I ate a PIRANAH

Back from the Pantanal with the mosquito bites to prove it. Seriously, it was intense.

I´ve been on the move quite a bit. Toured the Argentinean side of Iguaço (it is WAY better than the brazilian side). This was an all day, very sweaty excursion. Totally worth it. I stood above the precipe of the falls and could barely take pictures because of all the mist. It was very humbling to be surrounded by the power of such a simple element, water. It was a paridise really; rainbows, palm trees, birds, and butterflys abound in the unique ecological niche that it Iguaço.

Immediately after touring the falls I'm on a bus headed to Campo Grande, where the Pantanla tour departrs from. Oh man, I was stinky. Walking all day in the sun combined with 12 hours on a bus- stench. I putter around Campo Grande waiting for the tour to leave, oh and took a shower.

I thought I was outdoorsy, I thought I had everything I needed to rough it, I thought mosquitos didn't bother me that much. I think I thought wrong. I didn't bring insect repellent- bad move. as soon as we step off the bus we are attacked by a swarm of mosquitos. Oh shit, welcome to the Pantanal gringos! That's what we get for willingly visiting a SWAMP.

Besides the mosquitos the Pantanal was lovely (sorry, I've been meeting a lot of brits). The accomodations were very cool- hammoks! The food was fantastic, although I pretty sure I'm still farting from all the rice and beans...

The first day was horseback riding! I was practically peeing I was so excited. My horse was awesome, I named it howard even though it was a girl. We went for a 2.5 hour ride, glorious. I got to steer a horse and make it trot. I decided that I need a horsey, pweeeese? The scenery was beautiful, flat swamp, tall grasses, dense palm jungles, and isolated lakes filled with crocodiles.

Another favorite was the hiking. A little different to my idea of hiking. Hiking with long sleves, jeans, boots, hat, and bandana on the neck in a humid 90 degrees. I was very sweaty, but I was trying in vain to avoid massive attack by mosquito. Our guide, Sondro showed us native uses for the plants and animals in the area. It was facinating. There are lots of fruits growing in the jungle and I ate guava from a tree, a relative to the avacado that was sweet and a tiny tiny coconut. I also slathered my face in repelent about every half hour.

Boat riding on the river had to be my favorite. We saw so many animals! Toucans, monkeys, herons, cranes, capivarai- the largest rodent in the world, caimen crocodiles, macaws, oh the list could go on and on. It was glorious, the sun was setting and reflecting off the water and herons were taking flight. A serene and tranquil setting; that is until we realized that our boat was flooding. Sondro assured us that we would not die, but it was iffy. Fortunately we made it back to the landing unscathed, except for wet legs.

I also swam in the piranah and caimen infested river. It is the color of lager and very warm. refreshing none the less and mosquitos can't bite you under water.

I have claimed lately that if I were to every eat meat it would have to be a fish that I caught and killed myself. So, we went fishing for piranahs. Its was disgusting; gross meat on a hook dangling from a bamboo rod. apparently I really suck at fishing which was fine I didn't particularly want to kill one anyway. I caught one fish and promptly threw it back in the water, I'm a wimp. Lunch rolls around and I say no piranah for me, but then I was thinking about it. I participated in the killing and would I ever eat a piranah again? So, I did it. The group was suprised and so was I. It was salty and bony.

I also talked a lot with the locals. Having a command of portugese is a great thing, I have learned so much about brasileiros and Brasil. But, on the down side brazilians LOVE to tease. Damn. That part I am not enjoying too much. No Diego, I don't want to marry you, have brazilian citizenship, two children and a white picket fence. This was very annoying going on the fifth hour plus all other portuguese speakers joined in on the fun. I found a great way out, "não entedei" or "i didn't understand". Hahaha! Succas. Oh I have no idea what you are talking about let's changed the subject. It worked rather well.

That's all folks. I need to wash my very smelly clothing, figure out how to navigate to Belém and harass the hostel staff I hung out with last night...TCHAU!