Campo Grande to Pantanal, BRAZIL - 17 october 2002
The group heading to Pantanal was made up of Daniel from USA, Sheena from Ireland, Mark and Florein from The Netherlands, Francisca from Argentina, Sherry from Canada and Trisha, (sorry, indulge me for a moment… for I have always wanted to do this) from the beautiful tropical island of S-I-N-G-A-P-O-R-E!!
It was a long drive to the camp-site today. During this time, we saw a great number of birds, caymans, capybaras. It was wild. It was fantastic.
The camp-site was one well-organised place. We would sleep in hammocks slung under a structure, lined with mosquito nets. There were flush-toilets and showers available. We could relax by the fire-place, a bar or at the dining tables. When meals were served, they would sound the gong.
Pantanal, BRAZIL - 18 october 2002
At around 5am, the howler monkeys started howling. Actually, it was like a siren with the sound of a growl. The growling sound grew in crescendos and diminished in descendos and went on and on, really quite like a siren. I was half-asleep and half-awake when I heard it. When I woke up, I was not even sure what I had heard.
We went for treks early in the morning and in the late evening to spot wildlife. We saw many types of birds like spoonbills, screamers, hawks, jabiru storks, etc… and mammals such as cabybaras, coatis, howler monkeys, etc… Although it was hot and tiring, I treasured the treks very much as we had seen quite a lot of animals today.
The true nature of Sherry started to emerge too. She whined on and on about the mud, about not being able to see the birds, about bugs, about everything.
While we were, at first, faintly amused by how naïve she was, for what did she expect out of a Pantanal trip, soon, her negative energy and continuous complaints really got on all our nerves.
Pantanal, BRAZIL - 19 october 2002
We were driven to the next campsite today. This was simply a tree with eight hammocks tied to the branches. What an amazing tree! Its luscious foliage provided very welcoming shade for us. Temperatures here at the Pantanal reached 40°C or so. And that was not all…
There was a river next to the tree. Although there were caymans (or alligators) in there, my guide Gabriel said he had never seen them bite anyone. So we all went in furtively. It was really hot. We were desperate to cool down.
We spotted about five or six caymans around. Some were basking in the sun, some had surfaced a notch above the water. When one of us tried to go near them, they would disappear back into the water beneath silently. We could not see what was in the water as the water was black, this being ‘Rio Negro’ (Black River) after all. It was a tad spooky to think the caymans were lurking amongst our feet and one wrong move, we might step on one of their snouts!
That night, when we shone our torch along the river, gosh… there were like thirty pairs of eyes up and down the immediate area, reflected back at us! And we had thought there were just five or six caymans!!
We headed to a nearby lake and fished for piranhas for our lunch. At first, we simply and cluelessly donated our baits to these cunning fish. Later, we got the hang of it and managed to reel in some juicy ones every five minutes or so. Yeah, the lake was teeming with piranhas.
Once, a piranha I caught dropped into the boat and started dancing around with the ferocious teeth chattering away. We screamed our heads off.
In panic, I lifted my legs away from the boat and let them hang out of the boat to avoid that piranha. Gabriel stepped on the side of the boat to try and walk over to my section to catch it. The boat tipped to the side and plunged my entire two feet into the lake!! Argh!! The piranhas in the lake almost got a taste of Chinese food…
The piranhas were brought back to the campsite and gutted. The caymans came to right by our feet when they smelled the piranhas. Ooo… treading on dangerous ground there. The cook deep-fried the piranhas for lunch. Gosh, they tasted excellent! They were surprisingly meaty. One of the best meals I had had in Brazil!
Sherry stared at her one piece of piranha and left the whole thing there, hissing, “God… I CAN’T EAT THIS STUFF!!!”
As for our evening trek, Sherry refused to go. I guess after she realised the jaguar and the giant ant-eater would not be delivered to her on a platter, and that she needed to put in effort to see some wildlife, she started to give up on the Pantanal trip. What a shame this was her attitude.
Before we left, Gabriel announced he would try to catch an armadillo for us. Sherry asked if he would bring it back to the camp-site. I looked up and almost said, “Why? You want to cook the armadillo too?”
Later, Gabriel actually caught an armadillo for us!
Its colour blended in perfectly with the background of dried grass. How Gabriel spotted it from 150 metres was beyond us. He crept stealthily across the grass, from the direction of the down-wind. At the final moment, he ran and threw himself on the ground and held up an armadillo. Just like that!
Despite the lack of mosquito nets here, I wanted to sleep in the hammock instead of in a tent to be closer to nature. I was dutifully devoured by mozzies throughout the night.
Much later, strong winds came and blew the mozzies all away. It felt like the coming of a huge storm, like the one I experienced in Campo Grande. The wind howled and howled. The hammocks rocked ferociously from side to side. I braced myself for the first sign of pelting torrential rain. Moments like these seized me with a strange mix of anxiety and exhilaration as I knew I was absolutely vulnerable to the elements of nature and yet, I wanted to be here to witness it. However, I was rocked to sleep instead. No rain. Still, it was magic.
Pantanal, BRAZIL - 20 october 2002
More treks today. Sherry refused to go again. We spotted more obscure animals like a tamandua (tree ant-eater). When we returned, she lamented that we were SO LUCKY to see the armadillo and the tamandua. What the…??
We spent the rest of the day, relaxing by the river at this AMAZING TREE. While Sherry was negative energy personified, Francisca was the exact opposite. She was the brightest sunshine, the beacon of positive energy, la chica loca [the crazy girl] of the group. She had a great personality.
Other groups had arrived to join us here and all of us interacted with information about trips in Bonito, Bolivia, etc… There was not much to do but sleep in the hammock, chit-chat and swim. During this afternoon, a number of us really connected with one another with our love for travelling and wildlife. It was a very enjoyable afternoon for us. Francisca got along swimmingly with almost everyone. In the river, we even tried to build a human tower. We had such great fun!!
Meanwhile, Sherry whined and whined about when we were going back to the first camp-site. Sigh… She was one sad person.
Oh, Gabriel caught an anaconda that night. We wondered vaguely if this was the token pet anaconda in the camp-site to wow the tourists.
Pantanal to Bonito, BRAZIL - 21 october 2002
Francisca had slept through all the alarm-clock calls of the howler monkeys from the previous mornings. So, when I first heard the howlings this morning, I got up from my hammock and gave her a nudge, “Listen…”
The orchestra of howler monkey calls felt surreal. It rose and fell like the sound of waves. Now and then, the exotic calls of this bird and that would play a melodious solo performance with the accompaniment of the howler monkeys in the background. The symphony was exquisite and unpredictable. My eyes remained closed as to better savour the incredible orchestral performance put up by nature. It was truly MAGIC, truly memorable!
Today, horse-riding… I had never galloped before in my life. The horse-trek in Songpan, China was merely walking and some trotting. And today, I got to experience the magic of a gallop.
The first time, I was unprepared. I reached for my camera behind and touched my horse’s back by mistake and it just took off. There was a herd of cows in front of us and they scattered in two thousand directions and that got my horse (and me) into further panic.
Transforming from a fast trot to a gallop was INCREDIBLE! It felt as if I entered through a glass mirror and crossed into a different realm. Suddenly, the rhythm, the mood changed. The thunderous hooves were there, but you heard nothing. You stared straight ahead, but you saw nothing. The bouncing on the back of the horse was higher and rougher, but you felt nothing. The whole experience felt unreal.
My feet lost their stirrups all the time so I could only hang on to my dear life with my LEFT hand holding the saddle while my right hand struggled to control the horse’s rein. It was an amazing experience.
After my first try, I was hooked! It was terribly scary yet addictive. I was game for some more. It was more or less alright if I was mentally prepared for it. But so many times, I thought to myself, “Oh no! I’m going to fall!! I’m going to fall!!” But I knew if I fell, my situation would be MUCH WORSE than if I maintained this frightening position of desperately hanging onto the horse’s saddle! It was all up there in your head.
Well, 10 minutes before we reached the campsite, a lady fell off! Her foot was caught in the stirrups and she was dragged for a while!! Argh, we thought she died!! Thank goodness, she fell off finally and actually got up and walked!! Later, she fell into shock and claimed she could not remember anything. She just cried and cried. Well, not without its danger…
After these few days at the Pantanal, we bade farewell to one another. Some of us would be going to Bonito and others to Campo Grande for their onward travels. Francisca hugged and bade farewell to us almost tearfully. She kept saying it was so difficult to say goodbye to Trisha. Oh, she was so sweet. She had been superb! I guess Latin Americans were just a lot more passionate. I promised to contact her when I got to Buenos Aires, sometime in the future…
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