, it also happened to be the cheapest so we were quite happy to go straight there and book a 3 day tour of the Pampas.

The morning we left it rained... and rained... and rained.  The first part of the trip is a 3 hour drive in a 4x4 on the terrible roads in the area, mostly dirt (now mud) and a few stones.  We stopped for lunch in Santa Rosa an even smaller town near the pampas.

Then... our driver who had been almost falling asleep at the wheel for most of the trip drove into the ditch.  We think he was preparing to avoid another oncoming 4x4 which had just freed itself from doing the same thing (when avoiding a 3rd 4x4 going the same way as us).

We arrived at the river into the Pampas and someone bailed out a boat for us.  It was still raining so we donned our 2 boliviano ponchos for the boat ride to our camp.

 

Along the way we saw a few birds.

And some howler monkeys and a smaller type also.

Some nice landscapes.

And the cutest little monkeys you ever saw, right down by the riverside and quite keen to investigate the tourists in the boats.  Perhaps hoping for some snacks.

More birds.

Our camp.

Some scenery as it aproached night.

 

This little guy was sitting right by the river bank that night.

The next morning we were introduced to "Mosley" the resident alligator. He enjoys pasta and long walks on the beach... and maybe a tourist or two.

More scenery, and a toucan.  These guys never let the boat get that close.

The guide from another group came for a walk with us to hunt for Anacondas.  He managed to collect this critter.  The bright colours indicate it´s quite toxic, he was keen to get rid of it.

This is what we were walking through.  In some places the water was thigh deep.  They loaned us gumboots (a photo of them later).

These wetlands are full of wildlife.

Eventually we found a snake, not the large type of Anaconda but a smaller variety.  The guides referred to it as a Cobra.  (We later learned another name but have forgotten it.  We also learned that it wasn´t in fact poisonous as we were led to believe at this stage).

From there we visited a local house, they had some cute little creatures called "Tejon".  These guys were only 25 days old, their parents were killed by dogs.  These creatures live at the tops of trees and can survive a fall from incredible heights.  They make a really odd high pitched squeaking noise.

We were fortunate to spot a sloth.

Another type of howler monkey.

And then we went swimming with the pink (that´s right, they´re really pink) dolphins.  However (as Robert said) it was like swimming in Coca-cola so you couldn´t even see them when they were one meter away.  The water was really warm in places.

Scenery.

Us.

Another bird.

The sunset on the 2nd day.

Erin was feeling a little artistic and playing with the various functions of the camera.  She quite likes this shot.

The next morning we were up early to catch the sunrise.

We returned to camp for breakfast and saw a group of howler monkeys in the trees around our camp.

Our lodgings, such as they were.

After breakfast we went piranha fishing.  Sadly they were not biting there.

Some birds we saw on the way.

After the dismal fishing attempt we returned to see "Mosley" having his breakfast of pasta.

Erin took a few shots of the toilet and shower, and another "artistic" shot of the gumboots.

We then hopped back in the boat to return to Rurre.  Here is a shot of the rest of the group in the boat and a turtle, one of many, we saw on the way back.

We had another go at piranha fishing in a small lagoon by the roadside.  This time they were biting.  The little buggers would steal the bait right off the hook within seconds of it landing in the water.  You had to be quick and give the line a tug at just the right moment.  We never quite mastered it, we´re definitely not fishermen.

Upon our return we received a free t-shirt from the company and also booked a 5 day tour of the jungle.