How to Visit the Amazon Rainforest in Bolivia (Updated 2019)

Updated: 8/5/19 | August 5th, 2019

Bolivia provides a budget-friendly option for exploring the rainforest. It’s cheaper and less crowded than the Amazon tours from Brazil. In this guest post, Erin from Never Ending Voyage shows us how we can experience the rainforest by going through Bolivia at a cheaper price!

The Amazon Rainforest. It’s the world’s largest tropical rainforest, covering some 5.5 million square kilometers. Offering the opportunity to see rare flora and fauna, it’ should come as no surprise that it’s at the top of many travelers “to-do” lists.

When most travelers think of the Amazon, they tend to think of Brazil.

Yet the Amazon basin actually stretches across nine countries in South America, which means that you don’t have to take an expensive tour in Brazil to see the jungle. For the budget-savvy traveler, Bolivia provides an amazing (and affordable) alternative from which to visit the basin.

Not only is it cheaper and less crowded but it’s just as biologically diverse as Brazil!

In this post, we’ll show you everything you need to know to have an amazing Amazon experience in Bolivia!

Where Do You Start?

The starting point for trips into the Bolivian Amazon is the town of Rurrenabaque. It’s straightforward here to sign up for tours, and it’ll be cheaper than if you book in advance in La Paz. Moreover, it’s a small town, so it’s easy to wander around and find a guesthouse for around $5-10 USD a night while you check out a few tour agencies.

There are two ways to visit the Amazon from here:

1. The Pampas

The pampas tours are the cheapest option and are where you’ll see the most wildlife, including alligators, squirrel monkeys, and the giant rodent capybara. It may not be the classic Amazon jungle experience you envisioned, though, as the pampas are a wetland savannah on the edge of the Amazon basin rather than deep in the jungle, but the lack of trees means it’s much easier to spot wildlife.

All the tour operators operate nearly identical two-night/three-day trips for around $75 USD plus the park entrance fee (which will be around $20 USD). Tours generally include all transportation, food, and a guide. You get what you pay for, so expect basic accommodation and meals (I recommend bringing snacks), and your guide may not be the most knowledgeable if you go with a cheap operator.

Since guides are so important to the overall experience, make sure you ask around for a company with good, knowledgeable guides.

After a very bumpy three-hour jeep ride to the jungle, you’ll transfer to a motorized canoe and travel a further three hours along the river to your lodge. The river trip was the highlight for us, as we got up close to an amazing amount of wildlife: hundreds of alligators, entire families of capybara (giant semiaquatic rodents), turtles sunbathing on logs, and trees full of tiny yellow squirrel monkeys. All while birds such as egrets, herons, roseate spoonbills, blue kingfishers, eagles, and hoatzin (pheasant-like birds with blue faces and spiky hair) flew and nested around us.

The riverside camp is in a peaceful setting among the trees, with plenty of wildlife-spotting opportunities (I had monkeys peering into my room!). Accommodation is in shared wooden huts on stilts, and you’ll wake up to the raucous sounds of howler monkeys. A generator provides power until 10pm so you can enjoy cold beers while lounging in a hammock and watching the sunset over the river.

The pampas tours are a great way to view lots of wildlife for a very affordable price, but choose your tour operator carefully and make sure they don’t touch or feed any of the wildlife — especially the anacondas.

2. The Jungle

For a more classic Amazon experience, opt for a jungle tour. You can stay at an eco-lodge in the jungle and do activities from there, but this can be pricey. We (my other half and I) paid $207 USD each for a two-night/three-day tour with Madidi Travel to their Serere Lodge, but we did get a large, comfortable bungalow, great food, and a very professionally run trip. We also liked that profits from the trip go back into conservation work for the area.

Although triple the price of a pampas trip, this is still much less than you’d pay for a similar experience in Brazil.

Serere Lodge is reached by a three-hour canoe ride and a short trek through the jungle. You can choose from a range of activities, including canoe trips on the lake next to the camp (at night you can see the glowing red eyes of caiman), day and night treks in the jungle, piranha fishing, and making jewelry from nuts and seeds.

Jungle treks are tiring in the heat and humidity, and there were many more mosquitoes than in the pampas. It is also much more difficult to spot wildlife — you could spend hours and not see one monkey, while we’d canoed past dozens of them in the pampas. It was interesting to see colorful spiders and giant bugs, and learn about the medicinal uses of trees and plants, though.

In general, we just enjoyed the peace of being in the jungle, especially from the comfort of a hammock, even if we didn’t see a lot of wildlife.

There are cheaper jungle tours available with more basic accommodation for similar prices to the pampas trips. We also met someone who had hired a guide independently and trekked and camped out in the jungle. This will save you money and possibly be a more authentic experience, but conditions in the jungle are hard, so don’t undertake one of these treks lightly.

If you have the budget and time, I’d recommend both the pampas and jungle trips, but otherwise, you’ll need to prioritize spotting wildlife in the pampas or the classic jungle experience.

10 Travel Tips for the Bolivian Amazon

1. You can get to Rurrenabaque from La Paz by a horrendous, bumpy 30-hour bus ride or take the scenic 35-minute flight across snowy mountains and into the jungle. We flew with Amaszonas for $75 each way, but TAM might be a little cheaper. Obviously, the $10 bus ride will save you money, but it might not be worth it for your sanity!
2. The best time to visit the Bolivian Amazon is the dry season from May to October when there is more wildlife attracted to the rivers and fewer mosquitoes.
3. There is no reliable ATM in Rurrenabaque, so bring plenty of cash.
4. Many tour operators will offer anaconda hunts where you can pose for photos. Don’t go on these. Wild animals should be viewed from a distance only; they aren’t pets.
5. The jungle trek is more physically demanding than the pampas tour so be sure to have good footwear and proper hiking clothing.
6. Many guides will encourage you to get up close and personal with many of the animals that you see. For your own safety, don’t.
7. To make sure you get a reliable tour operator, don’t pay less than around $90-100 USD for your tour. Anything below that price point will like be less than ideal.
8. If you’re doing the jungle tour, you’ll want to wear waterproof hiking boots or shoes.
9. Wear light trekking clothes as it can get warm, but also make sure to cover up so you aren’t attacked by mosquitoes. Bring bug spray with you as well.
10. We did our pampas trip with Indigena Tours. I can’t say I recommend them, as it was quite badly organized, the food portions were too small, and our guide wasn’t very helpful. But at least they didn’t touch any of the animals, which is a common problem here. There are definitely worse tour companies in Rurrenabaque. Ultimately it’s a cheap trip and you get what you pay for (there aren’t any more expensive, better-run options), but it was worth it for us to get up close with so much wildlife.

***
Visiting the Amazon jungle is a highlight for many travelers in South America, and it’d be a shame to miss out because you can’t afford the high cost of trips in Brazil. For us, Bolivia made for a perfect affordable alternative.

Visiting the Amazon jungle is a highlight for many travelers in South America, and it’d be a shame to miss out because you can’t afford the high cost of trips in Brazil. For us, Bolivia made for a perfect affordable alternative.

If you’re heading to Bolivia anyway (and you should — it’s an amazing country!), be sure to consider taking an Amazon tour here. You won’t be disappointed!

Erin McNeaney and her partner Simon sold everything they owned and left the UK in March 2010 to travel the world forever. You can follow their adventures at Never Ending Voyage, or Twitter and Facebook.

Book Your Trip: Logistical Tips and Tricks

Book Your Flight
Find a cheap flight by using Skyscanner or Momondo. They are my two favorite search engines because they search websites and airlines around the globe so you always know no stone is left unturned.

Book Your Accommodation
You can book your hostel with Hostelworld as they have the largest inventory. If you want to stay somewhere other than a hostel, use Booking.com as they consistently return the cheapest rates for guesthouses and cheap hotels. I use them all the time.

Don’t Forget Travel Insurance
Travel insurance will protect you against illness, injury, theft, and cancellations. It’s comprehensive protection in case anything goes wrong. I never go on a trip without it as I’ve had to use it many times in the past. I’ve been using World Nomads for ten years. My favorite companies that offer the best service and value are:

• World Nomads (for everyone below 70)
• Insure My Trip (for those over 70)

Looking for the best companies to save money with?
Check out my resource page for the best companies to use when you travel! I list all the ones I use to save money when I travel – and that will save you time and money too!

The Travel Hack Rebel Wilson Stole From ‘Cats’ Costar Taylor Swift

Chris Allerton/Shutterstock

Rebel Wilson has already had two movies come out this year — "Isn’t it Romantic" and May’s "The Hustle" with Anne Hathaway — and has more to come (including the much talked about live-action "Cats") which means she is traveling constantly. Luckily the "Pitch Perfect" star has perfected the art of flying. “I have been to London, Australia, Mexico, Paris and I mean like five trips to London already this year, and New York of course,” she said at a New York screening of MGM’s "The Hustle" earlier this summer hosted by 1-800-Flowers.com and social media expert Natalie Zfat. The film is a remake of the 1980s comedy "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels" but with a feminist twist.

So how has she become an exquisite flyer? Wilson shared with Travel + Leisure her tips and travel hacks (including the one she and her "Cats" co-star Taylor Swift practice religiously) as well as her favorite places to visit when she's not on set.

T + L: First of all, what was it like to film "The Hustle" in Mallorca?

Rebel Wilson: Mallorca was so awesome. We stayed at a brand new Park Hyatt there. It was so beautiful. We shot French hours which means you don't have a lunch break but you end early and then all of us, cast and crew, watched the sun set together. We filmed at the end of summer so it was good because it was a little quieter, but still warm. And the big mansion you see in the film is three different locations in Mallorca. 

What’s the most amazing trip you recently took?

This year for my birthday [in March] I stayed at the new Ritz in Paris. It was just renovated and that was such an amazing, decadent way to spend my birthday.

What are your best plane hacks? 

I don't drink any alcohol on planes. And if it is an overnight flight I like to eat in the lounge before and not eat on the plane. I heard Taylor Swift does that, who I was just working with, she doesn't eat on the plane.

I suffer from jet lag so badly so I like to make time to rest when I get there but sometimes it is impossible and you have to go straight to work. But I have been doing a few little tricks like cryotherapy. And I love massages when I get to the destination.

I sometimes bring SK-II face masks. They freak people out on a plane because you look a bit like a ghost and if you get up to go to the bathroom people are like, ‘Huh?! That doesn't look human!’ but they are the best.

Are there any gadgets you always bring on the plane with you? Any more hacks?

You always need ear plugs. I've got this little kit in an Anya Hindmarch bag. It's called a take off kit and I put all my little beauty products, the mask, etc., in it. Someone gave me a cashmere eye mask and it's so comfortable and feels really good on the skin. But wear really comfortable clothes. Leggings are awesome because they have a bit of compression to them. 

What is your packing routine?

My sister, Anna, she normally does the packing. Having four movies out this year and the press I have been so busy. It's literally insane.

Are there any trips you’re dying to take? 

I went to Iceland last year and had the most amazing time. It's the new five star resort at the Blue Lagoon (it's the only five-star resort in Iceland.) It's insane. I'm lucky I've been to a lot of places. I've basically been everywhere in the world. But I've never been to the Bahamas. So maybe like a private island there?

Note: This interview was lightly edited for clarity.

Why Jacques Cousteau's Grandson Always Packs Truffle Salt on His Action-packed Trips

Courtesy of The Travel Channel

Philippe Cousteau, the grandson of the famed conservationist Jacques, shares his grandfather's passion for adventure. With his wife, journalist Ashlan Cousteau, Philippe has traversed the globe, exploring the jungle of Sumatra, the underwater caves of Dominica, and other exotic destinations. Here, the intrepid couple highlight their favorite gear for action-packed trips. 

Photo Equipment Case

Courtesy of Pelican Products, Inc.

Philippe Cousteau: “My Sony camera and underwater photography gear are precious to me. So whenever I go on a dive trip, I pack everything in my watertight 1535 Air Carry-On Case by Pelican. Their products are bomb-proof.”

Hiking Sneakers

Courtesy of The North Face

Ashlan Cousteau: “North Face Ultra Fastpack III sneakers are lightweight, breathable, and good-looking enough to be worn at the airport. And thanks to their sturdy Gore-Tex uppers, they can also endure long hiking trips through the jungle.”

Water Purifier

Courtesy of GRAYL

AC: “Grayl purifiers were created by a group of globetrotters who didn’t want to stock up on plastic water bottles everywhere they went. The purifiers work like a French press, forcing water through a carbon filter and ridding it of 99 percent of viruses and bacteria. They’re great for camping trips and in destinations—the airport included—where the drinking water doesn’t quite taste right.”

Vest

Courtesy of Dubarry of Ireland

AC: “I discovered Dubarry, an Irish equestrian brand, while traveling in Dublin. Their clothing is rugged but also chic. I’m a big fan of their waxed-cotton Oranmore vest.”

Sturdy-Chic Luggage

Courtesy of The RealReal

AC: “Not a lot of people know this, but I’m told Louis Vuitton was the first travel-expedition brand. Their leather goods had compartments for whiskey beakers and champagne flutes and basically functioned as traveling bars. Sadly, I don’t own one of those, but my vintage weekender, which I bought from the luxury consignment company the RealReal eight years ago, evokes the romance of that bygone era. It lived a life before me, and I hope to give it to my daughter when she’s older.”

Ginger Candy

Courtesy of Ginger People Group

AC: “Nothing calms an upset stomach like Gin-Gins ginger chews. I’ll bring them with me if I know I’ll be on a rocky boat
or in an airplane.”

Truffle Salt

Courtesy of Hepp's Salt Co.

PC: “Napoleon supposedly said that an army marches on its stomach, and I’d argue that expeditions do, too. From the jungles of Sumatra to the Arctic Circle, I have found that a little culinary treat like truffle salt can make all the difference.

Embracing Change: Health Scares, Retirement, and Travel

We have such a large community and I love sharing everyone’s story. I think highlighting a variety of perspectives and experiences helps inspire so many of us! This month we’re featuring Donella and her husband. After her husband had a health scare a few years ago, they decided to stop waiting, finally sell their stuff, and head on the road. As more and more adults consider a “nomadic” retirement (especially here in the U.S. where it wasn’t always so common), I wanted to interview them and have them share their advice.

Nomadic Matt: Hi Donella! Thanks for doing this. Tell everyone about yourself!
Donella: We have been raising children and grandkids for the past 30 years in South Florida. Now at 58 years of age, and with my husband retiring at 65, we decided to sell our home and take off to see the world.

I was a divorced single mother of two when I first met my husband, who was working in the construction of the hospital where I was employed. He stalked me for five weeks before getting the courage to ask me out. When he did, he said, “If I like you, I am going to marry you!” That was his proposal, and a few months later we were married. He has been a marvelous provider, father, and grandfather these past 30 years.

Fifteen years into our marriage he suffered renal failure, and the doctors did not expect he had enough life left in him to get a transplant. They asked me to prepare for his funeral, which I did. It was a nine-year journey, until we got a call late one night in 2008 that they had a kidney available for him. Since that time you would never know by looking at him that he had ever been sick a day in his life. It was truly a miracle!

How did you get into travel?
For several years now, I have had the urge to travel, which has been a dream of mine before marriage and children. My husband was never keen on the idea until one afternoon last year he said, “Let’s do this!” The next day I began to sell, donate, and give away (almost) EVERYTHING so that the day we moved we wouldn’t need any trucks. I called a realtor, and our home sold within 24 hours for more than we were asking. We were able to drive away with everything we owned in our two vehicles. My husband was a bit shocked how quickly it all happened once he agreed to go!

Did you and your husband take a lot of trips before this big one?
Over the past 30 years we only went to visit family in Tennessee, North Carolina, and Delaware, though we also explored areas on the way, such as Savannah and Charleston. I visited Texas often to see my brother, Puerto Rico to see our son, and California to see our daughter. We are going to continue to visit family as we explore the country and travel abroad but take more time to see things that we have only read about. We have learned so much about the world in travel blogs, and we want to experience that.

Tell me about your current trip. After you sold your house, what happened? Where did you go?
As soon as our house was sold we found a beautiful beach bungalow in Juno, Florida, directly across from the beach. Never in our wildest dreams did we ever imagine ourselves being able to live so close to the ocean. We saved just enough things to use to live here. We’ve basically done what we learned online from the nomadic community: living with less and enjoying our surroundings more. Our lease here is only until the end of the year; in the meantime we are getting our van prepared for full-time camping around the country next year.

This past March we took a long trip to Andalucia in Spain, which was the first time my husband had ever traveled to Europe. We went to enjoy but also to look into living there the next time we visit. We will do basically the same thing: find a small space so that we are able to take time to travel to other countries as well.

What inspired this current life change?
My daughter told me that my granddaughter was talking about traveling when she grew up. In an instant it brought back all the memories of my own plans at that same age. That rekindled the spark in me from my own childhood. Traveling was the way I grew up with my own parents, who were nomads in the ’50s and ’60s. I grew up in North Africa, Europe, Britain, and the United States all before the age of 10. My father continued traveling the United States until he passed away. My mother continues to travel the US and Europe while residing in Spain. It’s in my roots, and I long to visit new places and revisit other places that I have seen as a child. Sharing this with my husband seems like a dream come true.

Did people say you were crazy when you said you were setting off to travel the world?
We were surprised at how many people have been so excited to watch us start this journey. There are also people who look at us with that deer-in-the-headlights look, because they can’t imagine living life without their homes and their stuff. I get that, and don’t really believe this is for everyone, but it is definitely for us.

Has your husband’s health been an issue at all? What precautions do you have to take?
My husband is in good health now but he still needs blood work routinely and anti-rejection medicine. We decided to find a different doctor, who would be more accessible in case of emergency. She will be able to order blood work wherever we are and get the results. We will continue to return here to South Florida once a year for his follow-up. When traveling to Europe, we got travel insurance, and the cost was reasonable.

Is it easy to see a doctor overseas? How do you handle medication? Have you ever had to get a prescription filled on the road?
Our doctor here in the States made sure my husband had all the medications needed for our trip. We contacted a doctor in Spain who said they would be able to write prescriptions if needed. Between the two doctors we felt my husband was in good hands, along with the travel insurance we purchased for our trip there. We haven’t had to fill any prescriptions while traveling, but our doctor says it would not be a problem.

What are your future travel plans?
Once my husband’s work commitments are complete, we plan to leave here and live on the road. In the meantime, this fall we are planning a road trip through Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas. Next spring we are planning a trip up the East Coast from Florida to Nova Scotia. Then we will travel across the northern states until we reach Chicago and take Route 66 west.

We plan to return to Spain, once we finish up the trips through the United States. We hope to have our kids and grandkids join us for a visit, too. Europe is cheap enough to find a small flat to reside in and use their public transportation to see other countries.

How do you keep to a budget?
We have a budget in which we divide all our costs into home, auto, entertainment, food, gifts, medical, miscellaneous, personal, and travel. I keep envelopes with receipts for each item and calculate what we are spending in each area by month. We decide where we need to make adjustments and keep within our budget. It helps to determine if we have a realistic budget or not. Everyone’s priorities are different, but it is good to be able to see where your money is going routinely. It is the best way to determine how much we are able to spend in for our next travel adventure.

Young people are traveling like this and have wonderful advice on how to make it work, as we have read on your blog. Being retired, we have a pension for financial support, but we’ve found ideas for all types of work from young bloggers if more funding is needed.

We spend a lot of time reading and researching on the internet for great advice from people who are already living this lifestyle. We now plan smarter and more cost efficiently because of the knowledge that we have received and feel confident that we are going to be able to do more than we ever dreamed possible!

What advice do you have for travelers your age?
Some of the best advice we have received have been from all the young bloggers online such as yourself, Matt. We learned to plan our trips for dates that are less money. Our first trip to Europe cost us less than one of our family trips here in the States!

Another important travel lesson has been not to get our information from news media but instead to rely on the US Department of State Bureau of Consular Affairs. They don’t sensationalize what is going on in each country but give you the information you need in order to make good decisions.

Become the Next Success Story

One of my favorite parts about this job is hearing people’s travel stories. They inspire me, but more importantly, they also inspire you. I travel a certain way but there are many ways to fund your trips and travel the world. I hope these stories show you that there is more than one way to travel and that it is within your grasp to reach your travel goals. Here are more examples of people who made their travel dreams a reality:

P.S. Looking to step up your travel photography? We are hosting a Q&A with professional photographer Laurence Norah on October 29th, so mark your calendars!

Visiting the Amazon Rainforest in Bolivia

Bolivia provides a budget-friendly option for exploring the rainforest. It’s cheaper and less crowded than the Amazon tours from Brazil. In this guest post, Erin from Never Ending Voyage shows us how we can experience the rainforest by going through Bolivia at a cheaper price!

A visit to the world’s largest tropical rainforest is at the top of many travelers “to-do” lists while in South America, and when most people think of the Amazon jungle, they think of Brazil. Yet the Amazon basin covers nine South American countries, meaning that you don’t have to take an expensive tour in Brazil to see the jungle. Bolivia provides an amazing budget alternative from which to visit the basin. Not only is it cheaper and less crowded with other tourists but it’s just as biologically diverse as Brazil.

The starting point for trips into the Bolivian Amazon is the town of Rurrenabaque. It’s straightforward here to sign up for tours, and it’ll be cheaper than if you book in advance in La Paz. Moreover, it’s a small town, so it’s easy to wander around and find a guesthouse for around $5-10 a night while you check out a few tour agencies.

There are two ways to visit the Amazon from here:

The Pampas

The pampas tours are the cheapest option and are where you’ll see the most wildlife, including alligators, squirrel monkeys, and the giant rodent capybara. It may not be the classic Amazon jungle experience you envisioned, though, as the pampas are a wetland savannah on the edge of the Amazon basin rather than deep in the jungle, but the lack of trees means it’s much easier to spot wildlife.

All the tour operators operate nearly identical two-night/three-day trips for $64 USD plus the $21 USD park entrance fee. This includes all transport, food, and a guide. You get what you pay for, so expect basic accommodation and meals (I recommend bringing snacks), and your guide may not be the most knowledgeable if you go with a cheap operator. Since guides are so important to the overall experience, make sure you ask around for a company with good, knowledgeable guides.

After a very bumpy three-hour jeep ride to the jungle, you’ll transfer to a motorized canoe and travel a further three hours along the river to your lodge. The river trip was the highlight for us, as we got up close to an amazing amount of wildlife: hundreds of alligators, entire families of capybara (giant semiaquatic rodents), turtles sunbathing on logs, and trees full of tiny yellow squirrel monkeys. All while birds such as egrets, herons, roseate spoonbills, blue kingfishers, eagles, and hoatzin (pheasant-like birds with blue faces and spiky hair) flew and nested around us.

The riverside camp is in a peaceful setting among the trees, with plenty of wildlife-spotting opportunities (I had monkeys peering into my room!). Accommodation is in shared wooden huts on stilts, and you’ll wake up to the raucous sounds of howler monkeys. A generator provides power until 10pm so you can enjoy cold beers or Cokes while lounging in a hammock and watching the sunset over the river.

The pampas tours are a great way to view lots of wildlife for a very affordable price, but choose your tour operator carefully and make sure they don’t touch or feed any of the wildlife, especially anacondas.

The Jungle

For a more classic Amazon experience, opt for a jungle tour. You stay at an eco-lodge in the jungle and do activities from there, but this can be pricey. We (my other half and I) paid $207 USD each for a two-night/three-day tour with Madidi Travel to their Serere Lodge, but we did get a large, comfortable bungalow, great food, and a very professionally run trip. We also liked that profits from the trip go back into conservation work for the area. Although triple the price of a pampas trip, this is still much less than you’d pay for a similar experience in Brazil.

Serere Lodge is reached by a three-hour canoe ride and short trek through the jungle. You can choose from a range of activities, including canoe trips on the lake next to the camp (at night you can see the glowing red eyes of caiman), day and night treks in the jungle, piranha fishing, and making jewelry from nuts and seeds.

Jungle treks are tiring in the heat and humidity, and there were many more mosquitoes than in the pampas. It is also much more difficult to spot wildlife — you could spend hours and not see one monkey, while we’d canoed past dozens of them in the pampas. It was interesting to see colorful spiders and giant bugs, and learn about the medicinal uses of trees and plants, though. In general we just enjoyed the peace of being in the jungle, especially from the comfort of a hammock, even if we didn’t see a lot of wildlife.

There are cheaper jungle tours available with more basic accommodation for similar prices to the pampas trips. We also met someone who had hired a guide independently and trekked and camped out in the jungle. This will save you money and possibly be a more authentic experience, but conditions in the jungle are hard, so don’t undertake one of these treks lightly.

If you have the budget and time, I’d recommend both the pampas and jungle trips, but otherwise you’ll need to prioritize spotting wildlife in the pampas or the classic jungle experience.

Some Bolivian Amazon Travel Tips

• You can get to Rurrenabaque from La Paz by a horrendous, bumpy 20-hour bus ride or take the scenic 35-minute flight across snowy mountains and into the jungle. We flew with Amaszonas for $75 each way, but TAM might be a little cheaper. Obviously the $10 bus ride will save you money, but it might not be worth it for your sanity!
• The best time to visit the Bolivian Amazon is the dry season from May to October, when there is more wildlife attracted to the rivers and less mosquitoes.
• There is no ATM in Rurrenabaque, so bring plenty of cash.
• We did our pampas trip with Indigena Tours. I can’t say I recommend them, as it was quite badly organized, the food portions were too small, and our guide wasn’t very helpful. But at least they didn’t touch any of the animals, which is a common problem here. There are definitely worse tour companies in Rurrenabaque. Ultimately it’s a cheap trip and you get what you pay for (there aren’t any more expensive, better-run options), but it was worth it for us to get up close with so much wildlife.

Visiting the Amazon jungle is a highlight for many travelers in South America, and it’d be a shame to miss out because you can’t afford the high cost of trips in Brazil. For us, Bolivia made for a perfect alternative.

Erin McNeaney and her partner Simon sold everything they owned and left the UK in March 2010 to travel the world forever. They run a WordPress web design business on the road and have traveled to Latin America and North America; they are currently in Asia. You can follow their adventures at Never Ending Voyage, or Twitter and Facebook.

Photo credit: 1

Let’s Send Another Set of Students Abroad (Exciting Updates from FLYTE)

Travel is a powerful agent for change. It broadens our horizons, fills our lives with friends, gives us incredible memories, and (sometimes) helps us find purpose in our lives (at least it did with me).

Not everyone can travel and it’s a great privilege to do what we are able to do. Whether you saved up for a year, found work overseas, won a trip, or struck it rich buying Bitcoin, to be able to travel is to do something few in this world get to do.

Think about the first time you traveled overseas. Remember those feelings of freedom, possibility, and excitement? Remember what got you hooked and made you say “I need to do more of this!”?

Well, for kids, travel can be even more life changing than for adults, because it exposes them to different ideas, cultures, and people at a crucial developmental time in their life.

And, over the last few years, I’ve been focusing on trying to get more high school students overseas.

I remember the school group I met on my first ever trip abroad in 2003 and thinking about how lucky those kids were to have that experience. I remember meeting Conor and Carolyn, kids of my friends Dani and Craig, while in Bangkok. They were all on a year abroad and being homeschooled along the way. Now, as adults, they still view that trip as one of their most formative life experiences. It made them better people.

But not everyone has parents to take them on round-the-world adventures or send them to study abroad. Most high schools don’t have the resources to maintain their art and gym classes, let alone send students on trips outside their community.

Two years ago, I started FLYTE, the Foundation for Learning and Youth Travel Education, as a way to make travel and study abroad possible for those who lack the resources to do it on their own. Since then, we’ve run three trips: we’ve sent a class from Atlanta to Mexico; one from DC to Cuba; and one from Newburgh, NY, to Ecuador. And we’ve raised over $100,000 in donations to make that happen.

All told, we’ve helped send around 45 students overseas on educational trips, helping to create a positive impact on their lives.

And none of this could have been possible without YOU. Over 1,000 readers have helped get this organization off the ground!

So let me say right away: thank you, thank you, thank you! Like it’s amazing! More than me, the students, parents, and teachers of the schools you’ve helped are blown away by your generosity.

Today, I want to mention FLYTE again for two reasons:

First, we used the summer to make some improvements to the website and organization. We have a brand-new website that now features our past trips, a new volunteer program folks can join, and a new system that now allows for annual donations (yay!). Additionally, we’re now more active on social media, so follow us for updates on our students, teachers, news, and pictures from the student trips. You can follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to stay updated on our programs!

With interns and volunteers helping us out, the organization is moving forward. We’re going to have in-person fundraising events in early 2018, we’ve set a goal of applying for two grants per month, and we are reaching out for more corporate donations. In fact, we got an $11,000 donation from the Golden Rule Foundation! (Yay!)

We’re an organization on the move – and I wanted to share that with you!

Second, and perhaps more importantly, we’re now accepting applications for our next grant award. If you are a high school teacher in the United States and would like to take your students on an overseas trip, come apply for funding and let us help make that trip a reality!

As a school partner, some of our requirements include:

1. At least 40% of your students are receiving free or reduced-price lunches.
2. Your students are aged 14-18 and enrolled in high school at the time of the program.
3. All of your students are legal residents of the U.S.
4. You have support from your school administrators and leadership to take your students abroad.
5. You will be able to have at least three chaperones for your trip who will be able to pay or raise the funds for some or all of their expenses.

If you’re a teacher who would like to send your kids on an overseas trip, click here to learn more and apply. You’ll see more of our requirements and expectations there.

(If you are not a teacher but know teachers who might be interested, share tat link! Help us spread the word and reach more people and students.)

Finally, like all nonprofits, we work off of donations. During this giving season, let’s help kids experience the world and turn them into life long travelers and global citizens! The more funding we have, the more students we can send around the world.

You can do one time or reoccurring donations! You can click here to donate.

Moreover, if you sign up on a recurring basis, you’re helping to make a much more profound long-term impact by enabling us to fund trips to even more schools. Plus, you’ll also get the following benefits:

• Exclusive announcement of our selected partner school and destination before anyone else
• Quarterly newsletters with updates from our schools and partners
• Lifetime 25% discount on my guidebooks
• Members only access to follow along on the trip via photos and videos

To sign up, simply click here, select monthly and your desired donation amount. (Again, you can click here to donate.)

This summer, we sent a group of students to Ecuador. It had a profound impact on them – all because of FLYTE and how’ve you made that possible. Here’s a video of the students talking about their experience:

***In a time when everyone is closing their borders – physically and metaphorically, I think it helps teach kids there is a bigger world out there, there’s a real world application to what they are learning, and the world is full of opportunity. For kids who come from socially and economically depressed communities, this idea we take for granted is often a life-changing revelation.

In a time when everyone is closing their borders – physically and metaphorically, I think it helps teach kids there is a bigger world out there, there’s a real world application to what they are learning, and the world is full of opportunity. For kids who come from socially and economically depressed communities, this idea we take for granted is often a life-changing revelation.

So let’s change someone’s life – and the world – together.

P.S. – I’m hosting a meet-up in Bangkok on Christmas Day! Let’s grab drinks and talk travel. Details are TBD, but it will be held somewhere on Khao San Road. Follow the Facebook event for updates.