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Sunday 1 December (wow, now where has time gone! I have been travelling for over a year now and it feels like yesterday I was at home. Although I have experienced so much, it does not feel like a year of travelling, that's for sure). Anyway, I started this new month visiting Valle De La Luna, which is a popular place for both Bolivians and tourists to visit. It is an area of strange grey rock formations that look like stalagmites- a really peculiar thing to see. You can visit with an agency for something like 60B but I decided to jump on the micro for 4B instead. I paid my entrance fee of something like 20B and spent the rest of the afternoon wondering around the area, sitting and chilling, enjoying the views, thinking a little, taking photos and reading my book. It was a great afternoon with clear sky and not many people passed by, so it was a great afternoon relaxing. The landscape is very different all around as further into the distance and you see huge red, purple and black cliffs surrounding La Paz city, in which you can also see in the distance. The other side is completely different again, surrounded by green plants and grass. They even have created a golf course here (Dad you would LOVE to play here!) Quite content I headed back to the city, brought a hat for my Pampas tour and spent the evening packing my bags for the jungle.
On Monday I spent the morning trying to get to the airport as the locals were kind enough to strike today and block many of the roads surrounding the city centre (what a surprise!) Luckily I bumped into 4 Austrian guys who were also trying to get to the airport so having spent just under an hour trying to find a micro, we decided to jump in a taxi so we wouldn't miss our flight...well that wasn't going to happen was it - when we eventually arrived we ended up waiting over 3 hours to be told that the flight with the TAM airline was cancelled until the following morning. I went with the Austrian guys to find a hostel close by for the evening. So we managed to find somewhere to stay, but it surely wasn't a hostel. It was just a place where you could stay one night...that was above a night club. OPS! We ended up chilling, sleeping and went for dinner in a local restaurant. A very productive day hey!
It was an early start on Tuesday; we were up at 4am for check-in at 5am. Again we had a bit of waiting but eventually we were up, up, up and away. The views were incredible from the sky and I was lucky enough to get to sit by a German lady who had been living in La Paz for several years, so we had a very interesting conversation for the duration of the flight (which was about 1 hour, as opposed to a 20+ hour, very dangerous bus ride- think I´d rather pay a little more for the comfort and safety) The difference in temperature from la Paz to Rurrenabaque was incredible. After just an hour flight I have come from a city 3000meters above sea level and arrive at sea level with an increase in temperature of 15 degrees, maybe more! We were greeted by the Pampas Tour company, Fluvial Tours, and were told to jump in a van that would take us to the main town. After spraying our entire bodies with insect repellent and tucking into some delicious chocolate croissants from the French bakery next door, 9 of us jumped in the jeep and set off to start our 3 day Pampas Tour. The group consisted of 4 Austrains, 2 quiet French guys and 2 not-so-quiet Canadian girls. As a group we worked well and got on fine so it made the 3 days pleasant. The 3 hour jeep ride was rather bumpy but it gave us an opportunity to introduce ourselves before we had to get on the boat.
We were extremely lucky on the Pampas trip as we managed to see lots of different animals along the way: many different birds, monkeys, capybara (the largest rodent in the world. Its closest relatives are guinea pigs), turtles, toucans, herrings, anacondas...
We had a morning of snake spotting and I managed to find a Cobra in the swaps after just 20 minutes of starting our search J. In the afternoon we played with the pink dolphins in the river and they enjoyed swimming up close and then splashing us with water. We watched the sunset with a beer and played some volleyball one evening and then watched the sunrise the following day. The tour was enjoyable: it was very chilled with lots of free time to read a book or chat, the guide was good fun and full of enthusiasm trying to find the animals, the food was great and we had plenty and to top it off we were very lucky with the weather too! It was pretty much 3 days of sitting in the boat, so not very 'adventurous' as such, but we did see many animals.
When I returned to Rurrenabaque on Thursday 5 December, I decided to change my flight and stay in the jungle for a little longer. I realised I was only going to be here once so I wanted to see it and experience the true Jungle properly and I didn´t feel satisfied leaving just having been on the Pampas Tour. So off I went searching for some other Jungle experience. Many people either go on a 3 day Jungle Tour or a 3 day Pampas Tour, but I wanted something different. Eventually I managed to discover an agency called Max Adventures which did provide something a little different...going to the Jungle with just the clothes you are wearing and a mosquito net. The tour was called ´jungle survival tour'...and despite the pictures of eating the insects, I was SO excited! I met two other guys who were really interested at first but once the lady explained the 3 days to them they both backed out. One of them went back to La Paz the following day and the other booked onto the standard Jungle Tour. So it ended up being me and my guide...and I cannot tell you how much fun the 3 days were! I literally spend 3 days with Tarzan...we ate all kinds of things from different plants, fruits, berries, coconuts, avocado, ants, coco worms...and for the first time in my entire life I went fishing, caught some catch fish and cooked them for dinner. Oh my goodness, it was DELICIOUS and so exciting. My guide was incredible, he was so knowledgeable, funny, energetic ...and I felt very safe with him. We made our camps with the trees (it´s incredible, all you need is a machete and you are sorted!) and sat around the campfire all night eating the fish with our hands. He also showed me a traditional Papa Mama ceremony where you ask for health and happiness for all your family by offering coca, alcohol, cigarettes and anything else you have with you. We ended up going to bed at 3am after he had told me all about his life and after he had asked Papa Mama to help me get better (yes I had very bad stomach pains and diarrhea, great!) It was very strange experience: he had to blow cigarette fumes on my stomach and rubbed it with tobacco from his cigarettes and said a few things to in his Indigenous language. Ok so I wasn´t better the next day, but it was rather interesting.
We did not wake until 10am the next day. It rained on us for about an hour during our trek but we had to jump in the river after anyway to get to the other side of the jungle. So we made a raft for our stuff and then floated down the river on a rubber tyre. When we arrived we searched for a place to set up camp for the night. We made a different shelter this time with different plants...and then we set off fishing. Our first night we were not so lucky and only caught 2 small cat fish, but the second evening we caught 7 cat fish within an hour!
After cleaning the fish (by the way I´m so proud I managed to catch the fish and gut it all by myself!) we went to find some special leaves to cook them in and then collected wood for the fire. We cooked 2 of the fish in bamboo and wrapped the others in the leaves with some lime and salt...and wow it was delicious. If only I was better I would have eaten all of the fish that night, but as everything was passing straight through me, I resisted and tried just a bit of each. It was at that moment I was a little 'triste' despite being surrounded by natural beauty, amazing food and a great guide...but the mosquitoes got the best of me, they were out in their numbers and would not leave me alone, (you constantly hear the buzzing in your ears its horrible) and it was so hot, I was so sweaty, dehydrated, hungry, exhausted...and all this with diarrhea kinda got to me. I tried to escape the mosquitoes by getting under my net, but that took another hour to kill the thousands that had managed to enter with me. Half of them had clearly already taken a piece of me, they were full of blood. Eventually I managed to kill them all and was quick to fall asleep. In the middle of the night I had to repeat the same masacar as I couldn´t avoid going to the toilet. That night my guide and I were pretty sure we heard a Jaguar pass by our camp, it was pretty exciting!
In the morning we walked to a lovely viewpoint of our surroundings & saw where all the colourful parrots live. My guide made me chew on a plant that he said was used for medicine. Stupidly I didn't ask what medicine...but I was quick to realise that it was a type of anesthetic as I lost all the feeling on my tongue for about 40 minutes! Don't worry, I made him chew on it after too so we would both have to suffer together. We had fun body painting with some leaves that turn violet when you grind them together! We made many things using just the leaves and bark from the trees...a bit of jewellery making as well as a water bottle and a hat. I realised that despite the fact that my guide had never been to school and could not read or write, he had many skills and was full of knowledge. He was taught many things by his parents, I find these people incredible.
The only reason I was happy to leave the Jungle that afternoon was to escape the mosquitoes and to brush my teeth. Other than that, I had the time of my life and would have loved to live like this a little longer. This will be an experience I will never forget...I am officially a "Survivor" as they say and I was so proud that I had spent 3 days in the jungle with nothing but a mosquito net and with a guide who could only speak Spanish (and a dozen English words), yet together we had made a strong connection and I was mesmerised by his life and how people really can, and do, live like Tarzan here. It´s incredible and has opened my eyes even more to the lives people live...I don´t want to leave Bolivia!!
A real shower, a toothbrush, a comfortable bed, hardly any mosquitoes...ok, so that was a taste of heaven when I returned to Rurre. I went out for dinner with my new room mates: french girl, israeli guy (yes he returned as he decided to stay longer in Rurrenabeque) and a Bolivian man from La Paz who has been living in Abingdon for the past 40 years. He had many interesting stories to tell me I could have spent all night listening to him. After I went to meet my guide for a drink (a Mate de Anis for my stomach) in a bar called "Mosquito" but luckily I did not encounter any real mosquitoes! Phew!
Today is Tuesday 10 December. I spent the morning with an Aussie guy and we decided to climb a mountain-hill to a viewpoint of the city. After much sweat we reached the top and sat and chatted looking out at the view of the city and the river...I really like it here. This afternoon has been catching up with laundry and blog before I head back to La Paz tomorrow. I still haven´t quite decided my route yet, I will just have to see what happens!
I have no idea where the time is going, it´s running away with me and I know I have to be home soon, it´s exciting but worrying. Before the jungle I have had several ´panic' moments of "what to do with my life and where to live" but I have been told by a good friend of mine not to worry and to enjoy what I do now...so that is what I am going to do and I hope that everything will work out fine. Only time will tell, but hey, I´ll enjoy my last few months in exploring this crazy big world...
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