Blogs from Pantanal, Brazil, South America - page 8

Here we are in the great big countryside of Brazil. We have seen lots of cowboys, country music, and great big barbeques that reminds me so much of rural America. As Becky mentioned, we are about to start our Pantanal adventure and then head off to Bolivia where we will most likely encounter snow and very cold temperatures! I wanted to share two of the poems I have written relating to my experiences in Brazil. The first poem came to me as Becky and I were walking with some of our Brazilian friends at night in Ilha Grande. Suddenly we entered into the most beautiful sweet smell. It came from a flower that leaves that beautiful sweet smell only at night. Brazilian Lady of The Night There is a sweet gentle smell that only comes out ... read more

Weeks 13-14 We set off to see the Igazu Falls from the Argentinian side and they are truly awe-inspiring. The falls split Brazil and Argentina and are within 2100 sq km of national park. First viewed by Europeans in 1542, they are formed where a hard basaltic rock plateau ends with softer sedimentary terrain which was then eroded. The River Parana divides before reaching the falls with hidden rocks and islands separating the cascades that together form the cataratas which are 2km across. We were able to get some spectacular views walking along the various catwalks and trails at both an upper level (paseo superior) and lower level (paseo inferior). We took the speedboat which went directly under the falls and got completely soaked as waves of spray and water came over the side. We ... read more

After 16 hours on a bus we arrived in Campo Grande with the intention of leaving the next day to start our 4 day tour of the Pantanal. Unfortunately, we were forced to postpone the tour after Julien came home at 6:00am blind drunk and proceeded to deteriorate quickly... Mental note, we´re too old to go out drinking with 22 year olds from Finland! So... the following day we headed to the Pantanal to see as much wildlife in the Brazilian jungle as possible. Almost everyone staying at the ´lodge´was European or Australian and it was really refreshing to be surrounded by english-speaking tourists after 5 months of struggling with spanish and portugese. Our lodgings were interesting to say the last, but on the brightside, our room had a resident spider and a frog in the ... read more

HELLO, Our flight arrived in Campo Grande at about 6.30 in the morning and by 9.30 we had got to our hostel of choice and booked our tour of the Pantanal, leaving the same day in a few hours. Day 1: Travelling - We set off from the hostel at 11.30am in the mini van provided, with four frenches, two dutch and a spaniard. The fun began sooner than anticipated when five minutes into the journey our driver came within inches of rear ending someone. It was wet so he went skidding all over the road before finding a tiny spot to squeeze into to avoid a crash. We weren´t in any danger but it would have slowed our trip down a bit. Another three hours into the trip the tire on the trailer with our ... read more

Down from high altitude at last, we were very excited to be in Brazil which seems so different after the cold nights and lack of oxygen of the Andes. The tropical heat hit us immediatey and we were loaded into an ex-army truck to cross the border and were soon bouncing along dusty tracks, beer in hand, into the Pantanal. The Pantanal is the world´s largest wetland area (over half the size of France) crammed full of an amazing variety of birds and animals, and it definitley counts as one of the highlights of our trip so far. We stayed on a ranch deep in the Pantanal where the ranch owner, Morillo, escorted us around on foot, boat and horseback. Morillo has lived in the Pantanal all his life and his knowledge and enthusiasm really helped ... read more