Rurrenabaque: Tranquillo Como 15 Kilo

So a rainy day in LaPaz led to some fears that our military flight with TAM might be a no-go to Rurre, but skies cleared and the flight went off without a hitch. The flight takes off from the TAM military base airport near El Alto (one of the highest airports in the world) and barely skirts over the Cordillera Real, with its dry puma and massive glaciers dizzyingly close below, and just as soon as there were glaciers, the mountains dive down into the blackness of the jungle, stretching into infinity beyond. Thick, black forest, puncutured only by mountains, fully carpeted in foliage and massive brown rivers threading their way to the Atlantic.

From close to 4,000m to 105m above sea level in 45minutes, we also went from around 18 degrees to about 40 or so with close to 98% humidity; the sweat is instantaneous and relentless.

Bags were found and we were soon in a pickup truck bumping the few kilometers to Rurre. The jungle and pampas tours are the bread and butter of Rurre tourism and we were soon found ourselves being courted by agencies hoping we might go with them. We checked into a nearby hotel with lush courtyards of hybiscous trees and palms and wandered the town, which didn´t take long.

We opted to spend one more day in Rurre before deciding on a tour agency. Tour agencies in SA have a tendency to tell you what you want to hear, and so it is worthwhile to do a bit of research and talk to people. The pampas tours can be touristy, so we wanted to make sure our lodge would be farther away from the crowds and the Sun-Set Bar (a bar on the pampas where those who got in over their heads can drown their sorrows with cold beer and pop... and out here, anything cold is heavenly).

Met up with an American named Matt, and we decided to go on the 3 day pampas with Amazonico Tours and the 4 day jungle tour with Flecha Tours.

The rest of our time was spent trying to remain as calm as possible (any extra movements result in more sweat than necessary). Life is hot and sticky here, but the town is really laid back with river stone roads and more motorcycles than cars. Jungle starts pretty much just outside the town and fully blankets rolling mountains, stretching into the nearby National Park Madidi.

A great place to take it easy. Muy tranquillo.