We just got back from an Amazong trip in the Amazon (sorry, I couldn´t help the bad pun, which Evelyn says doesn´t make sense). Our rescheduled flight was for 6:15 on thursday morning. We got on the plane, but got back off at 6:30 because we couldn´t fly. Luckily, by 7:15, we decided we could. We made it to Rurrenabarque, the jump off point for Amazon tours, rushed to our tour agency, and within 20 minutes, were off to the Pampas, a wetland area where you can see an unbeleivable amount of animals. After a three hour jeep ride, we took a slow, four hour river ride to our camp. Basically, most of the trip was taking slow river rides around looking for animals. We saw hundreds of alligators, caimans, capybaras (the world´s biggest rodent) and birds of all sorts. We also saw some pink river dolphins. They are born grey but, like flamingos, turn pink because their diet consists of a large number of pink crabs. We also saw monkeys, an anoconda, a hummingbird, some rodenty things, and probably more animals I forgot to mention. We also went fishing for Pirahnas.
Our plan was to leave the next day on a three day jungle tour, but we were both suffering from very loose stool. So instead, we decided to take a day off hanging out in Rurre, and only do a two day trek. This also was good because it meant we could continue with our fabulous guide from the Pampas, Antonia. The jungle tour was also excellent. There were only three of us (plus a guide, captain, and cook). You do not see as many animals in the jungle, but we learned alot about different plants and their uses, and saw some really cool ones, like a walking tree and a trunk covered in thorns like a rose. Another particularly interesting tree was the ´diablo tree´. It is a relativel thin white tree which has a symboitic relationship with a vicious type of ant that lives within it. The ants get a home and, in return, attack anything living within about a meter´s radius. It is called the devil tree because there is a circle lacking vegetation surrounding the tree, a rarity in the jungle. If you tap on the trunk, ants will come out of the wood and rush to the spot. We also saw the biggest spider and millipides I have ever seen in the wild, leaf cutter ants, wild macaus, and two families of wild pigs.
On the way back, we lucked out on our flight. We flew back as schedule on tuesday, while all the flights on sunday, monday, and wednesday were cancelled. In the end, we got back to La Paz on the same day we were originally planning to, despite our two day delay in departing La Paz. However, today we were supposed to leave for Copacabana, on lake Titicaca. Unfortunately, a protest has blocked the road to Copacabana, so we are stuck here again, hoping to leave tommorrow morning. We will see. On the plus side, you all get to read a wonderful new blog posting, and we hopefully can visit some museums this afternoon.
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