We had a great few weeks in Brazil. Our time was all too short in actual fact, but the lady on the border decreed that we only needed 30 days and we have been far too busy or out of touch to apply for an extension. From Venezuela we drove south to the jungle city of Manaus, gearing up for the infamous BR319 with giant truck swallowing potholes as we went. At Manaus we could have opted out and taken a barge east down the Amazon to Belem and into mainstream Brazil, but a jungle drive was what we came for and so after re-stocking we crossed the Amazon and set off along an almost forgotten track through some of the darkest parts of the jungle’s interior. Our initial goal was to eventually pop out in Peru at the base of the Andes, but plans are made to be broken and after five days of nail biting bridge crossing and camping with the critters we wanted more and so turned left instead of right onto the Transamazonica highway. Here we left behind the flat river valley and on a giant rollercoaster of a dirt road saw great vistas of the mighty Amazon rainforest in all its glory, stretching out over the hills as far as the eye could see. Of course there was no getting away from the vast scale of forest destruction either and it was hard to comprehend how cattle rearing could be at all profitable way out there.

After a solid two weeks of driving we finally reached the edge of the Amazon basin, having covered about one third of the length of Brazil. This is indeed a huge country. Travelling south the landscape gradually changed from rich green impenetrable forest to dry (at least dry looking) scrub and savannah all decked out in winter colours. The name of the state that we were now in was Mato Grosso, meaning large forest. Great Swamp might have been more accurate as we headed into the Pantanal in the heart of the province. Formerly and inland sea on a similar scale to the Amazon Basin, the Pantanal is now a natural wetland, home to so many crocodiles that one could almost walk from one side to the other on their backs. We weren’t quite brave enough to try it, but we did get close up and personal with them from the dubious safety of our canoe.

Then, with just moments remaining on our entry stamps, we literally took a dive into the Abyss. . .