23/5/09 After a five hour journey from Bonito we arrived at the Pantanal wetlands, an area the size of France. We were dropped off at a place where we had a late lunch, and then we transferred from the minibus to the back of a truck. We drove for an hour and a half to get to our lodge, and passed all kinds of wildlife! The wet season is overdue so a lot of the lakes and streams were dried up, but we also passed some which hadn't. We saw caimen (South American cro...

21/5/09 We arrived in the morning, after a long overnight bus journey. The reason why people come to Bonito is because nearby is officially the best freshwater snorkelling and diving site in the world. The owner of our hostel told us all about it when we arrived, and it sounded absolutely amazing, but it was expensive and we didn't have the cash to spare, so Dave and I decided not to do it the next day, when everyone else would be. We had nearly all day to do th...

17/5/09 Today we moved on to Foz do Iguaçu, the gateway town to the Iguaçu Falls. First of all we had a five hour trip to Sao Paulo in a private minibus, and then after a couple of hours' wait at the bus station there, we had a 17 hour journey in a public bus to Foz do Iguaçu. I was glad we had to change buses at Sao Paulo, because it's the biggest city in South America and this meant we got to get a glimpse of its sheer enormity. We did get a good view, actua...

15/5/09 We got the 9 o'clock boat from Ilha Grande to the port of Angra dos Reis, where we caught a local bus to Paraty. We had fantastic views on the way, because we spent a lot of time hugging the coast and as a result we passed lots of lovely beaches - some small, isolated, others busier and longer. With the sea on our left and forested mountains on our right, it was beautiful. We arrived mid afternoon, and the rest of the afternoon and the evening was spent h...

13/5/09 After breakfast our group all piled into a minibus, and after about two hours we arrived at a tiny port where we got our boat over to Ilha Grande. This was a 40 minute journey, and it reminded me of the Yasawas, Fiji and the Whitsundays, Australia, because we passed lots of small forested islands on the way. I didn't see any flying fish this time, though, and the sea was deeper than the Yasawas lagoons. It was just as hot and sunny, though! When we arrive...