San Joaquín

We were up before 6am, packed up in the dark and had a candle lit breakfast of fruit salad and cake, and fried egg for Anna. Alejandro overslept and missed breakfast and was ribbed mercilessly.

We took the boat back to Rurrenabaque, watching a stunning sunrise over the mountains.

We nipped to the French bakery for pain au choc (pastry too thick but made up for it by lots of chocolate) and yummy brownies (with raisins?!) for a second breakfast.

Then we got into a car with several cracks in the windscreen - after seeing him drive down the dirt tracks we saw why - and drove ~3 hours to Santa Rosa - a town known for its cattle and cowboys. I slept most of the way. We stopped to see a sloth (much closer this time), a huge caiman, and a big jabikara bird eating a live eel. We also passed numerous groups of cattle being herded down the road.

We then boarded a little boat and set out on Las Pampas, a wetland habitat consisting of a network of rivers - much more open than the jungle so easier to spot wildlife. Immediately we saw lots of pink river dolphins, and motored 15 mins to our ecolodge.

The camp was closer together, right on the river and our room was much bigger, lighter and ensuite! We had lunch overlooking the river and then a quick nap.

We then set off for a four hour boat ride down the river, through small pathways (again no idea how he navigated), across grasses and by reeds that buzzed with crickets. It was beautiful and serene - we saw one other boat the whole time. There were millions of birds - herons, hawks, vultures; and monkeys - capuchin, howler, squirrel (v inquisitive); and dolphins, caiman, turtles on logs, and a pair of mating birds. At one point I was dozing off in the sun (much warmer here than jungle which wasn't humid at all) when a dolphin splashed right beside me and woke me up! Anna also fell off her chair at one point showing she isn't adapted for boat life either! We drove back at sunset and picked up a couple of mozzy bites at dusk.

Just before dinner, Alejandro showed us some possums up a tree by our room. Dinner was lovely and we chatted to a French couple living in Sydney who were driving around. He was a photographer so we looked at his photos in envy.

We had an early night. I slept really well despite the noises of mice / bats flying around our room.Read more