Pantaneiro puro Sangue = Pure blooded Pantaneiro

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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 species of hawk, many many caymans of different sizes, rriots, waterpigs, otters, blue macaws, tucans, egits, kingfishers and other birds, brown capuchin monkeys, howling monkeys an armadillo and another something that travels in groups mums and kids minus the alpha males coz they kill the younger ones. It is sometimes very difficult ot take a picture (maybe it was my luck) but we managed to take some. Julinho made fun of me whenever i didn´t take a picture because as soon as i turned the camera against the animal, it dissappeared. He told me wait untill everyone takes a good look of the animal and then turn the camera coz u make them go.

Julinho, our 'Pantaneiro Puro Sangue' is a very good jaguar tracker that respects and cares for the species. He gave us a t-shirt in the brazilian national football team colours, with a jaguar in the middle and the message ´I care'. Many agencies and guides care only for the money and in their quest for wildlife as soon as they see something try to approach it as much as they can making the animal feel uneasy and disturb their territory. Julinho has very strong beliefs and attitude on how to show you animals. It always amazes me how much our guides know about the weather, navigating in the dark, spotting the animals coz they can be pretty well hiden in their environment and the info they can give you for the species you are watching. Julinho doesn´t get too close doesn´t touch them unless he ´s helping them or to recognise the gender. Sometimes it is better that way coz the animals stay there longer and don´t run to hide.

We spent four days in the Pantanal. The first day we travelled from Cuiaba to Pocone and then we took the Transpanteiro road to reach our first lodge, Pousada Rio Negro. After lunch we took a canoe ride, all of us paddling, and then we went back with a speedboat, for dinner. After that we took Julinho´s jeep for a night safari. We got to sit on the top of the car with Julinho holding the flash light.

Next morning we woke up extra early,dawn time, to take a walk before breakfast. Then we took the speedboat coz it was windy and headed the other way of Rio Negro. Julinho showed us how to drive the boat and allowed us to drive for a while. After lunch and resting for a while we headed direction Pocone to go to another lodge Piuval. We reached Piuval at dinner time and after chatting a bit with Julinho we went to bed.

Julinho woke up before us to catch the horses and we went to see the milking of the cows. Then we all had breakfast and back to the horses to saddle them ang go for a ride. Stefanie got a horse that farted all the time and i got Aofineti. Our horses were on autopilot and followed Ouro Preto, the horse Julinho was on. Stef´s horse and Ouro Preto weren´t on good terms so stef stayed at the back. We went through beautiful landscapes within the property and got down to see the Macaws that go on a particular tree for its seeds. Macaws and parrots travel in pairs, male and female, and when one of them dies the other one ends its life as well. They fly very high and then dive. On the way back just a bot before reaching the farm my horse saw something got scared and started spinning with me ending up on the ground. Fortunatelly it was an easy fall and the only thing that got hurt was my camera. Julinho explained that Pantaneiro Horses are 500kg of fear. They are extremely scared because when going in the water in case they step on a cayman they get bit and it hurts...After lunch Julinho got his guitar and sang for us some famous brazilian songs and some rock songs. I must say he was very good at it. While watching him playing the guitar i have noticed that part of his index finger was missing and he explained that he lost it when he was 8, the lasso chopped it off. Our afternoon tour, was again a horse ride, because we wanted to. We went in the open for a while and then through a bush. Julinho made fun of us coz instead of us being in control our horses were. We arrived back at dinner time and at 8:15 we took the car for a night safari. Julinho told me that i am the coward´s queen coz i m scared of snakes. He said that we were at a point where he usually sees them and I started looking around me with the flashlight if there were any in the car. Then to make things better he told that its not so bad to be the queen because theres the king before me. Caymans are big cowards.

We had to catch a 10 o clock flight to Salvador. We had breakfast with pure cow´s milk, we milked it, with cinamon and sugar... Very tasty! Right after that he took us to the airport to begin our next experience, Carnaval in Salvador de Bahia

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