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So after our night of no sleep, we tried to catch up on a few minutes on the seats at the airport while we waited for our flight from la Paz to Rurranabaque, which would be our gateway into the Pampas and the jungle. The flight was a bit delayed, which we were very grateful for.
We flew on a tiny army or aid plane up to Rurranbaque - i think maybe 15 people could fit in the plane, and we landed on a sand runway. We were hit by a wall of heat when we got off the plane, which we were completely unprepared for after the chilliness of Lake Titikaka and La Paz. It was thick, heavy and humid and not good for a hangover!
We were transferred from the airport to our tour company, where we met our guide Victor and our driver - nicknamed Gato for how fast he drove - and we would then start the 3 hour drive to the pampas - which are like plains or savannah and similar to African bush in a way. About 15 minutes in Jo realised she had forgotten to bring tampons with, so we needed to turn round and go back to the town so she could buy some - it was very funny seeing Jo trying to explain to Gato and Victor that she needed female things and had to turn around. they turned around very quickly when they realised!
For the next 3 nights we stayed at a pretty basic lodge with wooden bunkbeds, outdoor cold showers and a dining cabin. We went on a hike and saw anaconda (which this crazy American guy tried to pull out of its hole and then got bitten), lots of copibarra (a South American animal which are similar to guinea pigs and the size of a medium sized dog), lots of caiman (alligators), a sloth, amazing birds and monkeys. We also fished for pirhanas and got to eat them (they just taste like dry crispy paper) and I went swimming with pink river dolphins and caiman as well.
After that we then headed off to the jungle in Madidi National park. We had to head back to Rurranabaque and then catch a boat for 5 hours up the river. Two Dutch guys were also starting the trip at the same time as us - Rob and Mattheus - a gay couple from Amsterdam who also asked Jo and I if we were a couple, and were disappointed when we weren't. Jo and I were like - not another person - our flat has two separate rooms!! We chatted all the way up the river to them - and they were lovely, and very educated and interesting with a fantastic amount of knowledge about wildlife, Spanish, literature and politics. Mattheus actually keeps frogs and breeds them and does a lot of research into wildlife, which was why they wanted to come to the jungle we were going to, as it's a prime breeding ground for the frogs he's interested in.
Jo and I splashed out and stayed at an amazing jungle lodge, which has been built by the local tribe from the area, is completely run by them and all the proceeds go to the local tribe and have been used to build a school and a small clinic and keep the community together so that not all the young people and families move to La Paz.
We stayed in a mahogany lodge, with beautiful white linen, our own deck and hammock. It was very nice. We were only in the jungle for 2 nights and unfortunately we had very rainy weather for the one full day we had - so we couldn't do as much walking an exploring as we'd like as the wind was just to heavy and the rain, which frightened all the animals away.
But we did get a nightwalk in, which was beautiful - the colours are incredible at night compared to the black of the night. And Jo narrowly missed stepping on a fer -de -lang, South America's second most dangerous snake. We also saw amazing frogs, tarantulas, macaws and wild pigs and howler monkeys. Sadly no puma:-( the jungle was wonderful though and I wish we'd had more time there - it was incredibly lush, green and just completely different to any vegetation that I'd seen before.
There had been too much rain, which meant that our plane to take us back to La Paz, where we were meeting Charlotte - Jo's friend couldn't take off because the sand run way was mud. So we ended up having to catch a jeep with another English couple from the lodge. The drive was a fortune - it cost almost the same price as our flight, and our driver arrived with his 2 children, wife and brother (they were all going to la Paz for a 2 day holiday) so we all had to squeeze in together. The driver started blearing Milli Vanilli and hits from the 80s ( a concession to the tourists) and we were away on our 14 hour drive (only 350 km but the roads are so bumpy and so bad!!). At about 2 in the morning, the jeep broke down, and the driver bundled us into a taxi and sent us on our way to la Paz - at least we had a bit more room now!
After leaving the lodge at 7am, we arrived in La Paz 23 hours later with very sore and bumpy asses! We got into bed at about 5am after waking up Charlotte and saying a quick hello and then slept for a few hours. The next day we were catching an overnight bus down to Uyuni to begin our salt flats trip.
So far Bolivia was definitely making an impression on the travel front - we just didn't seem to be able to get anywhere by the time we wanted:-)
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