Above pic: Me and a Toucan, Santa Cruz, Bolivia.


Above pic: Me about to cross the wooden bridge to Gingers Paradise.


Above pic: Joanna and the locals hitching in the cargo truck to Samaipata.

Above pic: The Bolivian countryside on our treck to the Condors.

Above pic: A Skyline view of Sucre from our hotel.

Potosi: Dancing on the streets

Rio: Maracana stadium

Cowboys in Brazil

We were waiting for our bus when (real) cowboys came past and after them hundreds of cows and some donkeys.

The Pantanal - Santa Cruz, Sucre, and Potosi (Bolivia).

From the Pantanal we got a bus to Corumba which is a border town with Bolivia. From here we crossed the border, without getting an entry stamp (customs decided not to return to work after lunch) to catch the ´Death Train´ to Santa Cruz. The ´Death Train´ was by far the worst made track I have been on with the carriages jumping up and down constantly all night (it was a 14 hour night train). Apparently it got its name because of the passengers who used to sit on the roof of the carriage, and unsurprisingly bounced off as the carriages jumped.

Santa Cruz was not what we expected Bolivia to be like. I was expecting the towns to consist of mud huts and holes in the ground for toilets, rather than the hotel like hostels and upmarket bars and restuarants. This has been the same throughout Bolivia but to give you an idea we are paying 10 pounds for a very clean double room with en suite, 1 pound for a large beer and 2-3 pounds for a main in a nice restaurant. Our first hostel in Santa Cruz also had a pet Toucan, which I shall post pictures of.

After a couple of days of not doing very much apart from explaining why we have no entry stamp and making sure we got one, we moved on to Samaipata. Rather than catching a local bus on the potholed and un fenced cliff roads we got a minibus at 13 pounds for a 2 and a half hour journey. We were also travelling with an Australian couple, Alex and Mary, since Santa Clara so this was split 5 ways, cheap, cheap.

The plan for the first night was to stay at a place called, ´Gingers Paradise´ I of course did the right thing and had a picture taken under the sign. Not that we stayed here after we realised that it was a weird little hippy retreat, where the residents were expected to help out with farm work. Instead we did the brave thing and had lunch there, swam in the river and did a runner. Problem was it was in the middle of no where and only one bus passed a day. There were however plenty of cargo trucks which all the locals hitch in, so we gave it a go. 30mins passed before the ingenious idea of the lads hiding around the corner whilst the girls held the sign looking helpless. Sure enough 10mins later a truck stopped and we all jumped in the back with the rotten veg and staring locals. This was probably the best journey I have done, it was only 2 hours to Samaipata but stood up in the back of an open top wagon around cliff roads is the way forward, good fun.

Our time in Samaipata was not as eventful, but our accomadation was the best of the trip. We did do a treck to see some Condors and went to an old fort dating back from 1500 bc, but otherwise took things easy. Next was the most unconfortable overnight bus ever to Sucre, not because of leg room or seats, just that Bolivian roads are crap. Any how Sucre was a beautiful city but not so much to do apart from museums, we did the textile museum, which displayed traditional Bolivian weaving, but that was more out of boredom than anything else. Our next destination was Potosi, and again we managed to get a taxi for 15 pounds split 5 ways. 1 in the front, 3 on the back seat, bags on the roof, and Jo kindly in the boot (it was a 5 hour journey 4 on the back seat would be uncomfortble).

Fishing

Santa Clara, the Pantanal (wetlands), Brazil.

After Rio we wen on a detox to the Pantanal area of Brazil. The Panatanal translates in to the Wetlands and is a protected area home to Anacondas, Toucans, Caimens, Piranha´s and Puma´s to name a few. Many of the farms in the area have caught onto the idea of eco tourism and typically offer a 4 night stay including all food and activities for the duration. We chose one that was recommended to us by Mat and Gabby who we travelled with in Argentina, called Santa Clara, roughly 3 hours from Campo Grande. Five activities were included, Piranha fishing, night time safari, horse riding, bush walk and a boat ride. What wildlife you saw was look of the draw, we did see many monkeys on the night safari and bush walk, but not much else, where as another group saw monkeys and an anaconda. The Piranha fishing couldn´t have been much easier, pretty much as soon as you put the rod in you would get a bite. They were quite could at getting the bait (beef) off the hook however without getting caught, and as soon as you did catch something the caimens would be after it. The other activity which I have posted photo´s of was from the boat ride. For this 6 of us and a guide went out on a small motor boat and saw some baby caimens, many adult caimens, and the largest rodent in the world (forget the name now), and also fed a caimen using a piranha as bait on the end of the line.

Santa Clara, the Pantanal (wetlands), Brazil.

Above image: Close up of a Piranha, whilst fishing at Santa Clara, Pantanal, Brazil.


Above image: The mornings catch whilst Piranha fishing.


Above image: The view from our boat on our way down the river Paraguay in search of Caimens.


Above image: Using a Piranha as bait our guide fed a caimen using a fishing line from the safety of our very small boat.


Above image: Getting as close as possible to a caimen catching some rays.

Rio

Carnival in Rio was how you would expect, lots of street party´s and drinking. The main parade takes place at an area called the Samba Dome, which is a sealed off stretch of road with stands either side for spectators. We got a ticket through our hostel for the Sunday (the parade is on each night for roughly a week) and headed down as a group, dressed up a little, and watched the parade from 9pm until 5am. This was the carnival as you see it on T.V or in the papers with the massive floats and costumes and it was impressive, even from our seats in sector 6, which were the cheap seats. On the plus side we were in with the locals, rather than the tourists (gringo´s) who mostly sat in the expensive seats. The advantage of being with the locals was they were far more up for it than some of the gringo´s.

As well as the main parade throughout Carnival there are the Blocco party´s, which are bassically street party´s being held 3 times a day in different areas of Rio, 9am, 2pm and 8pm. I have no idea how many people turn out but the whole area is a sea of people following a little parade of drums, music, dancers etc getting drunk, singing and dancing. Many of the locals (to make some money) buy beers from the supermarkets for 30p each put them in a cool box and sell them on the street for 60p, so you never had to move a muscle to buy a beer, they just brought them to you.

Apart from the party´s we did do a few touristy things. We watched Flamengo at the Maracana football stadium, sunbathed on Copacabana beach, visited the statue of Christ, and did a tour of the Favelas (slums on the hillsides of Rio).

On the safety side of things we hardly had any problems. People had warned us we would be robbed and probably at gun point, but we were fine. I did catch a lad trying to pick pocket me during one of the blocco party´s but as soon as I caught him he ran a mile.

The whole was amazing and couldn´t have gone better, but it was a very hectic week before heading to Campo Grande and the Pantanal area.