Already the bus ride to Rurre(nabaque) along what the Bolivian tourist industry happily markets as "the worlds most dangerous road" (and which is hence very popular among us gringos to go mountain-biking downhill) is a true adventure! The road leads briefly up from La Paz to the pass La Cumbre at 4700m before then wiggling down towards Coroico at 1700m and further-on to Rurre at about 250m above sea level. The road is wedged into perpendicular rock walls, mainly only wide enough for one vehicle, very rocky. At one point it even leads straight through a few waterfalls.
I was slightly surprised when all of the numerous mobile vendors which entered the bus temporarily at La Cumbre were explicitly wishing us a safe journey and the benevolence of god... Also seing the woman in the seat in front of me sacrificing copious amounts of pure alcohol out of the window to Pacha Mama for a safe journey did not really make me feel more at ease.
Anyway, besides the danger title I thought that the road also deserved the title as the most bumpy and dusty road of the world - but I was wrong, these two titles most probably go to the track from Rurre to Santa Rosa in the pampas... I have never eaten so much dust inside a vehicle! And after the three hours this ride takes, I was very glad to get out of the car to ease the pain in my hurting bum.
So when I could finally leave the bus after the 18-hour ride to Rurre at 6 in the morning, I was quite glad to crash out for a few hours in a nice little hostel with hammocks and many tropical plants. Rurre is a great little place to laze around for a while and this is what I did for the day. It features a very pleasant tropical climate, a little market building where fresh fruit juices, empanadas, bread etc. are available for amazingly little money. The next morning I took off into the pampas, the flooded wetlands. To you folks at home: the Bolivian pampas pretty much resemble the Spreewald, except for the ubiquitous alligators and caymans, pink river dolphins, snakes, monkeys, turtles, piranhas, and the abundant bird-life.
So the first night after going up the Yakumo river in a motorized canoe made from a single tree, we set out to watch the light of our torches being reflected in the alligator eyes. Surprisingly many orange dots in the plants of the river banks... Some of the alligators were actually lying in the water only a few meters away from our camp. Further excursions by canoe from the relatively comfortable camp included a three-hour walk in gum boots through flooded marshland to find an Anaconda (without any success, only found an Anaconda skeleton), several swims with the peace- and playful pink river dolphins (one of them turning out to be "swimming with Anaconda", though), sunrise and sunset excursions, piranha fishing etc. Absolutely incredible wildlife!! Four days very well spent!
One of the highlights was actually when one guy of my group almost stepped onto a 2m long alligator being totally convinced it was made from plastic. Our guide had been joking about this before and the fact this impressive animal was lying motionlessly directly in front of an other camp on the river bank almost made this probable. The alligator only turned his head and made a hissing sound when the guy was about 20cm away, before slowly sliding into the water...
After one night in Rurre again, I set out into the jungle with the great bunch of people had met on the pampas tour. A four hour boat trip up the Beni river. In the jungle many more plants, hence much fewer animals to be seen. Much more humid climate, many more biting insects. Still very interesting, but certainly less impressive and pleasant than the pampas trip. We spent the first night in a camp in the jungle, leaving for a four hour walking tour leading well into the night, where we spotted a nocturnal monkey, came quite close to a tapir, a deer, and a group of wild pigs of several hundred animals(!). Often just waiting silently for the noises of the jungle, occasionally lightly brushed by some bats flying around.
The next day we set out a little deeper into the rain-forest to spend the night next to a little river on the ground just in our mosquito nets. On this trip we found a few fresh footprints of a jaguar (surprisingly big, I must say!) with a cub. Our very good guides explained a lot about the different uses of the enormous variety of the jungle plants during the walks. The next day back to the camp and to Rurre. In the end I was very glad to come back to Rurre and have a shower...
The flight back to La Paz was alright, only five hours of delay. I especially enjoyed the close-up views of Huayna Potosi and the whole Cordillera Royal before touching down at El Alto airport in La Paz.
You can photos of this great trip here. Have also added several pictures to older albums (Sorata, La Paz, Huayna Potosi)...
