Making it to Rurrenabaque

So, it´s been a bit of an adventure to get to Rurrenabaque (Rurre), Bolivia. But, yay, I´m here. The first road block was at the Lima airport. Friday was Labor Day, a national holiday, and the beginning of a long weekend. A lot of people were traveling, but on top of that the night before almost all flights were cancelled or delayed due to fog. So when I got to the airport it was a mess, people everywhere and lots of chaos. Plus with the whole swine flu thing going on, there are all these people wearing masks (mostly not in anyway that´s actually going to protect them) and well it just makes things seem more dangerous. Anyway, I figured out which line to get in and was told my flight would be leaving at 7pm instead of 12pm. Ok, well at least it wasn´t cancelled and they gave me a lunch ticket. Finally made it into La Paz at 10pm their time and to my hotel by 11pm. You can really feel the altitude here. I don´t usually get affected from being at high altitudes, but when I got to the hotel, i could see my fingers were this not so pretty blue-white color and a little tingly. Nothing that a little coca tea and sleep couldn´t take care of.

Anyway, so up very early to go to the airport for my flight to Rurre. The airplane to Rurre is one of those tiny planes that seats like 15 people and makes you nervous as hell. It was a beautiful flight over the andes and into the jungle. The landing was a bit rough, but not unexpected given that the runway is made from dirt. Rurre, is just beutiful. It´s what you expect from the jungle...totally green with mountains and hot. At the airport, I was expecting to find someone from the health center waiting for me, but that didn´t happen. So jumped on a moto and had him take me to the clinic. No luck there either, so I knocked on the door of this random house and this very nice lady let me in and told me to wait for her husband who knew where the people from the clinic worked. I´m so thankful for them...it would have sucked having to walk around the town with my bag.

Her husband arrived and took me to the main doctors house and she was super nice. People always seem to sort of know you´re coming, but also seem a little surprised. At least they´re nice and very welcoming. She was able to locate Jose, the man with the keys to my room and he got me settled. I´m staying in the clinic. My bedroom is literally in the clinic. Anyway, it´s really nice, so it´´ll be great.

I´ve been walking around the town today and it´s pretty big. Has a lot more infrastructure than the jungle area I was in in Peru. It´s a tourist hub for people that are going on jungle expeditions so there are lots of foreigners and pretty much everything you could need. They even have plenty of coca cola light here. Anyway, so since there is no work tomorrow i´m joining the rest and going on a day trip to Madidi National Park. So, it´s good to be here and looking forward to the week ahead.