Blogs from Pantanal, Brazil, South America - page 14

Left the good live from Buenos Aires behind, and made my way to Puerto Igazu, The Waterfalls in Igazu, but on the Argentinian side. What a great day it was. Not only impressed by the thundering sound of the water plunging in to the depth, but Enjoying a nice swim in a place that comes close to paradise as well. Ofcourse we were not supposed to walk further than the path led, but this was the only way to get to this 'secret' swimming spot....and this definitly was more rewarding than just standing on a platform with hundreds other tourists to watch the spectacle. Visiting the Brazilian side aswell, which was less impressive, but worth doing since I had to wait for my bus to the Pantanal. In the Pantanal, which is an big wetland area, ... read more

The Pantanal is a jungle type region in the west of Brazil and 3 main cities are used as starting points. I got the overnight bus from Foz to Campo Grande. Worst bus ride so far as we had to change buses twice due to one smelling like a toilet, and one breaking down! Then an old man sat next to me and shoved his knees into me all night. The bus rage took over and I had to slam the arm rest on his legs to get him to move them, dirty old man! Arrived at 7.30am although no-one told me the clocks were different here so it was 6.30am. As I was getting my bag from the checked area, a tour rep starting asking if I had a tour booked. I said I am ... read more

... with the Pantanal in Brazil!!!!! The world´s largest wetland (150,000 km², extending to Paraguay and Bolivia, fed by the River Paraguay, with AMAZING wildlife!!) I didn´t want to leave!! The Mexican I met on the bus from Argentina and I, after being surrounded by many different tour companies offering very similar deals, decided to go with GreenTrack - see their great website www.greentrack.com.br (our tour guide, Murilo, is on the top right!!!!) - as it seemed less touristy than others and Murilo, our guide, with 18 yrs experience, offered to drive us there (normally you must take the bus) with his gorgeous little daughter, Maria (I need to speak Portuese!!!)... So we slept in hammocks (my first time! I loved it!) under roofs made from palm trees and protected by mosquito nets (ahhhhh the mosquitos!!!)... ... read more

Rick: Well i was pleased to arrive in Argentina for a bit of civilization after getting struck down by a bout of constant arse water, stomach cramps and flu from loads of dodgy eateries in Bolivia and I had to get it some time as done well until now. Crosssing into Argie from Bolivia was all a bit awful and I thought I was going to poo and vomit at the border control as we had to queue for ages whislt some guy in a shed took hours to simply stamp our passports. The contrast between Bolivia and the more civilized Argentina and Brazil is pretty damn apparent in terms of wealth, housing and cleanliness although Bolivia does have amazing scenary. If you havent had enough of me ramblings and want to send me a email ... read more

After Peru and Bolivia, I was getting a bit nervous about entering new countries, but Brazil put me at ease. Expecting complications, I had been carefully studying our Lonely Planet Guide and was all prepared for organising a string of taxis and buses to get us from the train station across the border, through the visa stations (hopefully!) and into Brazil. I was figuring that it would take maybe half a day. What actually happened was a bunch of tour guides jumped on the train the station before we got off, we leasurely reviewed their offerings (choosing a company called Ecological Expeditions because they promised to drop off us at Bonita after the tour saving a four hour bus trip and associated expenses) and they then organised everything for getting us across the border and into ... read more