From La Paz to the Amazon

La Paz was at times a stunning city, the photo above is just the view from our room, almost at sunset. The hills were just nuts, you´re out of breath so quickly, just being at altitude. We didn´t venture as far as we could have, because of that. A shame, I know...

Anyway, from La Paz, we flew to Rurenabaque. A teeny town, a bit of a hub for people wanting to visit the Bolivian Amazon. The plane was a small prop plane, fitting just 19 people in the whole thing. Every bit of wind, we felt. There was no door to the cockpit. Sitting in Seat 1A meant I could see the pilots chatting to each other, wiping the window with a rag so they could - no overly comforting when you´re about to fly over the Andes (anyone seen the movie ´Alive´??!!). Anyway, we survived all 9 of us intact.

Our guide met us at the airport. Stepping on in La Paz it felt close to freezing, I had my jacket on, tights etc. Getting off the plane in Rurrenabaque, it was 9am and about 30c already. We were shown to our hotel, had a nap. Then explored the town and the cocktails they had to offer. I knew the next morning would be when the real adventure would start!

The first thing that struck me was our boats. Well, I think boats is kind of being nice. They were canoes. Or, perhaps death traps if you will. We spent 6 hours on the things, in very close quarters, and got wet every time the boat hit a small wave. As it isn´t wet season yet, the rivers were a little low, and trying to get up the river, we got caught on a tree, and felt like we were about to go under. Admittedly, there was probably less than a metre of water, so we probably wouldn´t have drowned, but I can tell you that I came close to shitting myself.

After 6 hours on the glorified dinghy, we arrived at Chalalan. A small, community run ecolodge deep in the jungle. Our guide, Norman showed us around and took us all to our rooms. The rooms were clean, the beds comfy, and the bathrooms came complete with friendly frogs. There were loads of insects, ranging from your average fly, to mosquitoes, to moths to stunning butterflies. If any of them came near me, I ran for my life.

The next couple of days we spent with Norman and his helper Raoul. We learnt about their community (50% of the money goes to the community, the rest is spent on our stay), and how Chalalan was a concept that was borne out of necessity. They needed an alternative to tree logging, and that was how it started.

Each day we went on walks. Highlights include seeing - tucans, McCaw parrots, frogs, countless spiders, odd looking ancient chicken things, and about 4 different types of monkeys. Very cool. And all the birds were in the distance, where I like them. Norman found my phobia of anything that moves very amusing. And Geoff earned the name ´Señor Baños´, so appropriate that even the guides started calling him that.

I completed one night walk. And two night canoe rides. That was all I had in me. I jumped at everything, which wasn´t the best idea in a canoe. We also all survived a ´Cultural Night´ which was interesting. Well, it was interesting the first time. There´s only so many versions of one song I can listen to on the panpipes.

Anyway, I survived the Amazon! Very glad I made it out in one piece. I enjoyed my time there, but I really don´t think I´d do it again. The jungle really isn´t the place for me, but I´m glad taht I´ve done it!