Alexis, Armin, Saul to the left and Edie in the middle.
We had such a funny time with these two, waffling on and drinking Tereré.Armin was such a character, he is 78 and lives out here in a lean too full time looking after 250 cattle on indigenous land here in the Pantanal on the Rio Negro.
Armins secret to good health he told me was pure honey and garlic everyday.
my thoughts and hopes also.
Alexis .38 was for anything that may present itself for dinner and Jaguars if seen.
Their favorite food is calves.
Astario, Saul and Eddie my hosts at Tres Gigantes.
The food was brilliant. It is a location that has relaxing written all over it. Paradise in nature.
¡¡Tranquilo!!
16-20/5/2014 Los Tres Gigantes Estación Biológica
Rio Negro, PY
4 fine days, 1 in the rain
Well it was great to be ashore, knowing I was going to be here for awhile.
Lydia had told me about place a called Los Tres Gigantes, she had said how peaceful and beautiful the location was. I had rung her friend Nery who knew I was coming.
I had made arrangements to come and spend time at this place on the Rio Negro, an hour up the Paraguay and then into the Rio Negro, almost to Bolivia.
Onshore, Saul from TG was there to greet me to my surprise.
We greeted each other then he took me to the immigration building where they checked my passport as we were going so close to Bolivia, also I guess they wanted to see my visa.
Saul spoke a little English though like me with my Spanish not that well.
I went back onboard to buy some oranges and pears for the few days ahead. It was nice to be a customer not a passenger.
He took me back to his house to meet his family.
Once there I met Teresa his mum and step dad Astorio and many other members of the family who lived in houses mainly built from palm trunks. Teresas house was block and the latter.
We sat around under a tree in the balmy evening. In the tree was Pancho and his mate, another brilliantly green coloured parrot. Their plumage was in great shape they were two happy guys free to wander in the trees around the house.
It was almost like they were listening to us talking from their low branches.
The yard was grey powdery dirt, familiar I thought. I had seen this stuff wet.
The yard was a menagerie of animals, chooks, ducks, piglets, dogs, parrots, and a 2 day old calf whose mum didn’t want to know her.
Teresa had cooked up a typical Paraguaya dish of soup, pasta and beef with mandioca as a side vegetable.
We all enjoyed this in the fading light.
Eddie from TG turned up and we headed to the river, a couple of blocks away and loaded their dinghy, started the 25hp engine and headed upstream.
It was a full time job avoiding camelote.
Astorio had it under control.
We soon branched off into the Rio Negro, though nowhere near as large, by Australian standards it was a large river. The camelote was now alot heavier. Soon the islands extended the width of the river.
Here we had to use specially made poles with a fork built into the ends. These help us pole our way through the almost impenetrable mass.
All the while Astorio was using the outboard to cut it up and give a little power from behind. We got into the rythym, finally we got through the 100 odd foot clump and were back in clean waters.
In the next blockage we disturbed a Jacaré who was sunning himself.
Once again, we poled our way through. The final camelote was right near the building of TG.
Right now, the river is 3.5m above its normal level hence the breakaway camelotes.
With the river so high my chances of seeing much land dwelling animals will be slim, they have all moved to higher lands.
These big three are:
Giant Otter- here is one of its last refuges
Giant Ant Eater
Capybora, the worlds largest rodent
This was not even a remote issue for me, it was just so nice to be in such an isolated widerness. Afterall, I was in the most famous wetland of all “The Pantanal”.
There is a small portion of it in both Paraguay and Bolivia.
Bolivia was on the far side of the river, my bearings here in the middle of South America are now coming together, no longer are these places just lines on a map.
It was like a land mass we could not get through, so we headed back to the bank. To a track through the scrub to the building.
The mosquitos were like looking through a fly screen, they were thick and had a penchant for my sweet blood.
Luckily, I had bought repellent. It was not used for the walk into the lodge .
Once in the surrounds of the building i could see what Lydia had meant. It was a peaceful place.
The accommodation was a two storied wooden structure of solid construction.
I wont talk about the runnings of the place, just look up Los Tres Gigantes on the net, it is all there.
The guys showed me my room, a huge timber lined room with a bed as big and a private bathroom, two ceilings fans hung from the timber beams above.
Wire screens kept me and the mossies apart.
I was fairly worn out after my time on the Aquidaban so after a few beers with the guys, I hit the nest.
From the building a brilliant western view takes one across the Negro and on into the Pantanal, amongst the palms and finally drawn into a fiery red sunset.
Incidentally, The Pantanal is found along the central valley or the Plata river basin, that encompasses more than 400,000 sq kms and stretches over 3000km from nth to sth.
From Mato Grosso in Brazil to the Rio del la Plata estuary between UY and AR
(Gran Pantanal Paraguay: Emily Y Horton, May 2010)
Waking up in the morning was something else, never before, have I heard so many different birds calls, it was an orchestra of a grand number of musicians.
It truly was impossible to wake up any other way than peaceful.
I just lay there half asleep, listening to them calling each other. It was unknown to me that birds could make so many different sounds.
A paddle in the canoe was enjoyed after breakfast. Repellent was used for protection. The brand is “OFF” the locals said it was the one to get, it worked perfectly and contains no DEET.
I pulled into a spot on Bolivian side of the river for a wander about. The vegetation was thick to say the least, so thick there was little growing on the floor.
Though, not to dense for mosquitos to penetrate, they soon found me and I soon found my way back to the canoe and the refuge of open water.
A quick swim in the dark waters was enjoyed, the next day in the dark waters of the river, aptly named.
At night with the spot light the bright eyes of Jacaré can be seen everywhere cruising the waters.
The guys assured me it was safe. We laughed when the subject came up next day and they said I was just lucky.
Since arriving, a cut on my leg had been slow in healing. The mossies had me scratching uncontrollably and breaking my skin at night.
Anyway, all these wounds started to become infected.
It then got worse, my groin glands became swollen and my ride side of the jaw ached so much I could eat solids.
There was a necrotic ring around each wound. It was reminiscent of a staph infection once caught in a lagoon in Vanuatu many years ago.
The next two days were spent reading and lying down. Luckily, I had talking books and plenty of Spanish books.
I had a copy of the biography of Steve Jobs, this filled in almost a day, it was engrossing, almost as much as this man’s personality.
These wounds were just getting bigger.
The guys told me I might be able to take the plane back to Concepción.
They booked a seat on the Friday flight. It would be a real opportunity to see the Paraguay river in perspective and also be witness to the whole sale clearing that is occurring here to make way for estancias and more intensive stocking of the land.
My time here at Los Tres Gigantes completed my adventure up the river Paraguay from Remanso. On two boats, a bus and a dinghy.
Saul, Edie and Astario have been great hosts I was more like a visitor than a guest, often i would go over and chat to them in their building.
We loaded up and headed off in the boat back to Bahia Negra on Thursday.
My body was aching.
Strong NE winds the day before had cleared the camelotes. One day, huge clumps were being blown past the lodge against the slow current, such is their size and wind resistance.
On the way back we stopped in at a clearing on the Rio Negro, we interrupted a guy washing in the river.
It turned out Sauls brother worked on the property. He worked for Armin, a guy of 78 years, as fit as a fiddle with great stuture and a sense of humour second to none.
His parents were Swiss and German. The skin colour of people here in Paraguay is such a mix .
We had the most funniest time here drinking tereré and telling stories and talking about all sorts of stuff.
Alexis had a six shooter in a holster on his belt, it was priceless, the whole seen.
They had six horses corralled in palm trunk yards and lived in an orange sheet plastic shelter and slept on foam mattresses.
Armin told me the country can support one cow for every hectare, it is good country in that respect I feel.
Spending time with people like this in their environment made this whole trip up here so much more memorable.
There are alot of Tigres up here, as they are known, they create havoc with the cattle, dining on them at will. Though the Brown Brocket Deer is their natural food.
No self respecting tigre (jaguars and pumas) would say no to a sweet young calf.
Teresas brother came round for dinner one night on my return to Bahia Negra. He was a man in his fifties with a distorted face and a deformed thumb. Teresa told me he was attacked by a (Tigre Esp. For tiger) when he was young.
I didn’t ask what he was doing to provoke the attack.
I spent the night at her house in Alexis bed as he was up the river working on the ranch.
The next morning Saul and Iwent to the hospital.
Here the attention given to me was second to none. I was given Paracetomol, anti inflams and Cefalexina for the infection.
A nurse, a warm kind of elder woman, about my age when one comes to think of it!
Scary sometimes, when I think of getting back on the bicycle to keep exploring this not so well known part of South America.
The thrill of the unknown and the freedom, both have their tentacles well embedded within my being. I love it!
Anyway, the nurse got some big tweezers and began unceremoniously tearing all the necrotic skin from the wounds. It was bloody painful, but this pain felt so good.
I noisily put up with her pulling and subsequent swabbing of the freshly exposed skin.
The plane arrived later in the morning. The local runway was just grass.
Any, we headed over to check things out. The plane had a flat tyre, a sharp stone had punctured it on landing. I was going nowhere until it was repaired.
There was another plane coming from Asuncion with the necessary gear.
By this time the skies were turning a dark grey, rain was forecast. There was a guy there who could speak English, he asked me back to his families house. His sister was the assistant onboard the twin engine 27 seater, a military plane.
Edie and his family were great company fro the afternoon, he had 9 siblings.
His sister and the engineer were at the house.
Here we spent the rest of the day drinking mate and waiting to hear of the other plane. The rain had started.
It is amazing after 5mm the place became a muddy quagmire, all the streets in town were a bog.
The plane from Asunción had been confronted by a storm at Concepción and turned back.
I was now resigned to thinking of thirty more hours on the Aquidaban.
It didn’t bother me. Though two well dressed woman had other thoughts about having to take the boat. One was a government solicitor on work here. The other was a long legged attractive dark skinned girl from Asunción, her clothing was not fit for the Aquidaban.
They stayed across the road, I headed back to Teresas and Sauls.
The walk back was another massage between the toes.
My time with them was also very special for me. I was fed typical Paraguaya meals and lived in a very humble but warm house.
In the wet, the calf was in the house with us as were chooks when they felt like a peck on the floor. People came and went all day.
Outside was a muddy mess, it was a stroll through it to the outside loo.
I helped them fix a chainsaw.
I was now resigned to taking the Aquidaban south.
On both nights Astorio gave me natural medicine to clean my infected wounds .
The antibiotic worked within 12 hours, amazing stuff, it had curbed the necrosis around the wounds. The Aquidaban was due here tomorrow, Friday and get me to Concepción some time on Sunday afternoon.
Rio Negro, PY
4 fine days, 1 in the rain
Well it was great to be ashore, knowing I was going to be here for awhile.
Lydia had told me about place a called Los Tres Gigantes, she had said how peaceful and beautiful the location was. I had rung her friend Nery who knew I was coming.
I had made arrangements to come and spend time at this place on the Rio Negro, an hour up the Paraguay and then into the Rio Negro, almost to Bolivia.
Onshore, Saul from TG was there to greet me to my surprise.
We greeted each other then he took me to the immigration building where they checked my passport as we were going so close to Bolivia, also I guess they wanted to see my visa.
Saul spoke a little English though like me with my Spanish not that well.
I went back onboard to buy some oranges and pears for the few days ahead. It was nice to be a customer not a passenger.
He took me back to his house to meet his family.
Once there I met Teresa his mum and step dad Astorio and many other members of the family who lived in houses mainly built from palm trunks. Teresas house was block and the latter.
We sat around under a tree in the balmy evening. In the tree was Pancho and his mate, another brilliantly green coloured parrot. Their plumage was in great shape they were two happy guys free to wander in the trees around the house.
It was almost like they were listening to us talking from their low branches.
The yard was grey powdery dirt, familiar I thought. I had seen this stuff wet.
The yard was a menagerie of animals, chooks, ducks, piglets, dogs, parrots, and a 2 day old calf whose mum didn’t want to know her.
Teresa had cooked up a typical Paraguaya dish of soup, pasta and beef with mandioca as a side vegetable.
We all enjoyed this in the fading light.
Eddie from TG turned up and we headed to the river, a couple of blocks away and loaded their dinghy, started the 25hp engine and headed upstream.
It was a full time job avoiding camelote.
Astorio had it under control.
We soon branched off into the Rio Negro, though nowhere near as large, by Australian standards it was a large river. The camelote was now alot heavier. Soon the islands extended the width of the river.
Here we had to use specially made poles with a fork built into the ends. These help us pole our way through the almost impenetrable mass.
All the while Astorio was using the outboard to cut it up and give a little power from behind. We got into the rythym, finally we got through the 100 odd foot clump and were back in clean waters.
In the next blockage we disturbed a Jacaré who was sunning himself.
Once again, we poled our way through. The final camelote was right near the building of TG.
Right now, the river is 3.5m above its normal level hence the breakaway camelotes.
With the river so high my chances of seeing much land dwelling animals will be slim, they have all moved to higher lands.
These big three are:
Giant Otter- here is one of its last refuges
Giant Ant Eater
Capybora, the worlds largest rodent
This was not even a remote issue for me, it was just so nice to be in such an isolated widerness. Afterall, I was in the most famous wetland of all “The Pantanal”.
There is a small portion of it in both Paraguay and Bolivia.
Bolivia was on the far side of the river, my bearings here in the middle of South America are now coming together, no longer are these places just lines on a map.
It was like a land mass we could not get through, so we headed back to the bank. To a track through the scrub to the building.
The mosquitos were like looking through a fly screen, they were thick and had a penchant for my sweet blood.
Luckily, I had bought repellent. It was not used for the walk into the lodge .
Once in the surrounds of the building i could see what Lydia had meant. It was a peaceful place.
The accommodation was a two storied wooden structure of solid construction.
I wont talk about the runnings of the place, just look up Los Tres Gigantes on the net, it is all there.
The guys showed me my room, a huge timber lined room with a bed as big and a private bathroom, two ceilings fans hung from the timber beams above.
Wire screens kept me and the mossies apart.
I was fairly worn out after my time on the Aquidaban so after a few beers with the guys, I hit the nest.
From the building a brilliant western view takes one across the Negro and on into the Pantanal, amongst the palms and finally drawn into a fiery red sunset.
Incidentally, The Pantanal is found along the central valley or the Plata river basin, that encompasses more than 400,000 sq kms and stretches over 3000km from nth to sth.
From Mato Grosso in Brazil to the Rio del la Plata estuary between UY and AR
(Gran Pantanal Paraguay: Emily Y Horton, May 2010)
Waking up in the morning was something else, never before, have I heard so many different birds calls, it was an orchestra of a grand number of musicians.
It truly was impossible to wake up any other way than peaceful.
I just lay there half asleep, listening to them calling each other. It was unknown to me that birds could make so many different sounds.
A paddle in the canoe was enjoyed after breakfast. Repellent was used for protection. The brand is “OFF” the locals said it was the one to get, it worked perfectly and contains no DEET.
I pulled into a spot on Bolivian side of the river for a wander about. The vegetation was thick to say the least, so thick there was little growing on the floor.
Though, not to dense for mosquitos to penetrate, they soon found me and I soon found my way back to the canoe and the refuge of open water.
A quick swim in the dark waters was enjoyed, the next day in the dark waters of the river, aptly named.
At night with the spot light the bright eyes of Jacaré can be seen everywhere cruising the waters.
The guys assured me it was safe. We laughed when the subject came up next day and they said I was just lucky.
Since arriving, a cut on my leg had been slow in healing. The mossies had me scratching uncontrollably and breaking my skin at night.
Anyway, all these wounds started to become infected.
It then got worse, my groin glands became swollen and my ride side of the jaw ached so much I could eat solids.
There was a necrotic ring around each wound. It was reminiscent of a staph infection once caught in a lagoon in Vanuatu many years ago.
The next two days were spent reading and lying down. Luckily, I had talking books and plenty of Spanish books.
I had a copy of the biography of Steve Jobs, this filled in almost a day, it was engrossing, almost as much as this man’s personality.
These wounds were just getting bigger.
The guys told me I might be able to take the plane back to Concepción.
They booked a seat on the Friday flight. It would be a real opportunity to see the Paraguay river in perspective and also be witness to the whole sale clearing that is occurring here to make way for estancias and more intensive stocking of the land.
My time here at Los Tres Gigantes completed my adventure up the river Paraguay from Remanso. On two boats, a bus and a dinghy.
Saul, Edie and Astario have been great hosts I was more like a visitor than a guest, often i would go over and chat to them in their building.
We loaded up and headed off in the boat back to Bahia Negra on Thursday.
My body was aching.
Strong NE winds the day before had cleared the camelotes. One day, huge clumps were being blown past the lodge against the slow current, such is their size and wind resistance.
On the way back we stopped in at a clearing on the Rio Negro, we interrupted a guy washing in the river.
It turned out Sauls brother worked on the property. He worked for Armin, a guy of 78 years, as fit as a fiddle with great stuture and a sense of humour second to none.
His parents were Swiss and German. The skin colour of people here in Paraguay is such a mix .
We had the most funniest time here drinking tereré and telling stories and talking about all sorts of stuff.
Alexis had a six shooter in a holster on his belt, it was priceless, the whole seen.
They had six horses corralled in palm trunk yards and lived in an orange sheet plastic shelter and slept on foam mattresses.
Armin told me the country can support one cow for every hectare, it is good country in that respect I feel.
Spending time with people like this in their environment made this whole trip up here so much more memorable.
There are alot of Tigres up here, as they are known, they create havoc with the cattle, dining on them at will. Though the Brown Brocket Deer is their natural food.
No self respecting tigre (jaguars and pumas) would say no to a sweet young calf.
Teresas brother came round for dinner one night on my return to Bahia Negra. He was a man in his fifties with a distorted face and a deformed thumb. Teresa told me he was attacked by a (Tigre Esp. For tiger) when he was young.
I didn’t ask what he was doing to provoke the attack.
I spent the night at her house in Alexis bed as he was up the river working on the ranch.
The next morning Saul and Iwent to the hospital.
Here the attention given to me was second to none. I was given Paracetomol, anti inflams and Cefalexina for the infection.
A nurse, a warm kind of elder woman, about my age when one comes to think of it!
Scary sometimes, when I think of getting back on the bicycle to keep exploring this not so well known part of South America.
The thrill of the unknown and the freedom, both have their tentacles well embedded within my being. I love it!
Anyway, the nurse got some big tweezers and began unceremoniously tearing all the necrotic skin from the wounds. It was bloody painful, but this pain felt so good.
I noisily put up with her pulling and subsequent swabbing of the freshly exposed skin.
The plane arrived later in the morning. The local runway was just grass.
Any, we headed over to check things out. The plane had a flat tyre, a sharp stone had punctured it on landing. I was going nowhere until it was repaired.
There was another plane coming from Asuncion with the necessary gear.
By this time the skies were turning a dark grey, rain was forecast. There was a guy there who could speak English, he asked me back to his families house. His sister was the assistant onboard the twin engine 27 seater, a military plane.
Edie and his family were great company fro the afternoon, he had 9 siblings.
His sister and the engineer were at the house.
Here we spent the rest of the day drinking mate and waiting to hear of the other plane. The rain had started.
It is amazing after 5mm the place became a muddy quagmire, all the streets in town were a bog.
The plane from Asunción had been confronted by a storm at Concepción and turned back.
I was now resigned to thinking of thirty more hours on the Aquidaban.
It didn’t bother me. Though two well dressed woman had other thoughts about having to take the boat. One was a government solicitor on work here. The other was a long legged attractive dark skinned girl from Asunción, her clothing was not fit for the Aquidaban.
They stayed across the road, I headed back to Teresas and Sauls.
The walk back was another massage between the toes.
My time with them was also very special for me. I was fed typical Paraguaya meals and lived in a very humble but warm house.
In the wet, the calf was in the house with us as were chooks when they felt like a peck on the floor. People came and went all day.
Outside was a muddy mess, it was a stroll through it to the outside loo.
I helped them fix a chainsaw.
I was now resigned to taking the Aquidaban south.
On both nights Astorio gave me natural medicine to clean my infected wounds .
The antibiotic worked within 12 hours, amazing stuff, it had curbed the necrosis around the wounds. The Aquidaban was due here tomorrow, Friday and get me to Concepción some time on Sunday afternoon.
 Camelotes on the Rio Negro.
 This spot downstream on the Rio Negro, shows just how much the river rises.
Right now the level is as in the top photo. The birds and other animals thrive when the levels begin to fall feeding on trapped fish.
 At the mercy of my nurse.
 The animals I didnt see, all photos taken by Saul around the lodge.
 Morning in the canoe, unreal.
 Solar power is used here.
|
 Such a relaxing place................
 Looking upstream to the west, Bolivia is across the river and the Camelote in the middle was on its way upstream in the wind.
 Sunset taken from the lodge, by Saul.
 It was not to be. A sharp stone saw to that.
 "Bahia Negra General"
 The fish species here in the Paraguay and Negro rivers.
|
We had a great hour here with Armin and Alexis, humble cattle ranchers in the Pantanal, on the Rio Negro.
