Thursday 1 November 2007

Pampas and Jungle on Beni river Bolivia
















Cruising along in skinny motor boats looking for Caymen in the shallows and being chased by blind pink dolphins. Dolphins couldn't find us and they look a bit silly being pink, but they dont know this.
The Caymen are supposed to be small alligators - kind of like cats are to lions but they get really big when you crash a boat into them and they jump aggressively into the water. Now I jump when a drop a pint of milk...So I would usually get into trouble for scaring away the perfect photography moment - twigs snapping - crashing into crocodiles etc. Take them faster I say, it´s supposed to be an automatic anti idiot camera. It just needs to be set on jumpy audience - and me and Al were at the eating end when we crashed into them....

Also the best way to scare the timid creatures is to rush past at 40mph and then rev the arse off the motor in reverse. A new guide methinks

Saw lots of monkeys, a sloth - reminded me of the office - parrots, large rabbit type things, big rattle snake they can kill 5 humans with one drop of poison. What is the point of that. How many bunnies does it need to get with one bite. Didnt look very bothered about eating bunnies or humans when we saw it under the bush. Irritating tourists maybe..

Hooray for mosquito nets. Managed to cover my whole body with one meant for the face. Looked like a travelling bees nest with a hat.

The area is surrounded by hills (Beni Hills...) and forest with the huge chocolate orange rivers snaking off to Brazil. The main road to Brazil is rubbish by the way. More pothole track with no trees in the way. Best go by donkey.

Planes in from La Paz have to land in the grass and stop before crashing into the village, hence no flights after wet days or when it is raining or when it might rain in an hour or so. Try booking that in the rainy season...

Enjoyed siesta times in the jungle. Usually just me and the mozzies in the hammock strumming the guitar to the great voices in my head. One person liked it.







Another highlight was me trying a jungle swing and falling followed by a cartoon moment of vine snaking down and falling on top of me. No anvil this time.

Found lots of wild pigs in the jungle, crazy chickens etc. Wild pigs are actually scary and make screaming noises when they ve been spotted. There can be over a hundred in a group, and they can charge and try and eat you. They charge past like a herd of angry pot bellied elephants. Its always best to stand close(behind) the guide in these situations and look for trees to climb which are more difficult to do in practice. One bloke climbed a tree but it leaned over and he was eaten by pigs until his friend rescued him with a large stick and lots of apple sauce. True - apart from the apple sauce bit.

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