 Crossing Lake Titicaca to Bolivia... by raft |
 Our bus makes its way on a barge, without us... |
 Lots of interesting (old) busses around |
 La Paz - highest capital in the world |
 Allison in one of the nice squares |
 The guards gather for the President's arrival |
 Some interesting locals hobnob with the fuzz |
 Some more interesting locals making a statement |
 An older man carried a 100 lb. bag of salt up a hill (and quickly) |
 Man, am I excited to leave La Paz! (after a day rain delay) |
 Arriving on the dirt airstrip of Rurrenabaque |
 Damn, it's hot! |
 Interesting caterpillar nearby |
 Leaving Rurre for the jungles |
 Some black skimmers on a sandbar |
 A guide keeps his eyes on shallow parts |
 Our shack in the woods |
 And even a hammock (but a few bugs kept us off of it) |
 Our luxurious pad, complete with mosquito netting and jungle shower |
 Allie relaxes in comfort... |
 Our first dinner is served... |
 Our friend, the skink |
 Erwin, our guide, shows us a palm tree with high roots to withstand flooding |
 Allison under a huge mapajo tree |
 In between the buttress roots |
 One of only a few flowers we saw at this time of year |
 The activity/reading room |
 Making rings from a palm nut... |
 ...a traditional thing for kids to do |
 Sunset view from camp |
 Clay-laden river from the start of rains |
 Our ride comes to pick us up... ;) |
 A cliffside used by parrots for nesting |
 Enjoying the peaceful trip up the river |
 Heading towards the Andes and into deeper jungles |
 A cave inhabited by the noisy oilbird that came out at night (sounds like loud gremlins) |
 A catfish |
 Pristine falls |
 Going for a quick dip |
 ...our guides try to catch the catfish |
 An enjoyable rest stop |
 A couple of types of herons - the capped heron (left) and tiger-heron (right) |
 A distant toucan |
 Trying my hand at fishing.... no luck! |
 Another stellar view from our day camp |
 A banana tree |
 Our fish lunch being prepared |
 A flock of scarlet macaws... about 27 I counted |
 Noisy macaws fly by |
 Going for a walk in the jungle |
 A spider monkey mother and baby |
 A termite nest halfway up the tree |
 Interacting with the monkey by shaking branches is good fun |
 A bat shares our camp |
 Allison finds a new friend... |
 ....that attacks her head in search of sweat |
 A longboat |
 Erwin's dad (we found out) pushes the boat through shallow water |
 Erwin shows a pirhana relative |
 Tonnes of bug bites from sandflies and blackflies |
 Relaxing in our protected hammocks |
 In the neighbouring community of Asuncion... |
 ....we tried out the local crafts/chores, like making mats for walls |
 After smashing the reed with a rock after each reed is placed, it was flat like this |
 Weaving |
 Intense concentration... |
 Mark trying his hands... |
 Basket-weaving |
 working with palm fronds |
 My handiwork |
 The local pro finishes the basket... |
 ...used for collecting fruits or fish |
 husking rice |
 Pounding off the husks |
 We each took turns... |
 ...and didn't really make a dent |
 Making wool from palm 'wool' |
 Good use of the toes |
 Carving an arrow |
 Allie tries to shoot at a coconut... |
 ...and almost hits it |
 My turn... |
 ...didn't go so well |
 A cloud of colourful butterflies feed on salts |
 A large (and fresh) jaguar track |
 Spiked tree |
 Large moth |
 Mud where dozens of pecaries (wild pigs) rooted for food |
 Some bugs getting it on |
 Our guide found a turtle rustling around in the bush |
 Blue and yellow macaws |
 Blue and yellow macaws, close-up |
 A rare colourful sunset |
 A home in Asuncion |
 Husking rice |
 Husking rice 2 - view these two pictures one after the other for an action shot |
 Fishing for coconuts |
 Coconut drink |
 Mmmm... sweet nectar water |
 View from camp |