Stalked By A Jaguar; Caught A Croc; and Chased By A Waterbuffalo!

the pantanal! its a huge area of land in west brazil, near the border of bolivia. in the wet season (now) its mostly swamp, palm trees scattered on little islands and some big and some small areas of jungle. i came here about two weeks ago. and feel like ive been lost in nature, and wandering if i will become a local and never leave. at first i joined a 4day tour. not my preference in travelling style, but wanted to join my friends for a few more days. packed in like sardines, we got shuffled into old trucks, packed into a hut full of hammocks and saw bits and pieces of the pantanal. the best thing to come of that time was meeting my friend levy. he is a tour guide and has lived in the pantanal his whole life. one night we decided to go catch some caymans (crocs). so my first lesson from levy started in the swamp. at first i followed every step behind him, up to my knees in muddy water. it was about midnight, and the stars covered me like a blanket! we had head torches on and scanned the water for the orange eyes bobbing on the surface. after half an hour of 'training', i really got into it, and set off to catch my own. i approached what i thought was a small one... but once i got there is was about 1.5m long. the light of my torch blinds them, so a quietly came from behind, until i was hovering over it, and got my hands ready near its neck, and striked it. i held on for about 5seconds, it was struggling and was so strong. it whipped out of my hands and i thought i felt its teeth on me, but then it was just its rough skin as it swam off. full of adrenaline i was like BUGGER! levy laughing his head off. once you have it by the neck you are supposed to lift it up out of the water so it doesnt have the strength of its tale. i continued for a few hours, levy watching me from the bank. it was just me and the crocs. i was walking so slow that the surface of the swamp was smooth and reflecting the bright stars. it was hard to tell the eyes from the stars!! i named one croc that i was after "baby", he was about 50cm long and so cute, but always got away when i was above him. after wandering that swamp for a good two hours we decided to move to another location. we were walking down a dirt road, and i was talking my head off to levy, he suddenly stopped, and said quietly, "turn your torch off". i stood behind him as he whispered to me "listen for the noise of the jaguar, its close". amongst all the noises, i heard a deep snoring sound. for those of you who have lived with me, just imagine me asleep :) and a few minutes later about 50m away the black silouette of a jaguar crossed the road where we had walked from. levy said that jaguars are attracted to the bouncing light of a head torch, the same way a house cat is attracted to a bouncing string!! so we continued without our lights on, and made it back to camp in one piece. so next stop was a few days with levy in corumba, before heading back to the pantanal for some more survival training... we camped at a place where they look after the horses for the tourists. a little camp surrounded by palm trees and long days on hammocks. here it was just me, levy & nego. true cowboys. we needed to have some meat for the next few days so they took me out hunting on horseback. we rode through the most beautiful untouched swamplands, and at parts up to the horse's neck in water. nego spotted a group of pigs, so from then we had to talk in signals. the three of us followed them for about half an hour, and near an island we split up to cover more ground and got closer to the pack. we then were about 20m away, and suddenly nego bolted towards them, so naturally baya (my horse) followed. we galloped through knee deep water, im holding on so hard i loose grip of my reins, we corner one pig, a big female. she's tired from running, but angry. levy yells out to me "lift your feet up!" so i do, cause they can grab you and not let go. male pigs can even jump up to you and kill you! so then levy and nego jumped off and grabbed it with their hands, and made it tired by dunking it in the water and then killed it with a machetti. (sorry to those that are reading who are angels). so eating the yummy pork that night, i thought about the whole process of getting it on to my plate. the chase, the kill, the fry pan. maybe i wasn't grateful enough to mother nature, cause the next morning it was in reverse. me and levy took two horses for a ride. my horse 'george' was gorgeous and big, but didnt always listen to me. we were walking calmly through some swamplands, and there were water buffalo ahead. i was riding too close to a female one, who stared at me angrily. it started to walk towards us, and levy was already safely away. he yelled "get over here", and so i tried to get george to go faster but he wasnt listening, and then the buffalo started coming more quickly towards me, and i was like OH SHIT. so i was kicking and kicking george, and saying GEORGE VAMOS VAMOS!! RAPIDO RAPIDO, and he was just in sunday-drive mode. i kept looking back and the angry heffa was getting closer everytime. finally george was troting, but by then heffa was charging, about 20m away. george finally managed a gallop towards levy, and i gained more distance. the whole time yelling to levy "he's not listening to me!!! ahgrrrrrr".... but all is good, cause heffa slowed down, and continued to give me death stares. my heart going a million miles an hour, but i was back with levy and we continued back to camp. levy said they are smart animals, cause they dont hurt the horse, they charge to get you off and then they ram you into the ground till your dead. they dont eat humans, they just hate them. so, that afternoon i decided its time to move on. with mammoth effort, i got out of the pantanal on the back of a farmers truck, to corumba. and now am staying with my adopted family in a villiage on the outskirts of town. they are a very kind family, with grande caracao's (big hearts) and all the kids smother me in the hammock out the front. i feel safe and well, with all limbs attached! tomorrow morning is the train to santa cruz, bolivia. warm wishes to all my family and friends. i love you and miss you heaps. tj.