Monthly Archives: September 2023

Adios Buenos Aires

Posted on September 30, 2023 by julieallen36

I’m writing this sitting waiting for our flight home, at Buenos Aires International airport.

So let me tell you about our last day in the city. We didn’t have a definite plan for today so I kind of made one up, piecing together the final bits we wanted to see. It would be a day of taxi rides as we went from one neighbourhood to another. My plan was first of all to go back to La Boca….they’d played a match last night but as it was a draw, hopefully all would be calm. Our hotel receptionist gave us the same old warning not to wander off track….and off we went. However, today was Friday and we got stuck in very bad traffic almost from the offset. The taxi meter was clocking up the pesos and we were just sat still. Eventually, the driver told us there was a ‘Manifestacion’. Fascinating….but luckily I knew from our visit to MALBA that this meant that there was a demonstration. He said we wouldn’t be able to get to Boca today! Apparently, this is a bit of a thing on Friday’s and when I looked at Google maps lots of the streets and big junctions had turned red.

We needed a new plan and luckily I had one. I asked the driver if he could take us to Puerto Madeiro, the dockside trendy area as we hadn’t really explored there yet. We were nearby so that was easy. He dropped us off next to the Punta de La Mujer which is an elegant white bridge opened in 2001. Apparently, it’s meant to be a homage to tango. The area was very nice and there were quite a lot of tourists wandering about next to the water and all of the warehouse restaurants. It is also the home of the Hard Rock Cafe in Buenos Aires and so obviously we had to go there for Jane to get her shot glass. We’d read reviews that this was the worst Hard Rock Cafe in the world so that had to be worth a visit. Very disappointingly they had no shot glasses…but we sat down and had a beer which was very welcome even though it was only just midday. The nice young waiter saw that Jane was interested in the rock memorabilia and proudly gave her a private tour of some of the highlights such as the Kiss guitar and the AC/DC worn out trainers!

After this we walked back through the business district to our hotel which wasn’t too far away. Everyone was on lunch break and relaxing in the sunshine or grabbing a bite to eat.

We had a quick stop at the hotel and then made our way out again in another taxi to Palermo. This afternoon we’d booked to go on a ‘free’ graffiti tour which cost US$ 10. The taxi took ages to cover the 5 miles to get there and the driver was very excited to have 2 English ‘chiccas’ in his car. He talked incessantly and whilst he was very pleasant, my ears were bleeding by the time we arrived for our tour. A little late, we met our Group and the lovely guide Vito who was knowledgeable and enthusiastic about his subject. This part of Palermo seems really lovely with low-rise shops, bars and restaurants. Much more relaxed than other parts of this city. We really liked it and thought this would have been a nicer area to stay in. The graffiti tour was fun and took us a couple of hours to complete. I now know all about tags, blocks, throw-ups and the difference between vandalism and art in the world of graffiti. We also learned a little more about the history of the city as sometimes the graffiti is making a political statement, such as marking a house where two people went missing during the military dictatorship 1974 to 1983. Just two of what are thought to be 30,000 people who just went missing.

When the tour finished we sat and had a beer outside at the Chopperia and then caught another taxi back to the hotel. After a quick bit of packing we went out for out last meal, revisiting the cosy place down the road , correctly named Vincin. We resisted the gorgeous empanadas today and went for …..pizza!

Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: Argentina, Buenos Aires, graffiti, Palermo | 1 Comment

Avenida 9 de Julio

Posted on September 30, 2023 by julieallen36

After our Tango night, the next day it was time to explore again. Once more, we were on our own and after a slight diversion to a lovely scrap-booking shop in Esmeralda, our first stop proper was a guided tour of the Teatro Colon. This is the fantastic opera house which was completed in 1908 and it was an atmospheric visit where we could imagine that we were part of the very grand audience taking tea or champagne in the Golden Salon! The acoustics in this place are said to be near perfect and the likes of Maria Callas and Pavarotti have all performed here. In fact, the acoustics are so perfect that performers are in fear of getting something wrong , as they won’t get away with it here. I was especially impressed with the place as my friend Sue, had actually performed here which must have been amazing.

After this we continued along Avenida 9 de Julio. This is the big 12 lane Avenue that kind of divides the city. It’s wide and noisy and a little bit seedy and unlike elsewhere, the architecture is big and brash and really rather ugly. Still , we walked down here until we got to the big city landmark of the Obelisk. This monument commemorates the 400th anniversary of the founding of the capital and is visible from all around the city.

We made our way onto Avenida Mayo, which crosses A. 9 de J , and was much more pleasant and definitely has a Parisian feel to it. Here we were heading to another of the cities famous coffee house , Cafe Tortoni, which is the oldest in the city. We had to queue to get in here but inside it was v nice with Tiffany lamps and pictures all over the walls. We ordered a coffee and some churros but were a bit disappointed when no chocolate was served with them.

Next we started walking up the long pedestrian street called ‘Florida’. It’s full of uninteresting shops and unsavoury characters. The whole street seemed to be lined with unsavouries shouting ‘Cambio, Cambio’. These are the unofficial currency dealers who seem to want to swap your dollars for pesos. They didn’t seem to be particularly targeting us as tourists and we just couldn’t work out why there were so many of them. Anyway, we didn’t engage.

We did a short diversion to find the Guimes Gallerias shopping mall. I’d read that there was a terrific view of the city from the 14th floor here but we struggled to find a lift that went further than the 6th floor. Eventually, a nice janitor complete with bucket and mop helped us find the correct lift and up we went. Sure enough on the 14th floor there was a chap selling tickets and then we climbed a spiral staircase 2 floors until we reached the viewing platform. Here the views were indeed splendid …not as pretty as some cities but good to see it all from a different perspective. we could see as far as the River Plate Delta and Uruguay.

By now we were well on our way to 10,000 steps and were pretty exhausted. We made it back to the hotel and after a quick cup of tea , headed out for an early dinner. We’d chosen a place recommended by Laura our guide. Recova de Posadas, which was only a 9 minute walk away. However, as it appeared that we needed to go under an underpass to get there we decided to get an Uber. It took literally 3 minutes and it turned out that the restaurants here were all under the underpass! The recommendation was actually for one called El Mirasol, one of the famous steak houses of Buenos Aires. It was completely empty at 6pm which was lucky as communication was somewhat difficult. Jane chose a sirloin and I chose a breaded chicken breast just to be controversial! But before it arrived we had another controversy with the wine. We tried to order a £30 bottle of Malbec but when it arrived it was cold, fridge cold. Via Google translate we discussed this with the waiter who said ALL of the red wine was cold and no they couldn’t warm it up for us! He pointed us at the only bottle that was at room temperature and that cost only £7. Reluctantly Jane agreed…but the funny thing was it actually tasted ok. What a result!

Jane’s steak was very good but I have to say my squashed whole chicken was a bit dry and definitely a bit much. The French fries were fab and the ice cream pudding with Dulce de Leche and nuts was delicious. It wasn’t quite the culinary experience we’d expected although after all the waiters had finished eating their tea with us, the place did start to get busy as all the local olds came in for their supper!

To round off the evening we ended up needing to get a taxi back to the hotel as Uber suddenly didn’t want to accept our credit card. The restaurant weren’t interested in helping these two old birds and so we were out on the street corner trying to hail a cab. I waved at everything as there seemed to be no logic to which cabs were free. I turned out to be quite skilled at this and we were soon whizzing along dodging through the traffic on the way back to our hotel.

So….that left one more day …and a few different options for how to spend it.

Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: Argentina, Buenos Aires, Teatro Colon | 3 Comments

A day of culture in Buenos Aires

Posted on September 29, 2023 by julieallen36

Today we would be on own and after all the warnings yesterday about places we should and shouldn’t go, it was nice to spend a day taking in the cultural side of this city.

We woke up to blue skies and a beautiful, fresh Spring day. After breakfast we set off, deciding to get an Uber to our first stop. Everyone else was still wearing coats and we stood out like proper tourists in our t-shirts. It was really nice to be out in the sunshine without being covered in suntan lotion and DEET and constantly worrying about being bitten!

Our first stop was the Museo de Arte Latinamericano de Buenos Aires, or MALBA for short. Buenos Aires has several reputable art galleries but I’d decided that this was the one to visit. It houses a considerable collection of Latin American art by artists I’d never heard of. Generally, they’re from the 20th century and very vibrant in colour.

The collection is housed in this white, modern building on the edge of posh Palermo which was built in 2001. We were there before they opened at 11am and it felt like visiting a smart London gallery.

As I say, most of the artists are unknown to me , with one notable exception. They have two paintings by Frieda Kahlo which are housed in a separate and guarded area.

On the top floor there was a solo exhibition for a guy from the 60s and 70s who obviously had a bit of a sense of humour, with his monkey paintings and sculptures, his playful ‘human’ nest and mad hatters bunny in a cup! His name is Edgardo Gimenez and his exhibition was very busy. His stuff is all a bit barmy but it made us smile. As we left, there was an old man being fussed over by several staff. We think it was probably Edgardo himself.

After this we then made our way on foot the short distance to our next stop -the Japanese Gardens. These are reported to be the biggest Japanese Gardens outside of Japan. They are very beautiful with lovely azaleas and cloud trees in particular, at this time of year. They’re also very popular but it was a relaxing way to spend some time on this sunny day.

Now we needed some sustenance so we walked all along Avenida de Libertador back to Recoleta and near to the cemetry. We revisited the La Biela coffee house which has always been a favourite haunt of locals wanting a gossip. Here we had a tostado (cheese and ham toastie) and Jane ordered a Grand Beer and I had a nice cup of tea. It was a particularly good meeting point for the old boys of the area and has historic connections and memorabilia, to racing drivers who used to meet up here.

At night we went on our big night out in Buenos Aires. We were collected at 8pm (ridiculously late) in a mini bus which then proceeded to collect a variety of folk from different hotels. We were taken to Cafe de Los Angelitos for our evening of Argentine Tango. The cafe is very old and historic and we were given a top table right at the front! We had a very good meal after which the entertainment began. I think they tried to tell the story of the development of the tango and it was fabulous watching these terrific dancers right in front of us. There was a huge variety of different dances from more traditional to very funky, modern day. The music was from a live band and there was absolutely no participation required. This was a bit of a shame as the previous evening, after our 2 glasses of Malbec, Jane and I had been practising in our hotel room and thought we were rather good.

At the end of the evening it all wrapped up promptly and we were back on the minibus to our hotel and in bed by 12-30am. What a lovely day of culture we had had.

Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: Argentina, Buenos Aires, MALBA, Tango | 4 Comments

A Whistle-stop Tour of Buenos Aires

Posted on September 27, 2023 by julieallen36

It was a really easy flight to Buenos Aires, just under two hours and we were being collected by our guide, Laura and a driver. The first thing we noticed as we landed was that everyone on the plane started putting on their jumpers, coats and scarves! When we got outside we realised why, it was cold and windy….just 10 degrees. Oops…we probably hadn’t prepared for this as neither of us have a coat and we only have one pair of jeans each.

We went straight to our hotel in Retiro and had a friendly greeting from the reception staff. We found our room and went off to bed.

The next day we were up early for our half day tour with Laura of the city. This turned out to be a real whistle-stop trip, by car, around this vibrant, European styled city. Unfortunately, the weather was grey and still rather chilly. Laura is a teacher and she was very keen to show us as much as possible by visiting the different neighbourhoods , each of which has it’s own character. Sometimes we just drove past in the car, for example posh Palermo where all the embassies are based, but elsewhere we’d stop and have a more detailed visit. We learned quite a bit about the history of Argentina, well, I did. Jane glazed over rather early on and I distracted Laura by asking lots of questions so that Jane could take her photos!

I learned about the period of independence from Spain (1816) and how the period between 1860 and 1930 was a time of great prosperity when Argentina became one of the richest countries in the world, thanks to waves of European immigration. During this time the city of Buenos Aires was almost completely rebuilt as the old Spanish style buildings were largely replaced with today’s beautiful Neoclassical and Beaux Arts styles imported from France and Italy.

We also heard about Eva Peron ‘Evita’ who was a champion of the people but who now seems to get blamed for the Argentine inclination to depend on state benefits….it was all very interesting. We visited the mini-city of ‘Recoleta cemetery’ (No 2 in the world…..I don’t know what the scoring basis is but Pere Lachaise in Paris beats it!) where the architecture of the tombs is as flamboyant and ostentatious as the real city outside.

Laura also tells us about the appalling state of the Argentine economy. They currently have inflation of 70% , predicted to go as high as 120% by the end of the year. There is a very confusing situation with the currency whereby if you go to a bank you’ll get only, say 350 pesos for a dollar, whereas on the street you can get 760 pesos. We can’t really get our heads around this but it means that quite often things aren’t priced because they can’t keep up!

It also means that in turn there is a huge amount of poverty in Argentina with 40% of the population living below the poverty line and we see plenty of homeless people which Laura says ‘is the real Argentina’. There is an election coming up in October so I think they’re hoping for someone different to get the country ‘organised’ , as Laura put it.

Poverty also means that Buenos Aires isn’t quite the really safe city we thought we were coming to. We got plenty of warnings about areas not to go to and generally not to be out on the streets after dark. We visited some of the more dodgy areas of Boca and St Telmo. At Boca we drove past the blue and yellow football stadium where Maradona and Carlos Teves used to play. The shops all around here are all devoted to football and it’s quite a sight. But we don’t stop there, we carry on to the two streets where it’s safe to walk called Caminito. Here there are some really colourful old style buildings where the influx of immigrants used to all live in a shoebox. It’s full of tourist tat shops and bars and there was also a dressed up couple about to do some tangoing for tips. Luckily, it started to rain and we got back in the car sharpish.

Finally, on our tour we drove past Puerto Madeiro which is the newest area of the city with quite a few skyscrapers and lots of nice looking restaurants in the old warehouses.

Back at our hotel at about 2-30pm we were both a little over-whelmed and decided we needed a snack. The nice girl on reception recommended the perfect place right near the hotel, Vinicas. Here we ordered some empanadas ( little pasties. 3 cheese and onion and 3 meat) to share and a glass of Malbec. The empanadas were delicious and we were having such a lovely time in this cosy, local place that we d decided to stay and not go out in the evening. We ordered another glass of the Malbec and a banana and Dulce de Leche pancake ( more like a banana tatin. Yum.

Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: Argentina, Buenos Aires | 3 Comments

Iguacu Falls from all sides

Posted on September 26, 2023 by julieallen36

As we had a few days here we were able to see all sides of the falls. Our first trip with Giovanni was to the Argentinian side. This involved an early pick up and a short drive to the border between Brazil and Argentina. There’s a lot of roadworks going on at the moment because they’re building a new bridge between Brazil and Paraguay which also borders here. To cross the border we first of all had to exit Brazil. We had to go into a border post with our passports where a few mangy dogs lay about. The nice lady stamped our passports and we moved on. We drove a bit further and then had to enter Argentina. Here we stayed in the van whilst Giovanni did the necessary. It’s all quite easy really with the help of a guide. Loads of people gather around the border posts, parked mopeds, shady dealers…goodness knows what was going on.

Iguacu Falls gets over 1 million visitors per year and the infrastructure built on both sides of the border to support this is impressive. However, compared to other ‘Most Visited Tourist Attractions’ this number remains small and nowhere near the top 50 worldwide. Even ‘Poor Niagra’ gets 22.5million visitors and that’s No 5 on the list. Top of the list by the way is the Las Vegas Strip with 39.6 million visitors annually.

Soon we were entering the park and our first stop was the Garganta do Diablo or Devils Throat. We had to get on a little train which took us closer to the falls. The park was very, very crowded and after the train we then walked about 1km across a metal walkway which wound its way over the flat but bulging river. When you arrive at the falls there are various viewpoints above the mists and falls of the Diablo. It’s very loud and in places you get very wet! We’d brought our ponchos all the way from the UK but hadn’t packed them today. Idiots! Cameras etc were all getting wet but it was great fun.

The second part of the visit here is another metal walkway which goes right along the cliff top of the falls for about 2km. Here you walk across bridges right next to where the individual falls go over the cliffs. The volume of water is incredible. Jane and I both loved our visit but agreed that it was very difficult to capture it on camera. Still, on the walk back she started taking photos of the beautiful butterflies whilst I chatted to Giovanni about Peaky Blinders and Sopranos!

We were due to visit the Brazilian side of the falls on Saturday but there was a marathon taking place (in this heat? It’s been 37 degrees! ) and Giovanni got stuck in heavy traffic as he’d predicted would happen. So we postponed our visit to today (Monday) before we fly on to Buenos Aires.

The Brazilian side is a lot more relaxed and being Monday less busy. The walk starts at the Pink Hotel (Belmond Iguacu Falls). We didn’t even try to use their loo today! Here there is a single walkway that goes for about a mile gradually going down into the gorge and getting closer to the falls. The views from here are awesome as you get to see the full panorama in front of you. The water is a beautiful jade green colour in parts. At the ‘bottom’ the metal walkway stretches right out over the water to a viewpoint head on into the Devils Throat. Again, you get very wet walking to it but it’s a jaw dropping sight. We caught the ‘not very scenic lift’ back up and Giovanni was waiting there to take us to our final part of the day.

We got dropped a little further back along the river and taken in a series of extended golf carts down to the gorge floor where we were to catch our boat! We got a locker and left everything in it, boarding the boat in our swimming gear! No cameras, no nothing for this thrill ride.

We boarded the rib with about 20 other suckers and off we went, slowly at first. But then as we approached the falls and the river got more exciting, we sped up and twisted and turned into the rapids. Along the way we passed small beaches, wonderful forests, a mass of yellow butterflies and huge fallen rocks. This was all very nice but the highlight of the trip is when you really speed up and he charges the boat at part of the waterfalls themselves. Under the falling water you go, sideways, then head on! The noise and feel of the water is, I confess, a bit scary. You get absolutely soaked and I could hardly look because I was in fear of losing my contact lenses!! Meanwhile, the girl from London next to me is screaming ‘Look at it, Look at it, Look at it’. I wasn’t quite sure what she meant but assumed she was looking up at the water coming down! Crazy lady! Crazy ride!

Soon it was over (I’m not sure if I was sorry or relieved) and we headed back to base. Obviously, we took no pictures of all this but we did purchase the video evidence on a widget. On this Jane looks like she’s having a whale of a time, whilst I just look rather harassed. My favourite bit is when Jane was sitting twisted in her seat and I tell her to turn round and sit straight! Health and Safety! Health and Safety!

We declared the Brazilian side the winners and headed back to the hotel still dripping wet! Then we finished our packing, went back through the borders with Giovanni and caught our evening flight to Buenos Aires. Roll on the next few days and last stage of this amazing trip.

Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: Argentina, Brazil, Iguacu | 5 Comments

Foz de Iguacu

Posted on September 26, 2023 by julieallen36

After our wonderful stay in the Pantanal, we were sad to be leaving but looking forward to our next stop….Iguacu Falls. Again, it took a bit of travel to get here, basically retracing our steps to Campo Grande for an overnight stay. Well I say overnight, we arrived at about 7pm went straight to sleep and then woke at 1-30am for our pick up to catch our flight to São Paulo at 4-30am. From there we’d have a two hour layover before our next flight to Foz de Iguacu. It sounded hideous but actually it was all really relaxed and worked out fine. Our next guide, Giovanni picked us up and we arrived at our luxury hotel, The Sanma, at about lunchtime and went straight down to the lovely pool area to make the most of the afternoon sunshine. We had lunch down there and a couple of ‘Original Beers’. It was great to have the afternoon off! We ate in the hotel at night but it was a very average spag bol and there was an unfortunate incident with a mosquito in a glass of wine. Luckily the lady waiter was more understanding than the gents!

Anyway…..what did we get up into in Iguacu Falls? Well first let me tell you a little bit about the falls themselves. My info comes courtesy of Google, as whilst Giovanni was a safe driver and generally nice guy, he did not impart much knowledge for this old geographer! He did, however, correct my understanding of ‘Gauchos’ as he IS a gaucho whereas those cowboys in the Pantanal were Pantaneiro.

So, Iguacu Falls are in fact a network of 275 waterfalls spanning an area of 1.8 miles. They were first discovered by Europeans in 1541 when Conquistador, Álvares Nunez Cabeza de Vaca came across them on a stroll. Luckily, they decided to use the local Guarani name for the falls…not the old Conquistador’s as that wouldn’t have been so snappy. ‘Iguacu’ (or Iguazu on the Argentine side) means ‘big water’. Sounds pretty accurate to me.

In 1984 the falls were made a UNESCO heritage site and in 2011 were voted one of the New 7 Wonders of Nature. The falls are vastly larger than Niagra and although Victoria Falls have a larger single curtain of water, Iguacu are the biggest overall. This famously led Elenor Roosevelt to declare ‘Poor Niagra’ when she visited the falls herself!

So, what do you actually do, see, hear and feel when you visit Iguacu? Well, I will tell you about this in my next post but what I will say is that whereas I’d expected this to be yet another wild frontier where we’d be hacking our own path through the rainforest to reach the falls, this wasn’t quite the case!

Apart from visiting the falls whilst we were here we did enjoy a bit more of a relaxing time, spending time by the pool and visiting the Bird Park next door which was great, lots of the birds we’d seen in the Pantanal but now up close and personal! Especially the toucans, parrots and Macaw!

After our first night in the hotel we also got a bit more adventurous and went out to dinner. The first night we went to a really nice, family Japanese restaurant where we ordered way too much food! The next night we found a new Italian restaurant full of mod cons where I had pizza and Jane had Strogonoff. Sensible portions for the first time and we even had space for a Dulce de Leche waffle with ice cream! I found it quite incredible that we were in this wild place catching Ubers and eating Italian and gyozas!

Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: Argentina, Brazil, Iguacu | 3 Comments

Birds of the Pantanal

Posted on September 24, 2023 by julieallen36

The other thing that the Pantanal is famous for is the fabulous bird life. There are some 463 species of bird but I’m sorry to tell you we only spotted 47! Jane thinks we may have to go back after this poor effort🤓

Joking aside, the bird life was spectacular…better than anywhere I’ve ever been. We were constantly spotting so many different sightings. The main thing I learned was: Macaws are the big boys (and girls) and have a large area of bare skin around their eye. Parrots are midsize and have a short tail whereas Parakeets are generally the smallest and have long tails. Very useful.

Here is our complete list with apologies for spelling errors!

Roadside Hawk

Laughing Falcon

Rhea

Black Faced Ibis

Grey Cowled Woodrail

Hyacinth Macaw

Jabaru

Wattled Jacana

Caracara

Great Black Hawk

Red Legged Seriem

Little Nightjar

Rufescent Tiger Heron

Yellow Billed Cardinal

Southern Lapwing

Burrowing Owl

Blue Fronted Parrot

Vermillion Flycatcher

White winged Swallow

Bare Faced Curacao

Red and Green Macaw

Turquoise Fronted Amazon Parrot

Scaled Dove

Rufus Hornero

Capped Heron

Toco Toucan

Savannah Hawk

Peach Fronted Parakeet

Black Vulture

Wood Stork

Roseate Spoonbill

Blue-Black Grassquit

Black Capped DonaCobius

Rusty Marginned Flycatcher

Grey Breasted Martin

Nantay Parakeet

Keira Cuckoo

Blue Crowned Parakeet

Crested HoraPendulam

Smooth Billed Ani

Pale Crested Woodpecker

Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: birds, Brazil, Pantanal | 4 Comments

Pantanal – The Big 5

Posted on September 23, 2023 by julieallen36

Just like Africa, the Pantanal has it’s own Big 5 in terms of animals to spot. I’m very pleased to report that, by the end of our stay, we’d seen all 5 which was very exciting.

The easiest to find were the cute Capybaras as they lived just outside the lodge gates by the ‘pond’. They’re very docile and could be found each morning with birds on their backs or occasionally sitting in the muddy water.

The Marsh Deer were actually quite hard to find. We saw lots of Pampas deer but the Marsh deer are bigger and have huge ears. To be honest, we didn’t get very excited about spotting deer…I mean Dave and Jayne get deer on their property in Scotland all the time!

The next easiest to find, bizarrely, we’re Jaguars!!! Now this is what we’d really come here to see and we definitely were not disappointed. In total we spotted 9 different Jaguars whilst we were there. My favourite sightings were:

1) The first night. We were following 1 Jaguar when it started to walk through to another area where there were 2 other male Jaguars playing together. It was dark and incredibly exciting as the guides all said how rare this was and they thought it might all kick off. It didn’t but instead Jafar and Scar played nicely whilst Mango kept a distance.

2) On our last night we came across Surya, a female Jaguar, lying sleeping in the grass in plain sight. We watched her for a while and then went to see her cub, Juba, who was hiding in a thicket nearby. Juba is actually 8 months old and she was very well hidden. We were about to move on when all of a sudden Surya came walking along. She looked as if she was going to walk past when Juba appeared out of the thicket. There was a flurry of movement as Surya flew at the cub and snarled angrily bearing her teeth as if to say ‘Don’t you dare get out of that bush’. We watched from within 15 metres of this completely open mouthed. But the action didn’t stop there. We proceeded to follow Surya across the track and to her kill from yesterday (a cow). Juba tried to follow but again got snarled at and held back. We watched this scene unfold for about an hour as it got dark. Mum tucked into the carcass as Juba watched patiently but every now and then edged towards the feast. Finally, when Mum had just about had enough, Juba was allowed to join in. It was an amazing thing to watch.

3) On our last morning, when it was just Jane and me in the van with our guides as everyone had left, we had one more treat. As we were driving back for breakfast all of a sudden by the track and right beside us, a HUGE Jaguar bounded out of one of the drainage pipes under the road where it had been sheltering. We’d been staring at a bird and just moved on and so I think we gave the waking Jaguar a fright. The power of this beast was awesome and we’d just met out 9th Jaguar, a big male called Caira. What a final treat!

The fourth of the Big 5 is the Giant Anteater. We had a couple of sightings of these strange looking beasts with their long nose for eating 35000 termites and other insects a day! They’re mostly nocturnal when the weather is hot and use their bushy tails to keep them warm when sleeping.

Finally, we had one more of the Big 5 to find, the Tapir. Another unusual creature with a nose like a mini trunk! They’re nocturnal too and we’d been told at the very beginning by Carol, that they were the most difficult to find. So, on our last night this was the mission for our truck, find the Tapir! We’d had no luck all afternoon but after the lamp lit dinner, Carol suggested we go and take a final look up Mango Alley. We could not believe our luck when there it was – our lovely, weird Tapir. He was only there for a fleeting couple of minutes before he mooched back into the field and was hidden in the long grass.

Fantastic…the Big 5……tick!

Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: Brazil, Jaguar, Pantanal | 4 Comments

Life in the Pantanal

Posted on September 22, 2023 by julieallen36

I’m writing this as we fly onto our next stop and after four and a half days in the Pantanal. We’ve been so busy that I’ve not had time really to post Blogs!! And I think this was supposed to be the relaxing part of the trip!

However, in answer to the question at the end of my last post ‘Was it worth all of that travel?’ the answer is most definitely YES!

The Pantanal is right in the centre of Brazil and is a huge area of 210,000km2 expanding into both Bolivia and Paraguay. It is a UNESCO World Heritage biome and 78% of the vegetation is still natural. It’s famous for it’s different seasons….the wet season running from Jan to March when vast areas become wetlands , perhaps what you think of when you picture the Pantanal. However, we were visiting in the dry season (Jul to Sept) when the land has drained and animals are easiest to find as they have to come out of hiding to find water.

Our lodge was Caiman Lodge a 53,000 hectares ‘farm’ owned by a rich Brazilian Businessman, Roberto Klabin. He has developed ecotourism here which means that cattle ranching works alongside the expanding tourism business. It’s a beautiful luxury lodge employing 120 local people and supporting several different conservation projects. We had one day with the NGO Oncafari Team whose specialist subject is Jaguars! Their ability to track the Jaguar (using remote cameras and collars that transmit VHF and GPS signals, is part of the reason for the success of tourism here. It has meant that the local ranchers realise that they don’t have to kill these beautiful animals , which do sometimes eat their cows, but can live in harmony as tourism provides so many other advantages (schools, healthcare) and income. Part of the deal is that the farmers are compensated if they lose more than 3% of their herd in a year…but so far since Oncafari began in 2012 , this has never happened.

Safaris, under the expert guidance of Carol and local driver ‘Giovanni with the Smiley eyes‘ take place in the early morning (5-30 to 9) and then in the late afternoon (4- 7-30pm). They’re exactly the same as an African safari and we had a wonderful time. There are so many different areas to explore with beautiful trees, waterholes, a vast permanent lake, grasslands, forested areas. Some of our favourite areas were ‘Mango Alley’ (look out here for tapir), Anteater orchard full of termite mounds, Bat Bridge (where at night we’d drive through so many insects attracted by spotter lamp and which in turn meant we had bats flying all around us) and ‘The Armadillo Garden’.

In between game drives we ate wonderful meals and rested up. It was so hot (a stifling 37degrees) outside during the day that we hid in our room mostly with the air con on! However, once we were feeling better we did really enjoy swimming in the lovely pool and had it all to ourselves.

We made new friends on our safari trips , Julie and Suki, who were from Tring, near London! Very similar in age and outlook to us so it made our whole time very sociable and fun.

There were two ‘secret’ special evening meals whilst we were there. The first was held at a ranch where we ate traditional Brazilian cowboy food including steak carved off a great big stick and very rare but tasty. This was Jane’s birthday and we were serenaded by a couple of the old gauchos too. It’s a little uncomfortable as it remains very hot, you’re still dressed in all your smelly safari gear and covered in Deet to fight off the mosquitos but boy the beers (or ‘Chop’) tasted good that night!

The next night we were taken in the safari vehicles, to an open area in the bush which had been lit up with about 200 lanterns and looked absolutely magical. We sat at long tables chatting with fellow guests, several Brits, including a very posh couple in their 80s who were having a ‘super’ adventure all around Brazil! We were also joined by a very nice American couple from Texas and a lovely young Brazilian lady who was accompanying her very elderly aunt.

It is truly a special place, as I’ll try to show you over the next couple of posts, where I’ll focus (or Jane and her camera will)on what we saw. We were not disappointed!!

Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: Brazil, Pantanal | Leave a comment

Moving on to the Pantanal

Posted on September 21, 2023 by julieallen36

It takes a bit of effort to get to the Pantanal. We had a 7-30am pick up to take us to Rio’s domestic airport..the one we’d seen from Sugar Loaf Mountain. We said our fond farewells to our lovely guide Raquel and got checked in. We then had a wait until our 1 hour LATAM flight to São Paulo, then a 4 hour wait until our next1 hour flight to Campo Grande. This is the nearest place to where we would be staying that you can fly to.

The views on the flights varied between great vistas of Rio itself, the beautiful beaches all down the coast and then vast tracts of agricultural land. The landing in São Paulo was spectacular….flying in amongst the hundreds and hundreds of skyscrapers. It is the 4th largest city in the world with a population of 21.6 million. This places it behind only Tokyo (37.4million), Delhi and Shanghai. New York comes in at No 11 and tiny London is 37th with a population of 9 million.

Unfortunately during this journey we both started to feel rather unwell. Jane had a dodgy tummy and I started feeling incredibly cold and appeared to have a fever. We both felt extremely lethargic and had completely lost our appetites…we couldn’t even face our Premium Economy class snacks on the 2nd flight! Jane’s theory was that it was caused by the 3 Caiprihanas two nights ago. However, I’m of the opinion that it was the fault of the surly pirates and their never-ending plates of meat and fish…although to be honest I’d only had one tiny bit of meat, a piece of sausage and the vegetarian mushroom option.

Whatever, it made the journey a little uncomfortable and we couldn’t wait to get into our hotel in Campo Grande for the overnight stay. Luckily, Campo Grande isn’t the ‘wild west’ town I’d imagined in my head. It really seemed like quite a nice place and our hotel was extremely modern. Phew!

After a good nights sleep we were picked up at 7am for the four hour drive to Caiman Lodge where we were staying. Our driver spoke no English but was a very good driver. The road here is a huge straight line! The road is quiet but every now and then we needed to pass big trucks or at one point a motorbike drive out of about 50 bikes.

We both just slept as still not feeling right and the views out of the window were very monotonous. After 2 hours we stopped at a ‘service station’ for a loo break and a quirky gift shop/cafe. Unfortunately we weren’t really in the mood for souvenir shopping.

Eventually, after another hour and a half, we arrived at a turning onto a red dirt track that said 36 kilometres to Caiman Lodge. Now this was a bit more promising….we bumped along slowly making uncomfortable progress and finally arrived just in time for lunch.

Would it all be worth it?