These Boots Were Made For Walking!
Trip Start
Jul 10, 2010
1
5
24
Trip End
Nov 30, 2010
Where I stayed
Hostel Campo Grande
Pantanal, State of Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Anyway, the bus was a little late and we set off around 9:30pm - there were quite a few stops along the way, dropping people off in what looked to be the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night! We hit a few roadworks as well - which in Brazil means they´re doing a massive stretch of road and you have to wait an hour before the cars from the other direction get through! Then its your turn to go! Can you imagine if they did that in the UK?!
Got to Campo Grande about midday and had missed my tour to the Pantanal, which left at half ten - but another couple on the bus (the Dutch couple, Rhionne and Ben) also missed it so the tour group offered to drive us out there especially (for a little petrol money!) So after a 14 hour bus from Sao Pàulo, I then did 2 and a half hours on a minibus, 2 hours on a different minibus, and 1 and a half hours on a 4x4 jeep! Tired wasnt the word!
The 4x4 jeep was open top and at first I loved it cos the air was warm and the scenery by moonlight was amazing - like I imagine African landscape to be! But after 1 and a half hours of trying not to swallow bugs the size of Galaxy Minstrels and I was a bit over it! And so much for 'wind in your hair', I looked like I had been electrocuted when I got to the lodge!
The lodge was beautiful, like a farm house with out-buildings - I had a 4 bed room to myself! The first moment we arrived, our guide introduced himself (Gabriel) and said we were going out for a night hike! So we put on long trousers and off we went. At last, after weeks of lugging around my hiking boots, I´ve finally made use of them! The moon was really bright but it was nerve-wracking walking around in the dark! We saw some huge spiders and the caymen were out (small crocodiles) - you could see their eyes shining in the dark! At one point we heard some growling behind us and freaked out a bit - apparently they get puma and jaguar out there!
The group I was with included a couple who I met in Rio - they´re Irish, called Brian and Mary. The Dutch couple were also in the group (Rhionne and Ben), and another younger Dutch couple. We all got on really well, which was nice.
The next day we got up at sunrise and watched the macaws feeding - they were a gorgeous dark blue colour and really really noisy - FYI, they dont like being approached! We then went for a 4 hour hike and saw loads of animals, including monkeys, racoons, anteaters, and loads of birds (heron, flamingo, jabaru, parakeets, etc). This included walking through water bare foot! There are anaconda in the Pantanal! I didn't fancy meeting one in the water - but our guide did the whole trek bare foot, so it must have been OK! Gabriel plucked a small fruit from a tree and told us that the juice is like a temporary tattooing agent - like henna - so he cut it open and drew small tattoos on us all. Mine is a butterfly - and god bless him, Gabriel is a great guide but an artist he isn't! Lets hope it does wear off because I dont want to be stuck with it for life!
At one point we were walking through the undergrowth and the two dutch girls started shouting in pain - turned out they had been stung by a huge black insect! The younger Dutch girl was stung on the hand, then Rhionne had it go down her top and it stung her just under the boob (very unfortunate!) Anyway, Gabriel told them in his broken English not to panic, he would sort it. So he took the young Dutch girls hand, reached behind him, and pulled out his massive machete!!! Hands down, the funniest moment of travelling so far because I think the girl thought he was going to chop off her hand!!! But he marked the bite (massive, and swelling rapidly) with a cross and then cut into a nearby tree and spread some of the sap on the bite. It stopped the pain apparently and the swelling went down. Rhionne was a little embarrassed about her boob being bitten, poor thing!!
After that drama we all went and got on some horses and went riding through the Pantanal - it was lovely! The only drawback was that the horses scared a lot of the animals away but we still got to see a lot of the area. In the afternoon, Gabriel took me and the Irish couple out pirahna fishing on the lake next to the lodge. The boat was a tiny little tin can and we had these huge rods made from bamboo. Gabriel used meat as our bait and we hooked the pieces on and swung the rods into the water. Literally the second her meat touched the water, Mary had caught a pirahna! They are so fast!! Many times they manage to get away with your bait before you realise - you have to yank the pole of the water really fast! This of course meant that we were all wildly swinging our poles around and narrowly missing each others faces with either hooks or freshly-caught pirahnas!
As the sun fell, more and more bugs appeared around us and this in turn brought out the bats! The bats were swooping so low that we kept hitting them with the fishing poles! We were also surrounded by caymen, sitting in the water watching us fish their dinner! We were drinking a few cans of beer, which just added to the general madness of it all - a very very funny experience. That night our guide gutted and cooked up the pirahna for us and we had them for dinner - quite tasty but not a lot of meat on them!
The next morning we got up and went for a boat ride down the river. The river birds were amazing - kingfishers, toucans, and heron! We also saw a boa constrictor and some iguana sunning themselves on the banks! Then we did the 6 hour journey back to Campo Grande and our Pantanal experience was over!
I have been hanging out with some guys from the tour since we got back to Campo Grande - Geoff and Ian from Liverpool. They are absolutely lovely but I cant escape the fact that Ian looks so much like Nicky Clarke and sounds exacty like Lily Savage - an interesting mix! It turns out they are also going down to Iguazu next, so we´re getting the night bus together any minute now! Roll on more experiences like the Pantanal - it was amazing!
Comments
Brilliant blog as usual I cant wait to see the photos from this part of the trip it sounds amazing and I am very jealous of seeing all the animals and birds. I wont even start to think of what would have happened if youd fallen out of the boat!
Love you lots
Mum x
Sounds like it was a great trip.
Will e-mail you soon with news of whats happening here.
Love dadxxx
Kel your blog is addictive! It's even progressed to being checked before I check facebook! Your adventures are amazing! Keep the whitty and entertaining blogging up :) xx
What wonderful things you are seeing and doing.A trip to work on the bus, when you come home, will be so easy.Do you manage to get any sleep? We are really enjoying reading all of this Keep up the good work.Love you xx