After our unscheduled pitstop at Philosophy Junction, Marge and I finally arrived at our hostel in Bonito, a small town in the south west of Brazil famed for it's extremely clear rivers and it's abundance of fish and freshwater plants. Apparently it´s something to do with the high levels of magnesium and it´s carbonates yawn yawn. The bottom line is that the rivers are crystal clear, allowing snorkelers (my name is Richard and I've been a snorkeler for 2 weeks) to see up to 30meters underwater. Assuming they wear a mask.
The only kicker with all this 'abundant flora and fauna' was that it had the gall to locate itself around 8km from the hostel we were staying in. This meant either a moto-taxi (which is even more likely to kill you than a morning shower in Brazil) or renting a few bikes and making the way there under our own steam. This sounds great in theory, but the small print includes 'only 2 of these 8km are paved'. So not knowing what we were letting ourselves in for, we headed off into the wilderness towards the ´Natural Aquarium Baia Bonito' for a morning of snorkeling and an afternoon of trekking through the surrounding forests.
1.9 km into our trip, we were full of the joys of spring, looking like two people from one of those ads you see for embarrassing medical conditions - you know the type - cycling along with their hair blowing in the breeze, laughing, enjoying the sun on their faces, exactly the type of people you might like to punch. 7km into the trip, we were in severe need of some of the creams or unguents that said adverts recommend - saddle sore from the bumping around on a rocky dirt road, choking from the clouds of dust kicked up every time someone whizzed by in a car and generally trying to blame each other for suggesting we cycle.
Between digs and wheels we arrived at the aquariums welcome centre, and after squeezing ourselves into wetsuits we were given a safety lesson in the swimming pool and marched about 800m through the forest to the head of the Bonito River. And what a truly amazing sight it was to be greeted by - an idyllic forest pool, fed by a spring with water that had been filtered through limestone rocks, with water that was absolutely crystalline in its clarity. And the fish....oh, the fish. There are over 80 species of fish found in the area (mostly underwater I might add) and it looked to me as though you could see every one of them in the pool in front of us.
We lowered ourselves in, put on our masks and then lost ourselves in this underwater world. It was just incredible, hundreds of fish teeming around you with some species up to 30 cm long. We bobbed around there for around 30 minutes before we were let loose on the river itself. Talk about otherworldly.We were gently carried downstream by the current, swimming eyeball to eyeball with thousands of fish and entirely switching off as you relaxed into the experience. We had rented an underwater camera and we both snapped away with the zeal of a demented Japanese tourist - photos will follow I promise.
Our tranquility was brought sharply to a halt though by the guide who had spotted a baby anaconda swimming along on the riverbed. No more then 2 feet long, this innocuous looking fellow didn't look like much of a threat to me, until the guide told us that 2 years ago a 9m long adult had been photographed in the same stretch of river that we were in .
It´s funny what that sort of information can do to a mans swimming speeds.
Once we´d unpuckered, dried off and had some lunch, we were guided on a hike around the nature reserve that adjoins the river. Naturally, Sinead and I took it all in our ever serious strides, and generally had a laugh getting pecked at by toucans, rubbing the belly of an ocelot (think Tiddles the cat...but huger) and laughing like fools at the emus antics as they chased one of the park rangers out of its field.
We´re becoming a proper pair of nature buffs. And with that in mind, our next stop is a 4 day safari around the Pantanals - a wetland area around the size of Portugal that apparently is one of the most bio-diverse eco-systems on earth.
See - I´m getting good at this.
Bonito Hotels
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