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Well we made it on the 45min flight from la paz on the tiny amazonas plane which has a grass landing strip to the chilled our jungle town of rurrenbaque for our jungle and pampas adventures. We were sooo tired after a huge night out with daniel and mary in la paz, who incidently were heading to Rurre the same day as us so we got to hang out a bit more which was good fun.
Our first adventure was a jungle trip, 3 hours boat ride up to Madidi National Park. We were travelling with a really nice Irish couple Pat and Claude and had a great laugh with them amongst the mozzies and sweltering heat! Our guide Neilo was from a local indigenous Tacana tribe who still live traditionally and he showed us lots of medicinal plants and was so enthusiastic, at one stage piggy backing each of us across a muddy stream so we could see Tapir tracks! We had lots of walks through the jungle with leaves as big as surfboards, butterflies of so many colours some as big as your hand, really weird looking fungi, menacing looking ants and lots of bird and animal calls. The lodge was so tranquil and the family who run it were so lovely and welcoming. We did a night time walk which was so cool through the black of the jungle with all the animal souns and bats and moths attracted to our head torches! We saw caiman eyes glowing and armadillo tracks and Kate was horrified to find out the pretty clucking sound was not a bird but a huge tree rat!! We went fishing and Kate caught a piranha with a little hand reel with bits of beef on the end, but generally the piranha were so quick to eat the bait it was more like feeding than fishing!! we also went on a big blow up raft own the muddy currents of the river which was a great laugh and saw the parrots at their clay lick and flying overhead. The bird calls in the early morning were so beautiful it was such a restful and peaceful place.
After a day's break to wash our stinking clothes we headed off for a Pampas trip which is a series of wetlands amongst joining the rivers that stem from the amazon. There had been a lot of rain the night before so we joined the pile up of bogged trucks and jeeps but eventually made it to our little lodge by the river. It was so peaceful gliding around in our little long woooden boat along the black still water which was as smooth as glass.. we saw lots of monkeys and it was hilarious to watch them jumping from tree to tree and lots of birds. We did a night trip which was so gorgeous to lie back and look up at the stars with the gliding motion of the boat and the black stillness all around..we saw more cayman eyes and a nocturnal water lilly. There was some interesting animals around the lodge, a big furry brazillian porquipine ( up a tree) and giant ant eater with a baby on its back and another capybara ( the worlds largest rodent, a bit like a wombat meets warthog meats pony!!) The weather was pretty bad whilst we were here, tonnes of rain and overcast so lots of the animals were hiding and staying dry but another highlight were the pink river dolphins who come to gently nip your feet as you dangle them in the water. they have such a rubbery texture and are a strange colour with bad eyesight but seem to love a pat on the nose and to play with balls or bottles. Kate hopped in the water with them which was pretty freaky as the water was so dark you couldnt see anything just feel them brushing past or nipping you gently! There were gorgeous kittens at the lodge and we made best friends with an all black one that would come and lie on our laps and purr like a motor!
We were pleased to make it back to Rurrenbaque after all the heavy rain, it was a bot of a trek through the huge rivets of mud and lots of flights back got cancelled so we are hanging around for an extra day and hope to get back to la paz tomorrow!
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