Blogs from Pantanal, Brazil, South America

We arrived at the airposr and our guide Julinho was there to greet us. I dont know how they do it but some of our guides so far have recognised us at the airport immediately. Maybeit is because we look like gringos... Anw he took us at pur hotel for the night and the next morning he picked us up to start our journey in the Pantanal. Pantanal is an amazing area very different to the Amazon, though some animals can live in both environments. Pantanal is a biosphere subdivided in 11 microspheres. It is very open very flat and it is easier to spot the animals. The particular area we visited and the timing weren´t ideal to encounter wild cats or jaguars but we have encountered many other species. Orange whistling ducks, black-collared hawk, another ... read more

A terrible thunderstorm overnight meant we had to get up even earlier than intended so that the estancia 4x4 could drive us the 5 miles of mud track to the main road. Pick up car was waiting and we arrived at Buenos Aires airport at 08.00 for a 10.20 flight. Then it all went wrong! We knew to wait at gate 4 for our flight and assumed that the seats next to gate 5 were for gate 4 – how wrong we were! Gates 1-4 were downstairs and we only realised at 10.22, we fled downstairs to an empty departure lounge – our flight had left! We were so angry and to make matters worse there was no-one to blame but ourselves. So back to check in and we got on standby for the next flight ... read more

A private tour with charming Brazilian guide ‘Fabiano’. Started on the Argentinian side with a little train ride to the falls. It was heaving with coach-loads of tourists – an invasion of our space until we remembered that we were also tourists. First surprises – the Iguazu river is huge (several kilometres wide) but shallow with hundreds of little islands and it was surrounded by dense jungle. Having elbowed our way to the front the falls were spectacular and surprise, surprise John took hundreds of photos. Over the border into Brazil (the bridge was painted blue and white on Argentinian side and ended green and yellow in Brazil) and as Fabiano had predicted, the falls were much better – and fewer tourists. Walkways led to increasingly amazing panoramic views ( another hundred photos). Wildlife included vultures, ... read more

Now have wifi access so have added photos to some previous entries - enjoy!... read more

Crossing by three buses and three lakes through spectacular scenery. Although it was a long day it was well worth it with green lakes and blue lakes, fjords and tall trees growing out of near vertical rocks. First experience of horse flies – Deet 1-flies 0! The good day continued with a room upgrade in Bariloche – suite with lake views from two sides. Day finished with BBQ restaurant and Malbec.... read more

This morning we were all pretty tired because it was quite a long night with people snoring, lots of mossies...and bats! They were only small but there were quite a few of them living in the roof and flew around the ceiling all night. After breakfast, which was really average and consisted of stale rolls and watermelon, we got set up to go horseriding. We went riding for about 2 ½ hours around the Pantanal, through swamps and trees. Alot of the time we were having to guide our horses around branches etc so that we didn’t get stuck. About halfway through one of the guys in our group rode pas a wasps nest and the wasps stung two people and the horses started to go crazy. Luckily we were a bit further back so we ... read more

Today we were up early cos we had to get to the Pantanal by midday for lunch apparently. We had a 5 hour ish drive to the Pantanal and arrived about 12.30. The weather was pretty good which we were thankful for, but mossies were out to get us all. Thank goodness for deet! We did a short walk to lunch in the middle of this kind of water/swamp area and got fed a relatively good meal of beans, rice, meat, noodles with holes in them (pretty much like snorkelling with your food!), cabbage and tomatoes. After lunch we hopped on a 2 and a half hour boat ride which to be honest was pretty boring! We just got our tan on a bit, slept a bit and saw a few crocs lazing in the water. ... read more

The following morning we were up and feeling a little sad that our time in the Pantanal was almost over. After brekko we wandered over to find our steeds for the morning - a bunch of skinny, fly-ridden horses, underfed due to the flooding. It was clear that they were not given much extra food and we all felt bad and wished we had brought something over for them from the Posada. Lisa had told Marcelo that Ian likes riding the little ones (referencing unlucky yet hilarious occasions in Banos and Tupiza when Ian got given little ponies to ride, check out the photos) but he forgot (unfortunately for us!) and so for once Ian was riding a medium sized horse, called Snow White (can’t all be perfect hehehe!). Lisa got the broken one, Troncho, who ... read more