Pousada Do Rio Cuiaba

... I head into the Amazon so I'm going to enjoy this little bit of luxury for a few days. It's so hot in Cuiaba, the heat and humidity is relentless, really glad I have air conditioning. The mosquito's appear to be a problem too, been bitten numerous times already in the hostel. The primary reason why I've come to Cuiaba is to visit the Pantanal and Chapada national parks. Will organise some trips over the coming days after I've had a well deserved rest. Day 68 - 15/03/09 I ...

... of space left including on the roof racks. As we had arrived the night prior, Ailton took GT and I on a tour of the Chapada area. This is known as the Savannah area where the forests and animals have adapted themselves to be fire-resistant after experiencing frequent fires over many centuries. Complete with amazingly picturesque and refreshing waterfalls as the temperature was sky rocketing to 35 degrees it was a short and welcomed reprieve from the heat. After collecting the Italians ...

... bestemte oss for a bli med Judy, hun lille tjokke. Pantanal - sannsynligvis verdens stoerste dyrehage!! Oplevelsen langt inne i sumpen begynner med hesteridning og kveldssafari... Det begynte med soete fugler, et hjortedyr her og der og koselige smaa bjoernedyr (cabivara),men saa.....til og med i moerket, til fots. Ved en liten bro vi skal krysse ligger det en 2m lang alligator i veien 1 m ...

We booked a 4 day 3 night Pantanal Tour with a company recommended in the Lonely Planet, Ecoverde (more on that at the end). Our driver Elias picked us up early and we set off in the coolest car ever, a VW Combi Van! We were excited to hear that Brasil still produces this vehicle, which explains why we were seeing so many of them, in much better shape than in Australia. We had driver about half way from Cuiaba to the Pantanals, when Elias stopped outside the town of Pocone. He ...

... Buses, the same route and company we did, had been robbed at gun-point by three blokes who bought tickets onto the bus. Armed with this news (no pun intended), Cam and I split up and hid all our valuables in as many places we could find in our bags, and then crossed our fingers that our trip would be less eventful. By lunchtime we were on the road again, travelling with us was the Italian lass Stefania from the day trip before. We found out she was a natropath. She was ...

... through, the water was mid-shin level, quickly getting above the height of our hiking boots and therefore making us all soaking wet in seconds. <br><br>Katie waited until the 3 of us were halfway through the water before asking "Do you think we should ...

... to follow a trail with a few puddles.<br><br>Katie and one of the guides went first, then two of the other group, followed by our guide Fernando and finally muggins at the back on The Slowest Horse In The World! <br><br> <br><br>About 10 seconds after I ...

... via the text update service on the BBC website (which can be highly frustrating but at least it's sort of a minute-by-minute commentary) and I sat there as long as I could before nearly getting dragged away by my neck by my glamorous wife...<br> <br>By the time we left it was 1-1 and if we could keep it there or even sneak another I would be delighted.<br><br>I begrudgingly jumped in the boat and we headed back to the bay that we went to last night (the one with the ...

... pretty smooth compared to some of the others that we've seen here in South America. <br><br>Smooth that was until we started to approach a number of rather large puddles which spanned the road in front of us!<br><br> <br><br>We negotiated a few of them without any real problems, but then we reached a really big one ...

... estavam na liderança, nas áreas administrativa e de eventos, sobre o que iriamos fazer e eles não sabiam exatamente o que fazer. Savana disse para eu falar com a Priscilla, que era responsavel pela oração. Acrescentou que eu deveria dizer o que queria fazer para saber a opinião da Priscilla. Mas eu pensei em algo bem diferente. Disse para Savana que iria perguntar o que a Priscilla estava pensando para depois dizer o que estava em meu ...