Pampas Creatures

Happy Valentine's Day!!! Will I ever have "that someone special" to spend the day with in the near future??? Keeping fingers crossed… Haha.

To be honest, though, I didn't even realize that it was Valentine's Day until I typed in the dates for this entry. When you're in the middle of the Bolivian pampas all day, not showering for 3 days, and being eaten alive by mosquitos all day and night, Valentine's Day doesn't matter.

I can't say I had the BEST time on the pampas - the animals were great, but the tour itself sort of sucked...

Let's talk about the positive first. My FAVORITE!!!!!

Capybara, they're called. SOOOOOOOOOO adorable, no?! Kinda like a big, fat beaver or guinea pig. Reminded me of my beloved Puffy : ) I seriously didn't understand why Nicole thought they were ugly… How can anyone say that this face is UGLY?! That is so rude!

Then, there were the monkeys. The bigger ones stayed high in the trees, but these little yellow ones come really close.

Personally, I fear monkeys. It's that movie Outbreak, I think. Monkeys easily transmitting diseases to humans, which I firmly believe to be true. Sadly, the tour was ecologically unfriendly - the guide started handing out bananas to feed the monkeys. I was so shocked!!! Everyone else seemed to appreciate it though, and had absolutely no qualms about feeding free animals in nature. Sigh.

Speaking about feeding, the guide always left leftover food scraps and garbage for the caiman (crocodiles) by the shore of our camp.

I was so annoyed. It's nice that the animals come close enough to take a good photo, but they are NOT pets!!! I should report this to the authorities, although I highly doubt that would accomplish anything. Sigh.

Speaking about caimans, we went out on the boat at night and were able to see their red, glowing eyes everywhere. Spooooookyyyyyy! Again, annoyed when the guide found a baby caiman and picked it up. Sigh.BTW, I accidentally dropped my flashlight into the river that night. From then on, it started to die slowly but surely...

We also saw a bunch of turtles basking in the sun (my kind of R&R) and a bunch of different birds that I was, and still remain, unfamiliar with.

Unfortunately, we didn't get a chance to see the famous anacondas of the region. It's hard to find them in the wet season. We spent one whole morning walking around in the marshy grassland, without success. It was a difficult and tiring walk, with the ground being soft, mushy mud. I got stuck a few times. Annoyed, tired, and uncomfortable after an hour or so, Nicole and I headed back to the boat while the rest of the group continue their anaconda hunt. Or so we thought…it felt quite scary walking in the tall grass, without being able to see our footing and supposedly surrounded by anacondas. We ended up waiting for the group to return in a small patch of clear land.

A couple of girls who did manage to head back to the boat ahead of everyone else claimed to have seen a humungous snake on the way - a possible anaconda sighting?!

So you might be wondering why I keep mentioning the boat. Well, that's how traveling on the pampas is done. Except for the anaconda walk, all of our animal viewings were done from the boat. A very uncomfortable, wooden piece of shit.

Imagine sitting on this thing for at least 5 hours every day. Under the blazing sun. But with long sleeves and long pants on because any exposed skin can be attacked by mosquitos!!!

Now, you understand why I didn't enjoy the tour that much.

So much of it was uncomfortable - the boat rides, the bed room, and…the DAMN mosquitoes!!! They were everywhere. It was so bad that I feared even going to the toilet to pee because the instant I rolled my pants down, they would get me! Yes, I had bites on my wonderful behind. Hey, at least something thinks it's yummy, right?!

Even during the day, under +30C temperatures, I had to keep myself covered from head to toe. Insect repellent everywhere. Even to bed. By the last day, I had too much strong repellent on me (I was using like 90% DEET), I started developing rashes on my neck and arms. I guess the repellent on top of sunscreen on top of repellent for 3 days in a row didn't help either. The "shower" was basically muddy river water. You couldn't pay me to shower in that - it would probably just make me dirtier!

Anyways, aside from the creatures above, there were 3 dutch girls, 2 British teenagers, an Argentinian, and an Irish guy in my group.

Kids really do grow up very fast these days, huh?! These British girls just graduated music school and were traveling around South America before attending college in a few months. Wow - Cool & rich parents. Remember, my parents (well, my dad) vowed to disown me for quitting my lovely (yeah right) job and traveling for a year (at least).

Watching these girls, I keep thinking "to be young, is to be carefree." Sounding old, right?! But these girls - they showered using that filthy river water every night and went swimming with the pink dolphins in the caiman-infested waters!!! The guide did say that the crocs stay away from the dolphins. Still… I didn't have the nerve. Call me a chicken.