Caiman crocodiles

These are smoked front caiman, our resident crocodiles.

Pampas Lodge

Welcome to the lodge, an exceedingly rustic set of cabins built over some rather stagnant water. This would be my home for the next 3 days. At least I´m a good sleeper and there were plenty of other snorers.

The nets were very necessary - the mosquitoes were massive, vicious and abundant. Thank goodness for eucalyptus citradora for the skin and Extra Strong Deet for the clothes - they worked.

Wildlife in the Pampas

Some of the wildlife we saw from the boat - squirrel monkeys, great white egrets and turtles.

Pampas Boat Trip

I was most pleased to see this sign along the way because it was sweltering heatg - as soon as we arrived, I was heading straight for the Sunset Bar for that cold beer, hopefully ice-cold.

Pampas Tour

After a 3-hour jeep ride along a dusty, dirt-track road full of potholes, we arrived at this launch pad in Santa Rosa de Yacuma and all piled into motor canoes for a 3-hour ride up river to our ´lodge´. I was the only female in our group of 8 and I even had to share a dorm with them, but they were all very well behaved, especially as 5 were Aussies.

Flight to Rurrenabaque

Took a Tam Airways flight from the military airport in La Paz to a place called Rurrenabaque. All flights had been cancelled for 2 days in a row because the rain had made the grass runway too slippery to land. It was an

exhilarating 50 minute flight over mountains, tropical jungle and then dropping down in the flat swamps of the pampas. The heat and humidity hit me as soon as I got off the plane - it felt like being back home in Africa.

Church and Monastery of San Francisco

Dating from 1549, this is one of the finest examples of colonial religious architecture in South America. The choir, crypt, roof, various chapels and gardens used to be off limits but they're now open to the public and it was


fascinating to walk around and read about its construction. The vats were used by the monks to store the wine they made.