Hotel Vale Verde Campo Grande

... even if he was a bit of a tool! And again, we met some really nice people and had a great time over the bonfire at night and killing time playing cards, which helped make the trip.

We arrived back in Campo Grande about 7pm, and the helpful guys at the hostel we'd stayed in let us use a room to get showered and packed before getting our 8pm overnight bus to the brazilian side of the Iguazu Falls.

... taxi buggered off. I had hoped he'd stick around for me but hey. Got my stamp and then figured id go get the brazilian one. But turns out that the brazil immigration is 15kms away in Corumba. So i thought id get a taxi, but there werent any. So had to change my money with a street cambio, which is never the best idea, and set off walking to the brazil immigration hoping that d find a taxi on route, which i did, at a fair old price though. Finally got there ...

... house is. This is where the kitchen is and a lounging area and the 2 long dining tables and benches. Upstairs is the sleeping area which is an ope roo with about 25 hammocks strung up in 2 lines. The windows have mesh on the. It is getting dark and we know why, the insects are worse than any outback cap at hoe, millions flying about the lights. The camp is an eco camp so everything is recycled or reused if possible and waste minimised. The shower block and toilets basic but fine ...

... vent die aan het snurken was, maar toch her en der de nodige kwartiertjes slaap gevat. ****! Lisenka, wakker worden. De hele bus stroomt weer leeg. He? We hebben toch geen kaartjes meer, nou ja, snel inpakken en naar buiten. Stonden we daar om 4:00 am īs nachts. Dit bleek gewoon een grote halte te zijn waar bijna iedereen eruit moest. Pjew, relaxt, dus wij de bus weer in en lekker doorsukkelen naar de grote stad, waar morgen een nieuw groot avontuur begint.

... bread rolls and yummy dulce de leche spread. Mmmmmmm. Refreshed and well fed we got organised for getting to the Pantanal. After a 4hr plus mini-van ride followed by 40min on the back of a jeep we arrived at our new temporary home - the accommodation was basic but had heaps of character. Not to mention everyone staying at the camp was sleeping in hammocks in one big raised room! Something I was apprehensive about but eager to try... and we didn`t wait long! It was ...

... and there were caimans. My stupid horse was walking toward it while I was trying to show him the other way!On the way back to the pousada we saw an armadillo and some deers, too. We had a good drinking session with everybody that night!

On the following day (21/11/08), we went for a walk to admire the sunrise. There were supposed to be loads of birds but were not any that morning. It is a sign of rain apparently (wet season is due soon), then we did a trip on the river for ...

... plants, and lots of colourful trees. It made us realise just how beautiful Brazil is. We are now really excited about our Pantanal trip which starts at 7.30 tomorrow morning and is going to last 4 days. If we don't write again soon, it's a pretty safe bet that we have been eaten by alligators!!!!

We arrived at Campo Grande (pronounced Cmpo Grannjggge in Porked english). The Hostel was right next to the bus station. Not bad all in as we were given some good advice on trips into the Pantanal. It even had a pool! We met an english chap called Andy who is a good laugh and we ended up and an eat as much as you can buffet where they bring you meat out on skewers every two minutes till you say stop. At 13 R$ (About 4UKP) it was brilliant and I ate for SA ...

... to learn about the different seasons (wet, dry and the in between bits) and how different the landscape is. Finally we were given a talk about one of the most beautiful birds we found during our time, the Hyacinth Macaw. The blue bird is being studied here and looked after by a team of biologists who are very passionate about increasing their numbers. In the afternoon we took a long trek through the forest surrounding the lodge where we were told to ...

... we were out of our tent and collecting fire wood. At this point Marcello pointed out we needed enough fire wood to last the night as this keeps animals away from our camp. This fact certainly improved my wood collecting ability. With a fire now on the go we sat down as Marcello pulled four enormous steaks out of his pack. As we had arrived late at our camp we had had no time to fish for dinner, luckily Marcello was prepared as he chucked the steaks onto our ...