POSTCARD FROM BRAZIL Friday 31 August – Sunday 16 September

I had a very painless flight from Heathrow to Sao Paulo on Friday 31^st. Sao Paulo airport was a bit of a nightmare as there is hardly any English spoken but I survived, caught my flight to Campo Grande and got to my hotel there by 11am.  Was not happy to be told by the agent here that they are changing a lot of my programme in Bonito, but I sorted, more or less, later on.

I spent my first afternoon by the pool in Campo Grande, and after a good dinner and a couple of caipirinha I retired early.  The next morning I set off at 8am for Caiman Ecological Refuge Lodge – it was a dreadful day with thunder, lightning, and downpours on and off during the three and a half hour journey.  As well as spotting lots of cattle, sheep and a few horses, there were loads of very tatty human shacks, which extraordinarily enough had cars outside many of them.  On arrival at the Lodge I met up with the six other guests and had a light lunch before unpacking in my tiny room.  

That evening, after an introduction to the Pantanal by our guide, we went out on a 3-hour safari, but didn’t see very much – capybara, marsh deer, hyacinth macaw and crab-eating foxes were really all that we saw, except for a few birds of various types and kinds.  It was however very cold and quite wet too, and I came back 3 and a half hours later absolutely frozen, and needed a caipirinha to warm me up.  After a quick change it was dinner, and they kindly gave me a birthday cake for dessert to share with the others.  Unbelievably it was my guide’s birthday too.  

The next morning was a little warmer, thankfully, although it cooled down again as the day went on.   I set off on my safari with my new guide Jessica – just her and me and a driver.  Wonderful! We had a great morning, although we didn’t see a huge amount, lots of birds, but we did see an anteater – a huge bouncy animal that looks like a large dog!  The afternoon was very cool so well wrapped up we set off again and this time beside seeing lots more anteaters we did eventually find a jaguar albeit by spotlight.  We spent half an hour following her through the bushes.

On Tuesday morning we set off at 7am on safari, saw lots of birds, a yellow armadillo but not much else.  Happily it was a much warmer morning.  However the afternoon and evening were very different - we saw so much….. we started off with the Bowring Owl, and then the Howler monkey, a Rhea or two, the White-lipped Piccary, the Feral Pig, a Toucan on the ground [rather than flying fast in the air], a Great-Horned Owl and chick, a Tapir and finally a jaguar twice, albeit in the evening when the light is not good.  She was walking away from us first time around and walking towards us second time around, but sadly photos not good thanks to night time!  We had good sundowners by a lake watching a wonderful sunset, and then had a barbeque dinner at the end.  A good day in the end!

On Wednesday I had a different guide, Julia, as we were meant to be doing slightly different things, but in the end we just did a normal safari, looking for jaguar and ocelot.  Sadly we did not find them in the morning but we did see beautiful birds, an anteater, some caiman and some capybara.  In the afternoon and evening we searched fruitlessly for some jaguar, but all we found was a beautiful sunset.  They gave us a dinner in the forest – all rather weird to set the whole thing up for the two lodges when there were only 9 guests, plus about 5 guides.  

On Thursday morning, I packed up and left the lodge at 10am.  I went via Reception to pay the astronomical bill for two bottles of wine and two caipirinha and then set off with my Portuguese speaking driver for Bonito.  We had only been on the road about 15 minutes when we came across two jaguars sitting beside the road.  The driver had gone past, then slammed on his brakes.  The language barrier was a problem but we eventually backed up a bit, just as another car was coming along behind us – they also put on their brakes! The jaguars then got up and walked across the road behind our car, so I did get a bit of a view and managed a couple of photos.  At least I had seen jaguars by daylight!

I arrived in Bonito around 12.30pm and settled into this strange little ‘Pousada’. Quite small and quite friendly with a small pool.  I have a large suite of two rooms, kitchenette and shower but they were very basic rooms – a microwave but not a glass, or a cup or a spoon or a kettle in sight!  I spent the afternoon by the pool and then had a light dinner and an early night. On Friday I met my wonderful guide, Andres, for my day at the Boca da Onça waterfalls.  It was a fantastic day seeing the most beautiful waterfalls.  We walked over five miles and it included 900 steps down, and about the same back up, but rather more gradually!

On Saturday I spent the day quietly by the pool, except that there were a noisy foursome there with their loud radio.  Sadly the pool was rather too cold, and eventually the radio too loud so I retired to my room at 4.30pm. 

I went off on another excursion with Andres on Sunday.  Leaving at 7am, we first stopped at the Buraco das Araras, or Macaws’ Hole.  An amazing sink hole in the ground where hundreds of macaws have their nests.  We walked around for an hour or so watching them fly around us – and saw some stunning sights.  After that we drove on to Rio da Prata, or the Silver River, where I was to have a go at snorkelling!  My fantastic guide, Andres, helped me into my gear, and then we set off in a truck for the river.  Once there he helped me into the river and taught me how to snorkel and we then spent about two hours in the river with him guiding me, and I was able to take many photos with my under-water camera.  An amazing experience!  We then lunched together, and he produced a bottle of wine!  All very civilised!  On the way back into Bonito we stopped at the main square and saw the little church there. Once back at the hotel, I went to the pool which was very quiet and had a relaxing hour or so there.

 

On Monday Andres and I set off again, our first stop was the Blue Lake Cave.  This is an amazing lake below the ground which you walk to through a huge cave.  We spent about an hour there having a look and taking lots of photos.  After that we set off for the River Sucuri for me to try and do some more snorkelling.  As soon as we arrived at this delightful spot we were given some lunch, once again all inclusive, and then the two of us set off for the river.  This time Andres was in a paddle boat and I was snorkelling on my own.  Saw many of the Piraputanga fish but not much else, but it was a fantastic experience to be snorkelling in such a blue river.  In fact, I think my photos came out better in the Silver River than in the Sucuri River. After a couple of hours we made our way back by “cattle truck” to the main office so that I could change and then we set off back to my hotel.  I have had a truly wonderful four days in Bonito with a very special guide – one of the best non-safari guides I have had.  He truly was amazing.

 

At 10am on Tuesday morning, 11 September, I set off from Bonito on a 4 hour car journey to Campo Grande.  There was a small hiccup on the way.  I thought something happened to the gear box, and the [Portuguese speaking] driver promptly got on the phone two or three times.  I said “all OK?” and he answered “no problem”.  We motored on if rather slower than usual and after an hour or two a car flashed us as it passed.  We pulled in and the other car turned around and joined us.  So there WAS a problem!  I changed from one car to another [slightly worried that it was genuine] and drove on a lot faster to Campo Grande, from where I flew down to Sao Paulo.  After a long wait for a shuttle bus, I eventually checked into the Slaveiro Hotel around 8.15pm.  A long old day.

On Wednesday I was driven down to Paraty, a small colonial port between Rio and Sao Paulo.  Another four-hour drive, this time sadly through rain in the mountains, and once in Paraty it was drizzling there too.  I checked into the well-known Pousada do Sandi and relaxed.  Went for a short walk around and stocked up on water, wine [a rather filthy one that had to be chucked!] and some nuts etc, as everything in these hotels is expensive.  The next day was again very overcast, but spent it by the pool on my own relaxing with my Kindle!  Went for another walk around the little town in the evening in a light drizzle.

My last day in Paraty was very disappointing with thick cloud and heavy rain for most of the day – all rather sad.  On my last morning the sun was of course shining!  I had a bad start to my journey to the airport – it was to be a shared bus and they couldn’t find the other passengers.  I got in the car at 8am, but we didn’t leave Paraty until 8.45am! Good job there were no problems on the roads.  However a 5 hour car journey, 3 hours at the airport and a 12 hour flight home was a pretty wearing end to the holiday.

At the end, I think I rather enjoyed Bonito more than Caiman!  More fun and better weather!