South America

Sunday 11th December 2016 – 6.20am and an early breakfast with strong, tasty coffee. Today we would go on three treks through the Pantanal wetlands with our Brazilian Rambo guide…Gabriel…adorned with all his knives and jungle paraphernalia! Our two day hikes were wonderful. We spied agoutis, jabiru stalks, many coatis with babies, capybaras, hyacinth plus red and green macaws, bush deer, howler monkeys and a super sighting of a Toco toucan…one of my favourite birds. Gabriel…alias Rambo…would stride ahead stating how he was protecting us from the killer bees nests and black deadly wasps only to shove us hard in the back towards these lethal nests and then walk himself to safety nearby. Aaron and I would freeze in our tracks hoping that these flying assassins wouldn’t smell our fear and attack. Gabriel would continually remind us that one sting could send off pheromones and then the whole hive would strike…I didn’t know whether to believe him or not but got the distinct impression that he rather enjoyed terrifying the life out of tourists! On our return we met seven new arrivals all of differing nationalities. That evening…under the cover of darkness we all went on our night expedition. After feasting our eyes on spiders, caiman and many other creatures we returned to base where a blazing camp fire awaited us. A young Dutch traveller entertained us with her ukulele and sweet singing…even giving us a rendition of ‘ Here Comes The Sun’…without realising it she had sung us our wedding song. We went to bed relaxed and happy. Snuggling up I asked Aaron where our camera was…he had inadvertently left it outside. We jumped out of bed and searched high and low…it was nowhere to be seen and at such a late hour we couldn’t wake anyone up. We just prayed that the lovely Belgium couple we had been speaking to all night had picked it up to return it to us the next day. I tossed and turned that night…photos were so precious to me on this trip…I could only hope I would be reunited with our camera in the morning…

Monday 12th December 2016 – At breakfast the lovely Belgium couple presented us with our missing camera…I was so grateful and hugged them tightly…our photos were safe! An hour or so later we all set off for a boat trip on the River Paraguay. We were treated to a spectacular bird safari in the jeep on the way, stopping to take pictures and study these beautiful creatures. Amongst our sightings were six flying toco toucans, kingfishers, eagles…one flying with a small snake in its mouth and a divine capped heron…Aaron’s favourite. We also saw a dead anaconda at the side of the road that had been killed by a vehicle…such a shame, marsh deer and more caiman and capybaras. Arriving at the riverside…Rambo Gabriel and his side kick endeavoured to get the motor on the boat working…all to no avail. An hour later they drove off and came back with another member for their motley crew. Eventually the motor kicked into gear but sounded rather ropey…however we were all guided onto the boat just about big enough for us all and started down the river. It turned into quite an ordeal as the motor repeatedly broke down leaving us adrift in the middle of the river…the sun blazing down upon us. Rambo though was not for throwing in the towel and continued to flog this dead horse until finally giving up hours later when his crew…us…started to perspire rapidly! I couldn’t wait to get ashore…I’d definitely had enough of Rambo and his ways! We returned to camp at high speed, had a quick lunch, said our goodbyes and were off once more back to Campo Grande. Later that evening we caught the 24 hour bus to Rio…our last destination of our trip.

Tuesday 13th December 2016 – Our night bus arrived in Rio at 11pm…what a journey. Jumping in a taxi we set off for our pre booked hostel…Casa Zamba Bem on the outskirts of Rio. A couple of dorm beds and a few beers later we laid our weary heads down and slept through the night.

Wednesday 14th December 2016 – My first impressions of Rio were nothing like I had imagined. I had envisaged sunny skies and a happy Mardi Gras vibe. The reality was very different indeed. It was grey, rainy and miserable! We wanted to find accommodation near to the beach and after a little research checked in to CLH Suites Copacabana…near the famous beach itself. It was ideal…clean, spacious with TV and breakfast included. The sheets on the bed were as white as snow and the pillows like soft clouds…so we slept and slept…catching up on all the lost sleep accumulated on those dreaded bus journeys…bliss.