Barra Mansa Lodge Campo Grande

... hole to see caiman and capybaras (giant guinea pig things!), which was pretty cool. Gabrielle seemed quite grumpy and he didn't explain much to us all, and we got the impression he was quite bored of showing tourists the same stuff day after day! I suppose we were spoilt by the enthusiasm of our guides on our Amazon trek. It wasn't that long before we were back at camp, and had a night around the camp fire having a few beers with the other peops of the tour.<br>

... till the next activity at 3pm which was to be an evening truck ride and walk and then spotlighting on the way back. It was an eye opening trip with sightings of many many caiman in water holes and capybaras ( the world's largest rodents , the size of very large wombats) that live by the water holes, many birds including the massive red throated Jabiru, toucans and macaws, wild pigs, and the howler monkeys high up in the trees. The spotlighting revealed the bright eyes of the ...

... beamte op ons af om een taxi voor ons te regelen. Erg verdacht. Maar wij besloten een half uurtje in de schaduw van de bushalte te wachten, totdat een andere taxi chauffeur voor de tweede keer een prijsaanbod kwam doen, an offer we could not refuse. Zo stonden we dan toch nog ruim op tijd op het internationale busstation van Foz do Iguazu. In de wachtruimte stond een tv aan met - duh! - voetbal, de wedstrijd Sao Paulo tegen Corinthians, dezelfde pot als we ...

So on the bus trip from Iguacu to Campo Grande we have to change bus half way. Sure thats fine. Before we changed bus we got stopped at a police checkpoint for 2 hours while they searched the bus. Great. Apparently the bus came from Paraguay so while they checked everyones documents and searched everyones bags. They then checked all the luggage under the bus. One person got taken ...

... forward too. It started out well as everyone was introduced to their horses and we started out. About 10 minutes into the trek the rain began to bucket down, followed shortly after by thunder and lightning! Luckily the horses were so well trained (or just so used to it!) that there was practically no reaction to this. Though I did find that mine tended to just follow what was going on ahead of it...resulting in the occasional unplanned canter (or gallop I`m not ...

... were only a few customers, an Australian couple, a Swedish couple , a French guy and us. After lunch, we went piranhas fishing. I only caught one catfish but Sean caught a few. Sean was taught how to remove the hook from the piranhas. Their teeth really do look scary. After the sunset, we went for a boat trip with a guide and flash lights. We saw a few animals like water pigs(they look like a 40kg guinea pig), birds and loads of caimans With the flash light, you could see their yellow ...

... extended right back for you to sleep! Most unexpected but most welcome! Buenos Aires is a great city! there's loads to do here. We stayed in San Telmo the Tango district with loads of Tango bars and nice little restaurants. One of the main reasons I wanted to come here was to see Boca Juniors and by luck they were playing the Second leg of the South American equivelet of the European Super Cup against Arsenal de Saradinia. It was a great game with end to end ...

... the roof. Ems started singing "Ooh a storm is threatening".....I grabbed her and told her to get under the bed! It was a comedy of errors with me shoving Ems, Ems telling me to get under the bunk as there was no room due to our rucksacks being beneath the bed, and her trying to shove our packs out of the way. We got under just in time... the roof had started to come off and debris was starting to fall into the room. Ems was convinced it was either the ...

... the cows and pass some goods to a bus driver to deliver somewhere. We arrived at the farm which is actually in the Patanal, in darkness. Sat down to some farm style cooking that night and hit the sack early. Woke at 4.30 the next morning and had some breakfast before waiting for the sun to rise. Waiting for the sun to rise!!! The two actually 3 boys have their own farms to run with there dad being the owner and director I guess. We spent most of the morning ...

... I lie-not the mosquitos. They weren´t as big as the Amazonian ones, but were equally unfazed by me dousing myself in repellent until my skin peeled. Everyone was very impressed by my capability to be eaten alive. From the fazenda (Portuguese equivalent of hacienda) I went with a couple of others to Bonito, which is famed for it´s crystal-clear rivers which make for excellent snorkelling. Having done diving ...