Bolivia - Las Pampas

The day had come for us to take a three-day tour of Las Pampas, a wetland savannah area, in Madidi National Park.  There were eleven of us piled into a jeep, eight of us facing each other on the back benches, as we took the three-hour, bumpy ride on a pot-holed-filled dirt road to Santa Rosa.  Halfway through, another jeep broke down, so we stopped to load some of their belongings to ours and take two more passengers with us.  As soon as we started driving again, the driver turns on popular songs from the eighties, like "Close Your Eyes" and "Hotel California", making the trip both comical and surreal as we sang along in the middle of Bolivia to "ancient" music.  (In fact, eighties music was popular almost everywhere we went.)

 

Once we had lunched, we hopped onto a long, narrow boat and took off down the river.  For the next two hours, we saw turtles, many types of birds and monkeys, including Howler, Capuchin and Squirrel.  Jesus, our guide, ran the boat straight into the tree where all the squirrel monkeys were hanging out.  They are curious creatures and bounded all around us, one even sitting on my lap for a few moments before scurrying away again.  It was soft and light like a kitten and an amazing way to start off the trip. 

Meals were served family-style and were quite tasty.  The mosquitoes attacked at night with a fury, biting through our clothes and laughing at our attempts to ward them off with D.E.E.T., which had no affect on them whatsoever.  Thank goodness for the mosquito netting on our beds.

 

 

Yes, I realize pants tucked into socks looks nerdy, but the mutant mosquitoes were unable to bite my legs then....at least not on my bare skin. 

There were several activities planned for us.  On the second day, we put on tall, waterproof boots to wade through swampy areas looking for anacondas and other snakes.  In the beginning of the tour, one of the guides showed us pictures of snakes on his cell phone.  Ummmm....we can all look up pictures of snakes.  Come to find out, they hadn't spotted a snake in over two months, a fact kept from us until after our journey. 

 

Although the boots reached almost to our knees, that didn't stop the thigh-deep water from pouring in.  As we traipsed through the swampy land, almost face-planting at times over underwater branches, I couldn't help but think of Swiss Family Robinson and the giant anaconda in that movie.  We were armed with absolutely nothing, and Jesus, who was a terrible guide, had run off to where he was a couple hundred meters ahead, too far to save us should a massive snake suddenly decide he was craving human flesh.  Even though no snakes appeared, the mosquitoes were out again in full force and were merciless.  It was quite an adventure.

 

Once back at our cabin, we took off our soiled clothes and hung them to dry...in the humid, rainy air.  It's amazing the stench left them after being washed a few days later. 

 

 

 

In the evenings, we watched the sun set over Las Pampas on a wooden platform overlooking this flatland.  Many birds, including macaws and large, stork-like creatures, and capybaras, the largest rodents in the world, passed by.

 

 

 

On the last evening, we took a thirty-minute boat ride to go piranha fishing.  These were our fishing poles.  For bait, we had to use our bare hands to grab pieces of smelly beef and secure it onto the hook.  In the two and a half hours we were fishing (way too long), I only got nibbles, enough to tear the meat off the hook but not enough to land a fish.  Luckily, a couple of the people did get some, so the cook made a side dish of whole piranha for dinner.  They were quite tasty and not fishy at all, but there was little meat to them. 

 

The boat ride home from piranha fishing was beautiful. 

The final morning of the tour, we packed up and drove to the docks from where we had started.  From there, five of us jumped into the Beni River and "swam" with the pink dolphins that were frolicking about.  They say that when the dolphins are around, caiman and piranha stay away, but it was still freaky treading in water where you couldn't see a thing two centimeters in.  The rain was pouring, and the water was warm but filthy.  When rinsing off in an outdoor shower afterward, my skin miraculously returned to its normal hue, three shades lighter than before.