Life in The Amazon

Us in our 19 passenger Plane

This past week the other volunteers and I took a trip to the Amazon.  It started waking up very early to catch a taxi at 4 in the morning to go to the airport in El Alto.  From the airport we took a 45 minute flight down the mountains in a 19 passenger plane to Rurrenabaque.  It was a little bumpy ride being in such a little plane especially when we hit a bit of turbulence.  Once our plane landed in Rurre, we were surrounded by trees.  We were standing on the runway but couldn’t see the airport terminal.  Finally a small bus took us down a dirt path that led us to the itty bitty shack called the terminal.  The terminal was so small that it only has one “Gate”.  From there we loaded up in a taxi and headed to the city.  Rurre is a small village of maybe 15,000 people (I think less) that sits on the side of the huge Amazonian river called Rio Beni.  The rest of the village is bordered by jungle.  We had a little bit of time before our jeeps showed up so we went to find some breakfast.  I stumbled across a small panaderia which seemed nice so I ordered up a coffee and omelet and sat by the road watching people go by.  Out of the corner of my eye I just happened to see some familiar faces.  All this way away from La Paz and I see someone I know.  So weird.  It was a group of Germans I had just met a few weeks earlier that are volunteering in a small village some 10 hour bus ride away from La Paz near the city of Sucre.  Well after breakfast, we all loaded up in our jeeps and headed off into the wilderness.  It was a 3 hour ride down a dirt road.  Let’s just say that the shocks on those jeeps got a workout.  It had to be the roughest road I had ever been on.  Finally, we made it to a small town named Santa Rosa where we stopped for lunch before heading on.

 

The dirt Road to Santa Rosa

There were many cows scattered all up and down the sides of the road

After lunch we loaded back into the jeeps and headed 10 more minutes down the road to the river.  Once there we took all our things out of the jeeps and put them into some long skinny river boats.  We then headed up river for another 2 hours stopping every once in a while to look at birds, pink dolphins, and to play with monkeys.  Playing with monkeys was fun.  All you need to do is pull up near to them in the branches that hang over the river and hold a banana in your hand.  Next thing we knew monkeys were in our boats jumping on people’s heads and trying to take our bananas.  Eventually we made it to our eco lodge that sat in the edge of the river with water all around it.  It seemed like a nice place.  There were a handful of hammocks hanging out front over the river and a few lounging chairs on a deck.  Also there were a few hungry alligators and caimans hanging around the camp.  We couldn’t resist playing with them and trying to grab them by the tail.  After getting settled in, we jumped back into the boats and headed up the river to a place with a dock the overlooked a flood field where there is always a beautiful sunset.  Once the sun was gone, we returned to the camp and had an amazing dinner.  Luckily since it was a vacation we had a group of lovely women who prepared breakfast, lunch and dinner for us each day.  After dinner we relaxed and played some pool and ping-pong before going to bed.  Luckily each bed had a mosquito net because the mosquitoes came out in force at night.

 

Us cruising down the river in our boats

Me feeding a monkey a Banana

Monkeys climbing on peoples heads trying to get to the Bananas

Alligator waiting for a bite to eat

He was chilling right out side the door to my room

Me tuggin' on the tail of an alligator (I don't think he enjoyed it)

Our second day of life on the river started with a nice breakfast from our lovely cooks.  As I was waiting for them to finish, I chilled on the deck watching the river flow by and the birds flying around in the air.  After our amazing breakfast we loaded up in our boats and headed up stream to a dry piece of land that was surrounded by flooded swampland.  Our goal was to find the Anaconda and to look for other snakes.  Right off the bat we found a baby rattlesnake basking in the sun.  We kept our distance because this little rattlesnake packs one heck of a venomous bite.  So we snapped a few pictures and kept searching for other snakes.  It wasn’t long before we encountered an anaconda.  Anacondas are not poisonous but are constrictors, which mean they squeeze the life out of their prey before eating them.  We proceeded to hold it and snap a few photos of us with this deadly mythical creature in our hands.  To find these creatures in the rainy season is a bit more difficult because the river is so much higher and everything is flooded which allows them to spread out in a greater expanse of water.  After searching on the small island a little longer we decided to go to a flooded field to continue looking for more snakes.  We trekked through swampy waters from ankle to knee deep with high grass at our sides.  It was a little intimidating, but the sense of adventure was pulsing through our veins.  We eventually encountered a handful of other small anacondas which we wrestled into submission….  After loading back up into our boats, we headed back to the camp where I chilled in my hammock waiting for lunch.  And as I was lying there, Pedro (a giant caiman) was just a few feet away waiting for his lunch as well….

 

Poisonous  Rattle Snake

Me holding the deadly Anaconda

Me chilling in the Hammock with the Caiman chilling just a little ways away

After lunch we decided to go swimming with pink river dolphins.  So we went down the river until we found some dolphins.  Once we pulled up to the spot the guide told me to jump in.  I didn’t let it show but a little sense of fear trembled through my body as I stood there and thought about the idea.  Finally I manned up and dove over the side of the boat into the murky waters.  I was soon followed by many others.  We treaded water in the center as dolphins swam around us brushing up against someone every once in-a-while (or at least we hope they were dolphins).  Now that we were in the water having fun we didn’t think much about the anacondas, caimans, or piranhas much but we still made sure to stay away from the edges of the river just in case.  The guide said that when dolphins were in an area that usually there were no other predators in the water but I sure didn’t see them swimming in the waters.  We chased the dolphins around and around until they finally got tired of us and left.  So we loaded up in the boats and went to find more.  We found some more and swam with them a bit until again they left.  Exhausted from treading water and cutting flips off the fronts of the boats we climbed back into the boats and made our way back towards camp.  We took showers and got ready for dinner.  After dinner while it was dark we got back in the boats with spotlights and went down the river looking for the glowing red eyes of the caimans.  It was pretty interesting and to hear the sounds of the jungle coming alive at night was amazing.

 

Me chilling in the water as the other guys are flipping in

On Thursday morning, our last day in the jungle, we got up very early to go out and watch the sun come up over the pampas and to see and hear all the birds waking up.  Also we went looking for animals.  We saw a bunch of amazing birds and also we saw the Capybara.  It is the world’s largest rodent.  They can get over 4 feet long and up to 150 pounds. HUGE!!  It was very interesting.  Then we went back to the camp to pack and get ready for lunch.  Mathias and I heard a weird sound so we put on some boots and went trekking off through the wilderness to find out what it was.  We came across a large red howler monkey.  It made the weirdest sound I have ever heard an animal make.  We followed it through the trees taking photos and videos until we had to return.  After lunch we loaded our things back up in the boats and began our journey back.  We had been blessed with such great weather for the past couple days but on the way back is when it began to rain.  And it rained hard.  We put on our ponchos and did the best we could to stay dry, which was kind of impossible.  I ended up bailing water from the boat for an hour and it was as if it was filling up as quickly as I could bail it out.  Eventually, half way soaked, we made it back to the shelter where we first set off on the river. We unloaded our things and waited under the shelter for our jeeps to arrive to take us back to Rurre.  While waiting, we watched pink dolphins playing around in the river jumping out enjoying the rain as they put on a show.

 

Capybara (world's largest rodent)

Red Howler Monkey

Trekking through the water in search of the weird noise

Pouring down rain behind me as the boats continue to fill up with water.

Eventually our jeeps showed up and we made the long bumpy ride home.  The way back was a lot more difficult considering the amount of rain coming down.  Everything was muddy and we were sliding around everywhere.  Not to mention our driver appeared to be very tired and I’m sure a foggy windshield with no defrosts and wipers didn’t help a bit.  Then our jeep started to turn off multiple times in the middle of the road.  We eventually managed to get it going each time until we got back to Rurre.  Once finally back in the village we made our way to our hotel where we had a nice swimming pool and a couple pool tables.  I am not sure if our rooms were designed that way or if they were trying to save money but we had no windows.  Just big openings in the walls with curtains that would hopefully keep mosquitoes from flying in and devouring us.  It didn’t work!  Our first night we swam a bit in the pool then got ready and went out into the village looking for a nice place to eat.  We eventually all congregated at a place called “The Funky Monkey”.  It was a pretty cool place with pool tables and I actually heard a country song played on the radio.  We all had a good time chilling and eating and laughing about our trip.  Soon after, I went to bed because I was exhausted.  Our planes were supposed to leave around lunch time the next day so I wanted to be well rested.

 

Our view out the hole in the wall of our room

Well the next day came and we wanted to eat breakfast and try to climb up to the over look on top of a mountain before we had to leave.  So we went and had our small breakfast and waited for news on our flights.  We found out that if the weather stayed clear we would be able to get one of our flights out but the other would be delayed for the morning.  So me being the thoughtful and self sacrificing person that I am, volunteered to stay an extra night in Rurre so that the others could make it home.  With that settled and behind us we set off to climb up to the mirrador to see Rurre from above.  Finally at the top, I and Mathias (also a very thoughtful and self-sacrificing person) decided to climb down the other side of the mountain in search of adventure in the jungle.  I in my crocs, shorts, and with a shirt tied around my head and Mathias with his flipflops, shorts, and a shirt tied around his head, climbed down the mountain and down a waterfall, where we eventually found a long vine dangling from the trees.  (I would have posted photos of this but my battery was dead in my camera).  We proceeded to pretend we were Tarzan swing back and forth down the river having a blast.  Finally, we continued down the river until we eventually ended back up in the village.  From there we decided that we want to find some coconuts.  So we wandered around asking people where we could find some.  We eventually found a house that had a tree in the backyard full of coconuts.  We called over the fence to a lady in the yard asking if we could buy her coconuts.  She looked around and then told us she would sell them for 1 boliviano each (about 15 cents).  So we ended up with 12 coconuts that we had to carry all the way back to the other side of the village. 

 

Chilling at the overlook of Rurrenabaque

Once back we opened up a couple of them to share with the others before they had to leave to catch their plane.  After they left we swam in the pool for a little while before we ventured off to find something to eat.  We ended up going back to the Funky Monkey and hanging out with the owner.  We spent the evening walking around the village and chilling around the pool.  Eventually around 8:30 we went out to dinner at a fancy restaurant called the Luna Lounge.  Dinner was great as we sat outside enjoying the nice weather.  After we went out walking around looking to see what the nightlife was like.  Everyone had been telling us how awesome and great the night club named Bananas was.  So we really wanted to see what this place was like.  As we walked down the street music was thumping coming from various clubs.  We found Bananas and went up to check it out.  The place was empty…  We then went to 4 other clubs to see what was going on.  They were all empty.  Only a few people sitting around drinking.  It was almost 12 and nobody was at any of them.  It was pretty hilarious.  After talking to a few people we discovered that the night life usually takes place on Saturdays and Sundays.  So we headed back to our hotel to sleep so we could catch our plane in the morning. 

Upon waking up we discovered that our plane was delayed.  So we went to breakfast in the village.  We didn’t really know when the flight was supposed to be or if it would be.  But as we were finishing up breakfast our taxi driver pulled up to tell us our plane would be leaving soon and he would pick us up in an hour.  So we paid and made our way back to the hotel to finish packing our things.  I was finally glad to be going home because I had no clean clothes and everything was beginning to stink with the smell of sweat.  We then made our way to the airport where we were quickly escorted to our plane to head home.  45 minutes later we were descending into the airport of El Alto.  Getting off the plane I could immediately tell the difference in the climate.  It’s crazy how in such a short trip it can change so much.  I guess a difference of around 12,500ft makes a big difference.  But I was so glad to be back home in La Paz.

Another monkey smiling chilling in our camp