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As I am sure Rachelle has already mentioned the Pantanal is big, huge in fact. France would snugly fit inside and Germany would only dribble over the edges a bit. Given its size four days seems pitifully inadequate but the tour we signed up for promised to give us a little bit of insight into this massive swamp. Of course we had arrived at precisely the wrong time, midway between the wet and dry seasons, when there isn't enough water to pen the animals in together on the few remaining bits of dry land and too much for them to cluster around watering holes. Still we were here and the last bit of the journey along dirt roads into the lodge was very promising with massive brightly coloured birds flying back and forth across the road in front and behind us, a brief glimpse of a family of capybaras (giant rodents the size of a big dog) and the fantastic scenery melting in the setting sun. The lodge looked great when we got there as well set on a high point of land surrounded by swamp and river it had a pretty impressive wildlife population of it own with a giant macaw, dozens of parakeets and a couple of very friendly 'wild' pigs that had wandered in and made themselves at home.
The next couple of days however wore down our initial optimism. The activities that the lodge put on to show us the area were excellent, we went horse riding through the dry sections, boating through the wet and hiking in a mixture of both but the wildlife remained stubbornly hidden. Our guide did his level best to find as much life as possible and looking back on it we were more the victims of our unreasonable expectations than unlucky. Still while the jaguars, pumas and alligators remained hidden we did manage to find a lot of monkeys which are always good for a laugh. We saw toucans, parakeets, hawks, storks, kingfishers, vultures, turkeys, an owl, a raccoon-type creature, bush deer, loads of exotic butterflies and the occasional cayman (minature alligators). The biggest star of the time we spent in the swamp would have to be the landscape, even if we had seen absolutely nothing except the ubiquitous mosquitoes we would have been content drifting around the landscape admiring the light cutting through the canopy and the occasional glimpse over the swamplands from a piece of high ground.
Of course a swamp in tropical temperatures while very beautiful is not always entirely comfortable, the mosquitoes made sure of that. Despite the application of dangerously strong insect repellent the beasts sought out any chink in our chemical armour and as the bed bug bites faded slowly they were replaced by as many if not more mosquito bites. Rachelle has been a particular victim as the combination of the different bites have merged into a big rash that she has desperately tried not to scratch. Of course I didn't escape entirely unscathed, I freaked everyone out on one of the treks when everyone was knee deep in the water and something bit my foot. Our guide assures me that it was a fish and not a piranha or a baby cayman but since we didn't see it I reckon it will soon become a full on piranha attack at least in my memory.
On the last morning we had our revenge on the fishies when we went piranha fishing using steak as bait. Rachelle caught a nice one using all her fishing know how to coax the voracious beastie out of the water. My hook however seemed to just be a floating buffet which the piranhas would nibble at the swim away. I came back empty handed despite baiting my hook a dozen times or more, maybe some more practice is required, Rachelle can give me lessons. So now we are back in Campo Grande tired but satisfied from our trip now we have restored a bit of perspective. We now have two days of bus rides to get to Salvador on the east coast so by then we will be fully recovered and ready to take on one of the most vibrant cities in Brazil. We will tell you how it went soon, promise.
Love A & R
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