Erin & Regan's South American Adventure

Hola,

A shot of Rurre before we left.  A shot of the boat as we were leaving.

The scenery on our 3 hour boat trip up river to the base camp.

To understand the jungle you need to take one sauna, add dense forest and every biting insect on the planet, put on long pants and a long top (to prevent bites from bugs), load yourself up with 10-15 kilos, and walk for 3-4 hours.  Lets just say, you will never be dry again.

We forgot to take photos of base camp.  Suffice to say it was rustic.  Two huts on stilts with plastic and netting for walls.

On that first day we went for a walk for a few hours into the jungle surrounding the camp.  The guides found this tree particularly amusing.  It´s roots dig down into the earth in search of water.

There are ants EVERYWHERE!  These guys were industriously carrying pieces of leaves.  Apparently they will strip an entire tree bare given enough time.

There are some big trees here.

And plenty of mushrooms.

Some odd plants too.

One plant has branches which can be made into useful things.  Much like flax (tho this one is some sort of palm).

An interesting flower.

Tarantula!

On the next day we left for our 2nd camp on the bank of another river.  On the way we stopped to play Tarzan and Jane.

The jungle does not lack for colour.

Our guide Alex decided it would be fun to paint the gringos with traditional dye made by crushing dark green leaves and adding water.

More funghi.

Our camp.

That night we went for a 3 hour walk in search of animals.  We saw an armadillo, a rat, some nocturnal monkeys but no pumas :(

The next morning we awoke to the sound of... bees!  They were everywhere, apparently they like to collect the salt from your sweat.  Neither our guide nor cook appeared to be particularly bothered by them.  The secret is to have a bath in the river and wear new clothes without sweat.  The problem is that for us it was too hot and we started to sweat even when mostly naked.

There were an assortment of other bugs too.

We left camp to do some fishing and on the way spotted some pigs.  The fishing was unsuccessful, again.  We´re just not fishermen.

There are some really big trees here, so big you can make a small shelter between the roots!

We cannot recall exactly which tree this is, it could be the "Curare" tree, it has a very toxic sap.  So toxic if you ingest it you die, if you get it on your skin or in your eyes it burns.

Un Arbol de Leche (milk tree).  It tasted a bit woody.

Our campfire, dinner time!  They weren´t too fussed about letting the bees have a bit of dinner too.

That night Alex started to prepare a bow and 2 arrows for me.  They use these to hunt fish, monkeys, etc.  Sometimes with Curare tipped arrows.  If you use Curare the secret is to drain all the blood and wash the meat before you eat it.

Erin got artistic again.

 

That night it rained, and rained, and rained.  We didn´t go for another night walk, we had an early night.  This pleased me immensely.

The next morning we packed up our camp.

More funghi.

Erin the explorer.

More funghi.

This tree has spines to prevent vines from strangling it to death.

A great big city of spiders.

A jungle snail.

El arbol de agua.  This is actually a vine which can grow quite far underground in search of water.  The water tastes really good.  It is filtered through many small holes in the wood.  This plant is being investigated for its cancer curing properties.

A flower.

Yet more funghi.

We left a note, on a mushroom for the next group of explorers.

The intrepid explorers.

Back at base camp.  Trying to dry out.

We spent a few hours making jewellery.  Alex made us both a necklance and Erin got an earing and a bracelet as well.  I made some rings, perhaps 8 in total.  One ring broke so I tried it out as a nose ring.

The next morning we slogged through thigh high mud, crossed a river and climbed a small hill in search of parrots.  Sadly a previous group seemed to have scared them all away.  We got a few shots of the view.

We found it amusing to be in jandals in the jungle.

Once again, for the benefit of 2 other tourists with us, I got my face painted and the guides played silly buggers.

The trip back was much faster (down stream).  Here is a single shot of the view.

That night we went out with our guides and some of their friends to sing karaoke and dance.  Well, Erin danced anyway.  (Erin writing now) They are all incredibly good dancers and would put almost anyone at home to shame.  I gave it my best shot but I´m afraid I was pretty terrible.  Maybe I´ll have to come back and learn!

On the way home at approximately 2:30am we took a photo of one of the enormous cockroach like bugs lying in the road - probably hit by one of the many motorbikes in Rurre.

The place we stayed in Rurre.  It was funny every time we walked out the gate because you could hear the frogs - they make a sound similar to what you´d hear in a computer game.

The streets of Rurre on our way to the airport.

 

This was the controller guy who waved in the plane as it arrived.  Note the sunglasses and jeans.  He was also wearing sneakers which aren´t quite visible.

We made it to La Paz safely where we are now freezing.  I miss Rurre! (Erin)  Regan doesn´t miss the sweating.