The jungle!

So we are off to the jungle!! First a fourty minute flight to Rurrenbaque.. Sounds simple enough.. Well it wasnt! We got to the airport, and because i had been told the jungle would be soo hot i had a pair of leggings on and a vest top and flip flops.. There was snow outside the la paz airport! Omg i was FREEZING!! And then to make it worse there was a 3 hour delay, because there military parade for some passing over of the colonel or something! It took the piss! They did it right in the middle of the runway so we just had to wait!! It was the weirdest airport anyway, no passport checks, no baggage checks, nothing... Lets hope no1 wanted to hijack the plane!! So once we finally got on the plane to take off.. It was special to say the least! Only had propellers (never been on a plane like that) and there were again no safety checks they just handed you a sandwich as you walked on and then it was every man for himself. Think RyanAir but then make it 20times worse!! The flight was only 40minutes but i have never been air sick until that moment! Longest 40 minutes of my life!! And coming into land was dreadful! He literally just pointed the nose downwards!!

So anyway once the flight was over and we finally arrived in Rurrenbaque it got better.. It was HOT! We wandered around for a bit and met some people who we were going to be doing the tour with so that was nice, and everyone told me to buy a long sleeved shirt as all i had was vest tops.. So off we went to buy them all i could find was second hand shirts! It was disgusting!! I finally found one that didnt smell and looked relatively ok.. Tom found a Ralph Lauren one!! Looks so good, all i had was this disgusting stripy one! Ha!! Then we went for a quick dinner with this lad who would be doing our tour with us and i had this most incredible fish ever, it was a local one only available there and even Tom liked it, it was that good!! After a few cocktails (so good not to drink beer- which is making me fat by the way) in the Mosquito bar (fitting) we headed to bed early ready for the JUNGLE!

The Jungle Pampus Tour

Day 1

We were supposed to set off at 8:30 but like all South America they were running incredibly late!! We had AMAZING breakfast thou, next to the tour place there was this French pastry shop- called Paris, tres orginal- so we had pain au chocolates and crossiants! PERFECT!! We got going about 10.. And set off on a three hour jeep ride into the jungle.. It was lllloooonnnnngggg.. The roads were dirt tracks and all bumpy and dusty.. And it was hot but raining! We werent impressed! Once we arrived at the start of the jungle we were cold and in pain.. But that wasnt the travelling over, we then had to get on a two hour boat to get to our camp.. It was FREEZING on the boat and our tour guide kept taking us through bushes.. Im not even joking, he thought it was hilarious! I didnt! You had to literally duck or push the bushes out the way! All i could think about was the bugs and how much i was going to hate the next three days! Ha! We saw a few aligators on the way but not too many and we saw a pink dolphin which was pretty cool! But the best bit had to be feeding the monkeys!! These little yellow and black monkeys! Sooo cute! And they came onto the boats to take bananas from you! It was a big achievement for me to actually hold a banana so i made sure Tom got a movie of the monkey taking it from me!! Sooo cool!

Once we got to camp, which was wooden huts raised off the floor to avoid to alligators we had dinner and the were off out again this time to go alligator watching.. By this time it was about 8pm! I was FROZE! To add to that we didnt really see any! Yeah we saw about 4.. But I'd say it was a bit of a waste of time all you could do was see their eyes, which were orange or white.. Yeah yeah cool for the first one.. Not so much after ploughing throu four more bushes! Ha!!
After this we just went back to camp and started a fire and sat around chatting it was pretty cool, until we all timed it wrong and the lights went off and we had to try and get into bed in the dark!! Fun stuff!

Day two

So today we went Anaconda searching.. Nope not joking we were actually going to voluntary search for snakes which can grow to a size which then means they can eat cows! EXCELLENT! Oh also i HATE snakes.. So anyway we had wellies on and were wading throu marsh land, or the swamp/pampus.. It was DISGUSTING! It smelt so bad and there were 50billion flies and the water nearly came over your wellies at most parts! Errggggghhhh! Anyway we walked for what felt like years and finally (and supiciously!) this guy shouts (from behind a bush) "Anaconda Anaconda!!" So we all rush (some people were running, I blatentely wasnt rushing to see this HUGE snake which has the capability to eat me whole) and we see it.. Firstly, it was a baby one, (so i wasnt going to be eaten whole at least), and secondly the guy who found it was wearing a now empty backpack!! But whatever we saw one and got photos! People kept touching it which i think is disgusting! But there you go each to their own, (you do get some travellers who literally throw themselves into it!- wierdos).
After this joyus occasion we went back to the camp and had a two hour seista.. I needed it! Ha! And then were off out again, this time to fish for Prinahas! Yes thats right, first we look for Anaconda's and now we are fishing the flesh eating fish! Brilliant! As you can probably imagine, i didnt catch a Prinaha! I wasnt trying too hard if im honest, i got bored after the first 10 minutes and there were again a lot of flies!! The best bit was there were 3 guys in our group and 5 girls and 3 out of the 5 girls were the only ones to catch a fish.. The boys were not happy!! Haha! Naturally once the girls had caught the fish you had what you can imagine girls do once they catch a flesh eating fish... A lot of screaming. It was hilarious! They then had to kill it by hitting it on the head.. I know its mean but it was honestly the highlight of the trip!! Haha!!
We then got to eat the fish back at camp for dinner, and i must say, Piranha is not nice! It wasnt flavoured at all and didnt even taste like chicken! Ha!

Day three

Our last day. We got up mega early to go and watch the sunrise.. Which was nice... ish. There were 50 trillion flies and mosqutios, i wasnt impressed but the scenery was nice, looked like something out of the Lion King!
We then went to swim with the pink dolphins! In the river.. The most dirtest water ever! I was not excited.. Firstly lets just get this out there, Tom didnt go in! Ha! Wimp! I did!! I actually swam in the digusting water which we had spotted alligators in and caught Piranhas in! I didnt however touch the dolphins! People did but they were bitten and i didnt particulary fancy that at all! I was just proud of myself for getting in the water at all!! Haha!

We then had lunch and headed back to catch the jeeps back to Rurrenbaque! On the way we saw soooo many alligators, all just chilling with their mouths open! Some were terrifyingly big!! Again not sure why i went in the same river!! Ha!

We got back to Rurrenbaque after another painful three hour jeep journey and went out for dinner with the people from our group which was really nice and then some celebratory drinks at the mostquito bar! (after all none of us got eaten!)

Then a short death flight back to La Paz!! I must say I really really enjoyed the pampus tour, and my first ever experience of the jungle but i definately dont think ill be making it a regular thing! The same goes for fishing! Omg yawnfest!!

Speak soon! Muchos love.

XxX