Well our final major bus trip on our tour of South America. Really uneventful but the winding road out of Paraty is pretty stunning. Jungle on both sides, with the occasional glimpse of ocean or a small township. About an hour out of Rio the scenery changed dramatically into the typical urban look of a city. Arriving on time (4 hours) we made our way into the massive Rio de Janeiro bus station.For the first time in Brazil we have come across very helpful Braz...

And we arrived in Paraty. . . . barely. . . For the first time our packs were weighed before we got onto the bus at Iguazu. Not a problem for us but there were a few people who were upset when told they had to pay extra. Also I learnt that Brazilian's have no idea when it comes to personal space. This woman behind me was pretty much right on top of me. I think if I had sat down she would have sat onn me she was that close and it got annoying very quickly ...

We decided to start the day at the Parque das Aves, a bird park opposite the Brazilian entrance to Iguazu Falls.Parque das Aves has over 1000 birds, 130 species in large avaries and we were keen to be able to get close to the birds of South America and specifically the toucans and macaws. We were not disappointed. After taking the local bus, the local buses are surprisingly easy and cheap, about $2.50R a ride, we arrived at the bird park. Paying our money (eve...

After arriving back from the Pantanal and settling into our room - lucky it was free with our tour because i´m not sure either of us could have come to the paying the price for what it was - it was off for some tea. Sheepish to admit that McDonalds was our pick. However Phil now wants a Smurf. I´m guessing their must be a new Smurf movie?Heading back to our room we were pleasantly surprised to find that although the room wasn´t great we both had the best sl...

Well after another interesting flight from TAM (I do kind of like this airline in a strange sort of way - they aren't pretentious and just get the job done) we arrived in Puerto Suarez.We had been lucky enough to meet a lovely couple from Texas who were volunteering at a school for a couple of weeks and as it turned out their guide/school person organised for us a taxi direct to the border for $50 boliviano!After the formalities were over - really easy and qu...