Day 176 Day Three: End Pampas tour and return to Rurrenabaque

April 15, 2000

Yesterday morning Patrick woke up thinking it was raining. There was a large band of yellow monkeys in the tree over our camp, munching on fruits and dropping the pits on our roof. But tonight, it really rains, not just drops but a huge tropical downpour that lasts until dawn. The guides and translator who are sleeping on a tarp outside have to scurry in the eating tent for cover. When we get up there are large puddles everywhere. The trees are still dripping but the rain has moved on. Howler monkeys in nearby trees start their who-whoo-whooo thing.

We have breakfast, pack our bags and everybody piles into the canoe. We set off slowly down river. Again, we see many birds, eagles and large cranes that take off from treetops and glide low over the water, almost touching their own shadow. The fast film Patrick bought in La Paz makes it easier to use the telephoto and even the 2x converter in this light against a dark background. We see an alligator cross the river in front of us, but by the time we get closer it has submerged. In this kind of murky water it only has to go down six inches to be invisible.

We take a tributary river, get into more pampas like terrain and visit another pool where dolphins hang out. People go swimming, these dolphins are more used to that and even bump into people. We stay in the boat. Being touched under water by things you cannot see in the murkiness doesn’t appeal to us.

Moving further downstream we get drenched by a brief but heavy downpour, fifteen minutes later the sun is out again though. We eat lunch in the boat, somehow the cook has managed to keep rice, vegetables and grated sardines (which they call tuna here) warm.

At one o’clock we arrive back at the launch near Santa Rosa. There are no vehicles waiting for us. Carouso thinks it’s because the rains have made the road too soggy and therefore the cars are being held at the tranche (barrier) the other side of the village.

So, we start walking the five kilometers to town. About halfway the vehicles do reach us, we pile in and head to Santa Rosa. Only to be stopped by the same tranche. Most dirt roads in Bolivia are just that: dirt, mud, no gravel or anything solid in wet conditions. A few trucks over a soggy track like this and your road is gone, replaced by ruts and standing water.

No one seems to know what is up. It’s two now, someone hears the road might be opened again at six?? Then all of a sudden, after about an hour of waiting the gate is opened and it’s a race to get out of there. The road is bad. Even in four wheel drive we slide all over the place in deep muck, a few times we get stuck but our driver is good, he manages to back out of it. Big trucks have gotten stuck in deep ruts. What a battlefield! How does this place work in the rainy season when it really rains?

Well, we get through, it's about six thirty when we pull up at the office in Rurrenabaque. Doesn’t seem like it rained much here, the roads are as dusty as when we left. We walk back to hotel Asai, get cleaned up and go out for dinner.

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