The Pampas

Ok, so the rainforest was beautiful for its vegetation, but we didn´t see as much wildlife as I expected. The pampas, on the other hand, was the complete opposite. It wasn´t beautiful in its landscape because it was mostly a savanna, but I have never seen so much wildlife in my life. WE took a three hour canoe ride to our camp, and in those three hours I probably saw 80 caiman, which is a relative of the crocodile, 50 capybaras, 20 squirrel monkeys, countless turtles, and many different species of birds. It was incredible. I was not expecting that at all. The caiman were so cool. Some were basking in the sun, where we really got to see therir size, and some were chilling in the water, but you could only see their eyes. Everything about them says stealthy. They are such a prehistoric creature. So instinctual. And we got so close to them. I got some great pics. Caiman are smaller than crocodiles, so most of the ones I saw were about 6 feet long or shorter. And then there were the infamous capybaras. They were so weird looking! They really are overgrown guinea pigs. They were basking in the water and grazing. And they weren´t afraid of the caiman at all becuase most of the caiman are too small to actually take down a capybara. They were funky looking. The squirrel monkeys were absolutely adorable. They are very small, with yellow bodies and black faces. They were very curious and came very close to us. So to say in the least the wildlife was abundant. Our camp was on the shore of the river. Al the houses were on stilts so the frogs and snakes would have a harder time coming into the rooms at night. Creepy. The next day we swam with pink river dolphins!! You are definitely not allowed to swim in the water if they are not present. Pink river dolphins scare away caiman and piranahas, making it safe to swim as long as they are there. It was a little scary when we were in the water and the dolphins were circling us but probably about 20 feet away was a caiman just watching us with its beady eyes. The dolphins are actually pretty ugly lol. They have these long snouts and big muscular bodies that are a faded pink. But they are very curious animals and stayed by us all the time we were in the water. It was very fun. We also went piranaha fishing. For some reason I just couldn´t catch one, but a lot of people did. They have very sharp teeth. We had to be very careful taking them off the hook and putting them back into the water. Pop, you should be proud that I tried to fish even though I didn´t catch anything. I got very close once though lol. Can´t say it changed my view on fishing though sorry. On the final day, we woke up early to explore the marshlands on the opposite shore. We were searching for anacondas. Anacondas! The water and mud went up to your knees. I just hoped that nothing would swim by and bite my leg. We did quited a bit of searching and trekking though the mush untill we came upon our first specimen. A green mamba. It was absolutely gorgeous. And its camoflauge was amazing. Its body was green but it had a blue head. It matched perfectly in the green reeds. Although quite small, it was pretty long, and extremely venemous. One bite would kill you in 30 minutes. That was a scary thought considering we were in the middle of nowhere and civilization was 6 hours away. A little while later we finally found what e were looking for. We actually got very lucky considering anacondas are getting harder and harder to fing considering the affects humans are having on its habitat. But there nestled in a bush was an anaconda about 3 feet long. It wasn´t big, but its presense was still powerful. You could just see the power it held in the way it moved its body. It was made to suffocate the life out of its prey. I´m so glad we saw those two snakes. It really made the trip. And now I´m writing this and I am in Puno, Peru!! Bolivia is over! Que lastima. But Puno is great. My host family is awesome. The mom is so nice and energetic. And her 11 year old daughter is very sweet, and they also have and 11 month old baby girl who has the hugest cheeks ever and is adorable. Time is flying.