After the Pantanal we went to a small city a few hundred kilometers further south. It was not in the guidebook but we had met a Danish couple who after 3 month in south america still considered one of the most fantastic nature experiences they had had. We got there in the afternoon after having spent the whole day on busses and quickly found a tour agency near our hostel which booked us on a 2½ hour snorkling trip the next morning. Even though we had been tempted by the combined rapelling, cave climbing and cave-scuba-diving excursion they also offered the river snorkeling seemed to offer the best views. After booking the trip we went out to explore the restaurants of the city which specialized in exotic fruit juices and exotic meats. On the menu were many kinds of fish, one of which was so big that it normally got served simply as ribs similar to what one knows from pork. They also served Capybaras, the giant guinea pig, cainmans and other strange meats. While we were there I got to try both caiman, capybara and an assortment of strange fish. I would say that of the marsupials I definetely prefer eating capybara to guinee pig.

The next morning we got picked up at our hotel by a private car whith driver which we had hired to take us to the place where we went snorkeling. It turned out to be a big highly organized operation with snorkeling groups leaving for the stream every 30 minutes. The place was one of several which were centreded around ranches which had bought up small patches of jungle of particular beauty before they could be cut be cut down and now earned a living organizing sustainable tourism trips in them. The places were only about ten years old but nearly all other jungle in the area had dissappeared now, even though the tourism which these ranches brought now seemed to be a mojor income for the area. The snorkeling was fantastic one strated at the source of a stream and then simply floated with the current downstream while watching the fish around you. Some of the fish were as long as an arm but at the same time they did not fear you at all so they would swim so close you could almost touch them. The visibility of the river was also fantastic they said it was 35 m and one of the other snorckeling streams nearby was claimed to be the worlds clearest stream with a visibility of 40m.

We had rented an underwater camera at the place where we booked our tour and so were able to get a few great pictures of the fish. After the snorkeling and relaxing a bit in the ranch grounds we went on to see a huge crater which had been created when a huge cave collapsed thousands of years ago.Now the walls of the crater sheltered the nests of a huge number of Ara parots. On our first round it turned out to be too early to see the aras which were only there at sunrise and sundown but we saw an amadillo digging its lair very close to our path. We then waited another half hour before going down to the crater again and then we saw several couples of aras which returned home and perched in the palms sorrounding the crater.

The next morning we visited a cave in the area wich was known as the blue cave because of the bright blue lake at the bottom of the cave. The cave turned out to be huge one side of the cave had collapsed and the entrance was down this steep side which strted as a steep slope in the jungle. Soon one passed under the overhanging celing and came in to the cave to be sorrounded by the mysterious shapes of stalactites and stalacmites. The cave was at least a hundred meters deep and the celing was at places far overhead admitting the daylight to shine down on the clear blue lake which covered the bottom of the lake. On the way down into the cave we also saw a bright green snake slithering across the path and were happy that we were wearing our heavy trekking boots.

The next day we went out to visit the local public river bath and bask in the sun while relaxing. The river here was also very clear and full of big fish. There were so many that you actually could touch them at times. We could only stay a short time at the bath however because we had to go back to Bonito to catch an overnight bus to Foz de Iguazu. We got a bit worried when the motercycle taxier which had brought us to the bath and who were supposed to come and pick us up did not come but we got a lift with a friendly local guy who worked with ROVs in the international oil business.