16th March La Paz to Rurrenabaque
Left La Paz airport in a 19 seater propeller plane - bit of a bumpy ride. Landed on a grass airstrip then jumped on a 4WD for a 3 hour ride to the Yacuma River. An hour into the ride we came across our first Anaconda about 5 ft long- slithered across the road. Everyone else was excited, I was petrified. We then saw a capyburra which is like an overgrown guinea pig. Lots of cows, horses and birds. Driving on these roads is an experience in itself. The driver gave way to no one, the ruts in the road were deep and the bumps left you airborne. We then boarded a wooden canoe for 3 hours and headed upstream to our lodgings which were on stilts over the river. We arrived in time for sunset which was beautiful. As we walked along the boardwalk to the bar, there were eyes watching us, speckled caimans, turtles and monkeys. The jungle noises were loud and intriging. The cooks gave the leftovers to the caiman. One of them had spaghetti hanging out of its mouth, absolutely hilarious. We went for a spotlight ride in the canoe to see what other animals we could find. Caiman everywhere.
17th March
I was awoken by the noises of the Red Howling Monkeys and the yellow squirrel monkeys. They were playing in the trees behind our lodge. What fascinating creatures. The speckled caiman was back waiting for breakfast scraps. A large black caiman floated past and dolphins played out front of the Sunset bar. We boarded our canoe and went to the Pampas area in search of anacondas. I was hesitant to go, but decided to face my fears. We all had gumboots on and were swooshing through the mud until we found some dry land. I kept to the well worn tracks and made a lot of noise. I was so pleased we did not see any large ones, there were two one metre sightings. Back to the lodge for lunch and then swimming with the pink dolphins. Wow what an experience to see these animals in the river. They were playful. Then we went Pirahna fishing with left over meat scraps. We caught three.
Went back to lodge and rested in hammocks and back to the Sunset bar for night caps.
18th March
Morning river cruise on boat. We saw Black Howling Monkeys, Red Howling Monkeys, Yellow Squirrel Monkeys, caiman, storks, lots of birds and yellow macaws. Packed up camp and headed back to the 4WDs. Another long day travelling. Arrived in Rurrenabaque and checked into our motel which had hot running water. We all went to the Moskito Bar for dinner and drinks.
19th March
Checked out of motel and walked around the small quaint town and found a small pizza shop and had an early lunch before our 2pm flight back to La Paz. The flight was delayed for 3.5 hours, no one told us it was delayed, lucky we had a few packs of cards which helped pass the time. We boarded a military aircraft which seated 38 passengers. The luggage was in the same compartment as us. We landed in a different airport in La Paz. Arrived back at our hotel at 7.30pm. This was Jenny and Suea´s last night. Had quick showers and headed to Olivers Travels Pub for a costume night.
20th March
La Paz
Free day. woo hoo......................