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La Paz, Bolivia
16° 30' S 68° 9' W
Apr 18, 2005 21:50
Distance 235km

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Escape from the jungle...

Text written in: English

The morning of our departure from Chalalan started like any other--howler monkeys roaring in the distance, the occasional Massachusets size insect flying into our cabin, the interesting smell of Deet and and three day-old deodarant wafting through the air...but wait...what´s that?...please, no...Oh yes, thunder. And lot´s of it. Walking to breakfast we prayed for an opening...please, just enough time for us to make our three hour journey back down river and catch our flight and be out of the jungle. But the opening never came. After a quick breakfast and a forced march to the boat 2 km away, we began to feel our first rain drops. We thought, ¨this isn´t so bad...we can deal with this.¨ Then...WHAM! Out of no where came without a doubt the most impressive display of water falling from sky we have ever seen. The rain came in all shapes and sizes and came down so hard we got the impression that it was raining in every direction: down from the heavens, up from the river, and sideways, directly into us. As our motorized canoe sped down river we soon learned that a ¨state-of-the-art rain jacket¨(sorry, don´t believe in that term anymore), AND a full body tarp are still not enough to keep out the most persistent rain. It will find a way in to the most inner layer of clothing and leave you smelling like wet dog...despite your best efforts.
We weren´t extremely surprised when we got to Rurrenabaque and were told that the airport was closed. Hmmmmmm, we thought...what now.
We were given the option of ¨waiting¨in Rurrenabaque (indefinitely) or driving one hour overland (in a minivan) to an even smaller airport in Reyes where a plane, eghm, MIGHT take off...sometime. We took our chances and opted for plan B...a good choice as it turned out because shortly after our arrival, we DID get on a plane and completed our escape from the jungle. It is worth noting that what was the most scenic flight we ever had on the way IN to the jungle was without a doubt the most UNCOMFORTABLE flight on the way out: both of us felt sick to the point where those handy bags they give you were almost put to good use.
Back at elevation in La Paz, we were counting the minutes until we could leave Bolivia while we still had happy feelings about it: Lauren´s impressive array of approximately 250 bug bites and Danny´s recent realization that it is actually possible to inhale a bug up your nose and have it come out your eye left both of us longing for a hot (hey, we´d even take luke-warm) shower and ¨non-jungle¨ food.
(Editors´ note: due to the inclimate conditions during this escape from the junlge, the picture below of Lauren´s ankle was all we could muster...our apologies).