"We saw a snake!"

Our host had missed it but as he loved everything mammal or serpent related, over dinner he delighted in thumbing through a book of Cobra (all snakes are called Cobra in Brazil, even though they don´t actually have one!) to decide which we had seen.  Most were poisonous, many deadly, and all living 4 metres from our Havaianas clad feet.  I went to bed having to check all the places children look for monsters before they can sleep soundly!  The reality of our serpent sighting was less dramatic; we reasoned it was an Anaconda and not a particularly big one at that (maybe 1.5m at best).  It was stretched out resting under a bush after a large lunch no doubt, and apparently they aren´t particularly threatening when on land.  And we were speeding past in a jeep too!

The Pantanal is Brazil´s major ecological attraction, home to most of its exotic wildife.  Many of these animals are found nowhere else in South America.  You can find thousands of birds and mammals;  we were constantly surrounded by Parrots, saw a fair few Toucan´s and the jewel of the region, the Blue Macaw; many would think the Jaguar the most dangerous to humans in this area, but actually the Macaw can crush a skull with its beak when feeling threatened in mating season.  On our various outings on foot, horseback or by jeep we weren´t lucky enough to make a rare wild-cat sighting but we did see many Caiman and Capybarra, the odd Ostrich and our guide even caught us an Armadillo!

Our absolute favourite activity was a sunset trip to fish for Pirahnas. It wasn´t too hard to snare one at first, as Paul and I pulled one out at the same time.  Our guides, blaze to any danger given they have grown up with this life, failed to tell us that the Pirhana weren´t the only predators in the water...soon Caiman got wind of us and came over to try and steal our catch so we were warned to keep our hands in the boat.  Their presence made the fishing a little more tricky, the fish understandably deterred, but to show us exactly why we had to keep our precious fingers at a safe distance (or just for fun no doubt) our guides decided to bait the alligators a little...

Paul gave up after a while, his haul into double figures, and decided to play photographer as the sunset became more and more dramatic across the lake (although the photo above is mine by the way!); not that I was keeping count or anything, but healthy competition is good right(?!) and anyway, I was the only one on the boat to catch a Catfish!

A tale of two rivers...

Rio de Janeiro, the river of january, so called when early discoverers mistook the bay for an estuary. So not a river at all then, but we'll give them the benefit of the doubt on the month they found it.
We found Rio on an overcast day so a pretty quiet stroll down Ipanema and Copacabana beaches heralded little more than a few dedicated beach volleyball teams out to practice. The famous buzz non-existent, little more than the sound of the waves accompanying us - well that and the 'Girl from Ipanema' playing in our heads (not expecting it to play out loud for the rest of our time in Brazil!) Later, as we enjoyed a drink on the rooftop of our suite overlooking the lake, the Cristo a beacon of light above, all seemed tranquil. The last thing we expected the next morning was for thunder to arrive...but sure enough that's exactly what we got. Blue Thunder that is, the pride and joy of our delightful guide Dolores, here to whisk us up into the hills in her dune buggy. Whilst the views were a bit hazy and the Cristo mostly shrowded in cloud (see photo), Dolores provided all the colour we could want, giving us the lowdown on her city with such energy and passion. We had an amazing morning, and even in poor light, Rio from above is truly something to behold. Only having a short time in Rio it was a shame we couldn't go on Dolores' tour of a favela (the hillside shantytowns famous for their drug wars), where she also uses a local guide to tell you who/what it is safe to photograph etc.  It would have been fascinating I'm certain. So our last afternoon was spent devouring a traditional black bean stew, washed down with a caipirinha of course, up in Santa Teresa, the bohemian hangout of Ronnie Biggs back in the day.  It is now home to the Escadaria de Selaron, an amazing set of 215 steps ornately decorated with over 2000 tiles from 120 countries - a labour of love for an eccentric Chilean artist, 20 years in the making and still going as you see him and his giant moustache working away.

So the two actual rivers in question are the Iguacu and the Parana, on the Argentinian and Paraguayan borders.  The former is home to one of the world's most magnificent set of waterfalls; the latter houses the second largest hydroelectric dam (recently surpassed by the Three Gorges in China), but previously the site of a set of falls even more spectacular than Iguacu. The dam supplies 90% of Paraguay's electricity and 20% of Brazil's so is a pretty impressive feat for 'clean' energy production. However, it is pretty hard to ignore the impact it has had on the environment and wonder at what cost all that concrete came.  The visit was more thought provoking than anything, whilst in contrast, Iguacu was just amazing, a true natural wonder. We got pretty soaked trying to photograph the rainbows up close on the Brazilian side; supposedly the Argentinian side is even more impressive as you can look over the top and really get close (and drenched no doubt) but we decided we were already blown away enough with the grand overview. And the town was a bit of a hole so we moved on quick sharp.