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Published: November 26th 2007
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so from numerous drunken nights out and goodbyes in Sucre we caught a high quality bus (ahem!) to Santa Cruz- not the epicentre of the universe it must be said! we arrived saturday afternoon- enough time to wander around town, discover there was NOTHING to do so we headed off to the cinema to watch an english film- never have i been more happy to watch harry potter- escape the spanish! then for sushi- however sushi is never my first choice- especially not when the menu is in spanish, and nobody has any idea whats what- so i end up ordering raw meat- carpaccio! eeeuuurgghhh! yuk yuk yuk! sunday there was even less to do in santa cruz, although we also managed to spy a 3 toed sloth, which hung around in the trees in the main town plaza, but it didnt exactly move fast so no real achievement there!! overnight "train of death" into brazil that evening, known as the train of death not for fatalities (suprisingly for south america!) but for the eternity it takes to reach the destination.....so damn freezing too! and it was rach's bday- just what u want to wake up too!
travelled by bus
to corumba to get our entry stamps in brazil- but our tour leader didnt have an international yellowfever certificate, only a national one for Peru, so she had to abandon us and go back to Bolivia to get it sorted out! Driving for the morning on crappy roads, to be followed by an hour on the back of a very bumpy pick-up truck entering the Pantanal wetlands- with caimen (crocs) hanging out in pools either side of the track, with toucans flying overhead, storks hanging out in the pools! Amaaazing how much wildlife there is to be seen!
We arrived at our destination lodge in time for lunch and to dump bags before heading out to catch pirhana fish- passing lots of caimen en route, and also a group of capybaras. fishing for pirhanas was really fun- especially when one of the lads started baiting the caiment who was watching us fishing from a distance- there was a hairy moment when the caimen snapped at the bait (far away) and everyone backed away from the waters edge! i think the pirhanas were experienced in averting fishermen though- they were far too quick at nibbling the meat and avoiding the
hook- having said that i did manage to catch one! hurrah!!
we headed back to a "bar" en route to camp- nothin more than a locals house with a few beers/crisps for sale- was cool chilling out- until we then discovered that the truck had broken down- over 3 hrs later (and a lot of shithead) we piled back onto a replacement truck and were back at camp for 10pm!! well past dinner time! but the other groups hadnt eaten either- so everyone tucked in....we had a chocolate cake too because of rach's bday- absolutely demolished it! too tired to be sociable so we headed to bed, in our trusty hammock circle! wahey!!
Tuesday we headed off at the crack of dawn into the depths of the wetlands on a walk with one of the guides- lots of birds whose names i forget and an upclose and personal encounter with a caimen! Stopped for lunch and fell asleep in hammocks in the midday sun....slowly woke up and realised it was time to go horse riding...they were SUCH lazy horses though- i kicked and i kicked and the lazy bugger would barely move...was a nice way to see the
surroundings though....spied an anteater in the distance too which was kinda cool! Grahams horse was the laziest of all- sitting down and refusing to move- had us all in stitches! off the lazy horses and onto the truck to get back for dinner, not quite so late this evening- Our tour guide had caught us up with her now international yellowfever innoc certificate....and a night of Brazilien partying around the campfire almost kicked off-but the booze ran out.... Cachaca being the new spirit of choice (there weren't exactly shops in the local vicinity!)
Wednesday we were up and off out on a river cruise- where we spotted hundreds of birds, and river otters in the distance- caimen and capybaras hanging out on the riverbank. The Cachaca hangover was taking its toll on most of us though, and only Marian decided to swim in the river with the caimen (although not in close vicinity!) That afternoon we headed out of the camp, and waited for our bus connecting us on to Bonito- only 4hrs later the bus hadnt turned up! RARGH- hanging out on the side of the road in the dust in the afternoon sun!
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