BB: Bonito and Brasilia

Rise and shine, we have to move again. Next track is from the Pantanal to Bonito and after 2 days from Bonito to Brasilia by bus and from Brasilia to Salvador by plane. In Bonito we mainly relaxed, supposedly you can do some fantastic diving and see beautiful fish, but we just went to a park and a cave with stalagtites.

We stayed one day in Brasilia, the Capital, located in the central part of the country. Brasília is the Capital since 1960. Before that, Rio de Janeiro was. The city has been built in just a few years at the end of the fifty's by the initiative of an earlier president Juscelino Kubitschek. It was suppose to develop de economy in that area by being the new, neutral Capital of the country. Brasil, the country, still has enormous debts just because of this hastily built project. It has a population of about 2.3 million and is the seat of the main federal government: the president, the Brazilian Supreme Court and the Brazilian Parliamant. Brasília is listed as a World Heritage Site by Unesco. This probably has to do with the form, when seen from above, the city's shape resembles an airplane (the buildings are purposly built like this). I would list it as pretty ugly.
We have seen these architectual wonders from nearby and it felt like walking in space. I felt even smaller than I already am, surrounded by these futuristic buildings in 35º C temperature, big streets on the side like aisles (gangpaden) with rushing cars. No restaurants, no normal loudness of streetlife, nor anything else that you find everywhere in Brasil. Just heat, silence and rush...Moving on very quickly was no punishment.

Oh brother, Where art thou

You were everywhere....

More Pantanal

A racoon and a Kingfisher

After the useful information about the Pantanal I forgot to tell you what we did there...

We booked a tour that took us quite far into the Pantanal, and ended up in a sort of ecological farm. Very natural, electricity every now and then, in the middle of wetlands and homes to animals. We slept next to the tree where dozens of parrots nested (the blue ones from the previous post) and a family of alligators (also on photo previous post) right next to where our food was served (and theirs also if you were not careful). No, no worries, alligators are not that dangerous, only if very hungry. So in the 4 days that we were there, we walked through swamps where the water came untill the thighes (have to exagerate a tiny little bit, but it was still quite heavy and scarey, l was not sure about the leeches and other nasty things that would stick themselves on you, uninvited..). We went fishing for piranhas and we all caught a few, no photo here, because I did not like it that much, even a piranha feels a hook going through his eye-ball or lip..You had to be careful though taking them of the hook, their teeth really are no joke. But we ate them in the evening for dinner, so it was for a good cause. We went horseback riding, very beautiful in that environment, we saw deers running in front, monkeys in the trees, and birds were everywhere. You could not even turn your head for one bird or another one appeared ore somebody shouted toucan, toucan...I am very proud and happy that we had a chance to see all this...

Different species of a toucan

Swildlife

Swamps and Wildlife = No, I know, this word does not exist. At least not untill I had been in the Pantanal.

The Pantanal is the world’s largest wetland area, a flat landscape, with gently sloping and meandering rivers. The region, Pantanal or Pântano (this name derives from the Portuguese word meaning “swamp” or “marsh”, covers about 150.000 square km. The Pantanal floods during the wet season, over 80% of the area, and nurturing the world's richest collection of waterplants. It is thought to be the world’s most dense flora and fauna ecosystem. In the dry season, which is now when we were there, you can see more wildlife in half a day than you can in a week in the Amazone. It is home to a known 3,500 species of plants, as well as over 650 birds, 400 species of fish, around 100 species of mammals, and 80 species of reptiles, including the caiman, a species closely related to the alligator, of which there are an estimated 10 million. Threatened species include the Jaguar, Caiman, Maned Wolf, Giant Otter, Giant Armadillo, Capybara and Brazilian Tapir next to a number of birds of which I can't recall the names. We have seen all of these animals exept for the Jaguar and the wolf. I did see monkey's (not like in the Apenheul) and ant-eaters and racoon's and.....well more than I have seen in my entire life I saw in those 4 days in the Wetlands. And none of them were tamed or domesticated. We saw them in their natural habitat and mostly as soon as they saw us they mostly fled to avoid us. Just some pictures of extra-ordinary wildlife. (Forgive me for the cow, but it lookes so nice)

High waters run steep..

Experts as we are by this time on bustrips to where-ever, getting used to them is a quality you have to develop. I still do not sleep more than 3 hours ore less on nightbuses, and you really feel broken once you get of them. Anyway 14 hours of road-rocking from Floripa to Foz de Iguazú, the ultra famous waterfalls at the border of three countries, Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay are in sight. This is a place where there is nothing more to say than aaaahhhhh, wooow, noooo, pfffffffff

I know now what the fuzz is about Foz!

The photo's don't do the spectacular phenomany justice but I will let you have some fragments anyway. Maybe just the photo's that were taken from the Helicopter. Yes, the helicopter. I have been in a helicopter. A helicopter.....

Funny stuff...along the way

Have you ever eaten squid fried earrings?
We did....yummy (In Uruguay)

This is what we saw a day or two after we have been in the dessert ( in Chili, seems ages ago). We did not share their wishes.....

If we were not rescued at the Peninsula Valdés we might have looked like this after some time......................

A bridge too far....

Fabi and Juli







A last day with friends is hard, especially when you do not know if you will ever see them again. I don´t think I need to say more. It shows on the photo (me). Happy to be here and sad to leave. So...we stayed another day :-) Which gave us the opportunity to see a beautiful sunset and the stunning bridge that I do not feel like crossing yet. It is in fact a bridge too far....

For the record: We´ve had a marvellous time. I´m eternally grateful for the special time Juli and Fabi have given me (and Ellen) in this island that is not very known outside South-America. I am a bit emotional so I will let the photo´s do the talking.