Hi again!

Well, it's been a busy few weeks in Bolivia, but this newest blog will finally bring us completely up to date!


WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE

After a week or so settling into La Paz, we decided it was time to see something new - the jungle! So, after a little deliberation on whether to take a 12 - 20 hour bus ride or a 40 minute flight to Bolivia's portion of the Amazon Basin, we quickly decided on the flight! We took a taxi to the high suburb of El Alto (means the high weirdly enough!) where the military airport is. Yes we went with the slightly cheaper military flight but don't worry all perfectly legit, they even gave us a sandwich. During the flight we were treated to an incredible view of the Andes from above before we flew above the clouds. And when we came back down we were in the middle of the jungle! The plane landed on a grass strip and there seemed to be nothing but jungle covered mountains all around. And man was the climate different! The humidity was stifling as soon as we stepped off the plane and we knew we wouldn't be needing the jumpers we brought. After politely refusing a lift into town on one of the local taxis ( yup just a guy on a motorbike- hop on!) we met up with a guy from Fluvial Tours, a company we had heard of. Soon we figured out a lift into to town and our jungle tour for the next three days- sweet! We had a good, if hot nights sleep with some little wall lizards watching over us. The next day we headed to the Fluvial offices and hopped into a jeep with 6 others- a Swiss girl, Lea and 5 rather noisy New Zealand boys! It was a squishy three hour drive to our first destination with a few distractions including driving through a herd of Brahmin cattle and seeing a huge snake in the road. Then we arrived at the port where we would catch a boat to our jungle camp. During this one hour trip we saw some of the beautiful Beni river (a tributary of the Amazon) and started to see some of the famed wildlife. First we spied a caiman (similar to an alligator) sun banking on the banks of the river. As soon as we'd seen one they seemed to pop up everywhere- in the reeds, lurking beneath bushes and many more on the banks, some with jaws wide open! We also saw an animal called a Capybara which is the largest of the rodent family- yes a very large rat! They are furry with whiskers and are about the size of large pigs- quite freaky! Many turtles abound also, resting on branches in groups of 4 and 5. We stopped at one point where there were fresh water dolphins. Amazing to see and impossible to catch on camera, some of the boys even hopped out the boat to swim with them and at one stage the dolphins appeared to be playing with them! Soon we arrived at our lovely jungle camp- complete with flushing toilets! The best feature had to be the hammocks over looking the busy river where we spent some time watching dolphins, caimans and capybaras. Our guide Bismal by the way was very good, though much more comfortable speaking in Spanish then English so I acted as a translator between him and the New Zealand boys who don't speak Spanish. He let us know our itinerary for the next few days. And the first thing in our plans was a visit to a bar- yes in the middle of the jungle, a hut on stilts which sold overpriced beers and had an amazing view over the pampas of the beautiful sunset. On the way back we did a little night time caiman spotting. Using our torches we could occasionally spot the little red eyes of the predators. At first we saw a few but soon we stopped and the red eyes seem to be literally all around us. When we started to actually hear the larger caimans it started to get a little scary- they grunt!!

ANACONDA!

The next day, we left the river and headed into the surrounding pampas or grasslands to search for anacondas! Armed with our trusty camera and sporting some very fashionable gumboots, we hiked through grass, weeds, swamps and water and mud up to our knees in some cases, and after about an hour, our hard work paid off. Coiled up in a swampy area around reeds some two meters high, Bismal spotted our first anaconda, which darted off amongst weeds shortly after we saw it. Incredibly quick! It must be said that this was quite an achievement as groups only sometimes get to see an anaconda and only 5 of us who had managed to keep up with Bismal got to see it! We hiked for another hour or so (thirsty work!) and saw some snake remains, with some big, big birds nested above (it really is easy to make the connection to dinosaurs!) and shortly after saw a complete snakeskin - enormous! Later we came to a clearing and saw a wide section of the river and again, our guide pointed out another snake. We had to strain our eyes hard to spot this one - this time just a head sticking out above the water in the middle of the water! After this sighting, we began to make our way back to camp, very hungry after about four hours trudging through some very difficult terrain. Later, after lunch, we jumped back in the boat and made our way upstream away from camp, searching for a good spot for piranha fishing! We decided to stop at a point close to where, after driving over what must have been a school of sardine, our boat was filled with about twenty small fish jumping in out of the water. We stopped and baited our lines with little cubes of beef, which the fish below seemed to love, but despite lots of nibbles, the fish proved difficult to hook. Often, after about 15 seconds dangling our lines in the water, the piranhas would manage to clean the hooks without being snared. However, after about 10 minutes of frustration, Hayley came through with the first catch - a very small catfish! Soon after this, she struck again and netted a decent sized piranha - not too bad for her first time! (Hayley adds: I am clearly the best fisher person in the world- first fish and first pirahana!) A couple of us followed this success, with about half of us catching a piranha each (some of the boys were not so lucky!). My technique, I must admit was a little stodgy; frustrated at not being able to hook the fish, I decided the best option was to flick them into the boat while they were still nibbling on the bait - effective! Later, after netting about 6 decent sized piranhas, we made our way back to camp, on the way stopping at a football pitch/volleyball court were we played with some fellow sightseers until the sun went down. Later, back at camp, we tucked into our dinner, which included our day's haul - not a lot of meat to piranhas but very tasty nonetheless!

RETURN TO RURRENABAQUE

The next day we got up very early to go and watch the sunrise in the nearby pampas (a couple of the boys decided to get some extra beauty sleep) which was spectacular! (We'll let the photos do the talking) We spent the rest of the morning lazing in the hammocks, watching monkeys (there were tiny yellow monkeys, howler monkeys and capuchin monkeys with white fur around their face who lived around our camp and they were so cute!) and later ate some lunch (which we were distracted from when an anaconda made its way to camp!) and then headed back towards the port where our jeep was waiting to take us back to town. Our long boat trip back was broken up half way, when we stopped and all jumped in for a swim with the dolphins - awesome! Later that night, we went to the most popular bar in Rurrenebaque, where we enjoyed happy hour fruity cocktails, and watched some of the Kiwi boys perform the haka, which was actually quite impressive. We had an early start again the next day to catch our 8:20am flight back to La Paz which was largely uneventful.

SICKOS

After this we more or less spent a week sick in our hotel room, Hayley with a strain of salmonella and myself with suspected altitude sickness. So, we have decided to spare you on the details of this, and fast-forward a week to when we were feeling a little better, and decided to take another excursion based around the world's highest lake, Lago Titicaca, situated on the border with Peru and Bolivia.

GREAT LAKE

It took a three hour bus ride to get to Copacabana, a small town on the shore of Titicaca. It was quite an interesting ride as after two hours we got off the bus, the bus got on barge and we got on a smaller boat and crossed a small strait. On the other side was the peninsula on which Copacabana lies. Mind you we had been experiencing a great view of the Lago for at least the last hour- it really is huge! As soon as we arrived in Copacabana, we headed to the shore as we were planning to stay on one of the lakes islands, Isla del Sol. It was a beautiful one hour boat trip before we reached the isla. There we were immediately confronted by a huge set of steps which we soon figured we had to climb in order to reach the village we wanted to stay in for the night. They were quite impressive (built by the Incas) but man it was a tough climb at 3800 m altitude! When we reached the top we tagged along with another couple and found a great little place to stay- just three rooms with incredible views of the lake and a bit more out of the way than some other places. From our little terrace we watched as the people of the island made their way home for the day- men herding sheep, boys leading baby lllamas and whole families with donkeys loaded up with water, hay etc. One of the things I really loved about Isla del Sol was the fact that it doesn't exist solely for tourists- lots of families who farm sheep and crops also live there which was interesting to see. The next day the plan was to hike across the island to he North side where the most extensive ruins lie. Isla del Sol is an incredibly significant place in Incan Mythology and has many very well preserved ruins. So we set off on a loong trek across the island (I still wasn't 100 percent well at this time unfortunately) and had some great views of the lake along the way as well as getting to see a lot of the terraces originally built into the island by the Incas for farming hundreds of years ago. After a few hours we reached our destination of some beautiful maze like ruins on the very north tip of the island. We explored for a while- it was quite amazing to see the place where the Sun was said to be born!! Instead of taking the walk back we took a slightly expensive private boat back to the south side where we prepared to head back to La Paz!

Well, next it's off to Peru! Hope everyone is well, missing you all lots!

Hayley and Ryan