Saturday June 14th

After the emotion of the game it was nice to be able to "sleep in" and in fact it was the first night in which we (in particular) Spencer had a jet lag free sleep. After our breakfast we relaxed around the hotel pool and watch some of the Colombia v Greece game.

Our guide from Pousada do Rio Mutum picked us up from the hotel around 1pm and once we had picked up the other members of the party we headed out into the Pantanal. Once outside Cuiaba the countryside become farmland with lots of Brahmin cattle and areas cleared for Soy beans (during the wet season). During the drive we saw some Jabiru Storks (the Pantanal Bird), a Tapir, some capybara and learnt about the history of the Pantanal. Who knew that future President Roosevelt lead a surveying expedition in the Pantanal?



We arrived at the Pousada around 5pm. The lodge is beautiful, set amongst the Pantanal forest and wetlands. After check in we walked down the boat dock where a few caiman immediately came over the check us out. After the frenzy of Sao Paolo and Cuiaba it is an amazing contrast to be in the wild nature in the middle of nowhere Brazil.

That evening we watch some of the England v Italy game, then had dinner. Pre-dinner soup was Piranha soup which was very tasty – even Spencer had some. We are with a nice group of Australians and Spencer is fitting in well (a shame there are no other kids here however)

It had been an exhausting day so 20 mins of the Japan v Cote-D'Ivoire game and we were fast asleep.