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The Amazon jungle is massive (no pun intended) and we had the choice of exploring it from Colombia, Ecuador, Peru or Bolivia.We'd heard great things about the Amazon further North, but it was all a bit expensive; it was a lot cheaper to go into the jungle from Rurrenabaque in Bolivia.There were two options for getting there from La Paz: taking a 16-24 hour bus journey (depending on conditions) along the 'world's most dangerous road' for about £5, or taking a 35 minute flight for £40.We'd heard many people refer to the bus journey as 'the scariest thing that's ever happened to them', so we stumped up the cash for the flight.As it happened, this wasn't to be a walk in the park either.We climbed aboard what was certainly the thinnest plane I've ever been on, if not the smallest, into a claustrophobic fuselage reminiscent of a pipe-bomb.Five minutes after take-off we flew in between two snow-capped peaks, which loomed disconcertingly close to the wing tips, straight into some bad weather.I've been through some bad turbulence before, but nothing like this.We lost so much altitude in one massive jolting drop that everyone was thrown out of their seats only to be caught by their seat belts in mid-air, as if on a rollercoaster ride.I could see that Sarah was not really finding this funny, and then I suddenly remembered that we'd watched the film 'Alive' just days earlier on the laptop.I quickly drew the same grim comparison that Sarah had clearly just made, and glanced around to choose which fat Bolivian I was going to eat first.We landed safely, however, 30 mins later on a grass runway in the middle of the jungle, and were immediately hit by the sort of heat and humidity we hadn't felt since being in Costa Rica - we had completely forgotten what it was like.It was very nice to be back in the jungle, but why on Earth had I packed two fleeces?!
After a sweaty night's sleep, interrupted frequently by the horrendous noise pouring out of a nearby late-night karaoke bar, we headed off for a three-day tour of the Pampas: a reserve bursting with river-dwelling birds and animals.We'd heard that the wildlife was easy to spot, but we hadn't anticipated that there would be literally thousands of alligators, caimans, freshwater turtles, capibaras (the world's largest rodent), herons and egrets just milling about by the side of the river.We were also lucky enough to see pink freshwater dolphins and toucans (for the first time in the wild).We had gone hunting for anacondas too, but unfortunately to no avail; we did find a dead alligator though, and our guide found a cobra.The camp where we stayed was basic but very nice, and we spent a lot of time lazing about in the hammocks watching hundreds of squirrel monkeys and capuchins pass close by in the trees.Whilst the wildlife was pretty amazing, the tour was otherwise a but lacklustre and was clearly set up for younger backpackers who just wanted to see a bit of wildlife then get drunk.In the end though we managed to badger our guide into talking us through a lot of the wildlife, and he turned out to be quite knowledgeable.We had some nice people on our tour too, including a Chilean/Irish couple - Ariel and Michelle - who we went for a few drinks with back in Rurrenabaque.
The next day we headed out into the jungle again, this time into the Amazon proper, for a four-night stay at the Serere lodge run by Madidi Travel.We'd read nothing but good reviews of this place, but again we found the experience pretty badly organised for such an expensive lodge.The accommodation was very indulgent though: we had a huge detached room in the middle of the jungle, complete with ensuite bathroom and a super-queen-sized bed you could get lost in.The options available for the tours were limited to either walking through the jungle, or canoeing out onto one of the many lakes in the park.Amazingly, despite being open for years, they hadn't gotten round to constructing any platforms in the jungle, from which it would have been ideal to observe wildlife (typical Latin American laziness). Instead we had no choice but to walk (noisily) through the undergrowth, disturbing anything with ears nearby, and consequently we didn't see much other than some insects, spiders, opossums, monkeys and a group of quatis (small raccoon-like animals).There was a nice spider monkey at the lodge though who was tame and had a tiny baby clinging on to her - both had been rescued from Rurrenabaque where they had been mistreated as pets.We did a bit of piranha fishing in the lakes, which was good (we'd done a bit on the Pampas tour as well), and I caught my biggest fish yet - a snakehead - which was about the size of a trout, but didn't really taste as good as the piranhas.
The weather held out for us in the jungle, which meant our flight wasn't cancelled and we could fly back to La Paz as planned.The flight was, disappointingly, much less eventful this time.
R&M
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