In the Jungle, the Mighty Jungle

We packed up our Belgians and loaded the four of us on a sketchy 19-seater plane to the Amazon jungle. We chose to do a 3 day "Pampas" tour which is basically a river tour where you sit in a boat all day and look for wildlife; taking the easy route after some of our recent trekking tours was enticing. This was the 'airport' we arrived to:

Our journey started in the town of Rurrenabaque, Bolivia from where we took a 3-hour jeep ride to the river; the rain a few days prior made this a messy drive and we had to get out and trudge through the mud at a few points (bare foot) while our jeep powered through.

The rain set in when we finally made it to the boat so we poncho'd up and kept our eyes peeled for wildlife as we made our way to the lodging. Here are a few of the sights during that first afternoon (don't ask me what any of them are called!):

 

 

 

Later that night we went alligator/caiman spotting with our flashlights in the pitch black; you know you've found one when you see two eerie orange dots peering at you in the distance. We got scary-close:

The next morning we went hunting for anacondas through a swamp by foot, while fending off the relentlessly irritating mosquitoes; unfortunately, we didn't see any anacondas but my face was successfully eaten alive and my right foot was water-logged due to a hole in my gumboot...

We saw a bunch more wildlife that afternoon then went fishing for piranhas, which we threw back of course (they're endangered in these parts). The sunset was beautiful on the river and we stopped at a little thatch hut on the shore for a sunset-beverage.

 

 

 

 

 

On the agenda for the third morning was swimming with pink dolphins. Pink Dolphins in a river in the Amazon? Yep. There was no way I was getting in the same water where we'd seen alligators, caimans and piranhas! Although apparently they steer clear of the dolphins so three of the guys apprehensively braved the murky water where the dolphins playfully swam with and around them.

 

We saw more wildlife and beautiful scenery as we made our way back to the dropoff point before another wild Jeep-ride back to town.

 

 

Our Jeep ride back to town was interesting - the drive was a maniac and was driving on a bent wheel frame at excessive speeds on a dirt road. At one point we stopped for about an hour while he tried to hammer it back into place and eventually used tie-wire to hold it on for the rest of the drive - Oh, and he also drove off leaving our guide, Jody, & I on the side of the road while we were 'using the bathroom'... here we are chasing after him, TP in hand!

Made it back to town, safe and not-so-sound - this is the tire we drove on for 3 hours...

Back in Rurrenabaque we celebrated Jody's 29th birthday with a good dinner and drinks with friends. We spent the next morning basking in the sun at a pool/restaraunt overlooking the town and the jungle before catching our flight back to La Paz.