Jun 3, 2006 - The Pantanal

Fifteen hours on a bus from Foz and we arrived in Campo Grande. It all happened very quickly. Off the bus we were met by touts, one of whom mentioned a place that a friend had mentioned. 20 minutes later, Paulo and Maureeen from Pantanal Tours had booked us on a bus leaving 2 hours later for the Pantanal. Another 5 hours and the bus driver was motionong for us to get off the bus, it was a bit sudden as I though we had atleast another hour to go. I should know by now that estimates of time here are wildly inaccurate! Well Jaime from the...

Mar 23, 2006 - Vers le Pantanal

Désolés pour le manque de nouvelles ces temps-ci... Tout va bien,nous venons de trasverser le brésil, et nous trouvons donc actuellement à Campo grande. Dans le bus nous avons recontré pas mal de gens: irlandais, norvégien, indienne(!), et anglais, et nous venons de décider de partir avec eux pour 3 jours dans le Pantanal:au programme: caimans, anacondas, piranas...mais aussi caipirinha... Enfin, après ces trois jours, direction corumba pour passer la frontière vers la Bolivie.

Mar 17, 2006 - Bonito - land of crystal-clear rivers

Bonito is one of those magical places in Brazil that often escapes notice. Tucked into a corner of southwestern Brazil near Paraguay, Bonito lies more than 1000km from the sea and the nearest big city is a long, bumpy bus ride away. Yet despite its isolation, Bonito's natural wonders have long made it a favorite destination for Brazilians and for a handful of foreign visitors. The town itself is just a wandering grid of dusty lanes (and two paved roads). Scattered about, you'll find a handful of laid-back pousadas (guesthouses), quaint...

Feb 26, 2006 - Chuy, Uruguay to Porto Alegre, Brazil

Sadly this was to be our last scheduled day of riding in South America. It has been one of those experiences you wish would never end and you could tell that everyone in the group was having the same feelings. On the bright side, the weather was great, there was little traffic and the scenery was interesting and ever changing throughout the day. We left our hotel in Chuy and headed north towards the border to Brazil. The border crossing was fairly smooth. The only hassle was that the border gurds decided to randomly go through our baggage...

Jan 26, 2006 - Bonito

Other than posing with Mermaids and herding cows, I also went snorkeling down a crystal clear river, invented cocktails, pseudo-caved in a beautiful yellow and blue cavern (La Gruta Azul), and most importantly, made friends and treated them as they I wanted to be treated.

Jan 20, 2006 - BRASIL!!! Campo Grande and the Pantanal

Note: The map function on my website does not reflect the route I took from Asuncion to Campo Grande. Be sure to check the Asuncion entry for my trip up the Rio Paraguay. I experienced a startling revelation when I crossed the Paraguay/Brazilian border and realized, my God, they don~t speak Spanish in Brazil! The ease of blissful travel in Argentina, Chile, and Paraguay was quickly diminished as I realized, um, I can~t even ask where the bathroom is here. The reality of not knowing the language makes it much more difficult to find your way...

Dec 28, 2005 - The Pantanal, Brazil

We spent four days exploring the Pantanal on foot and by horseback. We saw caimans, capybaras, coatimundis, so many birds and butterflies, fished for piranas (fun to catch but horrid to eat) and tried to avoid a French tourist whose main aim was to catch the animals... but he claimed this was ok as he never visited zoos.

Dec 25, 2005 - Bonito - Christmas Eve & Christmas Day

CHRISTMAS EVE = SNORKELLING A snorkeling trip down the Parata river was the only possible way to spend such a beautifully sunny day. The fresh water normally has visibility of 40m, but due to recent high rainfall levels this was reduced to 28m - still the clearest I've ever seen!! We were kitted up in wet-suits, more as a precaution to protect our delicate bodies from the sun as sunscreen wasn't allowed (most people still managed to burn the backs of the legs that were exposed!!) and that gave us the floatation required to just lie...

Dec 23, 2005 - Pantanel

'There are very few places on earth where it is so easy to see so much wildlife as in the Pantene, which occupies an arguably unique ecological niche as an unparalleled biogenetic reservoir. An open swampland larger than France, extending deep into the states of Mato Grosso and Mate Grosso del Sul. It is the biggest inland swamp in the world, covering some 200,000km² of upper Rio Paraguai basin. It acts as an immense sponge, seasonally absorbing the swollen waters of 3 large rivers - the Paraguai, Taquari and Guiaba.' All that said, the...

Dec 23, 2005 - Christmas time, mistletoe and wine.....and Paraty

After the Pantanel we headed south to a place called Bonito which is on the southern edge of the Pantanal. This area is famed for its clear water springs and rivers and this is where we got to spend our Christmas. Unfortunately while we were in the Pantanel Shaun got a mosquito bite on his face. He thought it was a zit and so decided to squeeze it to death - not a good thing to do in hot and humid weather. So by the time we got to Bonito it has become a big puss-y hole on his face which he constantly tried to cover-up in photos! On...

Dec 22, 2005 - Killer mosquitos in the Pantanal

After leaving Foz do Iguazu we continued north up through Brazil with a brief overnight stop in a town called Doradas, and finally stopping in the Pantanal. The Pantanal is basically an open swampland bigger in area than the whole of France (200,000sqkm). There used to be unrestricted cattle grazing over all of it however this has now reduced somewhat. Despite this, there are still at least 20 million head of cattle roaming over the swamp today (all the indian white type cow with the neck humps!). There are very few roads across the swamp,...

Dec 11, 2005 - Ponta Porra

We only left for Ponta Porra at two in the afternoon, after our visit to the orphanage and a few lazy hours in the hammock since everything in Bonito was closed. After a few hours our bus turned on a road that seemed to be blocked but the left side of the blockade had been breached and our drivers apparently felt it was worth a try to see what was up. That became clear a few kilometres further down the road when we were looking at a river but only the remains of a bridge, washed away in the recent flooding in Matto Grosso do Sul. This would...