Days 13, 14 & 15 (perhaps?): Just returned to Rurrenabaque from the Pampas (Jungle Swamp)

UPDATE: Sadly I have just found out that Jonas (one of the cool Dutch contigent) may have Salmanella(sp) Typhoid...we will find out his results shortly. I had Typhoid many years a go in the Phillipines and its horrible :( I hope its nothing too serious.

Ola,

Just got back from the Pampas...basically a flat grassy swamp that makes up a large part of the Amazon Basin. It was a good trip & it was fun to spend more time with Thomas & Angelica(sp?) who I'd met earlier on a 2 day jungle trip. There was also a cool young Aussie couple (Micheal & Jess) that were great to hang out with. We also mingled a bit with another group with some great folks from Holland, a couple of crazy Californians ladies and a great young Kiwi guy and his English wife...obviously I suck at names!

It was a fun and interesting trip but I am SO looking forward to getting on my bike and seeing Bolivia my way and at my pace. My fellow touristo's were good folks but "crazy" as it might seem...I´d typically rather chat with a hard working Bolivian farmer, miner then to some 21 yo tourists doing their obligatory jungle tour between their Bachelors and Masters...hope my bias towards adventure is showing.

This was a great trip for photo´s and seeing lots of diffterent animals up close. The jungle (for me) was a more emotional expereince but I am glad I did both. I´ll have more time tomorrow to post pics and fill in the gaps but here is a few pics to give you the general idea.

Che???? the worlds larget rodent...these guys are cute!

Caimens a plenty

Neal's first Anaconda...not huge but i did catch it myself. Its a bit disconcerting to grab the tail not knowing exactly how big the snake might be :) Anacondas here are as big as 10 meters/22ft...rare but they are out there...

Our Pyrana catch...small but tasty...we had them for lunch an hour later

We swam with the Caimens, Pyranas, Anacondas, Pink Dolphins and probably a smorsborg of parasites and nasty ass bacteria's but we are all still in one piece :)

OK, i am off to meet my Dutch friends for dinner and then we are off to the Mosquito bar to catch the tail end of happy hour...US1.50 cocktails are a hell of a deal ,)

Hopefully i'll get some more detail and pics up tomorrow.

FYI, i fly back to la PAz at 5pm tomorrow, looking forward to seeing my bike!!!!

All the best and cheers,

Neal