UUHOLO blog: Rurrenabarque - Pampa and Jungle | Rurrenabarque

Trip to Rurrenabarque was a highlight of our trip so far and we have enjoy every (almost) minute of it. We wished to try to get to Rurre by bus which takes 18 hours. We thought that would be an adventure. Who would go for a boring 45 minutes flight? I was wrong, flight with local aerolines doesn´t have to be boring at all, but that comes at the end. Let´s start at the beginning.

After they have tried a well-known trick at the bus stop - 'sir, could you please help me....' one guy was asking Michal and in the meantime the other guy went straight for our bags - but we caught the sight of other guy and saved our bags (they didn´t know what was inside so they would most likely steal the bag with all food for our 18hours journey) - we have finally left La Paz with 2 hours delay. We thought we had a good seats - second row on the right side of the bus (they use something like double-deckers here, usually you sit quite high and have a good view). At the moment when asphalt road finished and dusty unsealed road started, driver changed the side and started to drive on the left side of the road ?!? We didn´t understand why, because on the left side was just a very deep gorge ... tens and sometimes hundreds of meterers under the road. Why he was voluntarily driving on left, closer to the ´void´? The answer is very simple - because the driver sits on the left side, he can see how many (centi)metres he has to the edge. and we in the front part of the bus, have seen our part of the bus over the edge. To make it less boring, there were also cars, trucks and buses from the other direction and the road was seldomlu wide enough for both, so you can often see drivers negotiation on the road, which vehicle will have to reverese to the closest part wide enough for both directions. As they are stuck there are more cars coming and excesising their horns and then all those cars are manoeuvreing and try to pass. Michal said he would allowed bikers on this road, but not cars and buses. Sometimes he has tried to hold by diferent parts of the bus, maybe hoping to help balancing the bus. Fortunatelly it got dark after some time and assuming we got off this road, we have slept until the next morning.

And then the real adventure started - trip to Pampa and Jungle. Firstly we had some rain - good for change. But because there is no asphalt on the roads there, the 3hr drive to the river became really interesting. We wer in jeep but the deep muddy tracks were making it jumping from left to right, but when we have got to one bus across the road, we had to wait until locals with showel, picks and some other simple tools have helped it out back to the road. And it took them less then half-an-hour! And then we got there. We knew we would see aligators, kaymans, river dolphins, anaconda and different birds, but the reality was much better than our expectation, they were every couple of meters, sometimes less then meter of our boat. We learned to distingusish aligators from black kaymans, that are sometimes really scary - biggest maybe over 4 meters long. All around different birds and monkeys, together with aligators and kaymans co-existing Capybaras. Andf between them river dolphins - we have even swimmed in the river with them. Dolphins protect their teritory so although some aligators were less than 20m away, we trusted our guide Negro that it is safe. Negro itself is a legend, guiding in Pampa for last 18 years. Also we have seen two anacondas and fished piranhas, but they were quite small with not too much meat. And all of that on one narrow river. And on the way back we have seen tapeer, quite rare to be seen next to the river.

After 3 days in Pampa we went to the Jungle. It was also fine, but not as excellent as Pampa. This time we have guide just for us two and he was describing to us almost every plant and tree, all diferent ants and termits, monkeys, some spiders - at night we went to see tarantulas, but we have found only small ones. First night we slept in the hut next to the river, the second night on the ground in the deep forest in some kind of camp, just under the mosquito net, with all the sound of the jungle around us. Also we have seen wild pigs every day, sometimes bunch of them as close as 20m. On the way back to the river we have seen heaps of parrots in one of the cliffs - Red-Green Macaws, allegedly the biggest existing parrots. They live mostly in one pair for their whole life.

The last think of this trip to be mentioned is the return flight from Rurrenabaque to La Paz. Firstly we didn´t want to spend another 18hrs in bus, secondly we hoped we would see Huyana Potosi (that we have climbed on the beggining of the trip) from the close distance from the plane. But the weather was not with us, visibility was quite poor and the flight was a bit wild - the plane was just for 18 passengers so you can imagine how small it was) and all 25 minutes of the 45ti minutes fligh I was thinking if I would need to use the sick bag or i I am brave enough to ´keep it in´. Although completely green, I have made it without incident. Much worse than noat on whale-watching trip or any landing in Wellington!

Vylet do Rurrenabaque a mistni dzungle a hlavne pampy byl uzasnou teckou za pobytem v Bolivii. Touha vyzkouset si 18ti hodinovou cestu autobusem byla silnejsi nez nudny (oh jak jsme se mylila - let vubec nemusi byt nudny!) 45ti minutovy let s mistnima aerolinkama.

Po te, co na nas vyzkouseli fintu - 'pane prosim vas, muzete mi poradit?' a mezitim druhy kumpan bleskurychle bere vsechno co vidi - ale nas postreh byl lepsi nez jejich napad - jsme asi po dvouhodinovem zpozdeni vyrazili. Mysleli jsme si, jak mame dobre sedadlo, druhou radu napravo ve vysokem autobuse (neco podobneho jako dvoupatrovy doma)... V momente kdy skoncila asfaltova cesta a prijeli jsme na neco, co byste doma ztezi nazvali polnackou, ridic najednou zmenil stranu a najednou misto vpravo jel vlevo. Nechapali jsme proc, protoze nalevo byla jen hluboka propast... Desitky, nekde i stovky metru pod nami, proste doura az dolu. Proc se dobrovolne tlaci doleva, bliz k te propasti? Odpoved byla neskutecne jednoducha. Protoze on sedi nalevo a vidi kolik (centi)metru jeste muze ke kraji. My ostatni akorat videli, jak ten autobus precniva pres okraj a pod nama ta doura! Aby to nebylo az tak nudne, dalsi auta, nakladaky a autobusy samozrejme prijizdela v protismeru a malokdy byla silnice dost siroka pro dve vozidla. Ridici vystupuji a domlouvaji se, kdo z nich to ma bliz k dostatecne siroke casti pro oba smery a kdo bude couvat. Mezitim prijizdeji dalsi, vsichni troubi (jakoby se tim neco vyresilo) a tak v tech krkolomnych zatackach 4 auta ci busy manevruji a zkouseji se vejit... Michal prohlasil, ze na tu silnici by pustil mozna tak motorkare, ale auta a autobusy? Obcas se take intuitivne chytal vseho okolo, asi v nadeji, ze to lip vyvazi :o)Nastesti po par hodinach se setmelo a my predpokladame, ze jsme sjeli z teto silnice a opustili vsechny ty srazy. Kazdopadne uz jsme se tim netrapili a spali az do rana. O asfalt jsme uz vice nezavadili...

A pak zacalo to opravdove dobrodruzstvi - vylet do pampy a dzungle. Taky nam poprve prselo. Prijemna zmena. Akorat tim, ze zadna cesta nema asfalt, se 3 hodinovy presun k rece, stal opravdovym zazitkem. Myslim, ze jet v hlubokem snehu je mnohem jednodussi. Meli jsme jeep, takze ten ty hluboke koleje celkem zvladal, sice to nim a nama pekne hazelo, ale kdyz se autobus zasprajcnul pres celou siri cesty a oni se marne snazili krumpacem a lotatou problem odstranit, moc jsme neverili, ze k rece dojedeme. Podarilo se. A pak to prislo. Vedeli jsme ze uvidime aligatory a kajmany a ptaky a delfiny a anakondy, ale ze jich bude tak moc a tak blizko, to nas vubec nenapadlo. Prvniho aligatora jsme videli asi po 10ti metrech ve vode. A pak uz byli s nama celou cestu, kazdych 10 nebo 20 metru byl aspon jeden, vetsinou ale mnohem vic. Obcas na nas koukali jen tak ze brehu, obcas byli pul metru od nasi lodky. Naucili jsme se rozeznavat je od cernych kajmanu, kteri jsou jeste strasidelnejsi. Nejvetsi mohli mit pres 4 metry. Vsude litali hromady ruznych ptaku, skakali opice, spolu s aligatorama a kajmanama si tam spokojene ziji kapybary a ricni delfini. S tema jsme si skocili do reky a plavali. Aligatori nas pozorovali z bezpecne (???) vzdalenosti 20ti metru. Pry si delfini brani svoje uzemi a aligatory by na nej nepustili... Verili jsme pruvodci Negrovi, ktery uz tam vozi turisty a sam se koupe minimalne poslednich 18 let... Negro sam o sobe je legenda, ale o tom asi az nekdy osobne. Asi by se rozkriklo, kdyby se jim ztraceli turisti :o). A taky dve anakondy jsme videli a pirane chytali. Byly ale takove male, moc masa na nich nebylo. A to vsechno v jedne rece! A taky jsme videli tapira, coz bylo pry uplne jedinecne, protoze ten se vidi na brehu reky tak 3x rocne.

Po 3 dnech v pampe jsme vyrazili do dzungle. Ta byla taky fajn, ale pampe se vyrovnat nemohla. Zase meli jsme pruvodce jen pro sebe a ten nam popisoval kdyjakou rostlinu a strom, vsechny druhy mravencu a termitu, opic, nejake ty pavouky - v noci jsme vyrazili na tarantule, ale nasli jsme jenom 2 takove mensi. Prvni noc jsme spali na taboristi u reky, coz byl takovy normalni kemp s houpacima sitema a asi i nejakyma breberkama, protoze od te doby nas furt neco zere. Druhou noc jsme zasli dal do dzungle a spali jen tak pod siti, na zemi a vsude okolo ty ruzne zvuky zvirat, ktere jsme nedokazali identifikovat. A kazdy den jsme videli divoke prasata, tak na 20 metru. Na ceste zpatky jsme se zastavili na skale, odkud bylo videt moc papousku, Macau cerveno-zeleni, jsou snad nejvetsi papousci co existuji. Pry jsou castecne podobni lidem, ziji v parech, cely zivot s jednim partnerem.

Za zminku uz snad jen stoji ten zpatecni let z Rurrenabaque do La Paz. Jednak uz se nam nechtelo travit dalsich 18h v autobuse a druhak jsme doufali, ze uvidime Huyana Potosi (kterou jsme si vylezli na zacatku nasi cesty) z letadla. Pocasi nam nepralo, videt nebylo nic, hrozne to houpalo - letadlo bylo pro 18 pasazeru, takze si dovedete predstavit jaky to byl prcek) a ja se dobrych 25 minut z 45ti minutoveho letu trapila otazkou, jestli budu muset pouzit nouzovy pytlik nebo jestli budu hrdina a udrzim to. Vyhrala jsem. Sice jsme pry byla zelena, ale rozdychala jsem to! Mnohem horsi nez lod na velrybach nebo jakekoliv pristani ve Wellingtonu!