December 2, 2011: Hours before hitting the road to try to
hitchhike to the Northern Pantanal, I happened to be at the perfect place at
the perfect time. This helped land me private
transportation and a room that I didn’t have to share with perhaps mangier
backpackers than myself at a lodge in the Pantanal. The tour operator / posada owner originally
quoted me 2,000 Reals ($1123 USD) for a 4 nights / 5 days trip, but I ended up
paying 550 Reals ($308 USD) due to him needing money that he didn’t have to pay
a debt in which a man was in-route to collect.
He had to make a choice and it was quite simple…perhaps two broken kneecaps
or a happy backpacker.
The lodge was great and it was a
relief not to have a drunkard for a guide such as I did in the Southern
Pantanal. He kept me busy from sunrise
to sunset exploring the surrounding area.
I was so exhausted by the third day; I was sort of disappointed that my
guide didn’t know about South American time – meaning, showing up for an
activity 30 – 45 minutes late. If
anything, he was showed up early for almost everything not letting me have a
moments rest. By just looking at my
guide, you wouldn’t suspect it, but his eyes were like the Bionic Man – seeing
everything. Even though he did not speak
English it was not a problem since he understood my Spanish well enough for us
to communicate.
Before arriving, I was determined to
cross paths with a tapir and an anteater.
Seeing one of the two, I left satisfied.
In addition to seeing a Tapir, I even saw a Duggar sized family of Giant
Otters, a king vulture, all sorts of different species of monkeys, some capybaras
and birds of all shapes and sizes with impossible to remember names.
Having some time to myself my last afternoon at the lodge, I
left and went for a hike with the owner’s dog who wanted to join me. He was pure entertainment as I watched his vertical
jumps of fear and how he would run away from every noise no matter the size. On our hike we located some Capuchin monkeys. The beefy one with no neck either didn’t like
the dog and me being so close, or it was that he didn’t like his photo taken as
he quickly made his way down the tree, looking as if he was some movie star
ready to smack around a paparazzi and his trusty sidekick. I felt at that moment that I should stop taking
photos as I rapidly backed up. Still coming
down the tree, I was hoping he was going for the dog and not me, but his was
looking directly at me. Fortunately for…the…monkey,
he stopping mid-truck on the tree – to be more specific, that was 3.23 feet
from the ground.
I had not broken any of my personal
records on this tour, for example such as for my biggest fish caught, or my
fastest run on a midget horse, until I was able to visit a gigantic observation
tower overlooking the Pantanal…alone. Here I broke my previous record for “highest
pee” when I showered the trees below laughing as I was doing this and thinking,
“When am I going to grow up?”
