just got back from the pantanal — the largest fresh water wetland in the world. right now, it’s pretty dry, though. also, it’s huge, so we only saw a very small part of it. maybe because of that, it felt a bit underwhelming. we still saw some macaw’s and boars and caymen and monkeys….but, none of the giant lily pads or anacondas. most of the time, it felt more like a nice (and more or less ordinary) national park, instead of the incredible preserve shown on planet earth. so what were some of the highlights?

pedro, our guide, was a bit of a superman. he drank river water (the same brown river we were motor boating through, fishing for piranhas in, etc). he walks barefoot everywhere. he goes out in the middle of the night with shorts and a flashlight to hunt caymen and anaconda. he can smell when monkeys are around.

when the water dries up, the caymen are forced to live in concentrated pools. in those pools, you can find piles of these reptiles….all sitting motionless. also, there eyes reflect a red light in the dark…it’s a cool thing to see at night.

piranha fishing was pretty interesting. with just a bamboo stick, hook, string and some meat, you can catch piranhas pretty easily. they don’t devour the meat like in some areas, but instead one or two will pick at it. even so, they’re so concentrated that you’ll get a bite within 30 seconds. at one point, a piranha even jumped into the boat while we were moving and hit a girl in the head!

it was cool to see and hear wild toucans. because they have such a large beak, it looks awkward (and exhausting) when they fly.

the sentra is still ok and safe. on account of the water, it smells a bit inside — kinda like the old yellow oldsmobile my grandparents used to have in cape cod. hopefully some febreeze and a long drive tomorrow will air it out some more.