The Pantanal and Bolivia

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Hi all,

I have to keep this fairly short so apologies for lack of detail.

So I ended up staying for 4 days in the Pantanal. It was an incredible experience. The tour was with ecological expeditions. We stayed on a farm in the middle of nowhere, about 15 mins from the main road and quite close to a long river.

1st day was mostly taken up with travel.
2nd day we went on a morning boat trip down the river and saw many colourful animals and birds. The river was littered with Caimen and they took the boat really close! We then went pihrana fishing after lunch (i caught the most - 6 pihrana and 4 other fish!) before cleaning and gutting them and sending them to be cooked for dinner. We then went on a night boat trip after dinner.
3rd day we spent the whole day on safari deep in the pantanal. we went trekking in the blazing heat for about 2 hours before retiring to the van. We had lunch on another farm then set out again on the truck. We pulled over near some marshlands and were told to change into shorts and flipflops to go anaconda hunting. The guides went ahead to look in the long grass and before long we heard the crazier of the two guides whoopin g and cheering, shouting "its a big one! its a big one!!" we all raced over the harsh ground ...and hes right. Not the biggest anaconda but still extremely formidable. We took pictures etc and a few of us opted for a picture with it round our necks...but wow. the strength of the snake was unbeliveable. It felt like pure steel. We saw some pretty scary spiders that day too and a lake at night where there were hundreds of caimens eyes shining back at you.
4th day we went horseriding them travelled to corumba near the bolivian border.

Had a bit of a nightmare crossing the border to bolivia as they like to take a siesta and close for 2 hours in the middle of the day. But got into Quijjaro and caught the Death Train into Santa Cruz.
There are many stories surrounding the Death Train - either its so awful it makes the traveller want to kill themselves or it was used to transport dead bodies during a yellow fever outbreak. Personally, i think it is the death train because you almost fall off when crossing carriages to get to the buffet bar. Deadly.

So i am now in Santa Cruz. I have visited the Cathedral and the centre of town , and booked myself onto a night bus to Sucre tonight. I climbed the bell tower of the cathedral just before 1130am and put my fingers in my ears expecting a loud clanging as the bells went off. 11:30 arrived on the digital watch next to the bells but nothing happened so i sighed and started to walk over to the stairs when BING BONG scared the life out of me. I had a proper(!) lunch in a gorgeous little italian cafe (its so cheap here - 3 quid for an amazing lasagne with bread and salad. yum.) and now i am going to grab some ice cream then get my bus at 1630.

The weather has been burning hot recently - bright blue skies and no clouds. I have tried to cover up as much as possible because it feels like your skin is on fire after a few mins in the sun.

On to Sucre (altitude 2750m or 9000ft), Potosi then the salt flats from Uyuni to Tupiza!

Love

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