Into the swamp

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- FOOD: Beans, rice and chicken for lunch, beans, rice and chicken for dinner. Melon for breakfast thank god - and the return of dulce de leche - YEAHHH. Corumba has a cheap pizzeria with 25 different types of pizza including chocolate and banana/cinnamon.

- AREA: Campo Grande is an area people only visit on their way to the Pantanal - bit of a depressing ghost town. The Pantanal is a very peaceful area the size of France of pure swamp, trees and wildlife (although not as much as I was expecting to see). It´s mosquito hell - 100% deet is useful! Piranha fishing (I was the first to catch a fish), lots of trekking through the mud, horse riding with the best horse (Piquicinho), making necklaces from scratch. Hammocks as beds. Good fun roughing it.

- PEOPLE: Lots of under 25 year olds sitting around the camp fire all night. A tour group who weren´t the sort of people I´d choose to spend time with.

- WEATHER: Very hot during the day, very cold at night.


Sat 7th May: What a fantastic information point Campo Grande airport has. Within minutes, they'd contacted someone from 'Ecological Tours'to collect me from the airport, sign me up for the 3 day tour into the swamp and give me a free night at the hostel - with my own room with bathroom. YES.

It was quite nice to have control of my life taken over momentarily. Campo Grande is a strange area that people obviously only go to if they want to visit the Pantanal. There didn't seem to be any restaurants around but I didn't want to eat at the hostel so walked within a 2 min radius of the hostel to find somewhere. I didn't want to venture any further as it didn't feel too safe. There were lots of 'bars' playing such classics as 'Living on a Prayer' and Roxette tunes with a 2 Unlimited kind of beat behind, with plastic chairs and the odd person sat on their own with a beer.

I found somewhere that after several attempts at asking, said they did food, but they didn't bring me a menu. I was just about to give up when this meal of steak, rice, spaghetti, beans and salad arrived! Yet again, any decision making had been taken out of my hands.


Sun 8th: After a 4 hour van journey, an hour of hanging around and a 3 hour bumpy jeep journey with the wind (and trees and spiders) flying into the jeep, my group and I arrived at the camp base, deep into the swamps of the Pantanal.

I had my first experience of being stuck with a tour group who weren´t my sort of people: 4 Aussie boys who were obsessed with talking about sex, women, drugs, partying, hair removal cream and moisturiser (no wonder their back packs were so big - they had a year´s supply of the stuff). Individually they were all fine but as a group - NO. An Israli guy who was nice but young and a bit power obsessed, an American girl who was also young with an irritatingly high girly voice and 4 18 year old Norwegian lads who were lovely but I felt like their mother (and am practically old enough to be scarily enough).

We'd slowed down to see lots of wildlife along the way - toucans, anteaters, alligators, countless big and small colourful birds and an amazing sunset so I had high hopes of seeing the masses of wildlife the Pantanal has to offer. Everyone already at the camp cheered when our jeep arrived. "How nice" I thought, only to find out that the 2 groups already there couldn't eat until we arrived with the next lot of food. The lunches are served at 11.30am and then dinner isn't until the next group arrives (between 8 and 10pm) hence the big cheer - the poor buggers were starving!

The camp base was big and about 30 people were already there sitting around a fire drinking beer - not what I was expecting at all. I discovered quickly that this is where all the young people go when they visit South America. So far most people I've met have been in late 20's, 30's but suddenly I was transported back to the first year of uni, sat around a camp fire on the Sussex Downs.

After my first of many lunch and dinners consisting of chicken, rice and beans and a few beers around the fire, I was grateful of my torch to find my way to my sleeping quarters - a big hut with about 20 hammocks lined up. If I swung in my hammock, I hit the 2 people either side of me. It was very noisy as it was near to the fire and I was absolutely freezing all night as I was told sleeping bags would be provided but they weren't.


Mon 9th: After about an hour's sleep, I had to get up at 6am for the first day of adventure. Breakfast wasn't chicken, rice and beans thank god and was ok. Huge chunks of melon and rolls with DULCE DE LECHE - my old friend returns.

We went on a trek all morning through the swamps which the guide said would come up to my knees. For the 5 lads in my group, this was correct. For me and the other girl in the group, knee height meant thigh height. My legs should be glowing after all the mud baths they've taken.
I was disappointed as I was expecting to see a huge amount of wildlife, but in a 3 hour trek, we didn't see much at all. Lots of birds, a couple of racoons and monkeys high up in the trees, a pig, some cows and the odd glimpse of a macaw. However, it was very peaceful and serene wandering around an area that is the size of France and unspoilt.

After a long break for lunch (guess what the food was?), we went out in a boat to fish for piranhas. Sat in a small boat in the middle of a calm lake, surrounded by beautiful scenery, I could see the attraction of fishing. That is until I remembered I was supposed to be there to fish. Suddenly all the scenery around me vanished as I became fixated on my rod. Peaceful experience? I've never been so stressed! (not on this trip anyway).

I became quite aggressive as the fish kept eating the bait before I could catch them and the competition was on to be the first to catch a fish. My original intention had been to feed the fish and not be so cruel as to stick a big hook down its throat, yank it into the boat and watch it die. I forgot my original intention as I felt a big bite and pulled the fish in - I was the first to catch one. It was THIIIIIS big. But then I felt guilty, awful and spent the rest of the time feeding the baby piranhas with the bait. I don't think I will take up fishing as a hobby, sorry Dad.

I attempted to join the youth around the camp fire drinking beers all night, but caved early. This trip is making me feel old as I just can't be bothered to sit around listening to the crap they were talking about! Let's just say that not many people on this tour seem to be here for the wildlife. And the guides seemed to be worse than anyone. Luckily I met a couple who saved me with decent conversation (and he had gone to my school - small world).

After discovering why no-one had been cold the night before, I collected a blanket from the bar, put my earplugs in and had a lovely nights sleep.


Tue 10th: We started an hour later due to the rest of my group having gone to bed just an hour or so previous to getting up time and the guide looking like he wasn't about to make much sense today. We did another trek and saw a whole family of racoons and some toucans but not much else.

In the afternoon we did horse riding. I can't remember the last time I was on a horse but I really enjoyed it. All the horses knew the route and just followed each other. I had a great horse (Piquicinho) who did just what I wanted him to do but he certainly let me know who had control when he wanted to eat (the reins were so short, he nearly pulled me off).

I almost galloped but stopped him as it was killing my thighs and bum. 4 hours of mainly trotting on the horse is quite painful. We saw more wildlife but I didn't care that I wasn't seeing much as it was so enjoyable letting the horse do all the work through the swamps and just sitting back and appreciating the beauty around me.


Wed 11th: After giving in to old age and having another early night, I was gutted that I missed the sunrise tour. I just couldn't be bothered to get up for it! How lazy.

We did another trek but came back to camp very early and then just sat around waiting for lunch. Our guide made us all necklaces out of alligator teeth, nuts and leaves that he stripped down and wove together. I was proud of myself for weaving 2 necklaces and felt quite at one with nature (man).
It was so peaceful to sit around, staring out at the lake and studying the trees (and playing with the parrot that seemed to be the camp's pet parrot).
But I was ready to leave after a few days of roughing it, being very muddy but not seeing much wildlife.

I headed to Corumba with the boys where we stayed overnight in the most luxurious hostel yet with a massive reception area and a bathroom (with a bath - the luxury) the size of the room. Corumba was a bit nicer than Campo Grande but didn't have too much to offer except for an exceptional pizza place where you get to eat 25 different types of pizza for a set price of 3 quid. I tasted banana and cinammon pizza and also chocolate pizza. So delicious although a bit weird with cheese and tomato.

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