A week in northern Bolivia in Rurrenabaque and 3 day stay in the Amazon Jungle

Travelled north to Rurrenabaque, a small town downriver from the Amazon jungle. The journey, was an 18 hour bus journey on roads that can only be described as hazardous and at times hair raising.... Returning a week later I opted for the more expensive option (47 pounds, total, as opposed to 8 pounds on the bus) of flying back to La Paz, a flight of 35 minutes and worth every extra penny.
Rurrenabaque even boasted a decent sized swimming pool at the local hotel, which, needless to say, I made frequent use of even though I stayed in another hostal on the edge of town in a much quieter location and away from the locally popular karoake bars. The women of the town still wore traditional Bolivian costumes with very fine full skirts made from some very beautiful taffeta type fabrics, with decorated blouses and very pretty lace shawls, which were always topped with ´bowler style´felt hats, though given the heat, many of the younger women wore t-shirts and jeans or shorts, which was a custom I also adopted, with the usual flipflops.
The 3 day jungle journey started with a 3 hour journey upriver to our base, an eco-lodge situated in the jungle, about 15 metres above the river. The facilities were basic but clean, with mosquito nets provided for each bed in the dormitory. Washing and toilet facilities were suffering from a lack of water (the small river that normally drained into the main River Tuini, had dried up, due to its being the end of the dry season and the rains had not yet properly started) with the result that showering was by using a bucket of water, also used to flush the toilet! The camp dining room was, like the dorms, covered with a roof of palm leaves but perfectly effective in keeping out the rain (light) and the worst of the heat from the sun. The food was plentiful and provided by a cook who gave us the opportunity to try local dishes, all of which were popular with us.
Hiking journeys into the jungle were of 2-3 hours duration, usually twice a day , and our guide spoke very little English, (I spoke very little Spanish!) I teamed up with a New Zealand couple, James and Sandy, who both were able to translate our guides information. Each journey was full of information about plants (which were medicinal and which were poisonous) as well as help with spotting animals and insects (including the many varieties of tarantullas). Sadly we did not see many animals, though on our night walk we saw the alligators eyes (only!) gleaming in the torchlight! We did see some varieties of macaws though not the Tucaman parrots (Martin and I had one for a few years, though the parrot died recently) that I had hoped to see.
The last morning at the camp we had fun making necklaces from seed pods, and I took the opportunity to practice my archery with guide David´s handmade bow, even though I had to make my own arrows, which were pretty crude renderings of the ones I was used to, but you can only make use of the materials available! The boat journey back to Rurrenabaque took only one and a half hours, as we were travelling downstream.
It was good to book back in to the hostal and take a hot shower and generally clean up. 2 days later I took the plane, a small 16 seater Douglas Fairfield (similar to the Lukla plane in Nepal), back to La Paz.
On the 12th November I flew to Quito, via Lima, a surprisingly straightforward journey excepting the chaos of La Paz airport. Quito, on the equator and at an altitude of 2,480 metres was much warmer than La Paz, particularly at night, so I was back into my comfort zone!