Sao Paulo-17th Sep
Turned up at the bus station in Sao Paulo at 5am. We headed inside to get the Metro (tube) to our hostel but as no trains were running yet we got a taxi. After a 30 minute drive and the taxi man not knowing where he was going (pulling over numerous of times to check his map) we finally arrived at our hostel called Doms Hostel. The hostel from the outside was down an alley so it was quite dark. The taxi man got our bags out of the car and we told him to wait until someone was answered the buzzer. We heard a man open his window and grunt at us, so Andrew buzzed again and he let us in. Once we were shown to our rooms we fell asleep. After a nice few hours sleep we headed into town via the Metro. We went to a place called Sao Bento. This is in the center of Sao Paulo. (Bit like the city in London). We had a look around the shops, grabbed lunch and a few drinks. After we headed back to the hostel. For dinner we made fried veg with garlic and beef flavoring (bit like oxo) and for desert we had fruit. YUMMY...
Went to bed early this night as we had to get up at 3:45am to catch our flight to Campo Grande. At 2:23am we were awoken but VERY VERY VERY LOUD snoring. We tried putting our headphones in but this was no good. An hour past and we decided to get up before our alarm and make noise packing. To be honest this didnt make a difference as he stayed asleep.
Flight to Campo Grande was nice and quick. We were met at the airport by a man holding a sign saying Mrs Louise Lannigan. He drove us to the bus garage where we waited 2 hours for our bus to the Pantanal.
The bus journey took 5 hours. Our stop was on the side of a main road which we nearly missed. Luckily Andrew went to check to see if it was our stopped and was greeted by a man who looks and sounded like Mr Chow from the Hangover. He transferred us to our room in the Pantanal.
Pantanal- 18th-21st
The room we stayed in was dark, creeky and full of wildlife. There were rat droppings all over the floor and shelf. Holes on the walls and ceiling. After dropping bags off to this room we went for dinner. We met a man called Hans from Switzerland who was travelling South America by motorbike. He and Mr Chow were the only people who could speak English.
After a night of under the covers I was woken up by Andrew who gave me a cuddle and sang me Happy Birthday. As we had to be ready for our day off fun at 7am we got up and had breakfast. Going back to the room to brush our teeth Louise was greeted by a friend called frog. He jumped out of the plug hole while she was leaning over brushing my teeth. Fast little sucker jumped out the bowl and shot off.
At 7:15 we headed to the river to get into our two man canoe. Andrew sat at the back to steer and Louise jumped in the front. Heading down the river we found the canoe was very sensitive to movement and even laughing caused the boat to wobble. Along the way we saw Otters catching fish. Caimans along the river banks. On this trip were another English couple (turned up late night before so didnt know they were there till the morning) and Hans (who had a canoe to himself). The 3 boats headed down river nice and slowly. But Hans having difficulty steering his on his own. After 15 minutes we were both wondering where Hans had got to, to then hear birds squaking and going crazy in a tree above the bush Hans was in. He kept doing this along the way as he couldn't guide his boat. We found this hilarious which wasn't good for us as the boat would not stop rocking.
Once the canoe trip was over we done some Pirhana fishing. Louise caught a Pirhana and a Catfish and Andrew caught 2 fish being with P which we cant pronounce. But Andrew was very jealous as he really wanted to catch a Pirhana.
After fishing we had to go and pack our bags as we were being moved to another place which was known as the farm. Here is where we were settled for 2 nights and have to sleep in a hammock.
In the afternoon we went horse riding for 2 hours around the bush of the Pantanal. We see a lot of different birds on this trip..Toucans and McCors being two of them. On the way back we had to go through a field which had two bulls in. One bull went crazy and ran and headed butted a tree.
After dinner we headed out on our night walk in search of Jaguars armed with only a torch. Along the track Paulo (our guide) said stay on the main road and watch out for Vipers. This worried Louise a lot and set her off into panic mode. We walked for about 10 minutes when we stopped and was told to turn our torches off. This frightened Louise a lot as all she could now think about was venomous snakes and Spiders. We walked for a little longer until we reached a gap in the bushes and was told to walk down there. Louise went crazy and embarrassingly shed a tear. The group and Andrew thought it was because of Jaguars but it was because she was told not to walk of the track because of snakes and now being told to walk into a bush. Andrew said we cant stray from the group and forced Louise down this gap. Once coming out the other side we noticed it was a large water hole where there were about 100 caiman. All you could see when shining your torch with no exaggeration were 100 set of red eyes staring back at us. With a couple of Kapybyro eyes looking at us too. We did see some Jaguar footprints but they must have left before we got there. After a few pictures taken we headed back.
The next morning we all got up for a shower. Mike and Jen who were in our group said the water was freezing. However when it was our turn Andrew had a fiddle around with the shower and noticed it was on the cold setting. So the evil genus that he is turned it back to cold when we were done. Louise said that we should tell them but Andrew said they should work it out for themselves with an evil laugh. Sitting at the breakfast we found it highly amusing when we kept saying we couldn't believe how cold the shower was.haha. After breakfast we went on another 2 1/2 hour walk where was saw monkeys, raccoon type creature, armadillo and a dead cow. Our guide told a lot about the nature there. He showed us the tree which made fresh drinking water, a tree that makes pva glue and red fire ants. That can kill you.
After lunch we headed out again for another 3 hour walk (yes a lot of walking in the wild) in search of an Anaconda. However it had moved from where it was last spotted. On the way back we came across a large mud pit full of Caiman, storks and a beautiful sunset.
That night we were woken by a huge storm. With constant lightning and thunder. It was actually really cool to watch.
Bonito-21st
This morning we transferred to Bonito by bus. We arrived at 12.30pm and settled in to our hotel. We booked 2 excursions. One to a natural swimming pool (river with fish) and one to a hidden cave with beautiful blue water. The swimming pool was good, we snorkeled with the fish and fed them bags of pellets. Andrew was trying to hand feed them but they werent having any of it.....until...He decided to hold a pellet down with his index finger in the water for the fish....The fish swam up ate the pellet and Andrews finger. Louise could not stop laughing as he must of been the only person in the whole place who has ever been bitten by one of these fish. He then sat on the side and kept on about there teeth while Louise was still relaxing with her feet in the water. (This has scared Andrew for life) haha.
Today we went to the cave. It was a beautiful blue colour (words can not describe it). We read up that the cave wads 850million years old and has the depth of 90 feet. At the bottom it has some fossil remains of a Sabre Tooth Tiger, Mammoth and a giant Sloth. Our guide didnt speak any English so we where in the cave for 3 hours not knowing what he was talking about. However the sight was amazing enough that we didnt care.
For the rest of the day we took a walk around central Bonito where we stopped for dinner. We had caiman to start (set out like calamari but tastes like chicken) and then sirloin steak. Which was lovely.
Tomorrow we will be heading to Iquazzu falls so you may not hear from us for a while but please take a look at the photos in the meantime.
xx
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