Tuesday morning I was up early to catch the flight to Rurrenebaque about 45 minutes by plane from La Paz. Thankfully the flight took no longer than this as we were in a tiny plane with one overused seat on either side of the aisle. Nevertheless the scenery on the flight was stunning as we flew out of the urban sprawl of La Paz, over some snow capped mountains and then down over some serious jungle.

Upon landing in Rurre we went through the airport which looked more like someones house and out into sun to be greeted by a fleet of Taxi Moto which turned out to be the only way into Rurre without walking. So I picked a relatively safe looking driver and vehicle and headed towards my hostel (sorry mum).

The hostel was pretty luxurious by Bolivian standards with hammocks, a semi functioning fan and cold showers. I had a quick wander around Rurre which was a lovely town and quite picturesque with the backdrop of the River Beni and the hillside jungle. I did this until I found a bar showing the Barcelona game and so I couldn´t resist a quick beer and a game of football. As it turned out the barman was an Aussie who had moved over 15 years ago with his wife and set up this bar and so I had a good chat with him for an hour or so.

My plan for the evening was nothing special, maybe chill in the hammock, grab some dinner and go to bed. Then I was approached by an English couple in their 20s from London offering me free Caiprinhas if I went to the bar they worked at and I just couldn´t resist. I decided to grab some food there for convenience sake (so their marketing ploy worked a treat) and ended up spending the evening playing pool with a group of around 8 English people and one wasted Aussie before heading to bed at midnight so I was ready for the Pampas tour the next day.

Wednesday it was up early for a 4 hour jeep ride with 9 people to get to the boats to take us through the rivers. From here we then took a small boat for 2 hours which was great as we got to see plenty of Las Pampas along the way including a whole host of little monkeys that tried to steal the carrots off the front of the boat.

By the time we arrived at the camp, which was less of a camp and more of a village on stilts, it was quite late so we headed out to watch the sunset and have game of football against the Bolivians. I am ashamed to say this ended in true Wycombe Tigers fashion with a 5-1 defeat due to a dodgy Austrian goalkeeper letting in shots from half way.

Once the night had fully set in we headed off to go alligator hunting in the dark which was really good as we got really close to a baby that was probably only 20cm long. I was however quite concerned that the mum could come steaming out of the bushes at any point and thankfully we moved on quite quickly. It was time for another early night as the next day was due to be very busy.

The Thursday started with Anaconda hunting in the swamps which involved trudging up and down a bog hoping to spot a 4 metre snake. The problem for me was not the snakes but the shoes as we were given wellies to wear but with the Bolivians only had the maximum of a size 9 which proved problematic with my size 13 feet. Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on how you feel about snakes) we wee unable to find any anacondas as it is out of season however we did see a 3 metre long Boa Constrictor up a tree. We then headed back to the camp for lunch and a much needed shower.

The afternon was probably the most enjoyable part of this trip as we headed out Pirhana fishing on the river for an hour or so and I am very proud to say I managed to catch one. Having said that I was put to shame by the guide who caught 4 and killed them all by biting them in the forehead which I thought was a fairly unorthadox method. He also showed us just what pirhana teeth can do by holding a live one next to a leaf and in less than 10 seconds it had destroyed it. That evening we went to bed early again as we had to be up early to watch the sun rise.

The early start was a bit of a struggle; however, it was more than worth it as the sunrise over the Pampas was stunning. At that point we headed back to the cmp to find Pedro the alligator hanging around the kitchen so the guide decided to test its reflexes by chucking off cuts of meat at it. The reaction speed of this beast was incredible, it didn´t move until the last minute and then it would snap up the meat with the utmost precision.

We finally headed out for the last activity of the tour which was swimming with wild dolphins. I was excited but a little worried as it seemed to be very near the place we went pirhana fishing and alligator hunting. However, the guide told us it was safe and with a certain amount of intrepidation we all jumped in. After the initial nerves it was great fun and a whole school of wild pink dolphins came and swam around us getting as close as about a metre away. After about half an hour the dolphins disappeared and we got in the boat to head back to camp.

We then packed our bags and headed off back to Rurre with the grim 5 hour journey ahead. On arrival in Rurre I headed to the hostel, showered and then went out for dinner, some drinks and some pool with 2 aussies who were on the same trip but by 10 I was destroyed and it was time to sleep.

All in all my time in Rurre was amazing and we managed to cram so much into such a short time thanks to the brilliant guide. Next up it is back to La Paz and then on to Lake Titicaca which should be stunning as well.

Much love,

Charlie