Blogs from Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil, South America - page 8

On the 14th I left the Pantanal and arrived in Bonito in the evening. In my previous entry I talk about the bad standard of services in Bolivia but here we fall into the opposite extreme. Everything is so neat and organised that it feels like being in a holiday resort. You can only do activities on an organised tour where they pick you up at the hostel and guide you all the way and our hostel even has a swimming pool. It's okay for a few days - I enjoyed visiting a cave, snorkelling and what was sold to me as rafting and turned out to be going on a boat and throw water to other boats with a bucket - but then I feel the urge to leave. The good thing about my stay ... read more

So...I can now confirm that a 14 hour overnight bus is not particularly pleasant...nor the most sleep-inducing experience!....in fact it´s pretty uncomfortable and smells wierd... and for some unknown reason there seems to be a speed bump every 10 metres in brazil....but in good news i survived and arrived at the iguassu falls... the iguassa falls were spectacular....much discussion was had amongst the group about whether they were the world´s tallest, widest, largest, wettest etc or none of the above...in the end it was decided that they were definitely the biggest, widest and wettest waterfalls we had seen this week... we went the the brazilian side first (the falls and river represent the borders between brazil, argentina and paraguay)...which was very impressive...altho populated by what i assumed was the brazilian w.i.... after that we went back ... read more

We needed to make our way from Brazil to Bolivia and so we decided stop somewhere in the Pantanal before crossing the border at Corumba. On reading about the Pantanal we discovered that most tours were 3/4 days which was time we simply didn't have. Instead we discovered a lovely town close to the Pantanal and Corumba called Bonito. Bonito is a small, pretty town which is famous for crystalline water snorkeling and rappelling. We stayed in a lovely hostel in the center of town which helped us organize tours, etc. Because we only had 1 full day to spend in Bonito we decided to go with the recommendation of the hostel and we booked the rappelling tour for the following day. The recommendation was spot-on!!! The rappelling tour involves absailing 74 metres into an underground ... read more

Day 242 - Monday 19 May I'd managed to get 12 hours sleep in, but it was still only half nine when I woke up. With a few hours still to go, there wasn't much else to do but stare out of the window. Beats working I suppose and theres nice views of the countryside. It turns out the bus was running 2 hours late so in the end it took 23 hours to reach Campoo Grande from Rio although i've crossed a timezone somewhere as i've gained an hour back. As im only staying the one night I checked myself into the hostel directly accross the road from the bus station. At 25 Reis (8 quid), its the cheapest i've paid in Brazil, yet i've got my own room (fels like heaven), and a double ... read more

So when we last left you we were about to make our way from La Paz Bolivia to Bonito Brazil.... we had taken the smart option (or wussed out depending on your point of view) and decided to fly to the border and cut out about 48hrs of bus travel. Monday started early with a 5:30 pick up at our hotel the girl from the travel agent who booked our flights escorted us to the airport - we´re not quite sure why but we´ve given up trying to work out why over here, it´s easier just to accept. The flight to Santa Cruz and then the flight to Puerto Suarez were uneventful. Then it was a taxi ride to the border (i´m sure we paid too much) and checked out of Boliva. The Lonely planet had ... read more