Titicaca and the Amazon

I'm not sure what I can say about Lake Titicaca other than it's big, it's high and it's beautiful.
We stayed on the Bolivian side in Copacabana and went for a day trip to Isla del Sol where we enjoyed the beautiful vistas and the Inca ruins. Unfortunately the trip was slightly marred by a case of Bolivia belly but it was enjoyable nonetheless.
After Titicaca we headed to Rurrenabaque which is the stopover town for those wanting to do tours of the Amazon Basin. The safest way to get there is on a slightly too small for comfort propeller plane from La Paz... However the 40 minute journey passed snow capped mountains and the incredibly lush Yacuma river was well worth all the nail biting.
We opted for a sadly short tour of the pampas (wetlands) for 2 days and 1 night - we set off at 9am on the bumpiest 3 hour jeep journey to get to the rivers edge where we meet our awesome guide, Taz. Taz managed to save face for all the (too many!) unfriendly Bolivians we had met with his openness and seemingly endless patience with ever arriving packs of ignorant and irritating tourists (some of which we had the pleasure of dealing with in our group). We hopped on a boat and he took us along the river to our jungle camp, stopping along the way whenever he spotted any wildlife. Unfortunately we didn't see as much as we could have had we stayed longer but to be honest the awesome setting alone would have made the tour worthwhile. The calm river's surface reflects every piece of sky, flora and fauna giving you an incredible double landscape broken only by the wake of the small boats. At night it seemed as though we were navigating along the sky, with the stars twinkling as brightly from the river as they were from space and I found that nothing quite matches the feeling of being sat on a wooden balcony with a bottle of wine and the night sky spread both above and below you.
We were still quite spoilt for wildlife, spotting monkeys, birds, dolphins, alligators, caimans, lizards and turtles. One particularly curious dolphin swam right up to my feet and took a dive in front of me to show off his tail.
Our second day in the pampas consisted of following Taz into thigh deep alligator infested waters in search of anacondas... We didn't manage to find any as it is difficult in the wet season but we did find a shed load of mosquitoes which happily feasted on our legs, arms and arses and consequently caused levels of itchiness that prevented us from feeling any form of comfort for the next couple of days... At least we didn't run into any green mambas which Taz happily informed us have a venomous bite that could kill you in less than 2 minutes. Of course he could save your life by instantly amputating the affected limb, so I did feel a somewhat small comfort wading behind him hacking away at tree branches with his machete...
We survived relatively unscathed, and although we may have lost a couple of pints of blood to the helicopters they call bugs, I would highly recommend the experience to anyone.

Key info, Copacabana:
How we got here and away: 4 hour bus ride from and to La Paz (including an interesting boat trip across the lake where the bus followed us on a dodgy looking barge).
Where we stayed: Hotel Utami - decent bedroom and ok bathrooms, good location.

Key info, Rurrenabaque:
How we got here and away: 40 minute plane ride from and to La Paz with TAM airlines.
Where we stayed: Hostal Curichal - cheap, decent room with a fan, cold showers (though it was bloody hot anyway), helpful staff and the location was fine.
Jungle tour: Fluvial Tours - Great guide, good food and sturdy jungle accommodation.
www.fluvialtoursbolivia.com

U