Pantanal Adventures

I could spend hours catching up and telling everyone about the yummy salgados that I love (a tear drop shaped kinish stuffed with chicken), or the bus driver we had from Rio to Sao Paulo (who was the Brazilan version of Ralph Kramdon), or the massive sky scrapers that dot the sky line of Sao Paulo and the thousands of people walking the street...but really all I can think about are 40 minutes of time that I experienced today in the Pantanal. The saddest part is that Mondo was not there with me for those 40 minutes.

We left Corumba on the 5th and drove back two hours towards Campo Grande. We arrived at the entrance to the pantanal, got off the bus and waited for other traveler going to the same pousada at a road side shack, otherwise known as a bus stop. We wandered around and instantly spotted awesome birds and cayman. Of course we had to walk along a rickety bridge that was missing planks, and creaked everytime we took a step threatening to break under our feet. The other travelers arrived, we all climbed into the open jeep and drove to the Santa Clara Poussada.

It was an auspicious drive because on the way we spotted armadillos and these two magnificent red macaws (why people choose to have these amazing animals as pets alludes my mind, seeing them fly freely is a wondorus site.) We arrived at the farm (where there we about 25 other people staying there for their own pantanal adventure) with enough time to explore the grounds and settle into our room. The farm was great, there were parrots and birds of all sorts everywhere, cayman in the ponds, cows (not just any old cow, south american cows) and two wonderful farm dogs. Here I was, in an exotic place with amazing creatures to look at and all I wanted to do was play with the dogs!!! Mondo went our wandering and had a literal run in with some armadillos (aparently they don't see too well). We ate dinner, met our fearless guide (Piru, aka Johnny???), the four other people in our group (all American gringos, two recent graduates from Stanford (aka "the boys"), a couple from Norwalk, Connecticut (Gunner and Cynthia, who is actually Brazilian but has lived in the states for 21 years), and us.


Now the tours on the Pantanal can succinctly be decribes as sumer camp for adults. We got to go (I am not kidding) horseback riding, on a zipline into pirranah and cayman infested water, fishising for pirranah which we subsequently ate, on a safari jeep drive, walking in the pantanal swamps (without shoes or in flipflops, no joke) and finally to float in an inner tube in a river (infested with pirranah and cayman).

On our first day we were able to see all sorts of birds, king fishers, eagles, hawks, storks, egrets, howler monkeys, giant river otters (which is very rare), capybaras, this ring tailed cat thing, the beak of a toucan and more macaws this time blue ones. It was outstanding.

Our second day was not as successful in the animal sighting department. It may have had something to do with the fact that we were riding horses and making fun of one another, being very loud, which is not the best when you are looking for wild animals. We did go on a walk at night, and we saw more monkeys (which Piru aka Johnny aggrivated by calling to them and they came out into the open so we could really see them, cool but maybe not the best idea since they are known for throwing poop), and we were very close to either a tapir or giant anteater (who knows which one but when it got spooked and ran away it sounded very big). That night at dinner when I was talking with Gunner, I found out he grew up in Amherst Massachusetts. I remark that I have "family" members who live in Amherst. He says what is their name I say Peter and Lilly Kravitz (Peter married Mondo and I at our wedding in NY, he and his wife are some of my parents best friends). Gunner than says, "that's funny, Peter was my ski coach in highschool." (Really it's only six degrees of separation or less from most people.)

Today was our last day. We were all hapy with our experience, a bit disappointed because we did not see another toucan and we missed the opportunity to see that mysterious animal in the woods. We tubed down the water, went to our rooms (at 10:45am) packed our bags, and waited for lunch and the open jeep ride back to the bus stataion (aka the shack) which was to happen at 1:30. While waitng for lunch I was sitting in a hammock talking to Cynthia when I spotted a toucan from 300 feet away. The kicker was that the bird flew towards us and there were two of them!! Everyone in our group was able to see it and we all thought it was a great way to end our time at the poussada. We ate lunch and the boys went to pack (they went walking when we packed) and the remaining four of us chatted in the diningroom.

At about 12:45 one of the guides came in and said that there was a giant ant eater walking in the road. It took about a nanosecond for the diningroom to clear out. Now, imgaine if you would, 35 smelly toursist walking quickly towards this supposed anteater. If you were an anteater, what would you do??? Well.............. you would hide, and that is exactly what this one did!! It took about 15 minutes for everyone to realize that we were not going to get to see the anteater, so just about everyone walked back to the farm. Cynthia and I were at the back of the group and I suggested we go in just one more time. We walked towards a small clearing and heard some sounds in the brush to our left. We stopped, dead silent, when John (one of the Stanford guys) walked out from a clearing just to our left. We heard a bit more and figured it was just John's friend Ryan, we stood there quite just incase. The sound started getting louder and louder, and then we saw it. This little nose poking up through the brush (it clearly wasn't Ryan, his nose is not that long). Cynthia and I squatted down on either side of John, and this 6 foot long, 4 foot high ANTEATER WALKED RIGHT PAST US!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! If I had wanted to I could have touched it!!! IT WAS FUCKING AWESOME!!! And an incredible way to end our time in the Pantanal.

We are now back in Corumba. Tomorrow we have to get an exit stamp from Brazil, figure out which bus will take us to the border so we can enter Bolivia and catch a 4:30pm train to Santa Cruz.

Our love to everyone!!