It's always hard to drag yourself away from the daily delights of holidaying to sit down at a computer screen for half an hour to document your thoughts. This, coupled with the invariably long queues to use the computers in the hostel, has meant that this blog is some week and a bit overdue. In fact, I have written 2 entries in my notebook now that have to be written up...and I am just realising that there is a steady queue forming for using pcs so I may have to abandon this attempt too!
Since my last entry in Paraty, Ash and I have attempted (and succeeded) in completing our 'whistle-stop tour' of Brazil (well at least of one small stretch of the humongous country) before setting our sights on Argentina, where we are currently residing.
After an evening on caiprinhas, card games and a hearty stew courtesy of Justin (see...told you it'd get a mention!!) in Paraty, we embarked on a 20 hour journey to Campo Grande via Sao Paulo. Considering how unprepared we were for this epic journey (no tickets, little to no idea of when the buses actually left) things miraculously fell into place and soon we had arrived at Campo Grande ready to organise our 3 day tour of the Pantanal (the amazon basis where loads of cool wildlife apparently hang out).
We spent a day and night in C.G., which was cool as we got to see a bit of 'real' Brazil - a city that seemed more geared towards normal day-to-day life than tourism. We were slightly disappointed, however, that we were unable to find one suitable eatery in the whole city; Brazilians seem obsessed with sweet bread and cheese, cake... and not much else. I put my foot down when Ash suggested Macdonalds and instead suggested a road-side eatery, that turned out to the big mistake on account of the lashings and salt and cheese piled onto my hotdog. I seriously felt as though my mouth had been cured or something after eating - not pleasent!
The morning after we set off on the 4 hour drive to the Pantanal. We were shown to our 'bedroom' (hammocks hanging in a wooden shack) and introduced to the rest of the group. More cairprinhas were the order of the day (..when in Rome...) and we wiled away our first evening playing 'Tudo Bem' (a card game adapted in homage to the popular Brazilian saying).
The following day the planned activities started in earnest (breakfast at 5am!!) and were soon trekking through swamp-land and jungle, spotting macaws, howler monkeys, scores of tropical birds and more caiman (alligator types creatures) than you could shake a stick at. Our guide was a survival expert and showed us loads of cool stuff, like trees whose sap helped relieve the itching from mosquito bites and nuts that could be used as soap. The Pantanal seemed so much hotter and humid than anywhere else we'd been so far, so much so that the middle section of the day was good for nothing else than swinging on hammocks and sleeping.
The rest of the time in the Pantanel was spent trying to avoid caiman in the camp´s watering hole, fishing for pirannas (i actually managed to catch a fish which was rather exciting!), going on night safaris and more general wildlife spotting
After the Pantanal, we concluded our Brazilian trip with a visit to the spectacular Foz do Igazu (big waterfall to me and you). Although I´d read how cool and awe-inspiring these falls were, nothing prepared me for how outstanding they really were. The sheer power of nature you felt while viewing the panorama of falls was incredible and using the wooden walk ways to get up-close amplified this sensation further. It almost felt as though you were on a (really awesome) ride at a theme park with the power of the water and wind smashing into your body from every angle... very exhilaring indeed!
So...with the trip to Foz complete, our time in Brazil had come to an end, something that I felt sad about. As a country, Brazil had taken me by surprise. I was astonished about how friendly and willing to help the people were (despite our embarrassingly awful attempts at Portuguese). I also couldn´t believe the diversity that the country has to offer.. even in the small fraction that we were lucky enough to visit. No one place was the same and there were so many different landscapes, eco-systems and types of architecture to cater for anyone´s taste. On the down side, I wouldn´t say I was too enamoured by the food (how much salt and cheese can one girl tolerate?) and I suppose it was quite dear, especially in Rio. All things considered, though, a brilliant country and a good time had by all!
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