We had spent a very nice time in Chalalan Ecoreserve in the tropical rainforest and had planned to spend a couple of days in Rurrenabaque before heading back to La Paz (a 30min flight). Our flight was scheduled to leave at 11.15, so the airline told us to be there at 9.30 which we did. However, on arrival at the office we were told that the earlier plane had been cancelled due to the misty conditions and they were not sure if we could get onto the 11.15 flight, and come back in an hour. However, when we spoke to a few of the people who had been on the earlier plane, they were told that it was cancelled because there was only 3 people booked on it. Not happy.
We came back and were told that we had been bumped from the plane and were given a whole list of conflicting reasons from different people. The 19 people who did make it onto the passenger list took off in the bus, while we sat in the café across the street looking on folornly. However, they returned about 2 hours later because the plane was having “mechanical problems” (honestly, we didn´t snigger at all). We were then bumped back to an even later flight (a couple of times) and I think the 11.15 flight we were supposed to be on left around 5pm, while we were still hoping for a 6pm flight.
Then it started raining. We knew that planes could not land in Rurrenabaque as the landing strip was dirt which turned into mud at the first sign of rain. The rain was light so were still hopeful for the next day, so we checked back in to our hotel for another night.
Next day it was not raining, but on arrival at the office they told us they were waiting for the mist to clear from the runway, but we were definately on the next plane out (I didn´t meet anyone who wasn´t). However, the clouds rolled in and the heavens opened up so we checked back into the hotel again.
We woke up the next morning and decided to give up on the plane as it would take at least a full day for the airstrip to dry out, and the heavens were still open. We decided it would be best to try and arrange a jeep which could have us back in civilisation in 12 to 14 hours. I phoned a few people and the cost was going to be $350, which wasn´t so bad if we could split it between six people. We booked the jeep for 10.15 and headed into town to round up some other disgruntled tourists. It took all of 15min outside the Amazonas office to get 6 people together, and all was left to do was to wait until 10.15. However, 10.15 came and went with no jeep arriving. Our tour operador disappeared for 15min, and when he came back he said the jeep was in the garage and could we wait for it, or there was a jeep for 4 people at the same price. One of the guys we were going to share with said he knew of another jeep, so we headed off to this other company.
The guy at this place looked well dodgy (a Bolivian Del-Boy), but he said he could get a jeep and we were left with little option. He wanted to collect our money first, but I refused saying I wanted to check out the jeep first. We wrangled for a while until eventually a 20 year old Land-cruiser appeared, but only had 3 passenger seats. They said they would kit the jeep out if only we would pay for it first. This was a bit dodgy but after continually refusing they said they would get the jeep back at 12.30 ready to go.
The jeep rocked up at about 1pm and we got on the road for about 2pm, thinking we would make it to La Paz by 2am at the latest. Our driver seemed very nice and friendly, but the jeep had a hole in the floor, very little suspension, a distinct smell of fumes and the most uncomfortable seats in the world. We all put a brave face on and joked away, in a good mood to be finally heading to La Paz. However, the road was rough to say the least. If you were sat in the back you were 2cm from the roof, and I´m certain there was a permanent dent from where heads kept hitting it on the bumps.
We did pretty well until we ran out of petrol at about 8pm. The driver flagged a bus down to take us to the next town where he had planned to stop for dinner, and he sent the co-driver (who we called "Devilpups"- after a name embroidered on the back of his hat) in to town for fuel. The driver had all this sorted and caught up with us as we were finishing our dinner. He then started munching away at the coca leaf to stay awake and on we went.
The trip was bearable while we were making good time, but as soon as we hit a hill I realised that third gear was missing, meaning we could only chug up hills in 2nd at about 20kph. Not a pleasant thought when you are climbing 5000m up the Andes! The last part of the journey took ages, and I was too afraid to fall asleep as the driver had been going for 12 hours and was still chewing the leaf. The roads were also narrow, windy and had drops on one side which I couldn´t see the bottom of (not a barrier in sight). I have never been so glad to see a paved road as when we hit the new Corioco road, 98km from La Paz. However, because of the missing gear, it still took us about 2 ½ hours to cover this final 98km.
Anyway, we made it back to La Paz (in one piece) mainly thanks to our fantastic driver, who immediately turned around and set off back to Rurrenabaque. It wouldn´t have been so bad if we didn´t find out that the bus was faster and played videos the whole way back!
