21 April 2010
Most of Brazil appears to be focussed on its coast, that is the east of the country. Visiting the Pantanal, a natural area of wetlands, we ventured over 2,000 km west inland. Our point of entry was Cuiaba a sizable city of around 500 thousand inhabitants, mostly an agricultural hub. At the airport, our transfer was awaiting to drive us to our chosen Pousada Rio Claro, a drive of approximately 3 hours. The first 1.5 hrs on a paved road and the rest on a dirt road - the Transpantaneira which leads into the Pantanal and ends in the wilderness. Soon after leaving the airport, all signs of the city and civilisation disappeared. All green around and wetlands, many watering holes with alligators and many water birds. We had our first sighting of the incredible Tuiuiu, a huge white, pink and black waterbird. Also we saw many locals fishing and swimming in the many watering holes, we wondered if they were not scared of the alligators . . .
Our Pousada was great, set right next to the river on huge piece of land (formerly a very large farm). A lovely garden full of birds including Toucans and a smaller cousin of the Toucan. A small pool which was great for cooling off. A comfy room with a veranda with two hammocks - we can spot an huge amount of animals from right there. The staff was very friendly and the food tasty. We had a great guide who took us on numerous excursions, he had actually grown up on the farm, at a time it was still a large active farm.
One of the best excursions was the early morning sunrise boat ride. We set out at 5am, rowing on the river, it was still dark and very quiet, but gradually the light and especially the sounds increased: all the birds walking up, especially the parrots are very noisy. So we watched the sun slowly rise, and watched the birds flying around.
Also the horse riding was fun. At first, Natasha was very reluctant to get on the horse (scared by reports on the internet of tourists falling off wild horses) but in the end we were convinced that the horses were very calm and well behaved. So we set off on our horses and they are indeed very calm, actually we can hardly get them to move. At first all goes well but then we enter the wet part of the ride, and our horses decide they'd rather not walk through the mud and water. Gaudi's horse just turns around and starts heading back, Natasha's horse walks around in circles, then stops to eat some grass. The guide is desperately trying to give us instructions on how to control the horses but to no effect. Then the guide changes horses with Natasha and goes over to Gaudi's horse to tell him what to do, and after a small delay we are back on track. The rest of the ride is lovely, in the late afternoon, beautiful light and a lovely view over the wetlands.We ended our stay on a fun note with a big Peixada, a big lunch with only fish dishes, including a yummie piranha soup. It's a big party with lots of the locals attending, and the men playing the guitar.
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