22 Jan Up and out at 8.30am to join a tour of the Pampas, a huge grasslands with swamps and rivers on the edge of the Amazon Basin. We had a 3 hour 4WD drive to our boat. Along the way we stopped at some roadside place where Frog took the opportunity to hold wild snake. Eventually we got to our boat, a basic timber open boat with an outboard engine. We motored another 3 hours through narrow rivers where we saw pink dolphins, turtles and alligators. We pulled up alongside these bushes and a whole load of monkeys jumped on our boat. The driver had a banana and they climbed on top of me and sat on my hat in order to get to it. It was a shock at first but a good laugh once we got used to them.
That afternoon we arrived at our riverside lodgings where our guide coaxed an alligator from the water and gave him some sausage. He was a mean looking lad but did not seem interested in attacking anyone. That night we headed off to a local riverside bar in our boat to watch the sunset and then on a night cruise to see the nocturnal wildlife and listen to the jungle wildlife at night. The driver caught a baby alligator which we all took a look at and Frog took a hold of it. We all had our torches and were told to shine it on the shore. Red eyes at night means alligators...
23 Jan While waiting for breakfast in the dining area ( a netted timber frame) and our Alligator freind wanted his breakfast too. He walked all the way from the water to where we were and stuck his head in the door wondering where his feed was. We got some good photos of him, he is about 18 years old and damaged his tail in a fight. They call him Pedro and out of neccessity has become tame and lives off scraps from the lodging. He moves around freely but is treated with caution.
Later that morning we went trekking through the marshes looking for Annacondas ( a large snake that kills its victims by squeezing them to death) These marshes have a very potent fungus that requires the disposal of your shoes after you walk there. I borrowed a pair of wellies but threw away my socks after. Frog has caught a foot rash though, he kept his socks until he discovered the rash. After an hour walking around with the guides we found one and not too soon. (We were being devoured by mosquitos and flying insects. My back and legs were covered in bites despite having long sleeves and trousers on and repellant. The intense heat and humidity caused so much sweat that it washed away the repellant in no time. I counted over 20 bites below my left knee alone.) The Anaconda was about 6 foot long. We were so uncomfortable though we just took a quick look and a few photos and left, Of course Frog had a photo of it around his neck. 45 mins later we were back at base and after a cold shower, I collapsed with exhaustion into my bed only to wake 2 hours later in a pool of sweat. That afternoon we went looking for pink dolphins again but with limited results. One of the Dutch girls, Maiike, celebrated her birthday with us over a few beers. The mosquitos had given her over 420 bites that day.
24 Jan We were up and out and on the boat at 5.30am to view the sunrise over the Pampas. We motored along for about 10 mins or so and landed at this place not very different from the Anaconda landing. We walked 20 metres saw the sun starting to rise and a shallow mist across the landscape, It was very beautiful and before I could take my camera out we were descended on by a plague of hungry mossies. We ran to the boat with the driver in hot pursuit and off we went back to base for breakfast. We all looked like a hospital of German measels.
The next thing on the aganda was piranha fishing, but I opted out as I was tired of the boat and the hostile natives as did 4 of the others. Frog went but didnt catch anything, the guide did though. While waiting for lunch and not breaking with tradition Frog straddled Pedro the Alligator and did his customary nude shot. Hollers of laughter and disgust from staff and tourists temporarily drowed out the jungle chorus.
After lunch we packed up and shipped off back to Rurrenbaque, half by boat and the other half by 4WD. Our 4WD home was a troop carrier (Seats facing opposite in the back rather than forward) with bench like seats and we had to endure 3 hours of that along seriously bumpy tracks back to Rurrenbaque. We went out for a well earned dinner and a few beers that night only to be told by the waiter that no alcohol could be served as there was a referendum on the following day. Apparently its an offence to sell alcohol the day before in case anyone voted under the influence. He said though it was Ok to serve cocktails, strange world. I left early as I was not feeling too well.
25 Jan Woke up in the wee hours feeling terrible. I was sweating like crazy and went to the bathroom and started puking from both ends. Whilst sitting on the toilet, I fainted and collapsed in a heap on the bathroom floor. I expect I would have been there for a while only for Fiachra shouting wondering if I was Ok. I went to the bathroom a few more times that night and felt a bit better in the morning. I stayed in my room all day and it was sweltering hot. Although the mossies werent as bad as in the Jungle, they still took plenty of bites out of me.
26 Jan Up this morning and had a herbal tea and a banana for breakfast, hopefully a sign of a recovery. We went to the airport for our flight back to La Paz. The plane was a 14 seater banger from the 1970´s, although it couldnt be worse than the bus. When we landed in La Paz, the change of environment was amazing with cool dry air... lovely. Went downtown and had some healthy vegetable soup.... I could feel my strength coming back to me.
27 Jan Booked out tickets out of La Paz to Sorata today, a place we were told was amazing for trekking and mountain biking. After that we went to our favorite cafe ´100% Natural´ and for E1.60 had a huge fruit salad. The thing came in a casserole dish full of fruit, muesli, honey and yogurt. Divine, it was so big that frog had to help me finish it. That evening we joined Ben and Lizzie for a going away celebratory slap up Indian in the ´Star of India´ restaurant.
28 Jan Went to the bus station to get our bus to Sorata. We were supposed to be on the 11am bus but the counter assistant had booked us on the 11am bus yesterday. After a bit of persistence and insistence, we got on the next bus an hour later. We arrived in Sorata (pop. 2000) about 3 hours later, and it seemed like a dump. We walked a mile downhill to our hostel and checked in before returning to the town for a proper look. We wanted to eat but everything was closed, we eventually found a street food stall and I ordered a fried egg and onion sandwich. The lady serving had to lean into the bun and saw it in half. Pure stale. Frog ordered fried onion and fried sliced sausage. There was green mould in the sausage.
Our attention was sidetracked to a mob congregating in the square so we went over to check it out. Two lads were being marched into the square with signs around their neck stating that they were theives. They were marched around the square and whipped on the legs at every corner. There were 5 lynchmen and they all had whips and gave a short speech at each whipping. Eventually they gathered at a spot and one of the daughters of the accused ran from the crowd and started hugging her father, wailing and refusing to let him go. We were taking pictures of all this and were spotted and the crowed turned on us and chased us away. Watching from a distance the boys got flogged until they collapsed in a bloody heap. Ironically it all occured outside a police station with a few of the officers casually looking on. That evening the restaurants were open again and we went back into town for a feed. It was dark and so were the streets. As we walked home we were set upon by about 5 sets of different dogs. We threw stones, kicked and shone our torches in their eyes and manged to get home intact. Some of these dogs owners just stood by and watched them attack us.... inbreds. That night, Id have drank a whiskey if I had a whiskey.
29 Jan Needless to say we got the hell out of Dodge and were happy to leave Bolivia finest behind us. Our 9.30am bus left at 10am once it was full and off we went. About 10 mins out of town we came to a traffic jam, another landslide we thought but the previous nights heavy rain completely washed the road away. An agreement was made between the bus drivers on either side that they would swap passengers. We unloaded our bags and worked our way across the sludge and rock where the road used to be. The landslide was still in action albeit at a much slower place and watched rocks and boulders fall down the mountain side. We were off again and I observed the woman sitting beside us give a plastic bag to her infant child to play with. It was enjoying the crunching noise of it and was putting it in its mouth. What differnt societies we live in.
Arrived in Cobacabana on the shores of the breathtaking lake Titicaca (the highest navigable lake in the world) and met up again with Ben and Lizzie, we booked our 1 day trip to Isla del Sol. The island is apparently the birthplace of the Incan gods and worth a visit. I began to have a dodgy stomach again this evening. I had more bottom vomit and didnt go out for dinner tonight.
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