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Christ the Redeemer in a moment of cloud clearingWe have been travelling for just over a week now. Since my last update we returned to the mainland and visited a beautiful colonial town called Paraty. I really liked this town. It reminded me of Antigua in Guatemala with cobbled streets and colonial buildings but it had the advantage of being on the coast. We went out for an amazing Thai meal on the first night and though expensive, it was probably one of the best meals I have ever had- shrimps with asparagus! My favourite.
The next day we went out on a "party" boat. We were fortunate to have great weather and we visited a number of beaches and could jump off the boat into the moderately warm, but crystal clear sea. Due to its party boat nature it did also involve some drinking and we returned to the mainland at 5pm with headaches and departed to bed early.
The next morning I had a bit of time to explore the town and then we departed for Iguazu falls. This involved a 6 hour mini bus trip and then a 15 hour overnight coach. The time passed relatively quickly and we all managed to get some
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On the party boat sleep on the coach. We arrived into the local town of the falls and due to bad weather we delayed our trip to the falls and instead crossed the border into Paraguay and visited the black market. Being one who would never miss a shopping opportunity I left with a waterproof camera that I had been keeping my eye on for a while with a price tag of £100 less than I could get it for at home.
The next day we headed to the Argentinian side of the falls and took a jet boat from below the falls and up the river to gain a fantastic panoramic view of the falls. We then were driven under two off the falls and had an extreme, cold, power shower! Safe to say my new camera did its job and I got some good pics in the falls. We then spent the afternoon walking around the falls, observing rainbows and butterflies and drying off!
The last day at the falls we spent visiting the Brazilian side. We were fortunate to have good weather and great Panoramic views of the falls. We then had a long afternoon
waiting for our night minibus and spent it drinking beer and playing cards. We then took our 10 hour, uncomfortable minibus journey to Bonito (which in Spanish means beautiful). We arrived exhausted but fortunately the hotel had our rooms prepared so we caught a few winks. The rest of the day was a bit slow, there was rain and therefore all attractions were closed. I entertained myself with the Internet and went for a run. I have been fortunate enough to get in plenty of runs but I don't think that will be continuing when we hit altitude!
Today the weather had improved so we could go snorkelling. We went to Prata river for our adventure. On the way we saw an anteater which was amazing but I didn't get time to take a picture, sorry! On arrival we squeezed into our wetsuits and then walked thought the jungle for half an hour and reached the river. After a quick lesson in floating we began our driftswim. It was amazing to be in such clear water with the floor only a couple of feet away and see so many large colourful fish. We were in the water
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Colonial house in Paraty for a good couple of hours and were very pleased with what we had seen. On its second water outing, my new camera did an outstanding job. Afterwards we were treated to a hearty lunch and more importantly I saw two toucans! They seemed unreal with their cartoon features. All in all abreast day though I do now have a cold and not sure being in a river for two hours with a snorkel will have helped. Tomorrow we head to Pantanal. Xxx
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