I just returned from a free eight day trip to the amazon. I was fortunate to be the invited guest for a week at a jungle resort in northwest Brazil on the border with Bolivia. The resort is located at the convergence of two rivers that form the border between Guayaramerin, Bolivia and Guajará-Mirim, Brazil.Peter hooked Meagan up with the owner of the resort who was looking for some marketing assistance. In return for the work - we received an all expense paid vacation to the jungle. Very nice!
In order to get to the resort, we took a world war two era plane from the military airport in El Alto. We departed in the midst of a snow storm decending 13,000 feet to the jungle where temperatures would be closer to 100 degrees. The vintage plane is not sound proof - so the flight crew handed out cotton balls prior to take off. And our flight path took us much closer to the mountains surrounding La Paz then a standard commercial flight which was exciting for me, but not so much for Meagan.
The flight took us to a dirt strip in Guayaramerin where we were met by our host from Pakaas. Our luggage arrived at the "gate," a fence separating the awaiting family and friends from the runway, on a hand cart. From there, we took a shirt motorcycle taxi ride to the river, hopped on a boat and a half hour later found ourselves pulling up to a clearing on the opposite side of the river.
Pakaas, www.pakaas.com.br, is a unique resort built completely elevated from the ground (approx 4 meters). The accomodations are high end in comparison to places I had stayed in to date. For example, the owners built a helicopter landing pad for easier access for the elite that visit from Brazil's well known cities (Rio, Sao Paulo, etc.).
The resort is a series of bungalos spread at a healthy distance from each other to ensure privacy. They are connected by elevated walkways which also lead to the resorts central building. This building has an enourmous restaurant (adequate for weddings, etc.), smaller private restaurant, lounge, disco, bar, reception area, tv room (satellite obviously) and negative edge pool. The pool is an engineering feet as it is situated on the top floor of the center building approximately 15 meters above the ground. (best pictures are on the hotel website above)
We were pampered all week. We stayed in a private jungle bungalo with a very comfy king size bed, air conditioning, and a balcony. We spent most of our time at the pool but also sampled a variety of activities (market research) including crocodile hunting at night, fishing for piranha during the day, and a couple jungle tours. It was a blissfully relaxing week. The air was comfortably steaming and the bugs were managable.
It was offseason so we had the place to ourselves. Some of the highlight included: eating a delicious lunch over looking the river and watching pink dolphins swim by; chasing away the little frog that wanted to hang out with us in our cabana; watching the lightning of a passing storm from our balcony; and amazing sunrises and sunsets.http://www.flickr.com/photos/xthecritic/sets/72057594068227350/show/
The trip ended in typical Bolivian fashion with us re-boarding our world war era plane packed like a guatemalan chicken bus. There were people in the aisles and even a sick man on a stretcher with an IV bag hanging above him jammed in the back --- comedy.
