The Blaus - South America and Europe

16 de Abril - The Pampas, Bolivia

After the long trip to Rurre, we were able to make a 3 day tour through the pampas on a boat for the next day. The pampas is a lowland area that has many rivers and swamps, and some jungle cover along the banks of the rivers. It is a great place to see the wildlife of the Amazon basin, as all of these small rivers and tributaries are runoff from the Amazon. There is a very diverse ecosystem of wildlife that we were able to observe first hand, and it was particlarly pleasant as only one other person was along with us on the tour, and she was from Barcelona and spoke perfect English, so we had a free translator.

After a three hour ride down a very bumpy road, we got to the place where we launched the boat from. The boat was a long, thin boat, perfect for cruising down the river and quickly moving in and out of the growth and swamps that connect to the river. The water is very murky, almost the exact color of milk chocolate, so it is impossible to see what is beneath the surface. The first thing we noticed along the way were the amazing variety of birds that soared overhead. We saw tucans and other colorful bird species that you would expect to find in Amazonia, but there were also a lot of very large birds with long necks built perfectly for dive bombing their dinners out of the river. We would see these huge birds of all different colors come barreling out of the sky and then splash into the river, and a few seconds later just a neck would appear out from under the water, sometimes with a fish in its beak.

As we continued down the river the first day, we came across a few different groups of monkeys that were jumping from tree to tree along the river. We pulled into the brush to get closer to one of the groups of squirrel monkeys (they are small and very colorful, with bright yellow tails), and about 5 of the monkeys jumped onto our boat. One of the women we were transporting was eating a banana in the back of the boat, and they all rushed her to get the banana. One of them even jumped on Jen´s head to get the back of the boat. It was fun having all the monekys so close, but we could tell they were used to being fed by tour groups, so they were very eager to come close to see us and get any food they could. We also came across a few packs of Capuchin monkeys, and saw a rarer type of larger red monkey. The red monkeys (we called them howler monkeys) made a sound that is like no other monkey noise we have ever heard. It sounds something like a gale force wind blowing in the distance, and it is very eerie. Every morning we were there, we woke up to the sound of these monkeys and their frightening howls off in the distance, and it always made us happy to be indoors at night. The river is also infested with alligators and caiman (larger alligators), which we would spot from time to time lurking in the brush, or swimming across the river. We even saw one large one with a small deer in its mouth twisting its kill around in the water.

At about 6pm we arrived at our lodge, which was very unlike what we would think of at home as a "lodge." It was merely a structure built on stilts right on the bank of the river, with bunk beds and mosquito nets. There was a bathroom attached also on stilts, but if you wanted to shower you had to put on knee high rubber boots and wade through almost knee deep mud to get to it. It was so hot that a shower was a necessity, so we all took turns with the boots wading through the mud to the one shower, hoping not to encounter any anacondas along the way. After the shower, we got back on the boat and went to a different place along the river that had a sign outside that read "we serve cold beer." It had a lookout of the sunset over the savannah, so was the perfect place to end the day. It was still a strange place to have a bar, as nobody really lives out there, only people on boat tours are on the river, but the guy who owned the place was very proud of his jungle bar. At the exact moment that the sun goes down, the mosquitos come out...like clockwork at exactly 7pm. This is nothing like what mosquitos are like at home, there they come by the millions in a swarm. It is literally impossible to stay outside as you just jump around waving your arms around your head trying to get the buzzing to stop. We had to get back on the boat and get moving or we would have been eaten to death. We jumped back on the boat, and with the sun fully down, headed back to camp. We each had flashlights, and would shine them into the banks of the river looking for alligator and caiman eyes. Their eyes turn bright red when a light is shown directly at them at night, so they are easy to spot. That was when we realized how dangerous the place was, we saw at least 15 pairs of red beady eyes staring at us on the short trip back to the lodge.

We arrived back at the lodge, slept quite poorly as it is very hot, and the jungle is very loud with all kinds of noises at night. The next morning we went Anaconda hunting. This involved a 2 hour trip further down river, where we got off the boat (which was a first into the jungle for us), wearing rubber boots, long pants, long-sleeved shirts to walk through more mud looking for any serpents we could find. It was not a great time for searching for anacondas as it was wet season, they are easier to spot during dry season, so we were not too hopeful we would find one. After about 5 minutes of the journey, the last thing on our minds was anaconodas. It was incredibly hot, and with long clothes we were dripping sweat. Plus, the mosquitos there in the mud are just as bad as they are at night, and we were constantly getting them in our mouths and eyes. When walking behind someone, you could see on their back at least 100 mosquitos nesting. Plus, the mud was hard to walk through, and sometimes we would almost come out of our boots because they would sink in to the mud so far. Needless to say, we could have stepped on a 40 foot anaconda and not even noticed, we just wanted to get out of there as soon as possible. This part was not fun, and reminded us of the Vietnam War movie Apocolypse Now, when one of the characters says after a bad experience walking through the jungle, "Dont get off the boat, never get off the boat." That was good advice.

In the afternoon after the anaconda debacle, our guide took us to a spot to swim. Since we had seen so many alligators, and knew there were piranas in the water, we thought the swimming spot was in a different body of water somewhere else. We were wrong about that. They took us up river a bit to a wide open part of the river that they told us was safe because the pink river dolphins swam there, and scared off the alligators. So, like good gringos we jumped in, after our guide did of course, and looked for the dolphins. After a few minutes, these amazing creatures appeared, they look very large when in a small river, but are the size of large dolphins in the ocean, but they have pink or grey skin (depending on their gender or age, I think). They came in packs of two and three, and swam all around us, sometimes jumping, but always coming up for air, and protecting us from all danger, as they are the kings of the water in the Amazon. They were beautiful to watch, and seemed so incredibly out of place in the jungle river.

After our swim, we went pirana fishing. Again, this was about 2 minutes down river from where we were swimming. We just attached raw meat to the end of a hook, and threw the line over the side. It was amazing how quickly we got nibbles on the line. Every time we threw the line in the meat was eaten bit by bit. Finally, our guide got one to bite enough of the line that he was hooked, so he caught him. Piranas are very colorful, and they have what looks like little baby teeth (but they are sharp). It was a little disconcerting that we had just been in the water with so many of them, but apparently they don´t like people, unless they are bleeding.

After fishing we returned to the lodge, and basking on the shore literally 5 feet from our door was an alligator. The guide says he is always there, and there is nothing to be afraid of. So, we got out and walked along the planks of our house, looking right in the eyes this alligator. The thing would barely move, but sometimes he would get startled, and turn around and point his head towards us. He would also make a hissing noise, which did not sound like he was trying to make small talk. The only problem with this alligator being there was that we wanted to shower, and didn´t want to walk through the mud with him right there, capable of coming to get us. The guide said there is nothing to worry about, he would not run and attack, so if we wanted to put on the boots and go to the shower it would be no problem. So, with an alligator lurking, we put on the boots, and wrapped towels and sarongs around us and went to the shower. He never moved an inch towards us, thank God.

The next morning we awoke to two alligators on our shores, but by then were used to them. We watched them as we ate our breakfast, slowly lurking, waiting for something unsuspecting to come by. After breakfast we made necklaces out of palm seeds and other natural materials found in the pampas, which was quite fun, and something we are both wearing still, and then we got on the boat and went back down river towards home. It was on this adventure to the pampas that we realized that we have changed quite a bit since we left home. I don´t think either of us thought that we would walk through mud infested with alligators by ourselves for anything, much less to take a shower, but the whole thing seemed pretty normal to us at the time. The pampas trip was really incredible, and seeing that much amazing animal life in the water, trees, air, and mud was fantastic. If it wasn´t for the mosquitoes, the place would have been perfect.

posted by The Blaus @ 2:24 PM