Pantanal
Insane!
Chuffed
**warning Mar! Don't look at the last few photos...
The Southern Pantanal beckoned and we made our way to Pousada Santa Clara. Here we had an option to sleep in a hammock or remain in our tent. I decided to test out the hammock, preparation for sleeping in the Amazon.
Fishing for piranhas was the main activity people wanted to do, so with a local guide, Tom, we headed off in a small boat and set about catching a feast. Showing us how to fish, Tom caught a piranha first time, making it look simple; he then promptly fed his spoil to a nearby lurking Caiman.
Strangely enough I quite enjoyed my fishing experience. I even managed to conquer my touching raw meat aversion in order to bait the hook. I was taking photos of everyone as they caught the fish, but worryingly I was bringing nothing ashore. The little feckers were nibbling my bait slowly and avoiding the hook. It was getting to the stage where I was beginning to accept that I would not catch any as I had four near misses where I plucked the piranha from the water but as I flung the hook back to shore, the fish would drop off at the waters edge and flip flop back into the river - and you can be sure I wasn't grabbing them was they thrashed and floundered about. Luckily I eventually caught one, then another, and another. 3-in-a-row was my final tally; was utterly chuffed with myself!
Chilling out with our Caipirinhas that evening Mikkel emerged from the dark carrying a Caiman in his arms. He had snuck down to the water's edge and grabbed one all by himself. Insane!! Haven't a clue how he managed it all by himself, but he gave us quite a start. Even the kitchen and bar staff at the campsite came over and started taking pictures of the sight. Needless to say we were shocked, impressed and disbelieving, all at the same time - he's quite the nutter and our very own 'Steve Irwin'. To date he's caught beetles, an aggressive parrot snake, and a giant toad; the Caiman is however his most impressive catch. Pete has now challenged him to catch a Tarantula. God help us all!
Tested out my equestrian skills while at the camp. My last '1hr' experience back home had me very tender and walking like John Wayne for four days. So apprehensively I was placed on a lovely placid horse, who was quite happy to respond to the gentlest of nudges. While we were under the impression that only a basic trot would be undertaken with so many novices in the group, Tom had other plans. We did an awful lot of 'gentle' galloping - although my derrière did not consider it very gentle at the time. In his defence, Tom was looking out for the sun-sensitive people and ensuring that we weren't out too long, cooking in the oppressive heat. Thankfully there were no painful side-effects reported the next morning. At lunch, the cooks fried up our piranhas. They were quite bony, however with a dash of lime they were very tasty.
Tom also took us on a night drive and small bush walk. During the walk we saw howler monkeys and coatis. We were shown a fruit that natives use as a henna and is main ingredient of insect repellant. Only drawback is that it turns skin blue, for about 4-5 hours, when applied neat. Following Tom's lead we all applied a bit of the translucent juice to our hands. Geoff decided to apply American Football stripes under his eyes and Duncan put some on his cheeks, forehead and a dot on his nose (in a cat-like pattern). Tom then laughingly gave him a daub in the upper lip area giving him a little moustache and corrected his earlier comment with "4-5 days!". We are heading back on the road tomorrow - not sure if the guys thought this folly through. As the night wore on the areas with the dye got progressively darker and Geoff and Duncan got progressively worried.
On our return to camp Tom managed to spot a large Tarantula scurrying about the road. We stopped the truck and wondered at it from a distance as due to their irritating hair, you cannot pick one up without getting an awfully bad rash or allergic reaction. We also came across a water pool where hundreds of caimans were basking in the setting sun. It was an awesome sight to behold. We got to touching distance to them on the shore, but thankfully they were more wary and afraid of us than visa versa. Also they did not seem to figure out that they could have taken us all in a heartbeat with their incredible numbers advantage. Phew!!
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