Brazil! (Pantanal)

Day 31 - Pantanal
After getting off the night train we had a short taxi to the border before queing through the broders. It took roughly 2 hours to be free in Brazil and for some reason it looked pretty different to Bolivia despite being only meters apart. We then got a mini-bus for 2 hours before transfering to an open-topped truck for the last 90mins. We saw some incredible wildlife on the way including lots of different types of birds (parrots and toucans) and even some camens ( `small` alligators). When we got to the ranch it was like a paradise. It was in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by beautiful views and glorious sunshine, hello Brazil! It made a great change to the relative cold of the higher alltitudes in Bolivia. We immediately started a game of 3 a side football followed by rugby and american football.It was great fun but by the end of it, due to playing in barefoot, me and morti had humungus blisters. We spent the rest of the evening relaxing in hammocks and reading or listening to music.After dinner we we supposed to go on a night time walk but due to the blisters em and morti decided to stay in. We had a pretty good time chatting and playing cards with another group who were also at the ranch. At night we were to stay in hammocks which sounded like an awesome idea but in reality i got very little sleep. It was also made worse by the state of the toilets, they were absolutely covered in insects and mosquitoes. The floor was a sea of bugs and many jumped up at you or dropped from the ceiling, there were also some live ones in the toilet bowl, not the most pleasant place when you still have a dodgy tummy.

Day 32 - Pantanal
We got up early in order to go Piranah fishing and set off in the trucks around 8:30. After an hour of travellign which was more like a saffari (we saw monkeys, snakes and lots of birds) we arrive. We were given long bamboo poles with string and a hook on the end and a bag of meat. After attaching the meat to the hook you cast it out into the water and waited for a tug, which was almost imediately. I caught one on my second go but then spent the rest of the time wasting loadsof bait without catching a single one. After we were all done fishing we went for a swim in the piranah and camen invested river. Unfortunately we had to get out early as the guide had spotted some nearby otters. Apparently piranahs and alligators were safe enough to swim with but you dont want to mess with an angry otter!
After the fishing we went back for lunch before going horse riding in the afternoon. The first hour was pretty mudane just walking around spotting the occasional animal but the last 30mins was amazing. The guide allowed us to pretty much go nuts and we raced each other, sometimes at a gallop all over the ranch. It was terrifying and exilirating at the same time. We returned back covered ins sweat and exhuasted but it was worth it. After a bug invested shower we had another game of football and an evening of lazng around in hammocks.

Day 33 - Bonito
We got up at 5:28 for our 5:30 sun rise walk after yet another disapointing sleep in the hammock (amazing for napping in pretty poor for sleeping in). It was completely dark when we started but the sun soon began to rise and the views were incredible. The walk lasted 2 hours and we trailed through woodland and swamp. Along the way we saw several monkeys, an ant-eater, a wild baor amoung others. When we returned we got the open top truck thing for another 90mins before a further 3 hour bus journey to bonito. When we arrived in Bonito we wen tout to the super market before coming here to update my blog. We bought dinner at the super market so are probaly going to have quite a chilled eveningplaying cards or whatever.Brazil is really expensive so going out every night is going to have to stop. Tomorrow we´re going to a local national park with a river chilling out all day and having a bbq. The day after i´ve got to decided whether i want to spend the day snorkelling in a beautiful river. Apparently its like a fsh tank and is crystal clear, and the pictures i´ve seen look incredible but it is $100 for 2 hours snorkelling (including transport there and back), see what i was talking about brazil ebing expensive! I suppoose you only live once and can always earn more moeny so ill probably do it...