Bonito really is Muito Bonito

When we left Puerto Iguazu in Argentina, we ended up missing our long distance bus from the Brazilian side by about ten minutes.   But, it ended up working out for the better, because we got a cheaper bus.   We miscalculated the border  crossing time by quite a lot, mostly because we didn ´t account for bus transfer times (three of them) as well as we should have.

We met a woman from New York, strange with apparently a good bit of money.   She was traveling to Rio just to visit the ghettos (favelas) because a character in a book  that she has been  writing for four years, that she only intends to publish if it “feels right,” was “born” in the favelas.

Anyway… our overnight bus had plenty of room, which meant better sleep than usual.   When we arrived in Campo Grande, for the first time, the tourist vending vultures descended upon us.   I guess we ´ve found the gringo-trail!   We decided to wait a few hours in the bus station to catch the first bus to Bonito, a fabulous tourist destination just a few more hours away.

We arrived in Bonito in the afternoon, got a discount at our hostel, and met some great french-Canadians.   Our hostel was really nice, really clean, hot showers, and great atmosphere.   We felt like we were part of the Swiss Family Robinson the whole time.   The next day, after a really fantastic breakfast, we lazed the morning away reading and chatting.   About noon, we decided to go to a resort place (of which there are several, some pricier than others) and swim in the crystal clear river water with all the fishes.   It was about 7km from town, so we took moto taxis, which was awesome!   You just go to the counter at a tiny shop and tell them where you want to go.   Then you get on the back of a dirt bike with some guy, strap on your helmet, and off you go!   It was quite funny to watch Pat try to fold himself onto one of these tiny bikes… about the size of a crotch-rocket.

All the drivers wear these little vests, like basketball scrimmage jerseys. Very official.

For $3 a person, we were shuttled to a beautiful sub-tropical park, where we were two of four vistors.   We switched into our swim gear (Brazilian bikini time!), and jumped in.   Well, waded at first.   They have stairs built into the banks in some places, so we  used them at first instead of taking the plunge straight off.   The water was about 68 degrees (they said 20 celsius), and the fish were HUGE!   Most of them looked similar to trout, but all of them were about 18 inches!   It was kind of freaky because, although we could see the bottom perfectly, our depth perception was severly distorted.   In a regular river, you can sort of tell if you ´re going to hit a tree or a rock, but not here.   Other than that, lots of fun!   After we ´d had enough floating and swimming in the crystal-clear pools, we got out to sunbathe.

Every once in awhile, a group of tourists would roll through.   It was funny because we were the only visitors swimming.   It was probably about 75, maybe 80, but for these folks, that ´s kind of chilly.   So everyone with their long sleeves and pants (brazilian tourists), were quite amused at the mostly naked tourists laying out in the sun and swimming in the water.

About half-way through the day, we were walking through the forest park of the park and ran into two beautiful red macaws.   They are such magnificent birds!   When they flew away, I felt the blast of air as one nearly took my head off from behind.

One of the red macaws… so amazing!

To save money, and to enjoy the fresh air, we walked back to town.   The highway had about as much traffic as the average Wyoming highway (so a car every 10-15 minutes), but the scenery was spectacular.   We walked past ranches lush with shoulder high grasses and grazing cattle, and plenty of forest.   The smells were fantastic, and it was really peaceful.

When we got back to town, we stocked up on food for the Pantanal and ran into the Canadians at a pizza place.   They had half a pizza leftover and invited us for a slice.   The pizza here is SO good.   Really, it ´s almost gourmet.   It beats any American pizza chain hands down, over and over.

We got to bed pretty late, but all in all, and ideal vacation day!