Rurrenabaque, Bolivia

We decided to fly from La Paz to Rurrenabaque - a forty minute flight as opposed to a 20+ hour bus that is liable to get stuck in the jungle for days if it rains. The plane was tiny, with less than 20 seats and the airport was little more than a landing strip in the middle of the rainforest!

Much like the Salt Flat tours, choosing a tour operator is a minefield. After speaking to most of the tour companies, we opted for Mashaquipe as it's run by an indigenous Amazon family and they use the money to protect the rainforest and its wildlife.

Our tour started with a boat ride up the Yacuma river where we saw aligators casually basking in the sun! 

We then hopped off the boat to visit the Mashaquipe sugar plantation, where we had a go at making sugar cane juice. It tasted really good, but after two bowls we started to get the shakes!

When we got to the camp we were really impressed with our jungle lodge - better than our accomodation in the town! Once we had unpacked our bags, we set off into the jungle to learn about the medicinal uses of the plants and trees... 

 

Leading the way with his machete, Ismael (our guide) welcomed us to the jungle... He had us trying a variety of rainforest delights; parasite-killing milk from a tree, bamboo water and even a live lava he found inside an almond nut! Sam was the last person to try his lava as it was wriggling around in his hand... but he caved in and gave it a go! It tasted surprisingly nice - mostly of coconut milk and almonds.

Next Ismael found a conker-like seed that when cracked open, contained lots of tiny red berries. He then proceeded to mash the seeds up and paint tribal patterns on our faces with the juice. He reckoned he matched Jo's colouring perfectly, but we're not sure he'll be making it as a make-up artist any time soon - especially when it wouldn't come off!

We emerged from the jungle hot and sticky, so decided to swim back to our lodge by jumping out of our boat and into the Tuichi river. Tuichi means 'angry' in the local indigenous language, and it quickly swept us to our camp!

After a cold shower, a hearty dinner and the discovery of even more wildlife in our camp (a tarantula and a boa constrictor to name just two!) we headed out in the boat again... this time in complete darkness. By shining our torches across the water we could see the red eyes of aligators staring at us just above the water. The highlight was when Ismael spotted a jaguar staring back at us on the other side of the river. We could only see its eyes, but no one was too keen to go across the river to get upclose and personal with it! 

The next morning we set off on an eleven kilometer trek through the jungle to our camp. The hike through the was rainforest was humid and sweaty, but the views were incredible. Despite concerns we may not see much wildlife through the thick rainforest, we were lucky enough to see four different types of monkey swinging in the trees above us. It really was remarkable how much they looked like Jo...

 

We came across a huge variety of unusual plants and insects. The Army Surgery ants were the most impressive as they're used to stitch together wounds when their pincers clamp across a gash! Ismael was even brave enough to show us how they worked!

Ismael had found some vines hanging from a tree - and in true jungle fashion - taught us how to swing through the rainforest like Tarzan! Our newly found skills earned us the nicknames, Jungle Boy and Jungle Girl! A few hours later we made it to our camp, which was no more than some wooden posts and some tarpaulin... 

After a quick lunch we were back on our feet once again, this time in search of wild pigs! It didn't take long for Ismael to track some down and he managed to find a group of two hundred. Unfortunately they smelt us coming and did a runner, meaning we embarked on a wild chase through the jungle trying to catch a glimpse of them! When we got back to camp Sam smelt as bad as the pigs, so we both decided to head to the nearest stream for a wash. It felt like we were on I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! as we stood in the water in our swim stuff scrubbing ourselves down!

After a night sleeping under just a mosquito net, we headed back into the rainforest towards a mirador (lookout) high above all the trees. The view was absolutely stunning, with lush green trees as far as the eye could see. It made the long and arduous hikes completely worthwhile. Ismael then whispered to us that we should follow him as quietly as possible... he had found a tree filled with over a hundred makaws!

We were soon back at the river and Sam decided to cool off by floating back to the camp again. Jo decided to take control of the boat and sailed back to the shore instead. Once we were on dry land again, we had a go at making jewellery from seeds and nuts we had collected in the rainforest. It involved a lot of sanding and elbow greese, but on completion we were informed that we'd created jungle 'wedding' rings - and would have to stay monogamous like the makaws!