Pampas trip from Rurre. Too cruisey.. and nice

from 24-26 Nov 2006

So the bread and butter of tourism in Rurre is taking foreigners to... well, the Pampas.

The Pampas, to be more difinitive, is an area of very flat swamp. It has low rivers running through it, and loads of wildlife.

Our plan had been to chill out for a few days, but at the last minute we were basicly grabbed by a very skilful salesman who gave us a special discount to get the minimum number for the trip to go. (As expected, everyone else had got a special deal too.. BUT ours was the lowest..$50US each for 3 days, and in our own cabin)

It was a very cruisey trip. No carrying bags cos all the activities were based from our cabins, right by the river. EXCELLENT food, and lots of it. Nice people in our group. And indeed loads of wildlife (at last!!)

Getting out there was a wee mission. Three hours on an extra bumpy road, followed by two hours roasting in the motorised canoe. Along the way we had lunch at a restaurant which turned out to be a zoo.

While eating, and minding our own business we first had a beautiful tucan hop under our table. Its massive bright yellow beak was so cool to see up close. Two mins later a racoon scurried under there too. He had a mean set of fangs, but was cool to pick up. Later we found him literaly inside the toilet, licking it..hmmm, time to wash our hands. Then a tiny money who scurried up a tree and tried to poo on our trip mates. Even a local cow wanted in on the action, but was shooed away by the waiters most quickly.

Our travel mates were three Oziie lads (Jim, Ben, Jordan) and a Frenchie (Tomas). All around 26. Good fellas. We passed a lot of time just talking shit (as you do). This was interupted with wildlife spotting. On the river journey in we saw two aligators, loads of stalks and eagles. I think we saw them cos our guide motored ahead of the other boats, who must have seen buggar all.

Our camp was all board walked, mosquito netted, and kitted with hammocks. Very flash compared to our recent river and jungle trips. The mosquitos were thick as though and we all got bitten a lot, despite applying litres of repellant. We also had a camp pet... an aligator! It was as tame as a dog (on land at least) and we all got to pat him... which was pretty cool.

That night we cruised up river 5 mins... and found a bar! Cool. Only had a couple trying to watch the sunset, hidden by clouds. Then we went Cayman spotting. They are bigger aligators, but spotlighting them, all we really saw was their eyes. By the time we got home it was 8.30... and with nothing to do...we went to bed.

The next day started with a hunt for Anacondas. This involved walking over the pampas itself in gumboots. They didnt help much when our guide insisted that we walk thru a wet patch that was up to our waistes. At least he found it funny...

So we finaly found snake, but let me tell you it wasnt easy... for the guides or the poor snake. The tree he was hiding under, in a hole, was obviously a well known spot to the guides, cos within 10 mins 5 different guides and their groups had converged on it. The snake just didnt want to come out though, so they literaly dug the poor bastard out. It must have been shitting itself (they also tried to smoke it out blowing ciggies into the hole, and prodding it with sticks!), and when they finaly managed to yank it out it was pissed. We held its head while wrappping it around our own necks, until it finaly threw up. Twice. About as politicaly incorrect as it gets really.

The afternoon was also pretty interesting. Jumping into aligator and cayman infested waters to try and get close with the local pink dolphins. The (proven) theory is that the crocs and piranhas wont attack when the dolphons are around. It took a few moments of belief in our guide for this one. More offputting was the FILTHY state of the water-visibility was approx 1.5cm. But in we went. The dolphins came within a meter or so but we all missed out on the ultimate good luck of one rubbing alongside.

to be continued