Rurrenabaque - Pampas

Day 129 – Pampas and Pool

Today I was up only a few hours after going to sleep, as the electricity had cut out (meaning no more roof fan) and there was not a drop of water in the room… resulting in a trudge down the street to replenish supplies!

Our only job for today was to book out next trip out of Rurrenabaque and into the Pampas region.  The Pampas has lots of the same things as the jungle, monkeys, spiders, pumas!  But with the added bonus that the area is more marshy and the bush less dense, meaning the area is only accessible by boat but animal sightings are easier.  Matt and I weren’t that keen on the overall very standard and extremely touristy itinerary that every tour operator in the area seemed to offer, but the chance to swim with pink river dolphins (on the last day) was an opportunity that just could not be missed.

We had such a good time with Wilman in the jungle that we were happy to take his recommendation and book with Donato Tours, a rare operator that claimed to act with the eco-sensibility we expected (the Pampas region operators having an even worse reputation for their attitude to their environment than the jungle operators). 

With that chore booked it was off to the local swimming pool and that was that!  No photos sorry!

 

Day 130 – Bait and switch

Up bright and sparky (only one cocktail each last night) we were breakfasted and ready for our pick up at 8.30am.  We waited and waited at the agency and it wasn’t clear until about 9.30am, when a Dolphins Tours 4X4 showed up what had happened… the standard tour operates with 8 people and accordingly it appeared our booking had been on sold to another agency to merge groups – apparently common given the same itinerary is offered by every agent. 

We passed our bags up to the roof and crammed into the two small bench seats in the boot for our 4 hour journey to Yacuma River where a long boat would take us a further 2 hours up the river and through the marshes to our accommodation.  Before we even got on the boat, a dolphin surfaced nearby and we saw more squirrel monkeys, a capybara and a variety of birds along the way.

Team Pampas: Gerard and Jack, Maaike and Hanneke, Tif and Eric cruising up the Rio Yacuma.

 
A heron of some sort.

 
A group of squirrel monkeys came down to show off for the boat when we drove near their tree.

General Pampas scenery.

With nothing else on the itinerary that afternoon and an hour to kill before dinner, we popped upstairs to the roof top bar to watch the sunset and try and cool ourselves with a lukewarm beer or two.  The mozzies were so bad though we didn’t go back after dinner!

 
Shiny Hanneke and me!

A hairy legged friend was waiting for us just outside our room when we got back…

 

Our very basic accommodation – thin lumpy mattresses in a room built on a platform over the swamp.  The mosquito nets were more like hessian than net and so not much sleep was had in our claustrophobic cells [photo courtesy of Hanneke].

 

Day 131 – Anaconda hunting, piranha fishing and a quick dip with the caimans

This morning we took the optional wake up time of 5.30am to cruise up river to watch the sunrise, as did the rest of our group.

Returning to our hut for breakfast about an hour later, a new friend was waiting for us… a 3 metre Caiman!

  
Our little joke – we figured the caiman was hanging out waiting for the cook’s little two year old son to fall off the platform for lunch one day!

First up on today’s agenda was hunting for anacondas.  After breakfast we piled back into the boat and set off for the area where they frequented, which turned out to be not-so-frequent given our guide said he hadn’t seen one in 4 months.

We saw lots of “big birds” along the way.

Trudging in our wellies through Anaconda country. 

Despite our lack of interest in finding an anaconda, our guide was very enthusiastic, so much so that at one point he had trudged so far ahead he lost us all in the tall grass and the boys had to climb a tree to try and see where he went.  Needless to say after an hour and a half out in the hot hot sun and no anaconda, we were pleased to hop back in the boat and continue to our next activity.

Equally enthralled with piranha fishing, and only Maaike being able to hook one small one, we pleaded with our guide to take us for a swim instead. Finally giving in he drove us to a spot where he thought there would be the least chance of caiman’s having us for lunch! 

Circling and revving the engine to scare off any potential predators, we think the guide may have actually been happy that we wanted to vary the itinerary and was one of the first in the water.  Seeing him dive in, most of us were happy to get in too!

The crew – safety in numbers!

A turtle hanging out in the sun on the way back.

Our stilt hut on the swamp.

Getting back for a late lunch, the rest of the afternoon was spent trying to have a siesta (but with no luck due to the heat and mozzies) and a read in the hammocks, followed by a return to the roof bar once it hit 5pm.

The crew at dinner – no where near as delicious as our jungle food, but edible! And poor Astrid (red top on the right), a travel agent from La Paz that had been sent on this trip by her work so that she knew what she was selling.  She was clearly miserable almost every moment of the trip, but tagged along on all the excursions anyway and was a good sport.

 

Day 132 – Swimming with pink dolphins!

The moment that we had all spent the last two days waiting for – a chance to swim with pink river dolphins!  After breakfast we were bikini ready and back in the boat to cruise up to “the spot”.  Upon arrival at the spot, we were reluctant to get in at first (understandable given the black water!), until we had seen our first dolphin surface.  Apparently, if there are dolphins around it is safe to swim as other potentially nasty swamp creatures, such as piranhas and caimans, don’t like the sonar that the dolphins emit and so they stay away. 

Our first swim was largely unsuccessful due to lots of splashing and laughing, but after cruising up the canal a little, and with not everyone in the water at once, we were much more successful.  At one point, one surfaced right in the middle of Matt, Hanneke and I and two came right up to me as I was swimming away from the group – very special.  Knowing that dolphins like to play, the guide threw a water bottle into the water for them to bat around!  Despite the waterproof camera, we didn’t manage to get very many good shots – too busy enjoying the moment.  Apart from their more jaggedy shape and shorter nose, the river dolphins looked very similar to normal dolphins as the pink was on their underside.      

 
Yes, the vague grey lump surrounded by ripples is a dolphin and the two blurry white things are our heads, use your imaginations.

We managed to spend almost two hours on our own, but when two boat loads of noisy Israelis pulled up to our spot we knew the moment was over and so it was time to head back to the hut and prepare for the long journey back to Rurrenabaque.

The boat ride back was much more eventful than the journey out and we saw lots more birds and caimans, a capybara, turtle families hanging out on logs, another visit to the squirrel monkey tree, a near capsize (and subsequent bailing out of water) when the guide tried to take a shortcut and crashed, a point where we all had to get out to get through a shallow canal and a raging thunderstorm twenty minutes out from where the jeep would pick us up!

Naughty monkeys trying to steal things!

 
Just cruisin’

(Poor Astrid is hiding under the yellow tarp!)

Our jeep was at least an hour or so late picking us up, but the four hour journey back saw us get out twice to see a sloth in a tree (with binoculars, so no photo) and for the jeep behind us to have an anaconda cross the road in front of them! 

Back in Rurre, showered and changed it was immediately out to Moskito Bar for some well earned cocktails!  And we shall leave this blog post here…

 

Day 133 – The next day after 132 days of doing stuff

Up again at 6am (I’m still not very good at sleeping in…) it poured constantly until about 9.30 and stayed overcast for most of the day.  We wondered if some of the guys who had a flight this morning were able to take off given the dirt runway situation! 

Tasks for today were an awesome breakfast at a place we wished we found a week ago, booking a flight back to La Paz, a LOT of internet time, the pool and blogging.  Never quite made it to the pool given the weather and no blogging done either, but a much needed maintenance day complete none the less.