Somewhere in Brazil

It has been a week and a half since our bus ride to Iguazu Falls and since then we have had several more bus rides and entered into Brazil. The funny thing about travelling in Brazil is when you look at a map you think to yourself, "That place is not too far away, let's go there." Only we always discover that in fact that destination is easily another twenty hour bus ride! Despite this we decided to postpone our beach trip and head into south western Brazil to visit the pantanal and a small town called Bonito. Below is a bit of a summary of the last couple of weeks:

Iguazu Falls
Iguazu Falls is situated on the borders of Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay. The waterfalls are simply unbelievable. The photos don't do this place justice and words cannot really describe it but I don't think many other waterfalls would compare. The area comprises 275 waterfalls. We spent the morning walking below the waterfalls and around the top of the falls with several thousand other people. You get incredibly wet when you go near the bottom of them and it is amazing to see how much water flows down each fall. In the afternoon we went to what is called the 'Devil's Throat' which is further upriver and has three falls all merging. I don't know how the walkway was built along there as it reaches right out to the top of the waterfalls so that you look direrctly down to the bottom of the falls. You cannot see the bottom as there is so much water roaring down and the spray from this makes everyone saturated.

The falls were well worth the visit and the long bus trip. We also had a great time in this town and met some nice people who we ate delicious antipasto with. Yum!


















The Pantanal
After the falls we crossed into Brazil and begun a long journey into the Pantanal. This is a large area of land in the southwest of Brazil that borders closely to Bolivia. We stayed out on a farm in the Pantanal for three mosquito ridden nights. It was exceptionally hot and we developed some fabulous arm muscles from all the mosquito swatting. During the days, guides took us on tours of the land in search of interesting wildlife. We saw some amazing birds, including tucans! We also saw monkeys, armadillo, deer, emu like creatures, otters and a few other native rodents. The highlight was the numberr of cayman (alligator like reptile) that we hung out with. We camped in hammocks within a mosquito netted hut. At the campsite we were able to go piranha fishing whilst of course being only metres away from the cayman.

The trip was rather interesting overall, though I was disappointed to not see any pumas or anacondas. Instead I am covered in lots of little mosquito bites. I was mostly badly hit when going to the toilet. No-one warned me that mosquito repellent on my backside was necessary! I possibly would recommend staying in the air conditioned rooms with indoor bathrooms than attempting the more adventurous camping style that we did.

























Bonito
We are now in a place called Bonito, which is a further five hours south west from the Pantanal. People come here to swim in the crystal clear streams and rivers. Yesterday we spent the day floating down a stream on a property about an hour from town. You pay a small fortune for the tour in which you wear a wet suit and snorkle gear and swim through amazingly clear water looking at hundreds of fish swimming past you. The best way I can think to describe it is like imagining you are a miniature person swimming in your tropical fish tank! There were large schools of amazing coloured fish swimming by, sometimes brushing my arm as they didn't seem bothered by us. Sorry, no photos for this trip!

We have spent today just reading, sleeping, catching up on emails and administration as it is raining here. We are hoping to visit a lagoon tomorrow for more snorkling before our last long bus ride all the way to Sao Paulo. I am looking forward to the coastline of Brazil where we plan on spending a week sitting on a beach! As much as travelling is fantastic, it is very exhausting moving every few days and after seven weeks of this we are both missing our comfortable bed.

Location:Lying in a hammock in Bonito