Back Tracking a little again

Since we went to two places back-to-back that were very isolated (the Pantanal and Cristalino Lodge), there really wasn't a good opportunity to write about how our days were in the Pantanal. We went from one place to the next rather quickly, so with this post, here's a little summary of those days in the Pantanal.

Our first day in the Pantanal, we stayed at a place called the Pousada Rio Clarinho. It was a very rustic place, our room had 3 twin beds and a small table, a bathroom with no shower curtain and that was it! My pillow was about 1 inch thick. But we liked the place, it was very quiet, the people were nice and the first day there, the food they served was really good. Our guide spoke no English at all, so while we stayed at this place, we picked up a lot of Portuguese!!!! The first evening, he took us horseback riding through the forest, but it was a very short ride and very uneventful. There were a lot of birds at this pousada and that made being outside and walking by their lake very enjoyable.
Our second day in the Pantanal, our guide, Cesar, took us out in a canoe on the Clarinho River, and that boat trip was absolutely wonderful. Cesar never made a sound with the oars while he slowly guided our boat down the river, which was not wide and was so beautiful. We paddled among lots of water plants (lilies and hyacinths), saw many birds and there never seemed to be any shore anywhere. At one point, there was so much vegetation in the river that Fernando had to stand up in front of the canoe and use a pole to push down the plants. Cesar would slowly glide the boat along as the plants were pushed down. When we approached that section of the river, at first it looked like there was no way we would get through, but they did it!! We got through that section, and about an hour and a half later, we came to a place where there was a shore and Cesar pulled the boat up and we were able to get off for a while. As he guided the boat up to this shore, we were lucky to witness a most amazing display of kingfishers on the river. There were probably about 10 kingfishers flying and swooping over the water, screeching and calling and diving right into the water. It was a beautiful sight to see and hear and it made you think that those kingfishers were just so happy because they knew they were living in the most perfect place a bird could live. We spent about 45 minutes on shore, then we got back in our canoe and Cesar paddled us back to the pousada. All in all, we were on the river for about 3 and a half hours.
That evening, we used our own car to do a night drive along the Transpantaneira Road, with Cesar using a poor spotlight to look for animals.
The absolute best thing about staying at the Pousada Rio Clarinho was the amount of birds we saw while staying there, and that canoe ride, which no one else ever came even halfway close to as far as quality.
Our third day in the Pantanal, which I believe was May 6th, we checked out of the Pousada Rio Clarinho and drove the rest of the way down to the end of the Transpantaneira Road. As we drove down, we saw an ocelot, a tayra, lots of capybaras, lots of caimans, and many beautiful birds. As we got closer to the end, the scenery was just beautiful, looking like a wild coastal area, with many big lakes. It was just beautiful. The end of the road was very disappointing, we thought we could get something to eat there, but since there wasn't much of anything, we drove back up the road a little and ate some of our snacks on one of the 125 bridges that are along this road. Then we continued back up the road slowly and we saw a giant anteater very briefly!! When we got to the Araras Eco Lodge, which is at mile 32, we checked in there, just in time for a good dinner!! This place was more upscale than the Clarinho and we enjoyed our nice room and the lovely surroundings.
On the morning of our fourth day, we got up at 5:00am for a 5:30 nature walk. After the walk, it was time for breakfast, and then after breakfast, we did another horseback ride. This ride was a lot better than at the Clarinho, but we think the place assumed a lot of its clients, because the horses took us through some very deep water, which actually almost went up to our knees!!! The only person who didn't get his shoes wet was Guillermo, he rode his horse like a jockey. And I almost had a terrible accident on my horse, because it veered off the trail at one point, and I didn't think quickly enough as I saw him approach two very low branches with thorns on them. I knew those branches were going to knock me off that horse, and the only thing I could think to do was try to lift those branches over my head as the horse went under them. Somehow or another, don't ask me how, I managed to do that, but the force of the branches started to knock me off the horse. I sincerely believe a guardian angel was with me at that moment, because somehow or another, I was able to stop myself from falling off that horse. The other people on the ride who saw this happening to me commented later that it looked real bad for me, and they were all shocked I only had two little scratches on my face.
After dinner that day, we all got on a wonderful vehicle that took us on a night drive. The guide used a powerful spotter, but even so, we didn't see that much. We did see a tamandua eating termites from a termite mound that was in a tree, and that was exciting!
Our last day in the Pantanal, the guide took us again in that special vehicle to a river, and we all got in canoes and floated down the river. This float was nowhere near as good as Clarinho's float was, because since there were so many people, we all had to man our own canoes, and that is not a good setup. It's almost impossible to take pictures when you have to be rowing. The float was also very short, but when we got back they had a good barbecue waiting for us. It was very relaxing sitting by the bank of the river, watching birds and caimans and enjoying a good barbecue. After that, we got back in the vehicle, headed back to the lodge, packed up, and drove back to Cuiaba.
I really wish there was a way to upload our pictures, so that we could include images of what we are seeing, but unfortunately, we just aren't able to do that.
Today we are staying in a little town called Chapadas, but the National Park here is closed, so there is nothing really to do but just hang around. We did drive out to see the cliffs in the evening and they were just beautiful with the evening sun shining on them.
Tomorrow, we drive back to Cuiaba, and catch a plane at 5:20pm to Sao Paolo. We should get to Sao Paolo at 9:40pm and our plane leaves on the 15th at 9:25 at night. That is going to be a long night for us!