Can I blog from phone...?

Rucksack packed and new flag added :-)

in the air again...

Only a week to go now and whilst I have just about gotten over the Shingles, I have now gone down with a stinking cold – not happy. The to-do list at work doesn’t seem to be getting any shorter and to be honest I am a little stressed. 

Had a go at calibrating the lenses last weekend and I need to start over again as I couldn’t make much sense of the results with the new lens, so I have downloaded a new chart from the internet and will try again with that this weekend. Seriously running out of time to get everything done, but thankfully the movie from 2007 is almost there - just need to burn it onto a DVD and check it works ok and we are good to go. Not sure everything will fit in my rucksack mind, but I have ordered two more 32Gb SD cards and another two base plates for the tripod and new lens, (I can’t be doing with screwing and unscrewing them every time I need to swap lenses) with any luck they will be waiting for me when I get to the office tomorrow.

I have “connected” with one of the other students on LinkedIn this week, an African lady called Leanne. We’ve been messaging each other after I had a nose at her wildlife photos – she’s amazing – she recently went on David’s tour of Skomer Island and has spent time shooting badgers in his wood too. Sounds like we might have a fair bit in common as she also works in IT, so I am looking forward to meeting her. She is heading out on the TAM flight on the 1^st and then on to Cuiaba on the 2^nd with a 6 hour stopover in Sao Paulo (the same option I took last time) so I won’t actually meet her until we start the course, but she sounds as excited as I am and she too is not taking anti-malarials as they make her ill.

As I type I am flying over Norway on my way home from a few days working in Sweden, but at this same time next week, if all goes well, I will be flying over Brazil getting prepared to land!!!

So less than a month to go...

...and I have actually started the packing process. Lenses still need calibrating and cleaning, batteries all need charging and cards clearing down, and I still haven’t made time for practise which I’m a bit cross with myself about as the weekends are now all booked too.

I spent £57 on anti-malaria tablets at the docs recommendation only to be told by David that there is no malaria in the Pantanal. Then cleared out my travel bag and found another packet that I stopped taking in Cambodia for exactly the same reason – argh.

Jabs all complete apart from the third and final Rabies which is booked for Tuesday. I had become very tired and achy after the last lot (yellow fever and Rabies number 2) which turned out to be the onset of Shingles - lovely! But nothing can really dampen my spirits too much as I spent last Saturday morning watching video clips from the last trip I took there in 2007 – laughing, cringing and getting myself surprisingly emotional for a few hours has made me even more excited to get back there. Bring on the Jacaré, filmed here during my last visit performing their morning territory call - awesome!

Wow - Giant Armadillos!?

http://newswatch.nationalgeographic.com/2014/05/07/diggers-in-the-dark-discovering-giant-armadillos-in-brazils-pantanal/

Back to the quack..

So it's less than 2 months to go now which means it's the dreaded docs for jabs again. I was horrified to find out it's the worst one for me that's run out.... Yellow Fever... not happy.
Booked in for this Thursday and I have a sneaky suspicion that means that my Typhoid and Hep A have also run out.


Chaco chachalaca bird

Took my camera out to Rais Wood yesterday and am so relieved my loyalty held and I wasn't tempted to go with a new Nikon. Everything is so familiar with my Pentax and it performs well. It's a massive improvement on the gear I had when I last went to Brazil, as are my skills, but right now I am more excited about simply seeing, hearing and smelling it all again... the kites, the kingfishers, the giant river otters and even the smelly bats. The dusty roads and endless water pools with hyacinth floating all the way to the horizon, the Jacaré performing their awesome territory calls each morning - I can't wait to be woken by the incessant Chaco chachalaca birds - the noisiest of them all.

I am travelling a day early this time too - in 2007 we started off badly with flight delays and severe sleep deprivation which I never really recovered from. So this time I will be travelling a day early, alone, and spending the first night in a very nice hotel close to Cuiaba airport to relax and prepare - so very excited.  The one thing I am not looking forward to are the biting insects... I know with my apparently intoxicating blood I will never win the war, but round two of this particular battle is mine - after the last trip to the region I returned so battered, bitten and swollen, that in hindsight it was a good thing the hot water and heating had failed in my house, as the UK winter cold numbed the pain (a memory I can't seem to shake).
This time will be different - I am armed with an obscene amount of vitamin B12, a supply of DEET sufficient to melt my entire collection of lenses and, of course, marmite now comes in a squeezy plastic container and so is also coming with me. To the bad-boy bugs of Brazil - me and my blood are ready for you - you will NOT be sucking more than is fair on this trip.