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This #GuideStory and the included images were contributed by Meg Jerard, Lead Blogger and Creator of MappingMegan.
When most travelers think about exploring the Amazon, they generally plan for an expensive tour to Brazil, Ecuador or Peru. Very few people visit the Bolivian Amazon, which is their loss.
The Amazon in Bolivia is a great budget friendly alternative to countries like Peru or Brazil. Tours here are cheaper, there is far less tourism, and the region is just as biologically diverse as other countries. While the exotic wildlife here was the obvious draw, (and trust me, we saw it in droves), the highlight of our trip was our amazing guide, Eloy Pariamo!
We paid $100 extra for a private tour with Bala Tours, and our guide Eloy was absolutely incredible. Our itinerary included piranha fishing, swimming with pink water dolphins, and making treks deep into the Amazon in search of pythons, exotic birds and monkeys.
We fully intended on making our guide wait for hours if that’s what it took to capture the best wildlife shots, and he happily did.
At one point in our tour Eloy asked, “so you want to see monkeys?” “I’ll show you monkeys” he said as we nodded enthusiastically. He turned our little boat and delicately crashed us into the treeline of the river, where squirrel monkeys started jumping out at us from the river banks. They jumped into our boat and it wasn’t long before we were in a hilarious tug of war with them over our GoPro.
We had a wonderful Amazon experience, mainly due to the guides from Bala Tours. They spoke fluent English, and were personable and friendly, and they really took an interest in making our experience as memorable as possible.
Follow Meg to hear more of her adventures @mappingmegan
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