Pantanal - May 2012

Upon advice from one of our Intreipid Tour Leaders, Manny, We stayed at the Pousada Santa Clara, in the Pantanal, for three nights. Our accommodation was "camping" aka hammocks, and was so deliciously remote that we had to hitch on the back of trucks to get there.

 

Each morning started the same; being woken by the dawn chorus, a couple of sun salutations, a brisk shower and some stale bread rolls. However, each day was filled with different activities (and hammock-nap intermissions).

Horse riding.

Spotted - Deer, Giant anteater.

Bush Walk.

Spotted - Capuchin monkeys, Armadillo, Maccaws, Toucans,

 

Boat Trip.

Spotted - Cayman, Stalk, Heron, Eagles, Iguanas, Giant otters, Capybara, Vultures.

Pirahna Fishing.

Spotted - Pirahnas.

 

Spotlight Safari.

Spotted - Foxes, Ocelot.

Bonito - Dive bombs in the Rio do Plata

 Just as a wee addidtion to the previous post. This is an actual place where I actually was! Can you beleive it?! I can't.

Bonito - May 2012

I really need to quit complaining about these long bus journeys, but seriously, 21 hours, 2 taxis and three buses later we (finally!) arrived in Bonito.
Literally meaning "beautiful", Bonito is really living up to it's name. We got in about 2pm and were greeted by our friendly hostel crew from Catarino's Guest House. After showering and exploding the contents of our backpacks everywhere, we wondered into the main street to find hire bikes. Out of luck unfortunately; a total of zero bikes available, so we settled for ice-cream.
As of pen to paper writing this, it's the day after that - and what a day!!
We feasted on breakfast (of chocolate cake with sprinkles) then left the hostel at 8am. 54kms later we arrived at Rio del Plata (the silver river). I don't quite have the words to descibe this place, so I'll borrow my mate Louis'... "I see skies of blue, clouds of white, bright blessed days, dark sacred night, and I think to myself, WHAT A WONDERFUL WORLD".
I have never seen water to clear in my life. Usually I have a strange fear of snorkeling, and just being underwater in general, but something about the fearlessness of the fish I was surrounded by, and the crystal clear waters we were in together, I felt comfortable and in awe at the same time.
Right up there with white-water rafting & sandboarding, snorkeling in Rio del Plata has been one of my favourite things about this continent.
I didn't ever want to leave.

Iguassu Falls (part 2 of 2) - Brazil

Across the border, hostel located, bus to National Park jumped on.
The Brazilian side was very different. No crowds of slow-moving tourists, really nice buses which drop you off at various attractions, and full fancy souvenier shops.

The 1st view was of the Argentine side, but further away, so really panoramic. Less walking on the Brazilian side, and the view of the devils throat (although more than beautiful) was a little less "breathtaking" but hilariously pacifier-taking. A little girl dropped her dummy down, yeah that amused me. Less coaties too.

We sort of felt like fitting another attraction in, so we ventured over to the Parques des Aves (bird park). We saw marmosets, flamingoes, Macaws, snakes eating bunnies whole (?!?!?!!) not to mention half a dozen jerk toucans. One jerk toucan bit me on the arm.

The bird park was awesome! Such a rad welcome to Brazil.
What could possibly go wrong on a day with waterfalls, rainbows & toucans? You may ask. I nailed myself on the way home from dinner. Walking, walking, walking, ON THE GROUND! I've really cripppled my leg, and my knee is still bleeding. What a clumsy guy.

Iguassu Falls (1 of 2) - Argentina

Keeping accounts of my travels regularly is prooving to be a task I'm just not staying on to of. So, I'm trying a different tactic. As of writing these words it's the 5th of May, and I'm on a bus from Foz do Iguasu to Bonito (after 2 bus changes). The plan is to write my account of recent adventures now, and transfer ink to screen once I've caught up on my blog. If you're reading this on screen, then well done to me! I win! Now, I guess you want to read about those adventures then, no?

Rory, Jason, Craig, the swiss couple from the hostel and I all travelled from Salto to Puerto Iguazu together. From Salto you can see Argentina, but with our massive backpacks (and customs) we couldn't very well swim across, so we took a "Ferry". It was no interislander that's for sure, but it did the trick. A horrendously long walk later, we got to a bus which took us to Puerto Iguazu. Actually, I should have saved the word 'horrendous' to describe the bus ride. Overnight bus ride of terrors (not nightmares, because that would imply I actually got any sleep!).

Once we arrived, found a hostel, found breakfast and drank coffee, we all jumped on a local bus to the National Park.

The Argentine view of the waterfalls was really awesome! We started at the lower track which took us to the base of the falls and San Martin, the island at the base. San Martin was unreal, we saw butt-loads of armadillos, digging their little holes, scurrying around for insects with their little faces - highlight! We saw a tonne of vultures too, but I think they're kinda gross, so whatever. Vultures. The upper level of the falls was wicked too, standing at the top looking down at the masses of water crashing to the rocks is a really sobering sight.

I kinda wanted to throw a coatie down to see what would happen... but, ya know how it is... I guess throwing furry critters down the largest waterfalls is frowned upon. Speaking of coaties, those little bastards were everywhere. They're so bold. When I was reading trip advisor reviews about Iguazu Falls one review said "lemurs attacked my milkshake". I couldn't have said it better myself, real Shakespearian stuff, that.

(this is coaties)

The last fall we visited was Gargantum del Diablo (the devils throat). No words. It was like looking down into some sci-fi time warp/ space warp/ water warp. Like if you fell down there you'd end up in a different world entirely. I wouldn't be surprised.....

Rory and I took an "eco-tour" boat back to the entrance of the park. Pretty sleep deprived, all we did was eat ice-cream when we got back to the town. Best sleep of my life. Nothing was going to disturb the sweet slumber.

The following morning we caught the 9.30am bus to Brazil.
TO BE CONTINUED......

Salto - May 2012

For a border town, Salto is pretty cool. We stayed here for 2 days, 1 of which was a public holiday (May day). We met some really cool people at our hostel, Jason (USA), Craig (UK), Amy (Aus) among others. We spent all day lounging around at the thermal pools and all night eating alphabet soup and drinking beers. Pruned and bloated; a fabulous combo.

Hot Pools.

The next day we went to explore the town and Rory bought me an anchor charm for my bracelet. My collection is coming along nicely!

Rory playing with the puppies at the border of Uruguay & Argentina.

Punte Del Este - April 2012

Don't be fooled by these pictures of Punte Del Este, the sky may look calm and beautiful, but the weather was HORRENDOUS. It poured down the entire time, and our hostel was a dive. Bad travelling decision. Stay away from Punte Del Este in the winter-time. What a hole.