Amazon Jungle Trekking (Bolivia)

At 4 am, we wretched ourselves out of bed to head to the airport. If we had more time, we would´ve taken the cheaper bus option, but the drive was avout 30 hours each way, and we couldn´t afford that on our time constraints. We hopped in a cab, in the pitch black, and about 5 minutes into the drive, remembered we had forgotten our tickets! Luckily, we had left with enough time to swing back around, and pick up the tickets without a worry. When we got to the airport, security was a breeze even though it was crowded; no belts removed or shoes taken off! We sat in silence, trying to wake up, until our flight was called, and we boarded onto a teenie plane. The flight was short, less than an hour, and, all bundled up from La Paz, we stepped into the jungle climate of Rurrenabaque. We found a guide waiting for us, and hopped in a van for the center of town, and our travel agency there. After stripping off a few layers, we made for a quick breakfast, and met our guide for the next few days, Ivan. Someone mentioned leaving our big packs at the agency office during our trek, so we quickly packed small bags with the essentials for living in the jungle the next few days...which for Jared, did not include any clothing, a decision he later regretted. We walked over to a river, and hopped on a boat to cross, and receive our park entrance tickets. After signing the dotted line, we got back in the boat with about 7 other travelers, and headed up the Rio Beni, into the deeper Madidi National Park. After about 45 minutes, driving up the river, we stopped at a small bank, and all got out to visit a small indigenous village. I´m not sure if you´d even really call it a village. It was one large family, and its extensions, but they did have about 40-50 hectars (I actually have no idea how much that is) of land that they cultivated; mainly cane, but also some fruits, and a few other items to sustain themselves. We learned about the way of live their people had created ages before the government came in, proclaiming their land a National Reserve, and mandating rations for the villages. We walked around the plot a bit, and made sugar water from grinding cane stalks through a large series of wheels. We then got to try the finished product, which, as you would suspect, was really too sweet to drink alone, but add a little lime juice, and it was delicious!! The families main income was trading the cane drink, and honey made from cane, in the main town, Rurrenabaque. After thanking our host, we got back in the boat, and headed farther up the river. After maybe another 45 minutes, we pulled into a area clearly designated as this tour groups main camp/cabin location. Once we made our way up a series of staircases, we came into the main area of the complex, which was so nice! They had a large eating pavilion, and the cabins we so cute. I was actually surprised by our accomodations, as I expected us to be roughing it at night. On the contrary, our rooms we nice and the staff was attentive. After a bit of a rest and snack...might I add, the amount of food we had a lunch was awesome, we met back up with the group and Ivan, and set out for an afternoon hike. Another boat ride up the river, and we got out and walked through the brush. The jungle is pretty much what you would expect...lots of trees ;) We walked for about 2 hours, and came across a pack of wild boar (which stink!) and monkeys. Our guide showed us alot of the different type of flora, including, my favorite, a garlic tree! When he cut into the branch, it smelled just like garlic! He said people used it to ward off the animals...not sure if it would entice or deter them from eating someone. He also told us how the current President wants to build a highway through the jungle, and displace, obviously the wild life, as well as the people that have made that area their home. Bad President! On the walk back, I´m not drawing any conclusions...but I could´ve SWORN that I heard a "purr"; not really a growl I wouldn´t say, but definitely not a house kitten purr either. After that, we watched our backs a bit more. When the hike was done, we headed back to our cabin area via the boat. That night, we washed up, ate dinner, and headed to bed. The next morning was to be our big jungle adventure day. We had a good breakfast, packed our things up, and started our 5-6 hour hike. The hike was much like the day before; Ivan explained certain local customs, and we saw a few monkeys and boar from afar. A bit after midday, we arrived at our new camping ground, which was much more of what I had originally imagined for our accomodations...very bare. The guides set up a row of sleeping nets and pads, we all ate lunch, and went down to the Rio Beni for a quick dip to cool off after our hike. The swim was wonderfully refreshing, but the current was so strong that we could really just lie close to the bank until the sand flies started eating us alive. After our rest, we put our hiking gear back on, and went out again to a lookout point. We were hoping to see a gorgeous sunset, but unfortunately, we were not facing the right way. We did however, see a massive amount of beautiful wild parrots. At dusk, the parrots fly in from all over the park to this area; they were really quite stunning...and made a pretty obnoxious sound. I was thinking of how well the voice of Iogo from the movie Aladdin was cast...not completely randomly, we had watched Aladdin recently. As the sun went down, we headed back to our camp sight. Unfortunately, the light went out entirely as we were descending the steep and muddy hill; I twisted my hip a bit (a repercussion from my fall on the Death Road bike trip), so that was not my favorite part. Back at camp, dinner was ready, and we were starving! We scarfed down the food, trying, unsuccessfully to swat away the INSANE amount of mosquitoes (jungle mosquitoes are NOT like normal mosquitoes; they will bite you right through your 99% Deet and clothing), and then everyone got ready for one last hike of the day. My hip was not doing so well, so I opted out. The purpose of the hike was see some tarantulas, as they apparently come out mostly at night; unfortunately, they were unsuccesful, and came back about 40 minutes later. That night, we all piled into our row of sleeping bags and nets, and got a pretty crappy night of sleep, unsurprisingly. The next morning, headed out at 6:30 am, to try to watch the parrots as the set out for the day. We caught a glimspe of several, but the night before gave us a much better vantage point. After a good breakfast, which we shoveled down as quickly as they could get new plates on the table, we headed back to the Rio Beni to finish up the last of our jungle adventure...and boy was this the adventure (reminiscent of our sailing adevnture). Our guides built a raft for us from scratch, a bit or rope and some tree trunks, and we all piled on for a ~2 hour ride down river back to Rurrenabaque. Everything started out nicely, the day was warm and sunny, and the water was nice and cool through the trunks. When we turned a bend in the river, we saw the sky ominously turn dark. The wind picked up so aggressively, that through the sand and dust blowing in our eyes, we could tell that we were, in fact, being blown up river, making the guides work hard to get us down river with the current. Then the rain picked up, pelting us, and forcing us passengers back into the river due to the frigid tempteratures, but "don´t touch the bottom...piranhas and sting rays"...great. The guides, despite being freezing and working tirelessly to keep our little raft afloat, kept singing praises to the rain, saying the land was desperate for it. Finally, a boat came for us, and we all climbed in, clutching our bodies to keep warm. We made a pit stop at the camp area from the first night for lunch, and headed back down the river...in a boat with a motor. We landed back in town and found ourselves a nice hostel to park for the night. We were pretty gross, dirty, sandy, sweaty, and nappy. We hopped right in the shower, and I slept from 3 pm to 8 am the next morning!! Not kidding! Jared walked around town a bit, before getting a long sleep himself. The next morning, we woke up, had breakfast, and lounged for a bit, before headed back to the airport and La Paz. The first thing we did back in La Paz, was head straight to the laundromat! Thankfully, the receptionist at our hostel mentioned to me that the next day was a bit of a holiday, as there waas a huge protest happening citywide, and many things, including embassies, might not be open. I quickly called the Brazilian embassy to check, and they said they would also be closed, but if we ran over then, we could pick up our visas, which we discovered later had actually been ready for a full week at that point; but no mind, we ran to a cab, and booked it over to the embassy to pick up our shiny visas! That night, we slept early again, and prepped ourselves for the long sets of driving to come for RIO!!