Our original plan had been to take a 3-day tour in the Rurrenabaque area. Although I hated to visit my second Amazon Basin country and miss the jungle again, the pampas tour with its promise of monkeys hanging overhead, pink dolphins to swim with, and lazy days of floating up and down the river was too appealing to pass up.

So many agencies to choose from... how to weed them out?

Unfortunately the week we arrived in Bolivia, all airlines schedules were changed for low season, and now no airlines flew to Tarija on Saturdays. This weighed on our minds a bit while we wandered Rurre—without the flight to Tarija our only options getting to Tupiza were flying to Sucre and taking the 11-hour bus ride or worse, busing all the way there.

At Rurre's tourist information center we checked out the bulletin board with comments on various agencies. There once had been a more detailed comment book, but it was a project that recently completed. The bulletin board couldn't provide nearly as comprehensive information. Many posts contradicted each other. Some protested the cruelty of the pampas tour in its tendency to tame the local animals. Others proclaimed the jungle tour boring because they couldn't easily spot animals. It seemed the only thing anyone agreed on was that Luis from Amazonica Tours was to be avoided at all costs.


Confused, we turned to the receptionist for advice. Pointing out glowing comments for Bala Tours and San Miguel del Bala (but only 2 each), she assured us Bala Tours offered the best jungle and pampas tours in town but the price reflected the quality, and that San Miguel del Bala was a very worthwhile experience in a local community. In addition to those two, we decided to check out Deep Rainforest, which had received 2 neutral reviews on the board but a few positive reviews online, and Flecha, which sounded the cheapest.

The official price for pampas tours was $35/day, the implication being that agencies charging less cut corners. Deep Rainforest charged $25/day and sounded pretty basic. Lodging involved a giant dorm room capable of sleeping 18! The agent already had 7 tourists for a tour leaving the next day, so she didn't bother selling to us. Her apathy was strange. Maybe if I were traveling alone I might have been swayed into trying it for the price, but Hemmy's distaste had us moving forward.

The agent at Flecha spoke a little English. She worked it much more—very friendly, showing us many photos and describing the tour hour by hour. But they only had 2 tentative signups for the next day and they would not send the tour without at least 4. She assured us they could combine us with some other agency to make sure we went, but we didn't like the idea of unknowingly being thrown at the last minute to an agency that might have received many complaints. With surprising honesty, she then admitted their showers were currently out of order. Instead, they were feeding river water—from where the pink dolphins swam—into the showers. Even for only $20/day, this was too weird.

Bala Tours did seem quite professionally run. They could offer a tour with just 2 people, and despite warnings against women going in pairs (because of possible harassment from the guides), we were starting to feel a bit desperate. We appreciated the agent's honesty that this time of year was really too dry for swimming with dolphins and their tour didn't do it. They had nice, private accommodations but $40/day seemed like too much to me.

Gunilla , Oscar and Juliano push us off shore.

For something a little different, we met Oscar at San Miguel del Bala, who was eager to tell us about the local community of Tacana Indians. They had traditionally lived in the jungle, but when Madidi park was created, they lost their right to hunt within its protected borders. They struck upon tourism for survival.

San Miguel offered tours from one day to seven, with a variety of activities. Eco-lodges are pricey, and so far no other backpackers had signed up. At $60/night, it was double what I'd originally wanted to pay, but there were benefits. We could go for only two days and head to Tupiza early, solving our scheduling problem. And as the only visitors, we could customize our tour.

After deliberations, we returned to the office to meet Gunilla, a Danish anthropologist who had spent a while living in the community. She had returned four months ago to join the fledgling tourist operation in Rurre. She was more of a hard sell than Oscar, but her love for the community was very convincing.

With a quick scramble to Amaszonas, we changed our return flight then rushed back to the San Miguel office to close the deal. No negotiations on the rate unfortunately, but we created a completely custom tour. We'd start with a short hike to learn about natural medicines and visit the community in the afternoon. According to the brochures we'd learn about local handicrafts and Tacana architecture. Back at the lodge, we were supposed to hear stories from a Tacana elder after dinner. (Later it seemed Gunilla had not made clear to the staff we actually did want to follow this part of the brochure exactly). The next day, we would visit the park proper for a day of hiking, returning to Rurre in the evening. I was a little confused why we were charged $60/day for essentially a day and a half, but, well...we were just too hot to argue.

Because San Miguel del Bala is relatively expensive, I imagine that if other people joined they could get their own guides and a customized tour. The office was airy and attractive, with examples of Tacana jewelry laid out for examination. The staff was friendly, knowledgeable, and English-speaking. Overall, it was a much nicer experience than any other tour office in Rurre.

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