La Paz - 13 Nov 2005

aaahhh.... back in La Paz after a week of jungle and adventure. After the pampastour
in Rurrenabaque I joined a 2 days jungle tour in the Mididi NP in the Bolivian amazon forest. Friday morning we left Rurrenabaque with a longtailboat on the
Beni river. It was a 2 hours boatride up to the entrance of the park. I was with 13
Israelis. At the park HQ the guide arranged everything for the Israelis who stayed in the boat and I went inside the HQ where the female officer showed me a 4 months old
ant-eater. It was a cute animal and I could hold it in my arms like a baby for a while.
After 2 more hours on the boat we arrived at the basecamp, a simple open settlement
with beds covered with mosquito nets. Lucky for me there where not so many mosquitos there. The lady cooks made us a nice lunch as we were used of them in the
pampas as well. Normally at around 14.00 we should go for a jungletrip but suddenly
it started to rain so heavily you could not come out and it did not stop untill the next day at 06.00 in the morning, so at night we had company from a lot of frogs. After the diner there was nothing more to do than try to get some sleep. As soon as the rain
stopped the next norning we had breakfast and went into the jungle. The guide showed us the whole forest pharmacy, from curare, anti-malaria, abortion medicin, insect bite medicin to even anesthetic plants. On the same trip we saw 2 tarantulas,
1 a bit smaller than a hand, the other bigger than a hand. At around 13.00 we were
back in the base camp for lunch. Me and 3 other persons who had the 2 day tour
went to the other side of the river inti the jungle untill wa came a sandrocks where
the parrots make their nest. We climbed up the sandrocks and from above we had a
amazing view over the jungle with the colourfull parrots flying in couples under us.
We watched the spectacle a while and went back to the river to take the boat back
to Rurrenabaque. When we arrived in Rurrenabaque there was no electricity and
the few lights went on by generators. So I had to do my things in the dark.

This morning I woke up at 06.30 and packed my bags in the daylight. Electricity was
still down. I picked up my laundry I dropped 2 days ago and as I was getting thirsty
I went for a beer. At 10.00 the linea amaszonas bus brought me and 16 other passengers to the small airfield of Rurrenabaque, no tarmac, only a grass strip,
its the smallest airfield I have been so far for a commercial flight. At 11.00 a
Fairchild airplane landed, unloaded passengers and luggage and 10 minuts later
we could board. When the plane got off we had a incredible nice view over the
Amazone with a lot of brown windy rivers. The plane took us in 40 minuts to the
international airport of La Paz ore "el alto", the highest airport in the world. Its funny
that you almost dont have to descent to land.

I went straight into the centre of La Paz with a local bus and checked in in my
hotel where I am writing todays blog. (free internet). Tonight I will go for another
pizza and tommorow I trade Bolivia for Chile.

Cheers
Danny