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Good Afternoon!
I´ve just escaped from the Pantanal and am in an air-conditioned internet shop so am starting to feel human again! The Pantanal is in Brazil and is about the size of France (depending on which guide book you look at it ranges from half the size of France to bigger than France….. guess it depends where you measure from!). It is wetland and in when I was there had ridiculous temperatures in the high 30s! It is also full of wildlife and incredibly humid most of the time.I'll get back to that.
First, here's what's been going on since I last wrote:
7th Jan
This was the second day in Potosi. Most of the group went to visit the silver mine in the morning. As I was feeling a bit ropey I decided to not visit…. The place has terrible working conditions - both v hot and v cold, also there is asbestos dust!
8th Jan
I was really glad to leave Potosi as it is cold and leaving signaled the start of the descent to a more decent altitude.
In the morning, after a fruitless search for coffee we got on a bus to Sucre. Sucre is the official capital of Bolivia, although La Paz feels much more like a capital city. On 20th Jan Bolivia are having a referendum to decide whether to agree to a new constitution. From what I gather there is a massive contrast in opinion between the wealthier cities, such as Sucre and Santa Cruz near the Brazilian border, and the country side. The people in Sucre are annoyed that a lot of the power in Bolivia is in La Paz, and La Paz wants to be the official capital. I'm glad we've now left Bolivia as there seems to be a lot of tension around the vote.The bus took about 6 hours and we went through a lot of seemingly baron land. It is mountainous and dry and the roads are pretty bad.
There is also so much rubbish near any kind of settlement. Even though there are bins in the towns I´m sure it is just dumped around the edges…. Maybe increased tourism will help to sort this out.Sucre is the first place in Bolivia that feels European. The roads are wide and everything feels quite modern. There is a large square with palm trees and from a distance the place looks a bit like Cusco… all white walls and red roofs. We stayed in a really nice hotel and …… I had my own room with cable tv amd a fridge… fantastic. At 2,800m I felt like I was floating when walking up hill… I can see why athletes altitude train now!
That night was the last that our new group (since New Year) would all be together because the Brazilian couple were going home the next day. We all went out for some really tasty Mexican food and ended up in a club. The music switched between salsa.. (which I danced really badly to) and gringo-tastic (dancing not much better!)….
9th Jan
Last night I was persuaded to go mountain biking…… SO this morning I braved my hang over to go with the rest of the group. Pretty much as soon as I got my bike I realized that I really didn't want to go. The bikes are not at all like what I ride at home and after trying it out a bit I chickened out completely…. What a relief!
Instead Jay (nice Australian lady) and I got on a tourist bus to the dinosaur footprints. This is a massive vertical wall with footprints of 7 types of dinosaur. The wall used to be the edge of a lake (now Sucre) which was pushed up vertically when the Andes were forming. The workers of the cement factory found the footprints and now there is a really rubbish museum and you can't get at all close. It's all pretty convenient really (cement factory…..), but maybe I'm being cynical….After the bus Jay and I did a great walk around the city to look at the nice colonial buildings. The best part was visiting the cemetery. It is huge and there are rows and rows of walls with memorials. They all seem to be really well kept and there are fresh flowers in a lot of them. Also there are loads of family mausoleums. It feels like these Bolivians spend more money on the dead than on when they are alive… It was a really peaceful place and I definitely worth a visit.
10and 11th Jan
The 4 boys and I left the rest of the group to catch a flight to Santa Cruz. It was pretty sad to say goodbye to Nicky and Jacque, who've been with the group since the start in Lima…. Especially as leaving them meant I will be the only girl in the group until I leave in the end of Jan…..ahhhhhhh!!!!! Actually it's fine being with the boys. It just means that I have to be a bit less of a wuss!The flight was only 40 mins but we got upgraded to 1st class, which meant a proper meal, big seats and free drinks….. excellent. Santa Cruz was our last stop in Bolivia and finally there is some warmth!!! It is at 415m and feeling tropical!
We spent the next day also in Santa Cruz eating ice cream and generally relaxing in the heat. I get my own room from now on and it was air conditioned…. Bliss. We also watched the new James Bond.. Quantum of Solace, which is set in La Paz, although not filmed there.
On the night of the 11th we got on a 13 hour night train to the Brazilian border. The train was comfy, air conditioned and showed a film with English subtitles. Dinner for mewas rice, potato, potato salad and a roll….. Being veggie in Bolivia doesn't pay!
I don't know what we´d do without the guide, Neil, he sorts everything out for us…. Even down to ´tipping´ the train staff just to make the passage a bit easier.
12th Jan
In the morning we were woken for breakfast and got off the train to even more ridiculous heat. We then got a bus into the Pantanal. It took a few hours but as soon as we got out of the bus we were in the midst of a load of wildlife…..We stayed in a lodge for the last 2 nights. We slept in hammocks, inside, which I found really comfortable. On the evening of 12th we went for a walk. Our guide, Paulo, wore no shoes to walk around in the wetland/jungle. Apparently there are Jaguars and poisonous snakes, although I didn't see any. On the walk we did see howler monkeys (which make the most incredible noise….. kind of like the plane crashing noise in Lost, you can't tell where it is coming from and they don't seem to stop for breath…. Scary!), capybaras (water pigs), huge blue macaws, frogs, geckos, deer, caiman, an armadillo, eagles, storks, owls, bats, huge killer ants, fire fly, vultures, toucans, emus, wild pigs……..AMAZING!
The heat was pretty unbearable, and soooo humid!In the afternoon pretty much all you can do is sit it out and sweat. There were no fans or aircon in the lodge……. And a lot of sweat!13th JanYesterday morning we got up early to go piranha fishing. First we got in the truck and did some wildlife spotting… it felt like a safari…. Amazing and a temporary relief from the heat as the truck is open topped and windy. We got to the spot for fishing and there were vultures circling and a hideous smell. Paulo said we'd all have to go bare foot so we traipsed into the wetlands to the edge of a lake. The boys were really excited but this is not my idea of fun!!! The lake was surrounded by Cayman, and full of Piranhas. We were each given a bamboo rod with meat bait and had to wade in to the knees. I was NOT happy! I've got a cut on my foot and I kept thinking the Piranhas would go for it. The boys were catching loads of them. I just caught 1 different kind of fish and got out…. Far to scary for me. Then I was left standing on he edge with all the flapping piranhas hoping that the caimans didn't think they'd found an easy lunch!!
We ate the piranhas at lunch time. They were pretty boney but quite tasty really and it was great to get some fresh fish.The rest of the day (11am - 4pm) was spent trying to survive the heat as best as possible. I had 3 showers yesterday and was still pretty much dying. At 4pm it was time for horse riding. I've only been horse riding once, when I was 7 years old, so I'm not exactly experienced. It was fun though and after a while I wasn't so scared. The horses were really well trained and it was definitely better than walking in the heat; My horse got a bit scared a few times and luckily I held on to the reigns and stayed on. At the end the boys wanted to canter… obviously I refused and had a nice slow walk back to the ranch.
14th Jan
This morning we said goodbye to Paulo and the Pantanal and got back into an air-conditioned blissful bus to Bonito. There is meant to be amazing snorkeling here in a river close-by. I think that´s what'll happen tomorrow. There are loads of mozzies here, but no where near as bad as the Galapagos. I've also started Malaria tablets, although the risk is minimal I don't fancy getting it much!!! It's not long till I come home now and I'm really looking forward to it. 3 months is a long time! Also the food in Brazilian restaurants all seems to be buffets…… dangerous!!!!! Especially with Copacabana coming up!
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