Blogs from Pantanal, Brazil, South America - page 6

Dag 131. Vi vaaknet til nydelig soloppgang over Pantanal med landskap som minnet mest om gress-slettene i Afrika - aapne gress-sletter med klynger av traer innimellom. Vi kom til Campo Grande 08.30 og ble overfalt av folk som ville selge oss guidede turer til Pantanal. Vi satt oss ned og saa paa de ulike alternativene vi hadde (flyers),og bestemte oss for aa reise med Ecological Expeditions. De hadde samarbeid med hostellkjeden HI (Hostelling International). Da vi kom til hostellet, som var mindre enn 5 minutter fra termialen, fikk vi frokost for vi gjorde avtale om turen. Vi fikk god informasjon om turen, som var en tur med 3 overnattinger. De foretrakk kontant betaling, saa guiden (Levi) fulgte Jane til naermeste bankterminal, ventet paa henne utefor, og fulgte henne tilbake til hostellet. Turen kom paa 900 reais ... read more

Horseback riding, Piranha fishing and Safari ... read more

We left Santa Cruz, Bolivia on July 17th by train to head to the border of Brasil. We boarded the train which took fourteen hours to reach the town of Puerto Suarez, Bolivia where we would cross into Brasil. I then headed to the border check point of Bolivia to get my exit stamp which should have been free but the man with the stamp told us it would cost ten bolivianos to get a stamp. We paid our blackmail money and got our stamp as the border man put the money in his own pocket. We then headed further on to the Brasil checkpoint where we showed our visas and passports and entered into the city of Corumba, Brasil. Now with the last border crossing done we headed to the Pantanal. The Pantanal is wetlands ... read more

After freezing our asses off in the Pantanal we got a minibus for six of us to Bonito. Bonito is a small town on the edge of the Pantanal about 6 hours drive from where we were. The road turns into a dirt track for about half the journey so we had to endure some bumpy parts. On arrival in the Hostel, first thing we all looked for were hot showers, we didn't smell that bad but four days without any kind of shower made us feel like the backpackers that we are. The hostel is really nice in Bonito, great friendly staff and a nice area to be in. The weather was still cold and we hadn't warmed up at all since the Pantanal, so you can imagine our disappointment when the showers were below ... read more

Tally ho and orf we go! We´ve had our fun in the sun and now it´s onwards with a proper slog through the middle of South America. It´s intrepid travel time again after all that fun & nonsense in Rio. As we all know, the middle of South America is a dark jungle where few men (or women) have feared to tread and those that have have quickly had their heads boiled in pots and eaten by terribly unsporting indigenous types, naked but for the feathers on the end of their spears. Ok, so maybe we´re 500 years too late for all that. The Incas have gone thanks to the generous gifts of disease and slavery brought over from Portugal and Spain, and all that´s left for us to contend with is a pair of increasingly ... read more