Rurrenabaque to La Paz, our escape from the rains
After so much rain on our rafting adventure yesterday we’ve decided end to give up on our Pampas Jungle tour. We hardly saw any animals rafting and I’m convinced any animal will be looking for shelter and not heading down to the waters edge to take a drink.
We’d organised our flights yesterday afternoon and had secured flights for today at 1120am insuring enough time to pack and make sure everything was dry. Our laundry wouldn’t be ready any earlier so we’d opted out on any earlier flights.
All night it had rained hard and the large drains around the town square were full. We get to Amazonas Airlines office in town where the transfer bus is waiting. We’re told that there is a delay in the flight due to the heavy rains. The earlier flights had managed to get off the ground and climb over e Andies safely, but sadly for us we’d have to wait a little longer.
We’d already checked out so we just left our bag with the airline and wandered the streets of Rurrenabaque for about half and hour before returning to just people watch and sit out side the airline office.
An hour passes and Elena wanders up to the counter to see if there’s any news on our flight. Bad news I’m afraid, We’re now advised to come back at 2pm as they have no new information to give us on our flight. There’s nothing we can do but wait. We take up seats in the office and just sit there.
Hunger sets in and we make for a small restaurant across the street. Dodging the rain we set down to a sandwich, chips and coffee. There’s a lot of outer travellers here and in bits of conversation I’m guessing they all share the same dilemma. Busses are held up too I hear someone say, it seems the rains have played havoc with everyone’s plans.
It’s right on 2pm when we enter the airline office again and it’s frustrating to hear the same news repeated, this time we’re told to come back at 4pm! I’m not going anywhere, I sit down grab my laptop, plug in the headphones and tune out to a movie for the next two hours. I see others come ad go but it’s better I not listen in as I’m about to blow my cool over the whole situation.
My movie ends and the time is just past 4pm. There’s a large group of about 10 people crowding the counter now wanting to know what’s going on, I let them know we’ve been sitting here since 9.30am and are still waiting for good news. Everyone’s one edge when the airline staff announce that the flights for today are cancelled and we’re told to return in the morning at 6am.
I’m totally pissed off, we’re paid for a hotel in La Paz and it’s non refundable. We also now have to hope that we can book a room for tonight which is another expense. Thankfully the Rental Hostel has space for us and we’re back where we started this morning.
Elena checks the emails as we’ve been trying to secure a transfer from the airport in La Paz. To our surprise the taxis in La Paz knew that there was to more flights our of La Paz bound for Rurrenabaque at 3pm!
I’m shocked but not surprised at the lack of empathy offered by Amazonaz Airlines. It’s obvious that this happens all the time when trying to cross the Andes Mountains and because is a regular event the Bolivians have become blazé to the situation.
I set myself down in the hammock that become my second bed here at the Oriental Hostel and type away, there’s nothing we can do now until tomorrow. Elena buries herself into her kindle in bed and wait out the night.
I’m up half an hour before the alarm and try to get a little more of these blogs done with limited success, the internet is also hampered by the weather in Rurrenabaque. We’re soon through the shower and off to meet the transfer bus parked outside the airline office.
This morning the sky’s are clear, and with no rain last night it seems we’re off to La Paz this morning. I feel a little peeved at having to still pay 10 bolivianos for the transfer bus as we’re on our way I just want this ordeal to be over.
The flight is short (50 minutes) and we’re now on the Tarmac in La Paz. On the flight you could see the Andes Mountains piecing the clouds, but doe to the amount of clouds and the fact that it looking like the airline haven’t cleaned the windows on their aircraft for months it was difficult to capture the moment on camera.
The taxi dropped us at the end of the lane way to the place we had booked for the night prior. We hoped that the Rendezvous hotel still had a room for the night. Sadly they were fully booked, however Zack had a solution, he’d had an extra room at his place literally across the lane. All worked out fine, it’s a beautiful hotel and we settle in for a late breakfast and promises we can move into a top level room tomorrow.
Now the day was ours, we’ll the next 3 days as we take a break and get to explore the city of La Paz.
If you ever travel to Rurrenabaque, please ensure that you have a couple of days spare as delays due to weather are a frequent event.
