Ons bezoek in Bonito hebben we afgesloten met een leuke avond. Eerst zijn we een traditionele maaltijd gaan eten: jacare (kaaiman) met passievruchtensaus. Het was een beetje taai vlees (vis), maar wel lekker, hoewel we eigenlijk voornamelijk de saus geproefd hebben. Nadien zijn we eindelijk ertoe geraakt om het nachtleven van Bonito te gaan verkennen. We zijn naar de bekende Taboa bar geweest, waar we naar lokale gewoonte onze aanwezigheid met een handtekening op de muur hebben achtergelaten. De volgende ochtend zijn we met de bus naar Campo Grande vertrokken (5u). Hier moesten we enkele uren wachten om de bus naar Belo Horizonte te pakken (23u). Campo Grande was zeker niet onze favoriete stad, redelijk vuil en groot, maar vooral een stad die dienst doet als overstap plaats naar ergens anders. Blijkbaar konden we allemaal wat rust gebruiken, want we sliepen ongeveer 20 uur van de busrit. De laatste 3 uur daarentegen duurden lang, maar die hebben we dan wat gevuld door te kaarten ( het komt dus toch nog van pas om te kunnen kleuren-wiezen ;-) ). Uiteindelijk kwamen we aan in Belo Horizonte. Omdat we al zoveel geslapen hadden in de bus, moesten we zien dat we terug wat moe waren, en hebben we wat rondgewandeld in Belo Horizonte. De volgende dag namen we opnieuw de bus naar onze eindbestemming: Ouro Preto. Ouro Preto is een mooi, klein en charmant stadje, met vele koloniale huisjes, gelegen in een heuvelachtig gebied. We logeren in een jeugdherberg, met het mooiste uitzicht over de stad (dat beweren ze toch). Spijtig genoeg regent het de hele dag (en nacht) door. We moeten dan ook constant de steile hellingen op en af lopen. Dit is niet zo makkelijk op de natte kasseistenen, zeker niet met wat alcohol in het bloed. Onze kuitspieren zijn ondertussen wel goed getraind, maar iedereen is al wel eens bijna onderuit gegaan. Vandaag was er een wandeling van 15 km gepland, maar die is niet kunnen doorgaan door al die regen. De weersvooruitzichten kondigen nog meer regen aan, en daarom besloten we van een dag vroeger te vertrekken naar Rio de Janeiro. Eerst gaan we morgen nog de goudmijnen van Ouro Preto bezoeken, en dan nemen we de nachtbus naar Rio. Alles goed in Belgie? Nog nieuws???
We ended our visit to Bonito with a nice evening. First we had a traditional dinner in a local restaurant: Jacare (Caiman) with a creamy sauce of Maracuja (Passion fruit). We liked it, altough we mostly tasted the sauce. But more important, we got French fries, they were very welcome after the many rice dishes in the Pantanal. After our dinner, we finaly got to know the nightlife of Bonito. We went to the famous Taboa bar and ofcourse, we left our signatures at the wall (local tradition). The next morning we took the bus to Campo Grande (5h). We stayed here for a couple of hours and then again took the bus to Belo Horizonte (23h). Campo Grande wasn't exactely ous favourite city. It was big, but everyone considers it as a transit to somewhere else. Apparently we all had to catch some sleep, cause we were sleeping for 20 hours. In Belo Horizonte we stayed just for 1 day, and then continued our trip to our final destination: Ouro Preto. Ouro Preto is a very nice and pretty city, small and really charming, but also a city with very steep hills. Our hostel has the best overview of the city, but this also means we constanly have to climb the hills. Unfortunately, it's raining the whole day. The wet cobllestones, and the alcohol cause even more difficult trips. The forecasts predict even more rain, so we decided to leave Ouro Preto one day earlier. Tomorrow morning we plan a visit to the gold mines and later we take the night bus to Rio de Janeiro. How are things in Belgium? Any exciting news???
Our 3 days in the Pantanal were really back to basics: sleeping in a hammock together with frogs, bats, insects,... Going to the bathroom with a flashlight at night was a guarantee to get more musquito bites on your bud! After the first night not sleeping at all, we were so tired the second day the we slept like a stone But beside all these inconveniences we had a great time. We spotted a lot of animals while walking, during boat trips, horseriding, jeep safari,... On one of our walks we were attacked by a bunch of flying ants. We screemed and panicked, but Paolo, our guide, could calm us down. He told us they weren't dangerous and they wouldn1t bite us. Piranha fishing was tricky, as they eat meat, they also tried to taste the finger of our guide. Annelies caught by mistake an alligator, it was very scary when we saw those two eyes rising from the water.
We also got to know the Brazilian way of life: take it easy. Our truck broke down about every 10min, but no panick they could always fix it again. Another example: when we asked when we could leave for a trip, the answer was: in half an hour. But after 3 minutes they came to ask if we were ready to go. We were than hurring to be in time, but again, then we were sitting in the truck for 40 min, waiting for our guide. Now we are in Bonito, happy to sleep again in a BED. It's a very small and pretty city, filled with rivers with cristal clear water and many beautiful fish. Yesterday we went rafting. We had so much fun, trying to beat the other groups, and attacked them in water fights. Today we went to another river to snorkle. It was very weird in the beginning to breath only with your mouth. But it was really worth to try and struggle a bit, cause the underwater world was amazing. Ellen didn't like it tough. On our way back, we experienced another Brazilian habit. Since our driver was a typical Brazilian macho, trying to impress us with his way of driving, we got stuck in the mud. Tomorrow we leave the beautiful Bonito again. We will be on the road for more our less to days.
