Caiman capers

Having arrived, somewhat tired from the frozen bus and the flight from La Paz to Rurrenabaque we immediately had to start stripping. Rurre, unlike La Paz is almost at sea level and so is positively tropical. Lovely to be in the warmth! That afternoon we book ourselves off on a three day pampas tour. (Following the recommendation from the Irish couple, Lorraine and Teigh, that we met on the Salar tour.)

Day one begins with a three hour 4*4 trip along a very bouncy dusty track. Not the most comfortable of journeys on a hard bench seat in the back of a Toyota. However we made it to Santa Cruz where we boarded the canoe to take us up the river to the campsite. The journey up the river takes about 4 hours as we travel fairly slowly being amazed by all the wildlife. There are Alligators and Caimen every 30m or so with Capybara nosing about the banks, squirrel monkeys and howlers in the trees and heaps of birds of all colours, shapes and sizes. The largest actually look like they should be humans in fancy dress. That is before we start considering what is actually in the water - Piranas, pink dolphins, crabs, catfish, dogfish and frogs to name but a few.

After dinner, and a very impressive sunset we set off up the river to listen to the sounds of the evening and look up at all the stars. Wonderful viewing, and a little scary - when a torch is shone into the riverbanks the light picks up all the Caimen eyes watching us go by. Possibly a little too much for the small Bolivian, Luna, who at only 2 has nightmares that night about being caught by Crocodillas. Happily by the next morning she is fine again and raring to get back out in the boat to see the wildlife.

The next day starts off with an amazing desayuno and off up the river for 30 minutes to where we are to leave the boat and walk off into the Pampas in search of the giant Annaconda. Strange coming away from the river which looks as if it is going through deep jungle but in actual fact is only about 30m thick before giving way to the pampas, a vast swampy open grasslands where the Annaconda resides. We had to walk quite a distance, especially when Don was carrying an eight year old, Maya, on his shoulders, and not a snake in sight. Eventually our guide, Oscar, spotted one and picked it up to show us. It was about 2-3m long which is about 8 years old and was very beautiful, but did stink to high heaven.

After lunch, and a bit of digestive time swinging in the hammocks, we go back to the river to go swimming with the dolphins. At a point where the river turns a corner and widens the guide steers the boat in a few circles to scare off the Alligators and then it is our turn to jump into the water to cool off. None of us are 100% sure that driving the boat in a circle or two makes it safe to swim but a chomp from an alligator can only be a good after dinner story so in we go. (All back safely with no appendages missing.)

The final day of Pampas touring takes us off Piranna fishing. Done simply by putting a small chunk of beef onto a hook and throwing the line over the side of the canoe. It very quickly becomes apparent that the little sods are experts at removing the bait from the hook without letting themselves be caught. However, we did manage to get a few into the boat, Clare being a bit of an expert in jerking the fish out the water as the clung to the meat so that they flew out of the water and bounced off Don´s legs into the canoe. Lunch included the caught fish for us to try out.