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Hi there folks, apolgies for the delay in blog entries. We´ve hardly had a day free but here we are . Well we made it to Bonito after a 16 hour horrificly bumpy minibus ride (which wasn´t helped by the fact that one of our comrades kept farting every 5 seconds...in an enclosed space...you know what I mean!!). Prior to starting the journey we spent an hour in Subway waiting for about 86 employees to make 3 take out sandwiches. Mine (Neil), the italian BMT had to be scrapped twice whilst the "sandwich engineers" free styled on the ingredients. Once we got on the bus at 10pm the two drivers (little and large) decided to play bangin Brazilian house music with the air con on over drive.
Anyhoo, on our first day we went to a natural waterpark and swam with fish, held parrots, saw monkeys and emus running around everywhere. We zipp lined into the fresh water lake amongst the fish, although I nearly had a heart attack when everyone began shouting that there was a monster sized fish (one metre long catfish) heading my way, panic stricken is an understatement, I almost drown but Mick kindly dragged me
out of the lake!
There was also a 3 metre long springy diving board and we all took turns to dive in. Mick, on his second attempt, slipped half way down and smashed himself on the knee as the end of the board sprang up, giving him a fatal blow to the patella. He then belly flopped into the water and I have to say it was one of the funniest sights we´ve seen. Unfortunately, Mick really hurt his knee but we couldn´t help but laughing. It was made all the more hilarious when Esteban, our 5 foot nothing tour guide had to drag Mick out of the water. Anyway, Mick thought he would be out of action for a month but after a few beers he was playing table tennis and a bit of footie. Great day!
The next day we went snorkelling in another fresh water river where caimen and anaconda have been spotted! The idea is you float face down in the river for 1 and half hours looking at all the fish etc. It was like looking in a fish bowl the water was so clear. It was my first time snorkelling and it
was amazing, probably one of the best experiences so far. The fish were huge (average size one metre in this tiny tributary, making it one of the best known attractions in Brazil) and whilst we didn´t see an anaconda we did see its skin that it had shed, that was scary enough to be honest. At one point whilst we were all floating in a line down the river I thought it would be quite funny to give Mick a wee nip between the legs, boy did he shit himself. Knowing Mick he probably thought it was a bull shark! It made me laugh so hard that I lost control of my breathing and started coughing and spluttering like an utter pillock - that´s karma for ya! We also hired an underwater camera and Neil spent the entire time pretending he was David Attenborough producing mini movie clips!
The following day we travelled to the Pantanal where we met our local tour guide, Paulo and got introduced to our very basic accommodation. 5 hammocks in a shed with outdoor bogs! Food was surprisingly good for the middle of no where. Once the sun went down we realised this was
going to be Lee-Anne's greatest test yet with regard to bugs. That night in the hammock she wore 7 layers, shoes, a hat, an improvised face mask and mosquito net over the top. An AK47 couldn´t have penetrated all that, never mind a mosquito. Along side the clothes she took to wearing eau de DEET in hideous amounts rendering her unapproachable due to chemical stench!
At 9pm Lynda went to the outdoor loos and left every light on attracting every god damn bug on the planet...no joke! This then attracted the frogs and snakes, petrifying. At one point Lynda went to the loo again at midnight and coz we told her not to turn the lights on she took a pee in the dark. She then stood up and two massive frogs hopped out of the loo - hilarious! Esteban, then caught one of the said frogs (without knowing Lynda had pissed on it) and threw it at Neil..comedy!
The next morning we set off on a safari and spotted a variety of animals - Howler monkeys, capivara (worlds biggest rodents), caimen, a 2metre brown cobra, giant otters, etc etc. However the highlight was when we pulled over
and starting marching towards a lake, with 5 hand made fishing rods. The lake was small but absolutely full of pirahnas and other fish, while a shed load of caimen (hundreds!!) looked on from the side. We we ready to go, and the raw beef bait was on the line. We were petrified when Paulo the guide informed us that we needed to get thigh deep in the water to start the fishing. The nearest caimen was 2 metres long and just 5 metres away at this point! One by one we creeped into the water, and when the caimen got too close, Paulo simply cracked them over the head with the fishing rod! They then dissappeared under water for a few minutes - this was when we were most scared! Awesome experience, one of the main highlights of the trip so far, and we soon started pulling in large numbers of pirahnas which we had for dinner that night. Delicious, if a little bony.
After some horse riding, another shocking night with the bugs and and a 5am trek through the bush to view a sunrise, we left the pantanal, ready for a bit of civilisation! Next stop
was the border town of Corumba before heading onto Bolivia...
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nevo
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pale arse
neil why are you so pale after being so long in the bush? it looks hot but are you spending your time in the shade lol