Pampas (Savannah)

20-22 July

We liked the jungle so much that we wanted to stay longer. It was nice to be in warm weather too. We decided to do a Pampas tour for 3 days and 2 nights and changed our flight back to La Paz. The tour brings you to the Municipal Reserve of the Yacuma River. They take you in a "4x4" for 3 hours on bumpy dirt roads to their Ecolodge Caracoles, on the Yacuma River. Here there are much more animals you can see from the river in a boat. It was much easier than hiking around the jungle. But there are much more mosquitos near the river.

I think we were spoiled at San Miguel del Bala because this ecologe didn't have cool cabanas. We stayed in a big dorm room with 12 people. And the bathrooms were in another building outside. It wasn't too bad, but it definitely wasn't as good as San Miguel del Bala.

We saw a lot of different animals

Many kinds of birds. I don't remember the names.

Caimans (alligators). Big ones and baby ones.

Tortugas (turtles)

Capybaras. They look like giant hamsters. They were so cute and barely moved. They weren't scared of people at all. They almost looked fake because they didn't move. They have webbed feet like ducks to walk in the water.

Delphin (dolphins). I didn't really get a good picture because they were far from the boat. Ocassionally we saw one jumping out of the water.

Monos (Monkeys!!! ) I love monkeys. These were Bolivian Squirrel Monkeys. These came right on to the boat looking for food. There are some unethical tour companies that feed the animals when you're not supposed to. So that's why they jumped on the boat. It's kind of sad but at least I got great pictures of them.

We got out of the boat to see the sunset. Outside of the river there are hardly any trees. Just grass. No wonder the animals are all by the river.

One day we went fishing for pirannas. I didn't catch anything, but this other girl in our group did.

The last day we went hiking for hours to look for anacodas. They live near water but come out in the sun to warm up. Unfortunately we had no luck. I saw some pink flamingos though.