Caroline and Helen's Round-the-World Trip
Browse the message archives:
Well you will be pleased to hear we are now on the right side of the continent and in the right country!
So what have we been up since we last wrote - we started off with a rather long bus journey from Santa Cruz to the border town of Quijarro. Not too bad a journey - bus would only start if bump started but it kept going for the required 18 hours! We got drug searched on the way but fortunately they left the tourists pretty much alone and arrived safely at the border early morning to find out that the train we wanted to take had broken down en route! (Also chatted to a girl recently who took the same bus journey as us a few days later and it took 2 days! Think we did rather well!). Entered Brazil no probs at the town of Corumba where we wandered around the rather closed streets and booked a trip into the Pantanal wetlands with the only company that was open (it was a Sunday)! Headed off early the next day and arrived in time for lunch. While we were there we took a boat and camped out on a beach for the night with our guide and 2 Swedish girls and were woken up in the morning by a family of Giant Otters (cute but v.noisy!), took a couple of walks (saw lots of howler monkeys, a red brocket deer, capybara, a glimpse of a Tapir (well thats what the guide said the flash of black was!), agoutis, alligators, a v.poisonous snake, iguanas, chameleon, a rare green rufus kingfisher, woody the woodpecker and a tree anteater) and lots of parrots, kingfishers, birds of prey etc and went horse riding. We also had our first taste of Brazilian sugar cane rum - nice if you put enough other stuff in it - which washed down the Piranha we caught and cooked for dinner. Unfortunately on our last walk we hit a tick-nest so got covered in the things and have had to put our clothes in quarantine in our bags till we find a laundrette (not looking likely at the moment - maybe later, we had enough trouble finding an internet place!).
Next we jumped on a long bus to Sao Paulo, we got on one stop late only to find out that in the time from the first stop they had resold our tickets - the cheeky buggers! Lots of muttering did not change anything so we got dodgy seats for the 19hr journey! Since being in Sao Paulo we have visited the oriental district where we treated ourselves to a lovely Japanese meal (supposed to be some of the best outside Japan) and spent today sightseeing. Tried to visit a snake farm this morning (where they make loads of anti-venoms) but the only entrance we could find was closed and couldn't get across the University (huge with a big concrete wall all round) to the other entrance that one person thought existed. Gave up and headed for the art museum to get a taste for Brazilian paintings and then the fasinating Japanese Immigration museum chronicalling the history of the many immigrants who originally came over to help on the coffee plantations. Have also wandered around the shopping streets and tried most of the food available on the street stalls for breakfast and dinner.
Tomorrow we catch a bus up the coast to Paraty where will stay for a day or so before moving up to Rio for a couple of days before our flight.
So what have we been up since we last wrote - we started off with a rather long bus journey from Santa Cruz to the border town of Quijarro. Not too bad a journey - bus would only start if bump started but it kept going for the required 18 hours! We got drug searched on the way but fortunately they left the tourists pretty much alone and arrived safely at the border early morning to find out that the train we wanted to take had broken down en route! (Also chatted to a girl recently who took the same bus journey as us a few days later and it took 2 days! Think we did rather well!). Entered Brazil no probs at the town of Corumba where we wandered around the rather closed streets and booked a trip into the Pantanal wetlands with the only company that was open (it was a Sunday)! Headed off early the next day and arrived in time for lunch. While we were there we took a boat and camped out on a beach for the night with our guide and 2 Swedish girls and were woken up in the morning by a family of Giant Otters (cute but v.noisy!), took a couple of walks (saw lots of howler monkeys, a red brocket deer, capybara, a glimpse of a Tapir (well thats what the guide said the flash of black was!), agoutis, alligators, a v.poisonous snake, iguanas, chameleon, a rare green rufus kingfisher, woody the woodpecker and a tree anteater) and lots of parrots, kingfishers, birds of prey etc and went horse riding. We also had our first taste of Brazilian sugar cane rum - nice if you put enough other stuff in it - which washed down the Piranha we caught and cooked for dinner. Unfortunately on our last walk we hit a tick-nest so got covered in the things and have had to put our clothes in quarantine in our bags till we find a laundrette (not looking likely at the moment - maybe later, we had enough trouble finding an internet place!).
Next we jumped on a long bus to Sao Paulo, we got on one stop late only to find out that in the time from the first stop they had resold our tickets - the cheeky buggers! Lots of muttering did not change anything so we got dodgy seats for the 19hr journey! Since being in Sao Paulo we have visited the oriental district where we treated ourselves to a lovely Japanese meal (supposed to be some of the best outside Japan) and spent today sightseeing. Tried to visit a snake farm this morning (where they make loads of anti-venoms) but the only entrance we could find was closed and couldn't get across the University (huge with a big concrete wall all round) to the other entrance that one person thought existed. Gave up and headed for the art museum to get a taste for Brazilian paintings and then the fasinating Japanese Immigration museum chronicalling the history of the many immigrants who originally came over to help on the coffee plantations. Have also wandered around the shopping streets and tried most of the food available on the street stalls for breakfast and dinner.
Tomorrow we catch a bus up the coast to Paraty where will stay for a day or so before moving up to Rio for a couple of days before our flight.
