El Pantanal - Puerto Suarez
We have arrived to Puerto Suarez sheltered by the darkness. The air is hot. From the airplane up to the small airport building are some steps. The wait is long. It is a very meticulous antidrug control. We could only trust that the dogs would make no mistake.
More than a thousand kilometers to the east from La Paz, in Lagoon Caceres natural sanctuary, Puerto Suarez, a town with a pluvial access to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by iron ore, semiprecious gems and fertile earth, fights to survive.
To cut down the appetite for it: a crocodile is an endangered species.
In the nearby Quijarro and in Port Suarez one lived well, but the fall of the Real and the Law of Customs liquidated the diseased economy and made the bubble exploded.
"Three years ago drugs still were giving money. You could grab 160 bolivians per day, today you do not exceed of 30", complains the taxi driver that picked us up at the airport and takes for granted that we go to the frontier without passing through the town. But the illicit business continues and there are still prisoners in the Corumba's jail of for drug trafficking.
After that a walk by the shore of the lagoon Caceres. These mosquitos…
We have a magnificent fresh fish for dinner and before falling asleep we allow to be enveloped in the darkness of the town breathing its inflamed rhythm of the heat of a day that already concluded.
It seems that we can count on the information on the area thanks to the owner of the inn where we lodge. And even with the transport. It was a right decision to visit El Tumbador, a small refuge on the shore of the lagoon, built and managed by the "The Man and The Nature" NGO. The following day and thanks to Oscar, Cristina and the other friends" organizational properties - hello all! - we go out to navigate the waters of the Paraguay river.
And already on the water of the river: leaves of Victoria Regia.
First animals seen from the boat - howling monkeys. Are they there? It is a couple.
Also some beautiful birds with head and neck in red. As soon as I remember their name, I will write it here. And if not Edwin will tell us. Edwin, where are you?