Brazil.... El Tren del Muerte ( the train of death )

Corumba

Our first train journey of the trip so far was to be on "the train of death" which cuts a swathe south east through the steamy Bolivian lowlands to the border with Brazil. It wasn´t half as bad as its name suggests although it was very hot and travelled incredibly slowly. Creaking and rocking for the whole 20 hours we thought we might break the record for slowest derailment.

Heres what you shouldnt do.....

Our sleepy journey is interspersed with Kung fu films, an ecoadventure "The Gods Must be Mad 2" (which we highly reccomend) ,70´s Brazilian pop concerts and every time we stop hordes of tiny thieves posing as apple sellers

At the border we are hounded by salesmen for the various tour companies wanting our business in the Pantanal. We use one company to our advantage and wangle a lift across the border, transport to our hostel, entry visas and they even give us a lift on their mopeds to a restaurant(no obligations). Nice!

Weak from lack of food we are approached by another tour company, we fend off their advances and run away to the riverbank for a drink . It looks beautiful lined with Mango trees......
..and we tuck into a cold can of Skol?? This tastless nightmare of youthful binges seems to have transformed itself into a pleasantly refreshing beer. We are just tucking into our second can when coincidentally the eco hustlers we ran away from happen to wander into the bar.
They offer us a deal too good to be true.... we decide it must be a con and they spend the next three hours elaborately convincing us otherwise (including restaurant visits and trips to the internet in their company jeep).

They have no office and no company receipt ... surely anyone could get a tour leaflet, a blank receipt book and show you a website on the internet?.. of course they could.. They call their boss, who I speak to and he confirms their identity, but........ who is he?????????????

Eventually they break us and we sign! After several beers and a huge plate of cheesy fish we head for our hostel, get lost on the way, have a midnight swim and then crash out exhausted...

Its so hot (sorry) and without air conditioning we are slow roasted in our beds.

hello? hello? is this tour for real?

We cool down in the pool and wander the markets drinking fizzy guaranaja juice from a bag
stock up on fruit to take back to our hostel.

I buy some fake Adidas shorts for about 2 quid - instant relief, they almost instantly start falling appart.

seriously Mary it was this big!

Back at the pool we make friends with a large Brazilian family. Their Grandad Flavia is staying at our hostel and is an excellent if slightly competitive swimmer who challenges me to a race, above and then below the water. After some herbal remedy and a liberal dose of "the Golden age of Brazilain pop" - the 80´s, he goes on to compare us swimming lengths in the pool together with dolphins swiming in the ocean.

We share the fruit from the market and tuck in to an amazing coconut fish stew he'd prepared, its delicious and we while away the hours eating, drinking and swimming in pods.


a really good photograph

more shots of Corumba


The Pantanal

The next morning its raining, so we go swimming (I think i could live in a swimming pool).

Our tour company turn up late (4 hrs) with a full van and tell us we have to make our own way to the Pantanal. Cheers, thanks a lot you jokers!!

We finally arrive at the lodge (where posh people stay) and make friends with a grazing Capybara who was hand raised and very tame. We have to wait for a lift to the campsite (nonposh!) and spend a pleasant afternoon drinking and spotting wildlife.

A couple of young lads from the Faroe Isles are to be our travelling companions and we discuss whaling, a tradition where they are from. They fish it sustainably, use all of the whale and know how to kill it in the most humane way possible. It is interesting to get their side of the story, they say the papers bend the truth about what they are doing and tar them with the same brush as Japan, when in fact they couldn´t be more diferent... unless they didn´t kill them at all of course.

After watching a glorious sunset over the river we get a jeep ride to our campground

.The four of us have a large round room to ourselves and we relax into comfortable hammocks, our beds for the next three nights. Jackie mentions her impending birthday in the morning and conincidentally it is one of theirs too! Drinks are definitely in order.

Wake up early on Birthday morning and we are excited about what the day might bring.

Jackies birthday card (Capybaras influenced by the unidentifiable animal)

Have lots of fruit for breakfast and head out on our first walk. Our guide Pippin doesn´t say very much, we see a Chakka chakka lakka bird and best of all some howler monkeys and their babies.

paw print from the elusive puma

We also came across lots of bushes whose branches have tiny narrow leaves along them which close up when you touch them. Jackies Aunty Muriel had one of these as a house plant when she was little and its a treat to see fields full of them.

Back at camp we have nearly 4 hours lying around time, which we take great delight in, dosing on and off, reading and watching the birds feeeding from a drainpipe full of seeds. The only trial is getting up to go and eat. Its tough out here!

Just before we go out for the afternoon (pirahna fishing) it starts raining, glad we are not walking anywhere we pile in the back of the jeep, joined by a Vietnamese Irish lad called Thai and his girlfriend who have no wet weather gear at all, they get absolutely soaked but that doesn´t dampen their mood..... (chirpy chatterboxes!)

Our guide shows us an excellent technique for catching Pirhanas. Jackie and I catch one at exactly the same time, although she says she only got it as she jumped in suprise at me catching one so quickly. To kill a Pirhana is pretty gruesome, you have to find the centre line down its skull and push a large knife through its brain... keeping away from its teeth of course.

Pippin takes me to a great spot amongst the lillies. We are ankle deep in water a couple of feet away from an alligator. "Don`t worry" he says calmly "if it gets too close hit it on the head with your rod"....... "Do what????"

I catch a big Pirhana almost immediately, however its thrashing attracts more alligators and as one gets a bit too close for comfort I follow the guides reccomendations and hit it on the head (quite gently mind). Its mum, who up to this point has been submerged, rises to the surface and starts moving my way. Feeling vulnerable in shorts and flip flops I decided to call it a day..

Back at camp the cook has serves up battered Pirahna. They are quite tasty and the larger ones have a good bit of meat on them. Eventually we can`t force any more down and give the rest to the camp dogs.

That evening we get stuck into Caipirinas, a great mixture of a local spirit a bit like vodka, sugar, lime and ice.. The Guides are in party mood and pump out the music from the bar. The cook has made a cake for Jackie and Simons birthday, a really nice suprise ."The Fat man" as we like to call him seeems to have a vested interest.

We settle into an evening of drinking around a large fire.

Hey Jackie, its your Birthday!!!

The next day we are up early again for a walk, its a long jeep ride to get to the start but its worth it as we see lots more animals this time. Howler monkeys, Blue Macaws, Saavnnah eagle, racoon, tree marsupial, white tailed deer, Capybara and best of all some Giant river otters. Our guide Pippin calls to them, they are very curious and they swim towards us and watch us for a long time, bobbing their heads above the reeds.

That afternoon we drive over to a Fazenda which is a ranch you can stay at if you are fairly rich. This is where we get our horses from.. on the way over Pippin stops to catch some Pirahnas for the alligators that live around the lake.

It was a surreal sight of prehistoric looking Jaribu storks and alligators amongst the horses .

Whilst waiting for our horses we watch a group of blue Macaws, and stalk the stork. Its raining again but its such a beautiful setting that we are not disspaointed.

The horse ride is fantastic, it is still exciting months later. My stirrups are a bit low and the horse I have is a bit of a nutter! I`ve only ridden (been carried by) a horse a couple of times before, Jackie is a bit more accomplished, and am concerned that my fear and lack of experience is showing (horses know). For some reason my horse always wants to be at the front and at the beggining of the ride I seem to have no control over it whatsoever. Its still enjoyable if a little uncomfortable.

Jackies horse on the other hand doesnt want to do more than a trot and kicking makes no impression on it, she finally works out if you wave the rains from side to side near the ears he´ll move and they get on much better.

It looks like they have put the lads on the unhinged horses and its not long before Thai and Simon have a go at galloping, I decide not to join in just yet but my horse who always wants to be in front has other ideas and we go charging across the fields. Excited, scared and totally out of control I am happy to have not come off.

Halfway through the ride Jackie gets them to shorten my stirups and I start to enjoy the galloping rather than fearing it. When I get to the point of instigating the gallops my horse and I have a great time, what an amazing feeling thundering along across the plains and scrubland, racing along like the three amigos, we even do a bit of cattle rustling and chase some wild pigs. We spend the rest of the ride galloping off into the distance and hammering back to join the rest of the group.

We spot some Armadillos and watch a shiny black one snuffling around, the rest of the wildlife seems to have got wind of us somehow and stays away. At the end of the ride the right hand fixing on my reigns comes away and I am hanging on with one hand as my horse realises its nearly home and jumps straight into a gallop heading for the fence surrounding the lake, just as I start to fear we might jump it we slow down and I manage to direct the horse back to the group.

cowboy

Back in the grounds of the Fazenda the sun is setting across the lake and the horses take a well deserved drink, Simon, Thai and myself are buzzing after the ride but a bit sore. As we approach the Fazenda itslef the horses all start neighing and some young foals come running out to meet them. I expect thats why my horse wanted to be at the front the whole time.

We await for darkness to fall as we are going on a night safari (down the road in a jeep with a Hi beam torch). Its actually quite good, we spot some nightbirds(they only come out at night), a giant owl, Capybara, foxes and of course lots of alligators whose beady eyes shine back at us through the darkness.

Back at camp we have lots to eat and feed the cat while keeping the dogs at bay.

The next day we say goodbye to our bleary eyed guide (too many Caipirinas) and head back to the lodge for a water safari, its pleasant enough but not a patch on the Bolivian Pampas. Although it was great to see Toucans flying around and our friends the Capybaras chomping away on the grasses.

me, the pastor and her gay Dad.

Its good news back on dry land..beacuse they couldnt take us onwards to free accomadation in Boneto (as previously promised) we got a massive discount and our tour ended up being half price!! We also find out we had a better deal than the posh people, who had uninteresting walks and rode mules instead of horses (lightweights!).

more pantanal photos