Tonto, Eat Your Heart Out

Friday 9 March

The other guests seemed amazed that Colin was up at the normal time of 05.45 when he wasn’t taking part in the horseriding, but they don’t seem to realize just how important breakfast is to him. Not that it’s the greatest start to the day that we have had on our travels. I still only managed half a slice of dry brown bread – the butter still has that rancid smell and taste, and the jam has a plasticy taste where it has been stored in large plastic vats.

A few minutes after 07.00 the bell rang – clang, clang, clang!! – and the group gathered to be taken to a coral near the cattle ring – where yesterday we had seen hundreds of cows driven in by the cowboys, given a shot of vitamins and sorted into previously marked cows and new offspring – males and females. They have to bring all 30,000 cattle into the ranch for vaccination and checking between March and November. There were nine horses, saddled and waiting – seven for the group – a new man, Sebastian, from Montreal Canada had arrived late last night – a day late due to delays on his flights - and one each for Carol and Ossi – who was to be our field guide again today. The saddles were narrow, made of hard unyielding leather (they reminded me of the Mongolian saddle) with a large sheepskin blanket underneath. Ossi sorted out who would ride which horse, and I was one of the last to mount – a slender chestnut steed, about fourteen hands high. Colin was standing at the fence snapping away, so no doubt there are many piccys of my bum as I attempted to mount. It wasn’t easy even though they had provided a large log to stand on.

We took the path to the fenced corridor – a bit like “gallops” you see near stud farms – and all walked in a single line, through flooded areas and short stubby grass. The sun was blazing, but it was a lovely way to see around the farm - I am really getting to like this horsey thing. At the end of the corridor, we turned into a large field of long grass and scattered trees and shrubs, whereupon my horse couldn’t resist a munch, and in fact constantly stopped to crop as much grass as he could get in his mouth all the way across the fields. We did see lots of birds, but walking the horses was more important this morning, so we rode in single file, only taking the opportunity to chat as one horse caught up with another for a few strides. We stopped under a wide spreading tree for refreshment in the shade – water for everybody, and a sip of cold mate (pronounced mattée) tea for those brave enough to try it – it was a bit like strong green tea, but with a slight tobacco-ey twang and was definitely better cold that the hot beverage I had tried when we were in Argentina. The walk took a large loop though the fields, to return to the corridor once more. We had crossed several patches that were three or four inches under water, but the horses seemed to love splashing us and each other as they lifted their hooves – just like children. Once back at the coral, we dismounted and Ossi brought round a vitamin dose for each horse – bright yellow gloop in a needleless syringe, squirted into their mouths. The horses seemed to like it as they sort of licked their lips and looked for more.

On the way back to the room, I stopped off at the shop to purchase a check list for all the birds and animals we had encountered, both here and at Rio Negro – the numbers mount up once you start writing them down. I met up with Colin, who was sitting under the gazebo by the pool – having read his way through the magazines provided and supped tea while we were away. It was time for another swim, which was deliciously refreshing after our morning exercise. I had only a short while to blog before lunch, but managed another hour before I fell asleep in the afternoon. Lunch is becoming predictable – beef stew, rice and beans, with a vegetable and salads. The salads today included cold cauliflower. The desserts were really Colin’s favourite and today was no exception – large chunks of banana in a custardy caramel sauce, and pears poached in something red – sadly not wine. He went back for three helpings!!!

This afternoon was another safari and trek – if we have one complaint about this Lodge (after the bugs of course) it is that most of the activities are the very similar and the scenery and wildlife varies only a little – there was the truck ride with the trek in the middle, and the farm walk, all of which are through the same sort of forest. We have seen a few different species each day which is good, but a bit more variety of how we see the wildlife would be welcome – still we are canoeing tomorrow afternoon. We visited one of the other lodges – Bahia de Caiman – which is newer and built in the shape of a bird - the rooms being the wings and all looking out over a large lake. The lounge and dining area make up the head. We understand that there are to be renovations at the main lodge, starting at the end of the year, to give the rooms a view, as well as an upgrade - I hope they remember to make the mesh windows and doors fit more snugly, to keep out the midges. The trek started at the other lodge and went around the lake, often squelching through very wet areas – lucky I had my proper walking shoes today. With ten of us in the group, seeing wildlife was quite difficult if you were at the back of the line, so when I missed the great anteater, snuffling for food under some acuri palms, I decided to try and keep nearer the front – as I had seen the great anteater at Rio Negro I was not too disappointed. We were out for the usual three hours and by the time we arrived back at the lodge the midges were coming out to play!

I blogged for a short while until it was time for dinner – we did shower but there was no need to change as we were going “nightspotting” in the truck after our meal. The bugs, once again, spoilt the meal – they were falling from the ceiling and lights and jumping all over the tables and plates of food – you had to keep everything covered with serviettes to stay bug-free, but even then a few of the little critters still managed to get in. We ate our meal and drank our tea as quickly as possible. At 20.30 the bell rang and like a well-drilled army, we all boarded the truck to search out some nocturnal life.

Carol splayed the massive torchbeam around from side to side – we were all looking for eyes shining in the dark. Red meant caiman and there were plenty of those to be found, particularly in the water where we had watched Ossi call them – they were lined up across the river three and four deep, with their mouths open, waiting for a fish to jump in (we did actually see one do exactly that, and there was a loud snap as the caiman quickly clamped its jaws together. Blue meant jaguar, which is what we were all really hoping to see – Carol had seen a jaguar nine times in her ten months here, and it was definitely time for her to see another. Any other colours mean smaller animals and rodents, or birds. We drove around for about an hour, finding at different locations a lesser anteater and a greater anteater, both nosing around in the undergrowth looking for ants nests – they put their long thing noses into the nest and pick up the ants with their long sticky tongues. But they can only stay a few seconds at each nest, as the ants fight back by climbing all over the anteater’s face. Apparently it is quite common to see the anteater scratching at his face with his paws to get rid of the ants. We saw a couple of crab-eating foxes - searching more for lizards and small rodents, rather than crabs – an agouti – a cross between a large brown rat and a guinea pig – running across the road in front of the cab. The midges were out in force as soon as we stopped the vehicle, as well as some moths and some jumping bugs (two of which landed on me, but I soon dispatched them with a yell). There wasn’t a lot else about, which was disappointing, but this is wildlife and you cannot make the animals appear at whim.

We retired to our room when we got back – the midges were much less than when we left, but they were still flying around and being a nuisance. I marked off on my checklist all the birds, mammals and reptiles I had seen so far, both here and at Rio Negro, which amounted to quite a few. Just one more day here at Caiman, to see as many of the outstanding species as possible. I then finished reading my current tome – I only have one book left to read now, so will be searching out bookshops for new reading material in Salvador or Buzios – before settling down for the night.