On Monday we flew to Rurrenabaque (Rurre), a small town at the edge of the Amazon. The flight from La Paz was an experience… The plane was a turbo prop plane and it was tiny.
There were only 19 seats in single row on the plane. It was so small and cramped even Laura had to almost crawl into it. The flight was only 45 mins and a bit nerve wracking for some (Laura). We had to fly over a mountain range which was only a few hundred meeters below us. We landed in Rurre into what resembled someones back garden. The runway was a grass strip between the trees and the airport was a bit of a shack. It was some sight..!
We spent the night in Rurre and set off early the next morning on the first part of our trip which was the Pampas tour on the Yacuma river with bala Tours. The pampas are the wetland areas around the rainforest and most of the trip is based on the river. We had a three and a half hour drive before we would reach our accommodation. The drive was pure hell, it was very hot, very bumpy and so uncomfertable. Very few roads in Bolivia are paved so we had a few rough road journeys so far but nothing like this. The road was rock and dirt track and sometimes we had to pull over because the driver could see nothing with the dust. We eventully reached our destination and after a short ride in a dug out canoe we were at our lodge. The accommodation was basic but comfortable but the girls had to put up without hot water and somewhere to plug in there GHD’S but they were getting used to that.
On the first evening after a bit of relaxing in the hammocks we went out on the river in the canoe with our guide Ivan and driver Shermin. Ivan is from an indegnious community 8 hours by boat into the Amazon. We saw Caiman (like crocks), Monkeys, river Turtles, Capybara (the worlds biggest rodent which are actually kind of cute but huge), plus loads of different birds. We were also treated to an amazing sunset which turned the whole sky pink. It was all very cool. The next morning we woke to heavy rain and wind. The plan for the morning had been to go on a hike in search of Anaconda snakes but it was to cold and wet and there was no chance we would see any as they go into hiding in the cold. When the rain eased we went out in the canoe to find more Monkeys and some Pink river Dolphins. We managed to see a few different Monkey and loads of Pink river Dolphins aswell as more of what we saw the day before. We had the option of getting into swim with the dolphins but is was so cold and we were at least an hour from our lodge we would have froze on the way back so we decided against it. The presence of Caiman and Parana was also a bit off putting even though we were told it was safe. The rain returnedand we got drowned on the way back to the lodge. We spent the afternoon in the lodge drinking beer and playing cards with the other two people in our grout, Karena and Rupert. The rain stopped early in the evening so we set out in the canoe to fish for Parana and catfish. This was great fun and a few fish were caught. Stephen was very proud of his catch of a catfish.
There were a few catfish caught and we had these for dinner that night, very tasty. That night we got to see more monkeys in the trees right outside our lodge and went spotting Caiman in the river. Next morning after another canoe trip and more wildlife spotting we returned to Rurre where we spent another night.
The next morning we set off to Chalalan Lodge for our jungle trip. The lodge was six hours up river by boat on the Beni and Tuchi river's into the middle of the Bolivian Amazon. We travelled in a very basic canoe. The water in much of the river as we travelled up river is very shallow and rocky and a few times we struggled to get the boat over the rocks. About four times during the trip our two guides and the two men driving the boat had to actually get out of the canoe, stand in the shallow water and push and pull the canoe over the rocks.
It all seemed a bit dodgy especially as they were continuously unloading the boat of water. At times we wondered if we were ever going to make our destination. We did and after a 2 and a half km walk into the forest we reached Chalalan Lodge. Chalalan Ecolodge is considered Bolivia’s best ecotourism project and has won many awards. The lodge is 100% owned and run by a local indigenous Amazon community San José de Uchupiamonas. All the profits from the lodge go back to the community to fund things like sanitation and education. Our lodgings ware top class and the food was amazing as was the setting. The lodge is set next to the Chalalan Lake. The first evening we went out into the lake on canoe and got very close to a huge group of squirrel monkeys who were feeding in the trees that hung over the lake. We were so close we could almost touch them. We also saw Howler monkeys. That night we sat at the bar chatting to one of our guides Andres he told us all about his community, their traditions and how they live and use the rain forrest for every aspect of their lives. For example the community does not have a doctor insted they use the plants and trees from the forrest for medicine. It was raining that night and we were saying how we hoped it wouldn’t be raining the next day. Our guide began telling Pacha Mama (Mother earth). He told us about the ritual that his people perform when they want to ask Pacha Mama for something such as good weather. We decided to give it a go. We chewed coco leaves, we offered Pacha Mama coco leaves and beer by putting them into the ground and ask Pacha Mama to make it stopped raining. We then had to smoke cigarettes and if the ash leaned a particular was it meant to be good luck. We woke the next morning and the rain had stopped. Coincidence..? However poor Laura woke up not feeling to well and it only got worse and she spent the day in bed pretty sick….. Coincidence…?
The rest of us set out on a 7km hike looking for wild life. Our guide Alajandre has been a guide for 12 years. On the hike we saw some Jaguar prints only a few hundred meters from Sinead and James cabin unfortunaltely we didnt get to see the real thing. We did see lots of different kind of monkeys, birds such as humming birds, wood peckers, tucans, red and blue macaws (parrots), killer ants and lots of interesting trees and plants such as the walking palm tree. After a couple of hours our guide said he could hear spider monkeys which are apparently very hard to see. He set off running through the forrest chasing the monkeys for about 20 mins leaving the track we were following. When we finaly caught up with the monkeys we were not dissapointed they were amazing. When we decided to go back to the trail our guide realised we were lost. After about 20 mins of wandering around trying to find the trail the guide went off and told us to wait for him at this stage we were starting to get a bit worried... eventualy we found our way back and continued on. Then we spotted some wild pigs. These pigs travel in packs of about 100 and are very dangerous especially if they have young, these pigs had lots of young. We crouched down to watch the pigs making sure they could not see us. The noise they make can be heard form hundreds of meters away as they stomp through the forrest and they stink. They have glands on their backs which give off a strong smelling gas when threatened, it was bad. Our guide explained that if they charge we would have to run and mabye climb 2 meters into a tree....a little nervous at this stage as the pigs were only meters from us. Again our guide wandered off leaving us to size up some trees. While he was gone we heard loud crashing sounds like the pigs were chasing something. We found out later that it was him that was being chased he ahd a luckey escape. After all that excitement we returned to the lodge starving and covered in mud for lunch. We relaxed in hammocks for the afternoon. That evening we took a canoe across the lake and hiked up to a Miridor (view point) for amazing views of the lake and rain forrest. that night after dinner we wnt on a night hike in search of snakes, we had no luck but did spot some big tranchulas and rabbits. The next morning we set off for our return trip down the river back to Rurre where we spen the day before catching our return flight to La Paz
