Albergue Da Juventude Yh Campo Grande

Monday13th April. Another long haul trip fro1p this afternoon to Campo Grande North West Brasil towards the Bolivian border. A 19hour trip this tie. We took the local bus with our packs to the bus station but Rio buses have turnstiles to go through once you pay the fare and getting the pack through or over was a task and the bus doesn't wait till you do. Rio bus drivers are maniacal and I got stuck on the one side of the turnstile as the bus took off and it was bouncing and hurtling ...

Well I`ll keep this next one a little less detailed...I get a bit carried away sometimes. The third day of our Pantanal trip was spent doing a ridiculously sweaty, mosquito infested walk in the morning followed by horseback riding,which was so much fun and here they just put you on a horse and say ride it! All you get told is how to start, stop, go right and go left. The horse riding was couple of hours long and ...

So from Rio we had another overnight bus journey to get to Campo Grande from where we headed to our Pantanal experience. For this we had a 4days / 3nights package where we stayed at a Pousada (Santa Clara) and from here we had 2 activities daily. The weather here was the hottest we´d had yet and its so humid so it was mosquito heaven! And because of the heat activities were early morning and late afternoon so during the day we HAD to retreat to the ...

... sure how you distinguish between the two) that had me hanging on for dear life hoping not to slip off and pleading with him to pay attention when I pulled on the reigns and begged him to stop!!! By the time we got back to camp the sun was out again and we were surprisingly dry, enough so that when we were informed that after dinner we were doing a night safari in the jeep we weren`t too adverse to the idea. And while it started out slow we ended up seeing quite a bit of ...

super experience que ces 4j dans la jungle infestee de moustiques plus voraces les uns que les autres. Une centaine de piqures au total mais peu d'importance en comparaison du plaisir de s'endormir chaque nuit au son des singes hurleurs et autres toucans.... Etant donne qu'il est difficile de partir seul dans ces contrees hostiles, j'ai du prendre un tour tout compris avec d'autres routards.... Excellente ...

Arrived in Campo Grande and checked into the HI (Hostelling International) hostel. We usually avoid these as there's too much partying for us (where are my slippers and pipe?) but this one had a tour company that we wanted to use and it was right next to the bus terminal which didn't discourage us either! First impressions of Brazil (technically this is our second time in Brazil but the first was just for a day) are excellent, people are so friendly and kind ...

... when somebody was buying a can of coke, they would pass it around to everybody, even us. Same for food. They were drinking something called Terere. It was in a metal glass with a metal straw. They pour water over some herbs. We were told that the local water is really salty and drinking this mixture makes it better for your kidneys. We had a go at it to be polite but it was not tasty. In the evening, more singing and dancing. <br><br>We took it easy on the 23/11/08. We did a bit ...

... for its money beach wise aswell with some of the nicest beaches we've seen on our travels and very quiet to. I can stand a packed beach, another reason why I didnt like Copacabana. From here we went to another small town on the coast called Paraty a fishing village and old portugese colonial town, it was another place full of cobbled streets and colour, Picture opts around every corner. Next was the Iguazu Falls which I have to say are mind blowing! one of ...

... but the entertainment was definitely those who had never sat on a horse, especially when the horses just follow each other in a line! Philippe must have drawn the short straw as his horse just kept on wandering off and never wanted to stop with the others! We saw a different side to the Pantanal and also saw the largest rodent in the world called a Capybara which can grow to 1.3m and be about 65kgs! Everyone enjoyed it, apart from getting very hot and ...

... Macaws, Toucans, King Fishers, Eagles, Hawks are to name a few and plenty of alligators that seemed to get out of our way as we approached. There was one exception though as Marcellos horse nearly stepped on an alligator but luckily no harm was done. Back at the ranch and a little saddle sore and a little bitten by Mosquito's we headed back to the van where we would head back to our boat. We arrived back at the fishing settlement and got in our boat and ...