At 0215 the bedroom light came on and the fan started whirring - the power was back on - they had clearly worked through the night to restore it.
I was pleased as after going to bed at 8pm I had had a good sleep but was now melting and as my feet were put outside the sheet to keep cool an insect seemed be having the odd nibble ... which itched! Now the fan and air conditioner were on it was necessary for a change of strategy - total cover up to keep warm!
By 5 am it was getting light so we got up showered, finished packing and then went down to their river to see what was about. I spotted a crab eating fox sleeping in a dip by the edge of the water; we could also hear and then saw black howler monkeys at the top of a tree quite a distance away. Back for breakfast -after which I settled the bill so we were ready to leave soon after Fabricio arrived; he arrived at 7am together with our large bottles of water - we then quickly decanted today's supply into 6 bottles we had saved.
We were on the road by 0730am; our journey further into the Pantanal to the Jaguar Ecological Reserve took about 4 hours but there was plenty to see enroute - lots of new birds and animals, including :-
a red brock deer which we saw at the end of the Rio Claro lodge drive way, a large group of white lipped peccaries which we watched chomping on something at the edge of the marsh - they were a little skittish and ran into tall grasses when a lorry passed, later we saw its cousin - a collared peccary which crossed the road in front of us ( they live in smaller groups 4-6), and finally a little later a black cat like creature ran across the road, it was a rare jaguarundi, which are not often seen.
As we got deeper into the Pantanal I noticed several dead caymen floating in the water - Fabricio explained that these had been killed for their tails which make good eating - not by locals but by out of town fishermen. Apparently the lack of police patrols in the area means little can be done about it.
On the bird front we saw- giant cow birds, black hooded or nanday parakeets, rufous hornero , picui ground dove, sun bittern, vermillion flycatcher (unmissable colour), greyish saltator, grey crested catcholote, jabaru stork, sayaca tanager, ruddy ground dove, fork tailed flycatcher, hyacinth maccaw, southern lapwing, blue crowned parakeets, grey necked wood rail, grey breasted martin, whistling heron ( very striking blue and pale yellow), snail kite, lesser yellow headed vulture - and a few more familiar faces I haven't added to this segment yet - the roadside hawk, black vulture and southern caracara.
We have been really struck by the beautiful flowering trees - which only flower in the dry season - one tree, the tabebuia,has trumpet shaped flowers and comes in yellow, pink purple or white - the first two colours being the most prominent ones we have seen- there is also a cambara tree which has leaves but is full of yellow flowers which look like candles; you can also see in places the white fluff on the kapok trees.
We arrived at our lodge - an array of orange painted single story buildings - more basic than the last - only a fan in the room which is on at night - 6pm to 6am- and during siesta -12-3pm - everything is generator or solar power driven so the good thing is that it's unlikely that a truck will career off the road and hit it! Our brick cabin was stand alone - clean and tidy with a nice shower, new towels and a verandah to sit on. Lunch was really good -cheese lasagne- a first for me as it had no vegetables - but it was excellent; there was also salad, rice and beans as usual and John had some fish....a bit too bony for my taste - we finished off with, a to be recommended desert of, strawberries in chocolate sauce and good old Brazilian coffee which I am getting used to drinking black.
After lunch John had difficulty getting back into the room - but he eventually negotiated the counter-intuitive lock ( we think it is on upside down as the handle goes up rather than down to open and unlocking is clockwise rather than anticlockwise!) to start his favourite pastime of washing smalls, t-shirts and his handkerchiefs .....the rest will wait until we get home or go to their laundry service if we think we will need it or it is just too dusty to leave until we get home.
Today is hot - yesterday it reached 35-37 degrees but luckily we were on the river - I think today is more.....so siesta was spent lying under the fan writing this blog and digesting lunch before going off on our 3.30 pm afternoon drive to see what we can see.
The one good thing with this weather is the washing dries in a jiff and prior to leaving it was all dry as a bone!
We left for the afternoon drive and returned 5 minutes later as I had left my binoculars behind - this time I had problems with the lock until I remembered to open it the opposite way. Finally off and more things to add to our sightings not least an anaconda - small to medium sized only not a giant. We also saw great horned owls with 2 chicks which are currently large bundles of fluff and filling the nest - dad obviously thought the kids were taking over so had moved to an adjoining tree for peace and quiet and a nap - mum remained close by to fend off any raids by the caracaras on her youngsters. We finished the day at an extensive area of marshland where we watched the sun go down and saw hundreds of birds flying in different directions to their roosting spots.
The new birds we saw this afternoon included:-
scarlet headed blackbird, smooth billed anni, little cuckoo, black capped donacobius, solitary casique, white necked marsh tyrant, black crowned night heron, black backed water tyrant, muscovy duck , black bellied whistling ducks flying to roost and 2 really different birds a maguari stork - white and black with red markings - it looked like a faded jabaru stork and a southern screamer - which I have never heard of before but it's about the size of a goose and it does make a loud call!
With the sun down we returned to the lodge for a much needed shower and dinner. One of the other group of guests staying at the lodge were led by Douglas Trent an American who, Fabricio told us, helped start an NGO which assisted Eduardo in setting up the lodge and sent in volunteers to teach him and others English......it just shows a little help and stimulus can ensure others thrive.
After dinner we prepared for our 6.30am breakfast and 7am departure tomorrow - a day on the river searching for jaguar - sadly today's group didn't see one - so fingers crossed.