Bolivian Amazon and Madidi National Park

We met a couple of Mancs (Brits from Manchester), Aaron and Laura, while studying in Sucre and had agreed to meet them in early October in La Paz to organize a trip to Rurrenabaque in the Bolivian Amazon jungle.  We did just that and spent one night in La Paz (where I managed to tell lots of medical people that I actually had malaria, when all I wanted were prevention tablets-cost me about 1/10 of what they do at home).  We took an incredible 30 minute flight which saw us leave La Paz at 14´C, fly right over the snow covered Andes mountains (I had visions of the move Alive going through my head - who would I eat first?) and land in Rurrenabaque´s jungle landscape at 36´C and opressive humidity.  We spent one night there having cold beers, playing hilarious games of pool and exploring this very laid back town.  I really liked it, reminded me of southeast Asia with all the scooters and flipflop wearing locals.  We arranged a trip to Chalalan Eco Lodge which is the only tourism operation in the middle of Madidi National Park, which was created in the mid 1990s.  Although logging still occurs it isn´t nearly as widespread as it once was.  A National Geographic article stated that Madidi was the most biodiverse place on the planet, encompassing Andes mountains straight down to the jungle, where we were to spend 4 days.  Instead of describing each day in detail just trust me that it was full of hiking, sweating, seeing a whole bunch of animals (monkeys, wild pigs, wild dogs, all sorts of birds, frogs that Laura and I couldn´t quite catch) and of course too many insects, including some that could kill you.  You know its dangerous when the guide sees a spider and jumps back 5 feet.  It was especially disconcerting at night when we had to be all locked up in our mosquito nets only to be woken up by the incredibly loud roar of a howler monkey each morning (I thought there was a dragon outside the window).  Going for a midnight pee wasn´t a relaxing experience (just ask Elise, who had a frog jump on her mid push).  Needless to say though it was gorgeous and again it felt good to help out local people - the lodge is entirely owned and run by the community of San José de Uchupiamonas.  All of the guides (ours was named Rodrigo and Aaron was fond of asking him if, well, EVERYTHING was ´peligroso´ which means ´dangerous´), cooks, boat drivers (we went up the Beni and Tuichi rivers for 5 hours to get there) and housekeeping staff are all from the community.  Rodrigo was going to La Paz shortly after our visit to learn more english. 

Nous avons rencontré un couple d'Anglais de Manchester, Aaron et Laura, avec qui nous avions étudié à Sucre et avions accepté de les rencontrer au début Octobre à La Paz pour organiser un voyage à Rurrenabaque dans la jungle de l'Amazonie bolivienne. Nous avons volé de Sucre à La Paz pour les rejoindre et planifier notre voyage. Nous avons pris un vol incroyable de 30 minutes qui nous transporter de La Paz, 14ºC à Rurrenabaque à 36ºC et tout ça en survolant les Andes et en m'imaginat le film "Alive". Nous avons passé la nuit à boire des bières froides, jouer au pool et explorer cette ville à l'atmosphère très relaxe.  Nous avons organisé un voyage à Chalalan EcoLodge, qui est le seul lodge en opération dans le Parc National Madidi. Il a été au milieu des années 1990. Un article du National Geographic a déclaré que Madidi est l'endroit le plus riche en biodiversité sur la planète, des  Andes au bas de la jungle.  Nous y avons passé 4 jours. Mike inclue quelques extraits de nos aventures dans la jungle mais croyez-moi, ce sera beaucoup drôle quand je vous mimerai le tout. Conclusion de notre visite : "On est vraiment bien dans notre Nord gelé plus de 8 mois par année!"

Entering the park/Entrée du parc

No idea what it is called but it made a lot of noise/Moi je sais que ces oiseaux sont des "Serere"!

Squirrel monkey - we saw them every evening, hopping from tree to tree surrounding a lake in front of the lodge.  They were usually accompanied by capuchin monkeys too, harder to see./Les singes écureuils qui voyageaient chaque soir d'arbre en arbre devant notre lodge. Quel spectacle!

This one isn´t poisenous, but some are.  Luckily none of the many that came into our cabin were.  /Ça c'est la cousine de la grenouille qui m'a attaqué en pleine nuit lors de mon pipi nocturne.

This guy could almost kill you... and Aaron almost stepped on it wearing his flip flops.  The guides tried to get rid of it by throwing rocks at it!/ Une araignée trop grande à mon goût et qui aurait pu nous faire mal. 

This guy went right over my foot.  One guide said he wasn´t poisenous, the other said he was.  Luckily he didn´t bite me./Une autre créature capable de tuer. En fait, les guides ne pouvaient pas s'entendre. Charmant, non?

Overall I´d say we aren´t jungle people.  It was great to experience it, and we´ll probably go back in Ecuador or Peru, but it was super hot, humid and I felt clostrophobic.  There were hardly ever any long views, instead you were looking at trees 3 feet away all the time.  During one hike Rodrigo held up his hand and told us to be quite.  Within a minute we were completely surrounded by wild pigs that have been known to eat people.  We could hear and smell them, but barely see them, just dark shapes moving behind the trees just a couple of arm lengths away.  Yeah, give me windswept tundra over this any day really.

After coming back to Rurrenabaque we said goodbye to Aaron and Laura, who were on their way to Lake Titicaca (yes, it´s actually called that) and Peru while we were headed south to Tupiza and the Salar de Uyuni.  Our last day in Rurre we spent golfing at a as of yet unfinished golf course that had horses grazing on it.  The owners are a scottish woman and her Bolivian/American husband.  I´ve never golfed in the jungle before.  We needed two caddies - one to carry the (rather old) clubs and another to keep track of the ball.  They didn´t want us tourists heading into the jungle to get bit by a snake or something!

Elise in the ´fairway´ in Rurrenabaque

Chalalan was a very nice place to spend 4 days./Malgré tout, Chalalan est un endroit inoubliable où nous avons  eu beaucoup de plaisir pendant 4 jours.