THE PANTANAL

(Sorry, no pics due to a virus on my camera memory card - the joys of using public internet facilities!). Since leaving Campo Grande it has taken me 5 days to reach the Bolivian border at the town of Corumba. I don´t know where the geometric centre of South America is, but I guess that I´m not too far away from that point. I´d expected the terrain to be flat for a change, but 3 of these days turned out to be the usual hilly road. The other 2 days I spent cycling along the elevated road with the Pantanal wetlands stretching out on either side of me. This area is Brasil´s premier ecological tourist attraction, with lots of birds and other wildlife around. Traveling by bicycle I´ve surprised many animals crossing the road or just hanging around close by, but they refuse to keep still and by the time I have the camera out they´ve taken off in a hurry. I don´t want to appear morbid, but the only mammals I´ve seen which have kept still are a variety of road-kill (including the giant rodent, anteaters, cayman and large snakes). At least I´ve managed to snap some Macaws, and the rest of the wildlife is depicted on the murals from the hostel in Campo Grande. For some reason border towns have to be dusty, and Corumba is no exception in that regard. I don´t need dust right now as I left Campo Grande with a sore throat which soon turned into a flu and bronchitis (hopefully I can shake some of that off with the day´s rest at this hostel in Corumba). Tomorrow I head into another country, Bolivia (I´m a bit unsure of the road for the first few hundred kilometres, so it could take a while before my next report). Distances in the 5 days since Campo Grande have been:- Palmeiras 92 km; Taunay 95 km; Guaicurus 68 km; Porto Morrinho 117 km; and Curumba 75 km. Distance cycled in South America so far is 10 789 km. Total distance cycled on this journey so far is 77 276 km.