World Brazil Mato Grosso do Sul Bonito

Chris & Ali's Adventure!

Bonito. Okay something just flew out of my keyboard. Ew. Dec 6, 2004

Hi All, we're in Igaucu Falls, Brazil and came here from a lovely town called Bonito. Bonito is a Brazilian resort town. The town is tiny, but the big draw is the natural rivers and pools around the area. They're formed by calcium deposits so the water is really clear and you can see all the fish and stuff in them. There's really no way to describe it, but it is one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen and by far my favorite place we have visited thus far. It's like I would imagine a tropical paradise of streams and little waterfalls running through a forest, but it's all fresh water. The local pool is one of these streams full of kids jumping off the sides, feeding fish, and floating down the river. It's really lovely. We spent a whole day being tourists and in the morning went to the blue cave and the afternoon spent swimming and snorkeling. The blue cave was really interesting as they think it's about 50 million years old and it has shrimp in it that are only found in South Africa. It also has fossils that are not found anywhere else in South America, so they think it is evidence that all of the continents really once were Pangea. From there we went to a place called The Aquarium. You walk through the woods and come to a freshwater pool where you can see straight to the bottom. It's not very deep and it's full of fish. We hit the water and spent some time tooling around, getting used to the gear and it was incredible. I actually thought it was much better than a lot of the tropical diving I've done. I'm usually a bit of a snorkle hater... Before we headed out, a couple of ladies with us went to 'powder the noses'in the woods and came back carrying on about two monkeys that were watching them. One of them, a baby capuccino came by to check out the rest of the group. We then headed up stream for more of the same. Gorgeous water and friendly fish. We finished up with a swim by some little falls, a zip line into one of the pools, and a bit ice cream at the resort we came out from. All and all it was a very strange and incredible day. We had a great time with the people in our tour group who were all staying at the same place and had come from the Pantanal with us. So, Sara, Mathieu, Crystal, Linda, Chris, and I headed out to a great dinner. I had a ton of beer and forgot I was supposed to call my mother. In fact, I went home afterwards and everyone else went to the bus station to arrange tickets for the next town the next day. By the time Chris got home, I was half asleep and complaining about itching. I had thought something bit my eye while we were at dinner, but now it was so swollen I could hardly open it. I got some Benadryl and a little extra attenion and drifted off. In the morning we realized I was itchy in a lot of places and it seemed that I was reacting really badly to whatever bit me. We covered me with hydrocortisone and fed me benadryl and got on the bus that afternoon. By the time we got to Foz do Igaucu (the next morning), I pulled my I'm sick and I get a nice hotel and a doctor card. Luckily we found someone who was english speaking-ish and he got me some serious medicine and quick. Turns out I was having an allergic reaction to something I ate or got eaten by... all I have to say is shots of cortizone are your friend. So, now I'm recovering, but it was very itchy for a while there. Chris is writing about the waterfalls here and we're off to Curitiba on another overnight bus... A (&C)

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