Pantanal

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In Paraty our first nights of camping were postponed as the weather was so wet that the campsite was pretty muddy so we upgraded to a hostel! The hostel was idyllic and the next day was quite sunny so went for a swim in the sea and swam out to a little island.

The next two days were spent travelling, only stopping for lunch and toilet breaks. It sounds boring but the days actually go quite fast watching the scenery, reading and sleeping. Those nights we free camped which means just stopping by the side of the road to camp. Both times we stopped near service stations though so we have always had toilet facilities.

We entered the Pantanal on Saturday and stayed in a beautiful lodge that day. The Pantanal is a wetlands the size of France with very few people living there but lots of wildlife. The weather was hot and sunny and that afternoon we went on a boat ride on the river while our guide pointed out lots of different wildlife. We saw lots of different birds including jabberoos and also monkeys and caimen which are small crocodiles. That night there was an amazing storm and the lightning lit up the sky over the river, it was spectacular.

The next two days we spent at a farm in the Pantanal, this was even more remote and we all slept in the same room in hammocks! We did a few activities over the two days including piranha fishing (which I didnt do!), a walk (or wading) through the wetlands (getting eaten aloive by mosquitos) and horseriding. I have never been horseriding before and they let you even if you havent so I decided to do it thinking I probably never will do again. It was really good and easy at first because the horses just follow each other and they know the way. No-one had told me what to do so i literally didnt do anything. That was fine until we came to canter and then gallop....I didnt know how to stop the horse and ended up flying off, one foot still stuck in the stirrup, thinking I was going to be dragged along but my foot slipped out my shoe so i fell to the floor. I was so lucky because all I did was graze my foot! I definitely won´t be going horseriding again!

Arrived in Bonito on Wednesday evening and yesterday I went snorkeling in Rio de Prata (Rio means river). We wore wetsuits and snorkel masks and all we literally had to do was float and the river pulled you along quite slowly. There were thousands of fish and some came quite close. It was fantastic! Today I am having a free day in Bonito so have come into town to go on the internet and later will swim in the river near the campsite as it is very hot and sunny!!

A bit about our group - there are 33 of us so that is a big group and almost a full bus. We also have Pete the driver and Sarah the tour leader. There are 5 couples, one single guy and the rest are all girls!! Everyone is very nice and I get on really well with my tentmate Tasha.

We are spending tomorrow travelling to Foz do Iguacz and camping there for a few days before leaving Brazil and seeing the falls from the Argentinian side.

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