I'm in Brazil in a town called "Bonito" or the direct translation in Portugease, "Beautiful" and by God is this place beautiful. I now know why its got the name and why its the number one eco tourist site in the country. We are in the state of Matto Gross do Sul, in the south west of Brazil, home to some of the biggest snakes in the world, the anaconda, they even have a river called Rio Sucuri, or Anaconda River they have so many of them. Camila and I did a rafting trip while here and we got to see 3 on the river including a 7 meter monster who was quietly hiding in a tuft of grass on the side of the river basking in the early morning sun. The state is home to a number of indigenous tribes, the vast majority of which tourists can't visit, and the land os covered in tropical savannah's that house some of the world's great biodiversity.
Bonito reminds me a lot of Champada Dimentina in Bahia with also some of savanna in South Africa thrown in for good measure. The land had red soil, rolling small hills, sugar cane everywhere, with wide exapnses of land with what look like anorex cows everywhere. The locals look Indian like and they all have dark skin and jet black hair. We arrived here by taking a 1.5 hour flight from Sao Paolo, which was tough, as I had a hangover from Camila's sisters marriage to Rodrigo Bortocceli. When we got off the plane we were hit with a heat wind which was 39 degrees. Same experience as walking into a sauna. Intense heat straight away hitting your face and letting you know you're a million miles away from home. Despite the farcical airport the infrastructure of Bonito is very good with one main road with a variety of restaurants, souvenir shops and tourism agencies making up the majority of sites. The city itself is very close to Campo Grande to the north and to Paraguay to the west, which has had a big influence on the place. I ended up getting a shave and haircut for 23 real or 7 euro from a Paraguayan man who married a local girl here from Brazil and has been here for 40 years where he plies his trade with one tiny little barber shop, with one old chair which he says is 80 years old. When asked why Brazil, he explained in his native Spanish "mucho serviceo", more business.
We're on day 4 of 8 days in Bonito and it has been action packed. The highlights so far:
There are a number of things I'd like to report that have been frustrating about Brazil, some of them the old faithfuls:
Bonito reminds me a lot of Champada Dimentina in Bahia with also some of savanna in South Africa thrown in for good measure. The land had red soil, rolling small hills, sugar cane everywhere, with wide exapnses of land with what look like anorex cows everywhere. The locals look Indian like and they all have dark skin and jet black hair. We arrived here by taking a 1.5 hour flight from Sao Paolo, which was tough, as I had a hangover from Camila's sisters marriage to Rodrigo Bortocceli. When we got off the plane we were hit with a heat wind which was 39 degrees. Same experience as walking into a sauna. Intense heat straight away hitting your face and letting you know you're a million miles away from home. Despite the farcical airport the infrastructure of Bonito is very good with one main road with a variety of restaurants, souvenir shops and tourism agencies making up the majority of sites. The city itself is very close to Campo Grande to the north and to Paraguay to the west, which has had a big influence on the place. I ended up getting a shave and haircut for 23 real or 7 euro from a Paraguayan man who married a local girl here from Brazil and has been here for 40 years where he plies his trade with one tiny little barber shop, with one old chair which he says is 80 years old. When asked why Brazil, he explained in his native Spanish "mucho serviceo", more business.
We're on day 4 of 8 days in Bonito and it has been action packed. The highlights so far:
- Fazenda Mimosa. An old colonial farm in a vast farm, that boasts 5 excellent waterfalls that we decided to pay a visit to. The trip consisted of 8 people being walked through a forest for 20 minutes getting an explanation of the various flora and fauna on offer then a slow boat down a beautiful river with tiny waterfalls and then a variety of large waterfalls where we all got the chance to swim in if we wanted. The highlight being this amazing waterfall we could swim into a cave behind it called, "Cachocheira Desejo" or the waterfall of desire or wishes, the reason being was that a natural stone formation inside the cave that had formed over thousands of years which looked like a man's penis was inside. Only in Brazil!I'd give the trip a strong 7/10 for value and for beauty
- Floating down Rio Sucuri was excellent. This involved a pick up at our hotel, then a 20 minute drive to another private farm where we went to see the spring of the river and then from there we put on a wet suit and a snorkel and gently floated down the river for 1 hour. This trip was like a a space walk, except in the jungle, with a river jam packed with exotic fish, with a bed of snails crustaions, white and black stones, fallen trees and branches and a ton of algae and shrubs. What I liked most about it was how beautifully transparent the water was and how we simply had to kick out legs once at the start and then for a solid hour we had little or no work to do but float. The water was maybe 2 or 3 meters in depth at it's deepest and there was a large variety meandering turns with lots of surprises of different scenes and settings. I found this a very very relaxing meditative experience, where I could watch a amazing fish, listen to a variety of warbles and chirps from the local birds, while watching my companions enjoying themselves as I figured out in my head some of lives little puzzles and gave thanks for all the great people in my life and for some of the amazing experiences i have had. 10/10 for value and beauty. It was the nearest think to space I've come to and an amazing way to float while praying and giving thanks.
- I've done something like this before but going to Gruta Azul or the Blue cave was cool. Another trip about 30 minutes from the hotel this time in a group of about 8 we descended down some very slippery rocks to a depth of about 50 meters to see a very nice cave end full of crystal water in a chamber of stalactites and stalagmites. What was very beautiful for me was not just looking at the water and hearing the stalagmite water drops piercing the blue crystal water but also looking back up the steps we had come seeing the intense bright light descending down the walls and hitting the chamber casting shadows in multiple directions. I thought it was a little dangerous. The groups were too big. There was a lack of infrastructure and easy to slip and annoyingly it was only one way, so you had to wait for other groups when trying to go down and come up. I'd give it a 5/10. I'm not a big cave fan hence the low marks also I'd seen many limestone caves in my day, some of which are as good if not better.
- Not a trip but something I've really enjoyed on this trip has been the wild animals we've seen. The huge anaconda was a highlight, but while swimming in river Sucuri I also saw a small fish no bigger then a sprat or anchovies jumping out of the water to catch little flies that hovered on the edge of the water beside a waterfall. They jumped various times and it was a cool sight to be seen. We met some small monkeys that came out of a sugar cane field while driving to one of the sites and they were very cheeky getting very close to our van looking for food and getting up to no good in general. We also checked out a lazy alligator, the locals called Tom who just seemed to ignore humans and just hung around the dinner areas waiting to scavenge and then just posing for photos at the water edge. We then met a large parrot who for the last 5 years has befriended a woman who was selling cards, jewelery and clothes beside to the entrance of Rio Sucuri, he loved running around after her and also he loved being kissed and also showing off his feathers when she asked him to do it.
- In our lovely hotel, when we arrived for the first 3 days, while it holds over a hundred people there were only 4 including us. We had the place to ourselves. We got to know a very nice older man down near the pool who put music on for us at night, while he talked to us about why he left the hustle and bustle of Sao Paolo, never to return, for a more tranquil life in the jungle city of Bonito. He also introduced us to an amazing local fruit called Guivera! Wow! I haven't been able to stop drinking it. Seemingly this is the only place you can get it. A lovely light, cross between a melon a lemon and a peach. To compliment the picanha, manjoica and rice a delight.
There are a number of things I'd like to report that have been frustrating about Brazil, some of them the old faithfuls:
- The traffic in Sao Paolo is terrible. Really congests. It seems to have got worse since last i got here. You can literally be caught in traffic for hours with sometimes 100s of kilometers tail backs. The crazy motor bikers also like to take their fair share of risks darting in and out of traffic. What has been a pain is also the large number of protests going on in the country, which I totally agree with, the people fighting corruption and trying ti increase the quality of their overall health, education and infrastructure as well as much more, but it has grinded traffic almost to a halt in some streets I've been on
- While the euro is strong at the moment at 3.1 to the real, it is still expensive here and importation tax is everywhere. Here in Bonito, the trips we are doing are great but they often charge up to 3 euro a photo when you finish a trip - which is expensive for us but exorbitant for the locals.
- The heat! Some of the nights have been hot!
