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Published: July 11th 2007
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Sucre, the official capital of Bolivia! A beautiful city, which we immediately noticed seems to be famous for its chocolate. It goes without saying that we did our fair share of sampling. From Sucre we eventually managed to get to Santa Cruz (after one failed attempt). The best thing about Santa Cruz was definitely its amazing icecreams and its strange 3-toed sloths who live in the main square. Due to its gorgeous weather and the fact that it was the Bolivian school holidays, the city was full of Bolivian tourists. Wandering through the big market place we bought a Rubik´s cube. We spent one afternoon sat in the sunny plaza whilst Helen taught Kate how to solve the cube. Geek!
After Santa Cruz we took the ´train of death´ (which turned out not to be so deathly after all) to the Brazilian border. Here we were met by Murilo, the owner of Green Track touring company. What a legend!! We arrived in the Pantanal at our camp, complete with hammocks instead of beds. So want a hammock, the most comfortable things in the world!!
On our first full day in the Pantanal we started by watching the sun
rise over the swamp. Really really beautiful. We had a morning walk through the forest seeing hundreds of birds and lots iof wildlife. We then went for a canoe ride in the swamp, surrounded by Caiman aligators. So peaceful and relaxing with beautiful scenery. On the way back to the camp we went partly by foot, wading waist deep through Piranha infested waters. Apparently they are only really dangerous in hollywood, according to Murilo anyway. In the afternoon we went for a horseride through the forest and swamps. Only a slow steady ride but fun all the same, often the horses wading through the waters of the swamp. In the evening we were all sat enjoying dinner when Murilo suddenly called us over. We went over to see him with a long stick and a viper trying to attack him. Only little but so so aggressive and poisonous (a single bite killing you within 3 hours!). He managed to trap the snake and was holding it for us to see, really cool experience especially when the snake started releasing its venom. When most people went to bed, 3 of us went for a night walk with Murilo. The highlight of
the walk being a herd of these huge guinea pigs creatures called capyburras. Strange things, we managed to get pretty close before they bombed it into the swamp.
The next day we went for another early morning walk. On the way back to the farm we sat on one of the little swamp bridges watching a couple of playful giant river otters, one of the rarest animals in the world. Such elegant animals. After breakfast we went Piranha fishing in one of the lakes not far from camp. We used bamboo rods and the meat of other dead fish as our bait, yum! Was great fun catching the Piranhas and they were tasty (though rather bony) when we had them for lunch. In the afternoon we went for a really long walk, deep into the forest and parts of the swamp that even Murilo doesnt go very often. It was the most amazing walk! We saw lots of animals, including a giant warthog which had been bathing in the swamp. Whilst wading waist deep through one of the swamps Murilo ahead of us suddenly swore outloud in surprise. He refused to tell us why until we were on the
other side of the water, which probably made it worse because we knew it couldnt be good. He had stepped on an Anaconda which was lying in wait under the mud. Slightly worrying, especially since we were walking barefoot through the water. Deep in the forest we heard some howler monkeys and crept up to the tree they were in. When they saw us they gave a long, loud and fantastic chorus of howling, sounding somehing like a cross between a motorbike and a big cat. Wierd. Suddenly the howling came to an abrupt stop and we all cheered. At this they seemed to get a little pissed off and started throwing stuff (mainly faeces) at us. We ran! On this walk we also managed to see other monkeys, hyacinth macaws, owls having sex, racoon looking things, deer, loads of other birds, more capybarras, and camans. Murilo was great at attracting and communicating with the animals using a wide variety of very realistic animal noises. By the time we got back to camp it was pitch black. That night we sat up drinking and talking to Murilo about his many adventures in the Pantanal. A seriously awesome guy with some
of the most amazing experiences.
The next morning we went on a short walk to collect raw materials for making jewellry. This included nuts, seeds and plant leaves which murilo stripped to make fibres for the string. He made a lovely necklace probably worth at least 7 quid at home and then it was time to leave. Reluctantly we left the pantanal behind and headed to the Iguazu falls.
After spending an entire day on a bus we arrived at Foz do Iguazu, the brazilian side of the falls. Unfortuantley it was tipping it down on our first day so we decided to have a day trip to Paraguay to do a bit of duty free shopping! Kate managed to replace her camera - 3rd time lucky!
The next day after we had been kept awake by the thunder storm to end all thunder storms, it had stopped raining and we visited the Brazilian side of the falls. Although not much walking to be done here, the views of the entire falls were spectacular! Soooo much water and in a stunning location! After the falls we visited a bird park where we saw all sorts of weird
and wonderful south american birds. The best of these were the crazy tucans with beaks which looked completely out of proportion and the huge multicoloured macaws which seemed intent on flying as close to us as possible! We aslo saw a huge anaconda and lots of humming birds. We seemed to spend a whole afternoon here enjoying the birds and trying to get the best pics! That afternoon we made our way to Argentina!
The next day we visited the Argentinian side of the falls which were by far the most spctacular. Lots of walks took us to within feet of the massive volume of rushing water. We were constantly amazed by the vastness of teh waterfalls and the area they covered. We went on a boat trip which took us very close to a couple of the falls thoroughly soaking us! All in all a brilliant day and great experience, no waterfall will ever be the same again!
Next stop Buenos Aires!!..............
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Sarah
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yayers
You went fishing for piranha's??? you are a crazy woman helen ha ha. i love it