Oh my god! we have been so busy and so lacking in internet services that we haven’t had any opportunity to update.
Well, where to begin?
We made it to Rio. When we arrived from yet another overnight bus trip to a dump of a (rotovidario) bus station on the out skirts of Rio we were totally overwhelmed by the city and the complete absence of tourist info but managed to get a rip off taxi to our hotel. We then sat in the hottest lobby ever till we were allowed to check in. Rio at carnival was amazing. We were only there for one day but everybody was in the street in costumes and masks and there were street parades and you would suddenly turn a corner and there would be a huge street party. We only had a couple of hours there so we went to Copacabana and Ipanema and the beach areas. They were INSANE! there were so many people on the beach and so many vendors and cyclists. On our way home we got stuck in a street party and were really late to our introductory tour meeting.
A street parade from our hotel window
Copa-Copacobana
Ipanema
The next day we headed off at dawns crack to a little colonial tourist town called Parati it was beautiful with an estuary coastline full of small tropical islands. The next day, armed with a huge esky full of cheap Brazilian beer and cider and spirits, we took this amazing schooner out and it took us around the islands we went swimming off the boat and pretended we were super rich.
Parati (it is Enesco listed so you can’t drive cars around certain parts of the town so the tourists take horse and carts
The streets were flooded coz of all the rain and the high tide
Following the beautiful boat day we had two long days of driving and camping next to road houses we were all a bit demoralized as there are often not showers and it had rained heavily the previous two nights and all our stuff was starting to get dirty, wet and musty. The two long drive days took us to an area called The Pantanal which is a large wetalnd(swamp) bigger than France. Here we got to stay on a Ranch (with real cowboys). We slept in hammocks, went horse riding and and went on walks through the swamp. We saw a myriad of wildlife including huge Maquaw parrots and Jabaru, humming birds (so many birds we can’t remember all their names), armadillo, capybara, wild pigs, howler monkeys and of course Cayman, the other group even saw a jaguar footprint . It was all very exiting the only problem was the Mosquitoes which were present in mammoth proportions and drove all the poms crazy. They didn’t seem to bite Sam and I very much so we had a great time laughing as they all went a little crazy getting hot and bothered. After the ranch we headed to an eco lodge on the Miranda river where we went swimming with Piranha and Cayman, Sam went Piranha fishing, and we took a boat ride up the river.
Me bonding with my horse (dressed like a stupid tourist)
One of our fellow tour members holding a baby Cayman
The Eco lodge (yay for beds)
Piranha Fishing
Finally after three eventful days we drove on to Bonito where we are camped now on the Rio Formoso. The town is very touristy, and Sam and I can’t afford to do any of the activities which are things like cave diving and abseiling. But it is not so bad as our campsite is nearby to some great swimming spots like waterfall plunge pools. The water is crystal clear and full of fish and there are ropes and branches a plenty to dive in off.
Swimming in the beautiful waterholes
Having a great time
xoxo
-Samelia-
