Rurrenabaque was a breath of very warm fresh air. After all of our bad luck in La Paz and our mood being low the slow and relaxed pace of Rurrenabaque was well appreciated. It is a quiet town where the main form of transportation is a motorbike. It is not unusual to see the locals driving their bikes with a sleeping baby in their arms or household furniture like tables and chairs. Rurrenabaque has many bars the most famous being the mosquito bar which has a large selection of cocktails.

As we couldn't decide between the pampas tour and the jungle tour we decided to do both (thanks to some birthday money from the parents). The pampas is great for seeing wildlife although you tend to see the same wildlife each day. Most of your wildlife viewing is done by boat. As the pampas is a natural wetland and less dense in trees the wildlife are much easier to see. It is very hot however and there are many, many mosquitos! My legs were covered in bites by the time we left.

The jungle tour was our favourite. The larger animals like monkeys, anteaters etc. are harder to see given the density of the trees but just seeing primary rainforest with such a well-functioning ecosystem was impressive enough. We slept in a tent under a wooden hut. Each pair had their own hut and ours was the furthest away from everyone else. I have taped the walk from the common area to our site to show you how far away it was. During the day this walk was not an issue and I was glad that we were staying far away from the others but on the first night I was really scared. When you walk down the path you can see thousands of tiny eyes illuminated by your torch light. These eyes mainly belong to spiders as well as frogs, lizards, snakes and other bugs. I learnt to get over the spider fear quickly given the amounts that were around.

The animal I most afraid of was the wild pig (Peccaries). Apparently in the Madidi Park the Peccaries are not aggressive towards humans but before we left we watch a documentary that said they eat anything that gets in their path including people. Our tour guide very casually expressed that if we were to be attacked out on a walk than we will just climb a tree to escape. I spent a lot of time on our walks checking for the best tree to climb if necessary. We saw 2 tarantulas, they were females and had their nest full of babies I can only describe the experience as gross, gross, gross.

The jungle was extremely hot and we walked on average for five hours a day through the jungle with long sleeve shirts, pants and socks. We have never experienced heat and humidity like it before. I think by the end of our stay we realised the true meaning of the phrase 'going tropo'. Despite really enjoying the trip we were glad to be going back to cooler climates.