Pantanal

I have just seen on the BBC website that it has been snowing back home in Blighty-crikey! Snow couldn~t be further from my mind here in stiflingly hot Cuiaba. As I have said previously, I left Salvador on Monday morning and was sad to leave behind Thiago and his friends who had kept me company for the week. Actually, I only had a few hours to feel sorry for myself because logging onto MSN, I was chatting to a Colombian friend, Camilo, who told me that a Brazilian friend of ours was from Cuiaba.

Running out of time in this strange internet cafe/classroom, I sent her a very quick message telling her that I was in town and the name of the hostel. A couple of hours later I got a phone call and an hour after that I was living the high life of Cuiaba in the company of Daniela and some ofher delightful friends.



Daniela was in the same class as Camilo but left London two years ago. We chatted a lot on MSN when she first went back but the chatting eventually fizzled out... until we were actually sitting next to each other here in Brazil! We were both a bit taken aback really- me because I hadn~t realised that I was going to her city and her because she was wondering what the hell I was doing there!

Needless to say, some beers were drunk and in fact, despite my pleas for restraint, Dani only stopped ordering when the barman refused to sell any more alcohol- looking around, I saw that the rest of the tables had all been packed away and the staff were waiting to go home, so I dont think that it was anything personal!

Anyway I had to get up early the next day for a bit of an adventure- in fact, the reason that I am here, so far from the beach, near to the Bolivian border- the Pantanal!

The Pantanal- or Swamp- contains an area of almost unimaginable biodiversity. There are alligators just lazing around near the roads, birds all screeching their calls across the skies, buffalo wallowing in pools of water



and so much more. We drove along the highway until the tarmac petered out and then we drove the unsealed road for another hour or so- stopping for photos along the way.



But it had been raining the day before the car that we were in was a long way from being the Chelsea tractor so necessary for ferrying kids to school in the dangerous cities of England. Finally, after some time getting the car out of one bit of swamp, the driver, Marco, had to abandon it and go and get help



while I was left sitting under a tree in the 34 degree sweltering heat of the midday sun. At one point a wild mule cantered out of the bush to see what I was up before scampering away to shout to its friends. The bugs loved me! I spent quite some time flicking them off until I remembered Rachels parting gift of some bug spray which I had in my bag. I sprayed, they flew away but came back to rest of the only bits of me not covered, face, fingers etc. Sigh.

About an hour later I heard a chugging noise, I prayed that it would be Marco and sure enough he emerged on the trailer being pulled by the tractor belonging to the pousada (guest house) that we were heading to. Hooray for that!

We arrived at the pousada and Marco disappeared. Well, he wasn~t that much help anyway, given that he couldn~t speak English and my Portuguese extends as far as ordering beers and asking the way to the toilet. A table of people asked me to join them and I gladly did so. And it was fortunate that I did as it turned out that no provision had been made for my arrival, ie there was no English speaking tour guide waiting for me as promised.

Hum, the Swiss couple at the table took matters into their hands and their English speaking tour guide told me that I could join their boat trip- I just had to wait another three hours. Poor Marco was supposed to be back in the city by then getting on with other work that the hostel had for him. The tour guide encouraged me to sit it out and told me that Marco couldn~t leave without me, despite the hostel worker wanting him to come back- even offering me some money back to ensure my timely return.

Stuff that, I had paid to see alligators and have wildlife pointed out to me in English and so that is what I did. I have been on many tours in the past where there has been no mention of swimming and then swimming has occurred so I had packed my tankini (hahaha) this time just in case. Which was great as I now found myself with several hours to kill and a swimming pool looking all inviting and, well, wet!

Well you couldnt imagine how crowded this poor tiny pool was- a large group of Brazilians were having the time of their lives in there but I got in and floated in a corner and chatted to the Swiss girl.

Eventually 4.30 came and we got on the boat to go down the river. And it was certainly worth the wait!



The birdlife was incredible. And we saw the world~s biggest rodent, capybara, everywhere- but seem to have forgotten to upload the photos here! Hahaha! Then we reached a part of the river and Walter killed the engine and started making funny honking noises.. turns out that he was calling the caiman out to be photographed





We saw tropical otters frolicking on the river banks and caiman just drifting past. Giant kingsfishers dove in and out of the water, it was amazing! The water was almost as hot as the day surrounding us.

Then it was down to business- catching the food for the stew that night- piranha stew that is!

We were each given a bamboo stick with a hook baited with meat. It was easy to feel the piranha tugging at the bait but a lot harder to convince them to stay on the hooks while being lifted out of the water. I finally hooked one but he wriggled free and leapt back into the water- I was quite glad really

Team Swiss got three or four but threw back the tiddlers while Team German finally bagged themselves one for the stewpot. The tour guide, needless to say, was a bit of a pro





We headed back to the pousada as the sun started to set



The capybara were everywhere by the time we arrived, I snapped a couple in the darkness. I kinda wanted to stay in Pantanal- the night noises had started, the insects buzzing and whirring, the frogs calling to each other, the caiman honking through the darkness... the sky was filled with stars and fireflies were flitting carelessly through the night.

But I had just paid for one day in this paradise and so came back to the city. I am visiting the Southern Pantanal next week when I get to Campo Grande and will be sure to spend a couple of nights there.

Tonight, more drinking with Dani of course!