Rurrenabaque!

I spent two more days in La Paz doing nothing much interesting, other than waiting for my flight to get to Rurrenabaque. I went up to the viewingpoint for some amazing views over the city and bought some typical bolivian stuff at the local market. I said bye to Ross, as he moved on to Peru.

Finally on friday morning I got up and ready to catch a taxi to the airport. Down in reception a few other boys were on the same flight, so I decided to share a taxi with them. It took about 30 minutes to get to the international airport of la paz. After checkin we had a small breakfast and then moved on to the gate. There we sat for at least another hour, as airplanes in Bolivia are not always on time like you would(n´t) expect. Once the gate opened up, we walked to this small propellor airplane with about 16 seats in it. The flight was fine and 40 minutes later we landed safely in Rurrenabaque. You could tell straight away the climate was way different compared to the climate in La Paz. A lot more oxygen in the air and a lot warmer too. We got off the airplane and caught the airplane bus into town. There we checked in into a hostel somewhere in the center. I then went to reconfirm my tour at the touroffice and had some lunch with an American guy who I bumped into in town. After lunch I had a small sleep in one of the hammocks at the hostel. Afterwards we all went for some dinner at a restaurant on the waterfront. After dinner we all went to prepare for the pampas trip and then to bed.

The next morning we had to wake up fairly as we were starting the tour at 8:30. We went to the tour office and waited there for instructions. As you would expect, we waited another hour before they had got their things organized. Then we got us a 4×4 truck assigned and off we went to the pampas. It was a bumpy 3-hour drive to the start of the river where our guide was waiting for us. We got into a long, small boat with an engine in the back and off we went into the pampas. We were on the boat for a good 3 hours, seeing lots of wildlife, including alligators, caimans, dolphins, birds etc. At the end of the afternoon we arrived at camp where we got our rooms assigned. Afterwards we went to a bar nearby in the jungle where we played a game of footbal. Afterwards we had some dinner and a shower. We all went to bed not too long after, as the next morning we had a long big day awaiting again.

The next day we woke up fairly early. We had breakfast and then went off to a nearby swamp to hunt for anacondas. We walked through the wet swamp with our boots on looking for any kinds of snakes. The sun was right on top of us, which made it things a bit tougher too. After about an hour our guide had spotted a cobra in the bush. Three other guides came to help and search for the snake. After a lot of digging in the bush the guide finally found a small cobra snake. We were all able to hold it and take photos with it. Then the search was on. Not too long after we found a slightly bigger cobra, who wasn´t as friendly. The guides didn´t dare to pick it up, but encouraged us to do so anyway. One by one we grabbed its tale and tried to grab it, but it pissed the snake only more off. It started to attack, so we decided to leave it as it was, mainly sincecobra´s are quite poisonous. We walked through the swamp for a good 3 hours. Needless to say we were totally knackered in the hot sun. Once back in camp we had a massive lunch and had a 2 hour sleep in the hummocks. Afterwards we got back in the boat to swim with pink dolphins. We got to a part of the river where a lot of dolphins happened to be and then jumped in one by one in the big brown river. Meanwhile alligators were swimming by and even piranhas happen to swim in this river underwater. Apparently they´re not as harmful as some people tend to believe. After an hour we headed off to the sunset bar. A bar in the jungle where you have incredible views of the sunset over the pampas. We played some volleybal and had a few beers watching the sunset. We then hopped back on the boat with our torches to spot for alligators in the dark. The eyes of the alligators light up amazingly well when you shine into their eyes. It was crazy to see all these eyes lightning up along the riverside. We then headed back to camp for some dinner. After dinner we all chilled out in the hammocks, and then went off to bed. Since the next day we were supposed to get up at 5:30 to watch the sunrise.

In the middle of the night I woke up with incredible stomach pains. I sat on the toilet for a good hour spitting nothing but water. I reckon the river I swam in the day before must have infected my stomach with some nasty bacterias. I decided to not join the group to watch the sunset, as I was feeling pretty sick. Instead I slept a bit more to join the guys for breakfast. Around 8 the group returned. I decided to just have some tea and some fruits, but even this my stomach didn´t accept. I emptied my stomach in the toilet, but felt a lot better afterwards. I did decide to join the group to go piranha fishing, which was good fun. We all had a line with a hook and some bait. The river happens to be full of hungry fish, so it didn´t take too long before most of us caught a few fishes. Unfortunately I started to feel more and more sick again, and then hot sun wasn´t helping either. I couldn´t wait to get back to camp. Once back at camp I drank a big bottle of water and chilled out in the hammocks while the rest of the group was having lunch. Thankfully bit by bit, I started to feel better again. We then caught the boat back to the start of the river which took about 2 hours. From there we caught a truck back to Rurrenabaque which took another 3 hours. Once back in Rurrenabaque I was feeling quite good again. I went to watch the last 20 minutes of the Holland vs. Italy match and then checked into a hostel. At night I went to have some food with an isreali girl I met in my hostelroom and not long after I headed off to bed as I was really tired.

The next day I woke up with shitloads of rain out of my window. Apparently the weather changed quite a bit compared to the first few days I had been here. I instantly knew what that was going to mean; a canceled flight back to La Paz. I got out of bed and went to the flight office, only to have my suspisions confirmed. No flights due to a wet runway. As the airplanes have to depart from a lane of grass, flights are being canceled everytime it hapens to rain. For now the flight company has told me I am on standby for tomorrow, but it all depends on what the weather is going to do. For now I will be watching the European Championship to kill some time..

More news soon!

Jun 4th 2008 – Jun 10th 2008