Pampus and Jungle, Amazon Basin, Bolivia

We ventured into amazon to see what the hype was about. The tour consisted of 3 days in what they call the Pampas, 2 days jungle. There was lots to see and I´m less than well after last night so we´re going heavy on the pics and light on the text in this one.

PAMPAS

First day 3 hour drive out to the pampas in an 89 jeep on a dirt road.. soar ass. Hop in a long boat, start cruising down the river checking for wildlife.

First sighting is turtles, they like each other...


This becomes a familiar sight inside 10 minutes. Without notice the guide stops the boat, throws it in reverse and backs up to a bush on the side of the river. He points inside the bush, we look... an alligator 4 feet away. We´re in awe. We praise the keen eye of our guide. Little do we know there´s another gator every 40 feet on the bank.

apparently it´s within bolivian safety standards to nose the boat into the bank as close as possible to the gators.

Spot some monkeys in the trees. We pull up, they get curious and come down.


This area is also home to the world´s biggest rodent, the capybara...

It starts pissing rain, we get to camp, set up, have dinner and pack it in. Next morning we hike the flats beside the river in search of an anaconda. Our guide ditches us on the side of this lagoon to go dive his arms into bushes searching for an anaconda, he´s a braver man than I. This search takes him into those bushes in the background and out of sight for a good half hour. During this time, we contemplate our future should he not return.

Hike drags on for 5 hours. no anaconda.

Post lunch we head out to a bay on the river to do some swimming with dolphins. Our guide assures us that should an alligator decide to get frisky, the dolphins would take care of business. With little belief in this statement, we decide to go swimming anyways.
Next morn we wake up early and head out to a field in the pampas to check out the sunrise. It doesn´t disappoint.

After breaky, we go pirahna fishing. Our guide shows us how. Turns out it´s not georgian bay, I´m just bad a fishing. Our guide however cleans up with 5 pirahnas inside 5 minutes.

On the way home, we spot at bird taking down a fish.

JUNGLE

We take a boat out from the central town, Rurrenabaque. 3 hours, pretty scenic.

Get to camp, lunch, siesta and start up on a jungle hike.

We thought T had conquered his fear of heights on death road.... we were wrong.

We find a plant whose leaves the natives would squeeze to get juice for face paint. Lindo finds another use more fitting for himself.. rouge.

There were big trees.

Watering hole.

This is a walker tree. it can break and regrow those roots to move up to 5 meters over 2 years.

There was a chick in our group allergic to bees. Unfortunate for her..

We got back from the jungle, had lunch and hopped on some bike taxis to the airport. Flights were delayed a day ´cuz the grass runway was to slick for landing after rain.

one love,

mark