Blogs from Bonito, Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil, South America - page 2

If anyone wonders why we try to upgrade from camping in tents to a hotel/hostel double room with shower and toilet, today is a very good reason. Had to be ready to leave at 4.45 am and who wants to stuff a sleeping bag into its stuff bag, a mat into its stuff bag and a pillow into its stuff bag and sort ourselves out for the day in the dark purely with torchlight and finally, take down and pack up a dirty damp (on the outside) tent into its bag and cart it with all the rest of our baggage to the bus before bumbling in the dark to the (not always clean) communal facilities several metres away? Bus finally drove off at 5.30am - 30 minutes later than planned as organising everything and everyone ... read more

At last I have staged a full recovery. The antibiotics I obtained had worked just in time for me to visit Foz do Iguaçu, which was well-timed since our group had made the decision of staying there one night longer than planned, trading two sets of long drives and a free camp in for just one day of vigourous driving. The Brazilian side of the Falls offers a panoramic view of what we had a close-up of in Argentina. A crescent-like formation is the backdrop for what has frequently been touted as "the world´s most beautiful waterfalls." Indeed, without being a connosseur if such things myself, I can confirm this possibility. Yesterday we had a sweaty drive northwest to Bonito- 14 hours driving past endless sugar plantations. Brazil is supposed to be the world´s biggest exporter ... read more

We woke today excited for adventures but soaking wet as our tents flooded in the night with a storm and we all had to get up in the night to re-peg everything and soak the puddles of water up with our clothes in our tent!! Nightmare! So when we woke up this am it was still raining and really crappy weather. The 2 of us had booked to go to the blue caves this am but we got to reception and were told theyd shut it for the day cos you apparantley need lots of light and sun for it to be effective! So, that was a fail! Most of the rest of the others went river snorkelling for the day but we decided against that cos apparantley there is lots of snorkelling in Croatia! So ... read more

Hola querida familia y amigos! Por fin estamos de vuelta! Hace unos días que salimos de Samaipata (Santa Cruz-Bolivia), desde ahí nos dirigimos hacia las Misiones Jesuitas las cuales son una preciosidad y el paisaje que rodea los pueblos donde se encuentran las iglesias es impresionante. Desde Santa Cruz hacia el norte y en dirección a Brasil se encuentra el Pantanal, una zona boscosa y pantanosa con una cantidad increíble de aves que se divisan fácilmente desde el autobús. Cerca de la frontera Bolivia-Brasil tuvimos la oportunidad de ver tucanes, búhos, garzas, loros y otras muchas aves de las cuales desconocemos el nombre. Tan solo íbamos en un taxi de camino a un pueblo fronterizo, aplastados como sardinas en lata y pudimos ver tanto..... Ahora estamos en Brasil en un pueblo que se llama Bonito, está ... read more

I woke at 630 am the next day and left at 7 with Katie (Sam wasn’t feeling so hot, so decided have a rest day) in private car to Rio de Prata about an hour away from Bonito. The welcome site were some wooden clad buildings set in beautiful gardens where there were green parrots everywhere feeding on the bread and milk that had been put out for them. We got into our summer wet suits and got our snorkels then took a ride along a dirt road and then a 2km walk through forest to the ‘starter pool’ . The wet suits were good protection from the mosquitoes but got very hot as we walked the 2 km. The river Prata that we were to be snorkeling down had a natural current from the springs ... read more