Arraial D´ Ajuda (Brazil) to Santa Cruz (Bolivia)

We ended up spending 6 relaxing days in Arraial D´ Ajuda , eating in a per kilo restaurant every night, where you fill your plate and pop it on the scales.

Having been unable to arrange rendezvousing with Carlos (a friend we previously met in SA) in Sao Paulo we decided against going there, and having already visited Rio and being warned against going due to an outbreak of dengue fever, we therefore headed for Campo Grande the southern gateway to the Pantanal.

44 hrs and two buses later we arrived, having only alighted at Sao Paulo for 2 hrs to buy onwards tickets. For those not in the know coaches in SA are vaguely comparable to club class on an aeroplane, and comfortable enough to sleep on, although Argentina is definitely better since its quite common to get meals served by stewardesses.

There wasn't much happening in Campo Grande we just spent our time working out which kind of Pantanl tour we fancied. Most go for a 3-5 night stay in the Pantanal, staying in the luxury of a fazenda (farm) and going on day trips, usually a morning and evening walk, a horse ride (which may as well be a Blackpool donkey ride since you probably just tootle around with a bunch of gringos many of whom have never ridden before) and a boat trip followed by floating home down the river in a truck inner tube. Obviously Indiana Hannah and I opted for the hardcore option of trekking for 3 days with our tent and essential supplies with a guide, since this would be more intimate and give us a better understanding of the environment and the flora and fauna of the region.

To say we were unprepared would be a massive understatement. Firstly we weren't aware that we would spend much of our time walking through water up to our waists, and deeper still at times, considering that one of the main reasons that the Pantanal is still so abundant with wildlife is the fact that it floods for half the year making it largely inhabitable for humans so it should have been pretty obvious that we might get a bit wet whilst walking from island to island especially as the region has just come out of the wet season.

We ended up carrying way to much stuff, would you carry water proof clothing if you knew you'd be walking in water up to your tits all day, I also ended up carrying my shoes and walking for 3 days barefoot (since the ground is wet for half the year it is surprisingly soft, although I did end up with quite a few cuts and thorns in my soft gringo feet). We carried enough water for 2 days, having to resort to iodine treated water on the third, tasty if you like the flavour of TCP. I also carried enough rice for 7 days, useful if you end up getting stuck for a few days but bloody heavy.

Before I go any further I should describe our guide, Gabriel. Schizo. Well having just come off a 7 day trek without a day off he seemed a little cold at first, acting as if he was doing us a favour and hence the requirement for me to carry a stupid amount of rice, all the cooking equipment and other essential supplies including:
a kilo bag of flour, basically to bread a couple of fish / a half kilo bag of salt, for his taste requirements, you should have seen his face when Hannah and I suggested that we didn't need it / tinned not dried veg 2 kilos worth.
Before our first water crossing it became even further evident that he was hoping to break us, the tourists, and listen to us squeal the words "air conditioned hotel", after telling us that we should be careful not to tread on any caiman or anacondas (sucuri, as they are locally known, and one of which we were lucky enough to see on the road on the way into the park) which is easily avoided in waist deep murky water.?. Obviously, Indiannah and I are made of tougher stuff and he did eventually warm up, especially as there were only 3 of us which would enable us to keep quiet and therefore improve our changes of seeing more wildlife and getting closer to it, although he did continue to mutter to himself in Portuguese from time to time, nice.

So, day 1, actually pretty good. Loads of wildlife - Toucans / Big white bird the Pantanal is famous for / Macaws / Giant kingfishers / Noisy parrots / Armadillos / Loads of Caimans / Capybara, biggest rodent in world looks like a small hairy hippo / spiders that skated on the surface of the water like water boatmen / ants which would bite into your skin to move you away from their nests / and howler monkeys , which Gabriel was pretty skilled at conversing with.

After setting up camp we had a good meal, made with salt beef, and most of the veg since I wasn't keen to carry it any further! and eaten out of plates made from the massive seeds pods from palm trees. Later in the evening we went for a stroll around the particular island on which we were camping, spotting more creatures along the way and coming home (sorry, back to the tent) with a fruit which you can use to tattoo your skin and which lasts for one to five weeks. I actually slept really well, 12 hrs, since we were forced into our tents at dusk when the swarms of mosquitoes turned up, and being woken up at dawn by the howler monkeys marking their territory.

Day 2, started well. Piranha fishing . First a warning from Gabriel to hit caimans with a stick if they try to take your catch, another friendly warning considering that we were in water up to our waists. After watching Gabriel catch a couple, I found myself a good spot by some reeds and managed to pull out a big'un, with my rod made from a palm tree leaf. Gabriel not wanting to be outdone by the tourist, suggested, I thought jokingly, that he should take my spot, which he duly did and pulled out a fair size cat fish amongst others. During a delicious breakfast, I would definitely recommend Piranha if you ever get the chance, we heard shouting from across the water.




The shouting turned out to be another couple of whitey boys, Tommy and Sophie , who would be joining us, these new arrivals, however, caused another downturn in Gabriel's mood swings and the new adventurers became the victims of his attempts to break the tourists, luckily Indiannah and I had already resigned ourselves to his mood swings and were immune to their effects. More wildlife was seen, although I'm sure the increase in people, and therefore noise, hindered the viewing of more which included: Marsh Deer/ Guinea Pigs / Huge wild boar.
The one I didn't see stung my leg under the surface of the water during one of the numerous water crossings.

Stories of poisonous snakes were offered up as the latest scare tactics, with venom that would kill you in half an hour, unfortunately we weren't in possession of the anti-venom, but luckily the park road was only half an hour away? In the evening the new campsite was attacked by an army of ants which came at us like a massive black sheet across the ground, with anything in its path being engulfed in black and it was funny to watch other insects including some relatively big spiders becoming overwhelmed and running for cover.

Dinner became Gabriel's latest offering to get the new arrivals to go home, serving up pasta and potatoes ruined with an over generous seasoning of salt. If I wasn't so knackered I'd have cooked up something else (remember, I'm carrying tinned veg and salt beef), but darkness and it's invitation to the swarms of mosquitoes was also among us, and we were due to leave the following morning in any event.

From the night time shelter of our tent we could hear Gabriel stomping around the tents, installing pictures in our minds of meat being placed close to our tents to attract caiman jaguars and pumas, and we were then beckoned to leave our tent to view all the spiders that he had found near our tent. I duly obliged since I was genuinely intrigued and was witness to a great number, and after slightly upsetting Gabriel since I was evidently unafraid he took me to a tree a few minutes walk from the tent. There we found about 10 tarantulas ranging from baby to granddaddy of about 15 cm in diameter.

Day 3. Sadly for Tommy and Sophie a hole in their tent had meant that Sophie was covered head to toe in mosquito bites, and having spent the whole night awake scratching them, as well as the thought of spending another day with Gabriel, meant that they would be joining us on our return to civilisation. After a hearty breakfast of dry crackers, we made our journey back to the park road where we would await our onwards transport and pick up the things left at a fazenda. Obviously, after being told that if we should be bitten by poisonous snakes we were only 30 mins from the road, we were expecting a relatively short walk and were somewhat surprised to find ourselves back on the road outside of an hour. Safety standards high, fraybentos pie? ('kins TM).

Whilst waiting for the pick up we passed the time with a spot of fishing, beating Gabriel 2-0, although he got to take them home to eat.

A night in Corumba was followed by a pain free border crossing from Brazil to Bolivia and night on the death train (which whilst sleeping catapults you from your seat/bed whilst travelling through the darkness) to Santa Cruz, where we were picked up by Andy and Linda (2 friends from home who are currently living here in Bolivia) and taken to their wonderful home and the best room we've had the pleasure of staying in whilst in SA. Having arrived on Friday last, we will stay with them till we all depart together to Siamapata and the Amboro national park for some more trekking.

T