Bolivia

Sorry this took so long after the click bait post in the “what’s catching you fish” thread. I have a lot of excuses, but this is going to be too long already. I met my brother in law, Jim, in the Santa Cruz, Bolivia airport the morning of 22 August. The trip was mostly about fishing for golden dorado at Pluma Lodge. Jim and I decided to add a week on the front end. The trip consisted of a night in Santa Cruz at a very nice hotel with beautiful grounds.






, 3 nights at Refugio Los Volcanes, 3 back at Los Tajibos, 7 nights at Pluma Lodge and one more night at Los Tajibos before flying home.

Santa Cruz doesn’t offer many tourist attractions. It does have nice restaurants at incredibly low prices (ribeye for $22), and we were told by some young German guys a very fun night life - probably not for a couple guys in their 50s. Two places we visited and enjoyed were Jardin Botanico Municipal Santa Cruz the day before heading to Pluma and Biocentro Güembé our last day in Santa Cruz.

Refugio Los Volcanes far exceeded expectations. Refugio is an eco lodge in the middle of the cloud forest near Amboro National Park west of Santa Cruz.



It isn’t easy to get there,



but once you are there, it has to be one of the most peaceful places on the planet.

 

[CanoeGuy]

The day would start with a stretching session in the yoga studio while listening to the crested oropendolas and other birds on the property.



After breakfast we would do a guided hike that was focused on birdwatching and getting to areas with views of the surrounding mountains. After lunch (buffet style food for all meals)



was another guided hike in the forest.





The food was great, the hikes were great, the bird and plant diversity were incredible and the staff were amazing. I can’t say enough good things about our experience. At dinner on our final night our guide, Rocky (he speaks good English and is the best birder I have ever met),



even presented us with a handwritten list of birds we had seen!



If you are going fishing in Bolivia and enjoy hiking/birdwatching at all, go early and spend at least 2 nights at this place.

Our first day back in Santa Cruz was a relaxation day – we did visit a natural history museum that was not worth the $1.50 Uber ride. Friday, we went to the botanical garden and saw more birds, unique plants, a sloth, brown capuchins, caiman, tegus, capybara and many absolutely enormous pacu.







Next the fishing starts!

 

[FinLuver]

Looks like the “locals” are quite proud and a bit feisty too…

 

[CanoeGuy]

The trip to Pluma started on Saturday morning with a van ride from the hotel to a small airport for a 90 minute flight to a grass airstrip in Oromomo.





From there you walk down to the Secure River and take a boat ride (motorized canoes) upstream and make a left into the Pluma River. The boat ride is a wonderful way to start the trip.





The lodge was built with lumber milled onsite. I wouldn’t call it luxurious, but pretty damn nice for being in the middle of the jungle. All these pictures were taken near the lodge.










My day would start as the sun was coming up around 6:15 with a walk around the property with the Merlin app open. Many more new birds vs. the cloud forest at Refugio. Here is a video of some blue and yellow macaws plus another unidentified parrot flying to the upper right.



Coffee at 7:00, breakfast at 7:30, make a sandwich for shore lunch, guides check gear and tie new leaders at 8:15 then head out around 8:30. When you get back – 5:00 +/- and hour - they would bring you a small snack to your room, hors d'oeuvres at 5:30 and dinner at 7:00.