The Amazon

I took the week off and flew to the Bolivian Amazon, which was amazing both for its beauty and its stark contrast to the altiplano (the region containing La Paz). The altiplano is a sort of high barren, almost desert-like, plateau, where almost everything is brown, and when you cross over the mountains the valleys are green and fertile, with large (muddy) rivers, all of which eventually drain into the Amazon. The planes that make this trip are tiny, seating only 12 people, with a small compartment for luggage below, like on a bus; and don’t inspire much confidence – before you get on they wish you good luck! Not exactly what you want to hear, especially when we were coming back to La Paz. It had been raining all night and the “airport” we were supposed to take off from was “under water”, so we had to drive to the next "airport", although both of which were just grass strips (yes, the runways in that region are just grass). They even sent the tractor out to mow the (wet) lawn before we took off! I wasn’t sure if I should be more afraid of the conditions or the Israeli guy who carried a machete and bow and arrows with metal tips onto the plane. Now seriously, who thinks that it’s a good idea to have that as your carry on luggage?

The jungle itself was incredible. We took a long boat trip up the river through protected rainforest and eventually stopped at a small camp. There we met some guides who took us on several walks through the jungle where we saw Macaws, howler monkeys, spider monkeys, tons of butterflies, tarantulas, and all sorts of interesting plants and animals. It was so hot there during the day that you pretty much can’t do anything between the hours of 11 and 2 besides sweat. Then we took a trip into the “pampas”, which are the small rivers where there is more animal life. There we saw and endless number of alligators and turtles, as well as capybaras (the largest rodents in the world – about the size of a large pig). We also saw a 10 ft. long anaconda, and more birds and monkeys. The highlight was swimming in the dirty water with pink dolphins (they actually are pink, and don’t ask me how they got there) in an alligator and piranha-infested river. Our guide said it was safe so a few of us jumped right in, but after a few minutes we several sharp pinches on our backs, desided maybe it wasn't such a good idea after all and got out. Afterwards when I asked the guide if there were piranha in the water he gave us a huge smile and his eyes lit up... "Si!", he said, seemingly fighting off laughter.