Bolivia - Pampas

From the jungle we were shuttled straight to the Pampas part of Rurrenabaque. This is like a giant river and swamp system. Luckily for us the two girls who had been on the two day jungle tour were on our two day pampas tour so we had some friends, which is always more entertaining.

After the jungle the pampas are soooooo cruisy. Pretty much sit on a boat and watch the wildlife slide by. This included caimans, capybara, anacondas, pink dolphins, monkeys and loads of different birds.

We had another great place to stay and more good food. Happily there were also not as many mosquitos.  Goodness all around.

So we had two relaxing boat rides on the river looking at wildlife, a spot of Pirahna fishing (I caught none and Bruce caught more than none but we do not speak of it), some Anaconda hunting and swimming with the pink dolphins. This is actually a big lie. You get into the same river at the same place as the pink dolphins but there are actually more Caimans there. Technically swimming with Caimans. We all hopped in and shrieked and splashed so much that we probably scared everything away anyway. The shrieking was due partly to the presence of Caimans but also the bottom is all slimy and weedy and gross - NO ONE likes touching the bottom!!! Yuk!!

Looking for Anacondas was fun. Sloshing through the swamp looking for snakes again reminded me of Star Wars. You know the bit when they are stuck in the rubbish compacter with the snake thing? Yeah? Well it is like that but smells like cows.

We both had a really awesome time in both the jungle and pampas and were so happy with the company we went with. Great guides, great food and the lodges felt like the flashest place I had ever been even though we were in the middle of nowhere and they were not that flash (what is it with white linen making a place feel flasher than it is??)

We had one more night in Rurrenabaque before we flew out and had to head back to Peru for our trek.

Oh. My.Goodness. I nearly forgot to tell you about the best thing in Rurrenabaque. There is a french bakery where you can have breakfast. It does actual proper omelettes and the hot pan au chocolat, while not perfect, are probably the best you have eaten after constant bread and jam and fried potatoes. Absolute bliss and sickness inducing fullness because had to eat EVERYTHING in the bakery. And now time to go back to Peru.

Anaconda under the dining room at the lodge

Caiman looking shifty

Turtle

Another shifty Caiman

Swimming with the pink dolphins (insert Caimans)

Bruce, Louise and Emily trying to figure out if dolphins of Caimans in the water

Capybara

Anaconda hunting attire

´We are going on an Anaconda hunt....´

White gumboots are for butchers and also Anaconda hunters



Bruce and Lousie squelch through the swamp



Bolivia - Jungle

Sooooooo as you can probably all guess the blog is VERY far behind where we actually are now. I lost my blogging mojo a bit and there is nothing worse than trying to force it. Also, we started moving around quite a lot and the last thing you want to do after a long bus journey is go and sit in an internet cafe. But now I am BACK!!! Huzzah. Hopefully to bring everyone (nearly) up to date.

Many moons ago we were in Bolivia and after a interesting theft incident in Copacabana we continued to La Paz to catch our flight to Rurrenabaque, which is in the Bolivian jungle. JUNGLE!!! I know, super exciting right.

It is a very scenic 30 minute flight over the mountains to the jungle. The airport in La Paz is at 4000m and the flight climbs up right over and very close to the mountains and then descends straight down into the steamy jungle.

After being at height for so long getting off the plane was a bit of a shock, the heat and humidity hit us like a wet flannel. The first thing Bruce did when we got to the hostel was shave off his beard and then collapse on the bed with the fan on full blast. And then we went and drank beer on the river front because what else does one do when it is hot???

So we had a 3 day jungle tour sorted and the next day off we went!! About 3 hours up the river by boat to the lodge. We were with four other people, one couple who was on the some tour as us and another who was only there for two days.

Our trip the to jungle involved A LOT of good food, walks to find wildlife (as in stalking monkeys and wild boars off track through the jungle, great fun!!), camping out for one night, rafting and swimming on the river, making sugar cane juice and feeding ALL the mosquitos in the jungle.

So it turns out the mosquitos bite through clothing. If I had been walking around in my underwear with repellent on I would have less bites. We merrily put repellent on all our bare skin and they just as merrily bit our legs (and Bruces knees for some reason!) through our clothes. Soooo many bites it was ridiculous.

Highlights for me were swimming in the river and leafcutter ants. The biggest highlight was when our guide gave us normal looking green leaves and told us to rub them in our hands really fast. We did this and they turned to mush and then when you do it longer you can squeeze the leaves and RED DYE comes outs.......WHAAAAATTTT!! Totally.Blew.My.Mind. Seriously. Crazy jungle.

I think Bruce liked stalking animals through the jungle most. And also the food. Outrageously good.

Jungle Arrival!!! (pre-beard removal)

Beer by the Rio Beni, Rurrenabaque

Boat ride to Mashaquipe Lodge. So hot and sticky!!

Red dye from green leaves - I kid you not!!!

Bruce and Ali doing the hard work on the sugar cane juicing machine

Sugar cane juicing machine

Enjoying some sugar cane juice with lemon added (much better!!)

Walking to our jungle campsite

Nice swim in the river after a hot sticky day in the jungle

Jungle camp.

Making the raft

Bruce and Ali

Myself and Anna

Someone thought it would be a good idea to let him steer. Hmmmmmm not so sure.

Pretty sweet place to stay.

Sunrise on the boat ride back to Rurrenbaque after the tour.

Lake Titicaca, Bolivia

From Puno we crossed the border into Bolivia. Woohoo more stamps in the passport.

The town closest to Isla Del Sol is called Copacabana but has no resemblance to the song. We had a night is a very nice hostel and then off to the island for the day. We decided to stay on the island for one night to try and escape the rush of people trying to get across the island between boat trips. The island is beautiful and sunny with glorious views of the the Bolivia mountains. Spent the day walking the length of the island and relaxing in the sun. There are some Inca sites, which are the first we have encountered on our trip. It was a bit of a mission finding food and a place to stay because everywhere seems really expensive due to it being a tourist island. Also with the new currency everyone seems VERY expensive, until you convert it back to NZD of course.

We had one night on the island and then headed back to the mainland to get the bus to La Paz. Unfortunately in the time we had been away a festival had begun in town and the main purpose of people seems to be to come and steal stuff. We had one small bag stolen with my SLR camera in it. That is why there are not many photos for this place sorry. Luckily we still had our passports, money and credit cards and we were both ok. Was pretty annoying to have to deal with the police and stay in town another night. All in all not a good experience but we survived and have learnt from it. Still have one camera in tow and each other so we carry on............

Views from the top

Breakfast time

Lake Titiacaca - Peru

Our visit to the Peruvian portion on Lake Titicaca included a day trip to the Uros and Taquile Islands. The Uros Islands are the famous floating islands and in line with this Puno (the closest town) is overrun by tourists and companies offering tours. As we have learnt from previous experience (Colca Canyon) you do not actually have to take a tour and is always cheaper and normally more fun to figure it out for yourself. Following this line of thinking we headed to the wharf in Puno and had a look around. We ended up getting on a community boat owned by the Taquile Islands. It always feels better to support a community effort rather than a tour company.

The boat took us to the Uros Islands for about half an hour, which is totally enough!!  Here we got an explanation, in Spanish, about how the islands are built and about the people that live on them. Time to take a few photos, look at the products the islanders are trying to sell and hop back onto the boat. It sure is a slick operation and though it is very touristy it was great to see the islands (another National Geographic experience). And as always the sun was shining!!!

Taquile Island is also set up for tourists. Everyone arrives at about 11am, has lunch (fried trout), buys some knitted garments and then leaves at about 2pm. I am sure outside of these times it is a peaceful place. The island is famous for its cloth and knitted hats etc. All the men knit and most people are wandering around or sitting gossiping and knitting at the same time. There was some dancing on when we were there but we were not sure if it was a festival or for the tourists. Either wasy they did not look like they were having a good time. The view of the mountains in Bolivia was amazing and the climate and colour of the water made me feel like we were in Europe somewhere.

All in all a fabulous day had by all in the sunshine. Stayed in Puno to enjoy the sunshine and the sights. Also eat to eat jelly. Seriously they sell jelly as a snack!!!! OMG makes me so happy. Ladies with trays walking around yelling "latinas, latinas"  yes please!!!

Onwards to Bolivia!!!!

Laguna Lagunillas, on the way to Puno

Reed boat, Uros Islands

Uros Islanders

Uros Islands

Dancing, Taquile Island

Taquile Island

Taquile Island

Taquile Island

Puerto, Taquile Island

Enjoying latinas (jelly) at the Plaze Del Armas, Puno

Puno with Lake Titicaca in background

Gingery beard (on Bruce not me)

Colca Canyon

From Nazca we caught an overnight bus to Arequipa, where we stayed one night and then caught another bus to Cabanaconde on the edge of Colca Canyon. Another local bus, which I particularly enjoy. The trip from Arequipa was very scenic and we were about to spot some wildlife along the way. This canyon is the second deepest in the world and is about 1200m from bottom to top (well that is how far we walked). More time at altitude and I got sick agan!! Very annoying. When we arrived there had been a few volcanic earthquakes, which had created some rock falls and closed some of the walking trails. There was another earthquake the night we were there, which freaked everyone out but was nothing to us Christchurch dwellers.

The track conditions put our walking plans on hold for a while, so we went for some walks up behind town and that was tricky enough at height! The town is surrounded by loads of amazing terraces that also seem to be built in the most unlikely places on the edge of the canyon too.

After two nights in town we headed down into the hot, dry and dusty canyon to a town at the bottom with hot springs. It did not take us long to get to the bottom accompanied by our trusty guide dog that adopted us at the top and stayed with us for the whole two days, including sleeping outside our room at the bottom of the canyon. We stayed in some rustic rooms at the bottom and enjoyed washing off the dust in the hot springs and a quick dip in the cold river (but not by Bruce). We headed of at 6am the following morning to avoid the worst of the heat while we climbed back out of the canyon. We were very hot and dusty when we arrived back at the top and VERY much enjoyed our cold coke and ice creams. Cabanaconde is a very beautiful and special place, as well as not being a big town hurrah!!, and we would have loved to stay longer.

PS on this computer the photos look really yellow and weird but hopefully the come out OK.......damn foreign computers!!

Bottom of the canyon

Canyony canyony canyon

Local taking her sheep for grazing

Enjoying a cold drink and ice cream in the plaza at the end of the walk

Scenery on the bus ride between Arequipa and Cabanaconde

View of terraces and mountians close to Cabanaconde

Bruce with Cabanaconde in background

Bruce and our trusty guide dog