The Pantanal

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We were picked up from the hotel in Bonito at around 8.30, and were driven to the Pantanal. we stopped for lunch on the way, and in true brazilian style it was an all you can eat lunch!! we arrived at the place we were staying in the pantanal at about 2pm, and had just enough time to claim a hammock in the hut we were staying in, and get our swimming gear on before we went on a boat trip at 2.30.

the group was split into 2, and gill and i were in the boat with the guide that didnt speak english along with jo and rhian. the others were in the boat driven by paulo.
We were being given a tour of the river, and every now and agian the guide would stop and point out animals on the bank or in the the trees, these included howler monkeys, water pigs, toucans and a couple of others i cant remember the names off!! unfortunately no photos of these from the boat tour as we forgot to take our camera with us in the boat!!
we then stopped at a small beach area and all had a swim in the water, it was cold when you first got in, but wasnt too bad once you had. a couple of the others werent sure about swimming cos it was cold, but Tim was in first and then splashed everyone on the bank, so there was no point in not swimming!!
after a while we got back in the boats and heaed back to the camp, when getting out of the boat, jo almost managed to not only almost fall in herself, but to nearly pull the guide in too which was really amusing to watch!!!
we all had absolutly freezing cold showers in the dark as the electricity wasn't on yet, and there were no windows in there! we then sat round the campfire waiting for tea which was at eight pm. we all moved into the dinning room at about half seven and opened some of the bottles of wine we had brought with us, much to the annoyance of everyone else when they came in when the gong was hit, and they came in to find us first in the queue and drinking wine!!!
teas was chicken and spaghetti which was really nice. after we all headed back out and sat round the campfire and chatted to the other people who we're also staying. we met two medics who we had alreadt seen at the bus station. it was really weird as one of them is at leeds and knows some of the people we know, and he also was in ellerslie hall the year after us, in the same room as our housemate. was cool to catch up on some of the stuff that has gone on!!!!
ended up going to bed quite early as the electricity was only on for a few hours and we got a bit cold sittiing out and we were being eaten by bugs. we also had to get up at six, we wouldn't have a choice as they hit a big gong to signify the start of breakfast!!

sleeping was interesting as there were bats flying round in the ceiling of the room we were satying in which we could hear fluttering around!!! we also woke up to find a pile of bat poo in the corners of the room where they had been perching above. when i saw this i moved hammocks as i was staying in the one at the end and it was a bit too close for comfort!!!

after breakfast the next morning we all climbed into the back of the van and were driven to a section of the jungle where we all got out and started our walk. we had been told to wear flipflops and short trousers so we would be able to see the bugs! the other groups had scared us by telling us that we would eb walking through swamps up to our knees as that is what they had done but i think paulo was nice to us as we didn't do any of that!!!! we saw a few animals, which i cant remember the name of now so will hav to look them up later! we also collected various parts of plants so we could make jewlery later on. as we were walking we noticed a really horrible smell, and as we walked further we realise what is was, the stench of rotting cow which was really horrible!!! at a few other points on the trip we smelt the same smell and its so much worse when you know what is is!!! we just all tried to not smell and look just where we were going so we didn't see anything we didn't want to!!!

we walked in a big loop and ended up back at where we had left the van. we all climbed back aboard and drove to a kind of hostel place where there is two tame alligators!!! we all needed persuading to get close but we all went and stoked it which was interesting. we will add the photo of me when the alligator moved!!!! the alligator we stroked was interestingly called ally!!!!! paulo told us this would be where we were coming back to do riding later on. me and jo both went off to go to the toilet and were intruduced to a tame parrot, all the others heard was the scream from jo as it moved on her hand and tried to bite her!!! if we hear any screams you can usually guaratee they come from jo!!!!

we headed back to the camp and paulo hepled us make jewelery with the stuff we had collected, then we had lunch which was......
they then left us to have some free time before we headed out again to do the afternoon of horseriding. was really difficlut to know what to do as we were all feeling sleepy but didn't really want to sleep as then we wouldn't want to get up again and if we lay in our hammocks we felt really sleepy!!
we left to go horseriding, at the place we had seen the alligators. we all got put onto our horses and them set off, some of us had an interesting time trying to get our horses to do what we wanted them to do! they generally decided themselves when they wanted to go faster!!!! gills horse didn't want to go faster till the guide who was at the back got close, then it would run far enough to be a good distance from him, then it would stop again!!! we rode through water which none of the horses seemed very keen on. some of the horses were a bit enthusiastic when they were walking through the water and so soaked everyone who was anywhere near!
we were riding for quite a while including riding through the forest parts where the horses tried their best to hit us against everything they possibly could! they all seemed quite lively and we realised it was because they knew they were getting closer to home! we said goodbye to the horses and got back in the truck to drive back to the camp. on the way back they fixed spotlights on the front of the van and paulo was leaning out of the window with a big spotlight trying to spot wildlift for us. we weren't very sucessful and didn't really see anything but we didn't really expect to riding down the road in a big noisy van!
we again got back to camp and sat round the camp fire both before and after tea, heading to bed when it got really dark! tonight when they put the generator on people rushed to the showers, and then it went off, much to the amusement of everyone else!
the next morning we were all up early as we had to leave as soon as we finished breakfast. we jumped into the van and they drove to a good spot where we could go fishing. unfortunatly it involved taking off our shoes and walking through swamp in our barefeet!! the other groups all got into the water upto their waists to fish but where we were it wasn't really practical! gill caught thee fist pirhana of the day so she was very proud and we took photos. in the end everyone but Rhian and Kim caught prihanas. Me and heath caught two each, rhian caught lots but they kept falling back in the water. kim and jo both managed to catch dragonfish which is probably quite a skill when fishing with beef as bate! we went back to the camp and had to pack up all our stuff for paulo to take us to the border. they also cooked our priranas for us so we got to eat them. they tasted really good but so much effort as there is so little meat on them!
it came to betime to leave so we all piled into a minibus thing and were driven to the border. on the way we stopped off for lunch and at the post office before we got to the border. paulo was really good as Bryan had left to sort things out for the next part of the trip he took us over the border and through immigration till we met up with bryan. the border made us laugh as it was just a collection of sticks and rocks in a line!!!
we're really behind in writing this and are just goin to cross the border into peru so will try and add more later!!!

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Photos

alligator massacre
this was the little babies at the side of the road after their siblings had been squished

heath and ally
ally moved and so did heath!!!

gill and ally
you can see paulo in the background and the other guide who didn´t speak english

where we slept in the pantanal
finally got a photo (taken from Kim)
you can see heath in the background, the last two hammocks were mine & hers!