Friday, July 8, 2011

Rurrenabaque, San Miguel del Bala, and a lot of wild pigs!


Over the past few days, Ryan and I have seen a slew of wild pigs, the world´s largest rodent, angry monkeys, happy monkeys, parrots, toucans, cayman, and more insects than I care to remember. We`ve been taking in Bolivia`s Amazon in Rurrenabaque and its surrounding environs.



Last Sunday, we took another gorgeous flight over the Cordilleras into Rurre. Having taken enough flights into State College, I thought I knew what a ¨puddle jumper¨ was, but I learned my lesson when I crawled into the 17-seater that took us to the jungle. Aside from a few moments of seemingly life-threatening turbulence, it was a gorgeous flight.

Ryan outside our plane in Rurre.
 
View of Illampu from the plane.
Once in Rurre, we relaxed in the hammocks at Los Tucanes and scouted out the numerous tour groups offering treks into the jungle and the pampas.

The common area at Los Tucanes. Not as nice as The Oriental, but still rather pleasant.

We`d heard some rumors about some tour groups exploiting local people, mistreating animals, and overcharging tourists so we were careful to do our homework. Ultimately, we went with San Miguel del Bala, an eco-lodge with a USAID grant run by and for the benefit of the Tacana people of San Miguel. And San Miguel did not disappoint.

Our guide was professional, responsible, and extremely knowledgeable. He taught us about the local wildlife and particularly about the medicinal uses of the versatile although sometimes deadly plants of the rainforest.

Our guide at San Miguel
 On day one, we left Rurre at 9:00 am to take a boat to San Miguel via the River Beni.

On the boat to San Miguel.
 Once at San Miguel, we rested for a bit in the hammock lodge and then headed out for a community visit.

The common room at the eco-lodge.
 Here, we learned that the community is relatively new, as the seventy or so families living there now used to live far apart from one another.  But in order to get running water, they had to move into a single community, which, as I can imagine, required some social adjustment.

San Miguel
We had a good time making juice from sugar cane--a plant that requires an absolutely enormous juicer.




We also saw an artisanry demonstration, in which a very skilled woman turned a pile of palms into a beautiful basket.



After a delicious lunch, we did the ¨hunting hike¨ with our guide, which allowed us to see how the Tacana people trapped animals prior to the invention of guns.

A trap for small birds.
Our final day one event was a trip to the ¨canyon.¨ Although going into the canyon trek I imagined I was going to find something along the lines of the grand canyon, I discovered something much different. This was actually a tall, dark, exceedingly narrow canyon through which a stream was running. I will admit I was shocked when I realized we were actually going into a black corridor with water underfoot, insects and lizards on the walls, and bats above, but somehow I managed to make it through. Not recommended if you are afraid of spiders, scorpions, lizards, or bats...otherwise it was pretty cool.

The ¨canyon.¨
 We spent the night in a private cabin beneath a mosquito net and took full advantage of our single light bulb--bathroom trips were an adventure!



On the second day, we headed deeper into the jungle by boat to Madidi National Forest, where we saw way more animals than we initially thought we would.

Preparing the boat.
Here again, we went on a number of hikes to see enormous trees, monkeys, birds, wild pigs (that attack!) and the like.

The biggest tree in Madidi.
 Ryan saw a tarantula sleeping in the tree next to our cabin, and I pretended that it did not exist.
 
The tarantula!
I´m not sure what kind of bug this is..I only know that it is ¨muy toxico.¨
 On our hike to see parrots and toucans, we saw lots of jaguar paw prints and the prints of a puma. Fortunately, kitties are nocturnal.

Puma print.
On our third day with San Miguel, we went on a final hike and headed back to Rurre by boat where we again spent some quality time in hammocks. If you´re planning a similar trip, make sure to bring a lot of bug spray!

2 comments:

  1. Coach,
    I don't know if I can do the bugs.... Rock on Livingston-Lady!!! Take more pictures... I won't do it...

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  2. Hi Coach,

    The bugs were intense. Before bed each night, Ryan and I went on bug patrol to make sure we were ok. There weren´t many indoors, but on the hikes it was insane. Ants--including gigantic ones--were literally everywhere. Moths were also a bit of a problem. After one hike, Ryan looked down to find that there were literally hundreds of ticks on his pants!!! And just a few days ago, I found one of those suckers living off of me...scary...

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