Arrival in the Amazon...

I'm lying on a bed under a cieling fan savouring every whiff of breeze that cones from it. For once I'm writing the blog LIVE even though we won't publish it for a few weeks as we're still a little behind.

We woke up early this morning in La Paz and had to be at the airport for 7.30. Chris, who stayed out at the hostel pub quiz until the early hours this morning still hadn't packed his bags to put into storage nor his small bag full of necessities to take with us to the Amazon jungle. He stumbled around (still quite drunk!) throwing things in and out of different bags while I lay smuggly catching a few extra winks having packed everything the night before. I'd left Chris to the quiz at 11.30pm with a Dane and an Austrian as I had been feeling a little worse for ware, not helped by all the 70p litre bottles of beer we'd drank during the World Cup final while waiting for one of the teams to score a goal! I really wasn't feeling well by the time we reached the airport this morning and felt a though I was going to throw up any minute - must've been a 12 hour bug or something... Not pleasant.

In typical South American style we were assured our flight was on time even though they hadn't even finished checking us in by the time the flight was supposed to take off. We sat around for another hour before anything happened and we were ushered onto the tiniest propeller plane I have ever been on in my life. To reach our seats we had to crouch as though we were scrambling through a small cave, all 18 of us. Yes, only 18 passengers would fit on this plane, our heads almost touching the roof even while we were sitting down. There were no air hostesses (there would've been no where for them to sit!), no overhead lockers - most of us had to leave our bags in the aisle which didn't really matter as we weren't moving anywhere in a hurry anyway if we had to get out in an emergency. The cockpit was open for the passengers to see and luckily, Chris pointed out, luckily, there was at least a co-pilot.

Sadly it didn't matter to me that this was probably going to be the most scenic flight of my life. While Chris pointed out enormous glaciers and the spikey mountain peaks, I squoze his hand in the same vain as a woman giving birth... I was quite terrified! Every bump and jerk made me panic and I didn't enjoy one minute of it. We've got to take the same flight in the opposite direction in five days so I'd better get over myself! I've never been on a plane that flies only as high as the surrouning mountain tops on either side... We were so close to them we were almost touching. I felt like I was in a scene from James Bond, without the bravery.

When we finally landed, a few tears but only 40 minutes later, the Tarmac ran out and, like most roads here in Bolivia, the runway had turned into a dirt road. We quickly scarpered off this tiny plane to see a lone baggage handler collecting the bags from the nose of the plane!! From a little box space in front of the pilot's legs! Crazy. Along with the rest of the passengers we stood around for a couple of minutes wondering what to do next: there wasn't a building in site, let along anything resembling an airport terminal. Just jungle and swamp as far as the eye could see. We soon noticed the difference in temperature from cool La Paz as we began to sweat in the humidity. Imagine our surprise when the pilot began spinning the propeller round and round by hand... Was he checking it worked properly? I was glad not to be getting back on that plane for a while. A bus came to pick us up and our bags were thrown on the roof. As the passengers from the bus got on the plane, we took their places on the bus and watched the plane get ready to take off again. The doors were already closed before our bus had left.

Just checking it works...

We drove at a slow pace down the dirt road, tilting this way and that as we crossed swamps and drove over grooves. A herd of cows blocked our way for a while and, watching a few pigs munching at the side of the road, Chris and I began to wonder where on earth the airport terminal actually was. It turned out there wasn't one! Just a short runway whose Tarmac changes to mud far earlier than it should do. Granted, we did pass a little wooden shed with a straw roof after driving for about five minutes that had a sign saying "cafe" and another one next door which said "bano" under the trees. Chris deduced that these must make up some sort of waiting area. Goodness knows where we have to go to catch our flight back on Friday, we'll figure it out I suppose. The bus continued to the town, passing many wooden houses on the way and people on bicycles. We even saw two cocks fighting which neither of us have seen before. Just before we approached the town centre we saw a line of military police who each fired a shot into the air. Ten seconds later we passed the police brass band playing outside the gates to the military base. We were rather pleased with this free airport transfer into town until the driver charged us 60p each once we'd got off.

The airport?

We found a hotel quite quickly... Things seem quite cheap in this town which is surprising since so many tourists pass through to go on their Amazon tours. We've scored a nice, clean double room with private bathroom, Bolivian tv and the all important cieling fan for just £7 a night. It's very hot and humid here and we've already made use of our cold shower. Something about this town - probably the temperature and humidity - has taken us right back to Thailand, and even reminds us in some ways of Palolem in Goa, India. There are no collectivo buses here; the only traffic consists of motorbikes and cyclists. I've already been poked in the leg by a parrot - a glimpse of the wildlife to come during our stay here.

We spent an hour or so wandering round and comparing the tour companies until they all closed for lunch. We'll head back out this afternoon to make our choice. We're really looking forward to this adventure even if we're not too excited by the prospect of our return flight!

A few hours later...

We've ended up booking with Dolphin Tours, three days and two nights in the Pampas - the wetlands in the Amazon Basin. They weren't the cheapest company but still only cost 500 Bolivianos (£50) each which is pretty unbelievable since it includes all food, water, accompdation, transport and a guide for three days. I spoke to the lady about the scary flight we'd taken from La Paz and asked her if she'd taken the plane herself. She told me, "But now, this is much better because two weeks ago they built the runway. Before, there was only grass and the plane was always cancelled when it rained". So this sorry excuse for a runway we experienced today is actually a very recent improvement! I can't believe it used to just land on grass...

We spent the evening stocking up on cheap summer-wear. Weirdly, this town has lots of second hand clothes shops and I managed to get a long-sleeved white blouse for £1 as recommended by the tour companies to protect from mosquitoes while still being cool. Chris got some new flip flops and a new hat having left both back in La Paz.