Well after another interesting flight from TAM (I do kind of like this airline in a strange sort of way - they aren't pretentious and just get the job done) we arrived in Puerto Suarez.
We had been lucky enough to meet a lovely couple from Texas who were volunteering at a school for a couple of weeks and as it turned out their guide/school person organised for us a taxi direct to the border for $50 boliviano!

After the formalities were over - really easy and quick and no customs!! - and we had exchanged our left over boliviano for real with 2 Aussies, funnily enough we haven't come across many Aussies here, it was off to find a taxi.

Here pretty much was where we realised that Brazil was going to be expensive. Taxi ride to Corumba $40 Real about $30AUS!! And it only took about 10 minutes. Anyway arrived at the bus station at about 2pm only to find the next bus wasn´t until 11pm :( After being badgered by the tour guides we wandered off for some food and returned thinking that heck we have nothing to lose lets see what deal they can offer us.

First great decision on our behalf as it turned out I was wrong in thinking that we had to start the tour in Campo Grande. If we had done that we would have taken the bus 5 hours to Campo Grande and then come back 4 hours to the campsite!

After meeting with both operators we settled on one as he could take us out to the campsite in the Pantanal that night. Second great decision. That meant we had three full days in the Pantanal rather than 2. Paid $350 Real each (about $230AUS each) which as it turns out wasn't the least but it wasn't the most and as we got the extra morning activity turned out to be well worth it. We were going with Ecological Expeditions (yep we were a little concerned after reading some bad reviews) but it was camping and Phil was thrilled with that. We arrived at the campsite about 10pm and after a long day of travelling we crashed very quickly.

Up early the next day and after a quick breakfast of rolls and fruit, seems this is very common here the rolls, it was off with our guide Max and our new French friends Laurent and Marie, for our first hike through the Pantanal :)

Very quickly we realised that Max was good at finding things. On this hike we saw racoons (Quoti), black howler monkeys, vultures, jabiru, toucans including the rarer smaller one, spotted deer, croaking tree frog (I found that one), vine snake, canenan snake which was venemous, road side hawk and caiman. My highlight of that morning was the baby jaguar print Max found. Unfortunately we weren´t lucky enough to see one but it was cool to know they were around.

We had to have a bit of a laugh about the bridge crossings. Turns out during the wet season the water takes away the road and sometimes they just don't get around to fixing them all, leaving a big gap between the road and the bridge. Got to love how they solve that. Simply set up a ramp with a couple planks of wood (or tree branch) and she's right :)

After walking back to camp, about a 5km walk we werent expecting but ok all the same, we saw some caiman fishing. . . Turns out caiman's are happy to be lazy and go after the fisherman's piranha's. One of the local's gave up one of his piranha's and max 'caught' the caiman with it. We then met up with our fellow Aussie members, Rach and Ryan who had arrived from Campo Grande.

After lunch, it turns out the brazilians love their carbs - pasta and rice and beans and heaps of it, we piled into the boat for our boat cruise. The highlight of this trip was when Phil got out of the boat, scrambled up onto the ledge to take photographs of Capybara which got spooked, made some noise at Phil, which he thought meant they were going to charge him, but instead all three charged off the edge, jumped into the water, swam underwater over to the other side of the river before surfacing!! Pretty cool and the look on Phil´s face was priceless.

The next day or so was more of the same, however the weather was much cooler and we saw less. Hence why our second decision was so good as we wouldn´t have had the first mornings trek. Wading through the wetlands was certainly interesting when you are in at times knee deep water with possible anaconda's and who knows what else but we weren't lucky enough (or lucky not to i'm not sure) see an anaconda.

Saw more toucans, they are so cool and fly weird, but I guess when your beak is so out of proportion it makes sense. Also got to see the rarer toucan. A lot smaller in size but their beak is still way out of proportion to it's body. Also saw Macaws, which we had been disappointed not to see many of in the Amazon and here they were everywhere. Gorgeous birds and huge. Got see both the red and the blue Macaws.

A tree which only flowers once a year for a week and we were lucky to see it. The flowers are bright purple and easily seen for a long distance. We also partook in some piranha fishing. Now that is heaps of fun. Basically they cut up a bit of chicken, put it on your hook and you throw the line in the river. Pretty much straight away they bite, however the trick is actually getting the hook caught in their mouth the sneaky little b*****s.We both caught a couple but the winner of the day was Marie. She really had a knack for catching them.

The last day Rach and I stayed behind (injuries and damn headaches) and Phil and Ryan went off to the wetlands again in search of an anaconda. No luck on that score but they did see an anteater. Phil tells me later we didn't miss much and the german tourist who had joined them ruined most of their pictures with his flash when taking photos.

All in all the tour was good, but we just wished the weather had been warmer on the last two days to see more but that wasn´t their fault. It was then onto Campo Grande and to Iguazu.

In summing up:
1. Ecological Expeditions was better than we expected, you basically get what you pay for
2. Brazilian food isn´t that great (well so far)
3. The wildlife watching in the Pantanal far outweighed the Amazon
4. Piranha fishing is great fun

If you are tossing up whether to go or not definitely do the Panatanal.