After busing to Campo Grande, I met up with Marama as planned so that we could book our Pantanal tour together. This we did with Pantanal Discovery after I arrived as they clearly looked the better of the two options. (We were also considering Ecologicial Tours but for the same price, instead of sleeping in a lodge, it was hammocks and we both preferred four nights in a bed given the choice).
After arranging our tour, it was dinner time and we both thought that the street BBQ looked good. And it was. While eating dinner, we got to chatting to the owner of the BBQ place, a 22yo Brazillian guy with really good English. He invited us to go to a local party/club to samba and given we didn't know anyone and both thought a local party might be fun, we were both keen. However, this "party" turned out to be myself, Marama, the BBQ guy and his friend. Set-up? I think so. At the time, we figured what the hey and stayed around for a few drinks. We eventually decided to split from it though when after saying that we didn't have boyfriends (BIG MISTAKE in South America it seems), they thought they would take up that title. Just to disclaim, it never got hairy or anything and we never really felt in any danger but these Brazillian boys were persistent. I'll give them that.
The following morning we headed out to the Pantanal where we stayed at a pretty nice lodge, the name of which escapes me now. This is where we spent the next four days, with activities like boating the river, piranha fishing, river floating, swimming (with caiman and piranhas) and horse riding. Given the heat, there was a lot of down time, particularly before and after lunch where we were able to just chill next to the river for hours at a time before the afternoon activity. Here there was no shortage of animals to see, with the exception of the elusive jaguar. We did manage to "spot" caiman, iguana, capybaras, deer, giant otters, the rarely seen other type of otter (again can't think of the name) and coati. There were a couple of exciting moments with the caiman. The first being that when the other boat was up against the shore looking at an iguana, a caiman actually jumped into their boat! It didn't stay in their long. The guide told everyone in it to stay still (duh) and it eventually jumped out again. It was probably only in it for a minute or two. The second incident was when horseriding. We were walking through a swamp and a caiman came a little to close to the horse for it's comfort and the horse kicked it. Good think it didn't make it angry cause I'd have hated to be the person riding it. The piranha fishing was fun and I have to say, modestly of course, that I was by far the best piranha fisher there. I think I caught over 10 fish and it got to the point where one of the other guys asked if after catching a fish, I was just throwing it in and out of the water to make me look like I was catching many! We did get to eat these for lunch, though I don't recommend it. Piranha are really bony and have very little meat. We were also really lucky (or unlucky?) with the weather. It didn't rain once and the days were nice and warm. However, as jaguar are more likely to head to the rivers edge prior to or during the rain, this mean't that we didn't get to see any. This turned out to be quite unlucky given that the groups who arrived before us saw one every night for three nights, and the group that arrived on our last night also saw one. Marama and I tried to convince our guide to take us out to have another look but he flatly refused. Disappointing but never mind. We did get to see a lot of other cool stuff so I'm happy with that.
After arranging our tour, it was dinner time and we both thought that the street BBQ looked good. And it was. While eating dinner, we got to chatting to the owner of the BBQ place, a 22yo Brazillian guy with really good English. He invited us to go to a local party/club to samba and given we didn't know anyone and both thought a local party might be fun, we were both keen. However, this "party" turned out to be myself, Marama, the BBQ guy and his friend. Set-up? I think so. At the time, we figured what the hey and stayed around for a few drinks. We eventually decided to split from it though when after saying that we didn't have boyfriends (BIG MISTAKE in South America it seems), they thought they would take up that title. Just to disclaim, it never got hairy or anything and we never really felt in any danger but these Brazillian boys were persistent. I'll give them that.
The following morning we headed out to the Pantanal where we stayed at a pretty nice lodge, the name of which escapes me now. This is where we spent the next four days, with activities like boating the river, piranha fishing, river floating, swimming (with caiman and piranhas) and horse riding. Given the heat, there was a lot of down time, particularly before and after lunch where we were able to just chill next to the river for hours at a time before the afternoon activity. Here there was no shortage of animals to see, with the exception of the elusive jaguar. We did manage to "spot" caiman, iguana, capybaras, deer, giant otters, the rarely seen other type of otter (again can't think of the name) and coati. There were a couple of exciting moments with the caiman. The first being that when the other boat was up against the shore looking at an iguana, a caiman actually jumped into their boat! It didn't stay in their long. The guide told everyone in it to stay still (duh) and it eventually jumped out again. It was probably only in it for a minute or two. The second incident was when horseriding. We were walking through a swamp and a caiman came a little to close to the horse for it's comfort and the horse kicked it. Good think it didn't make it angry cause I'd have hated to be the person riding it. The piranha fishing was fun and I have to say, modestly of course, that I was by far the best piranha fisher there. I think I caught over 10 fish and it got to the point where one of the other guys asked if after catching a fish, I was just throwing it in and out of the water to make me look like I was catching many! We did get to eat these for lunch, though I don't recommend it. Piranha are really bony and have very little meat. We were also really lucky (or unlucky?) with the weather. It didn't rain once and the days were nice and warm. However, as jaguar are more likely to head to the rivers edge prior to or during the rain, this mean't that we didn't get to see any. This turned out to be quite unlucky given that the groups who arrived before us saw one every night for three nights, and the group that arrived on our last night also saw one. Marama and I tried to convince our guide to take us out to have another look but he flatly refused. Disappointing but never mind. We did get to see a lot of other cool stuff so I'm happy with that.
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