“Why do you want to go to Rio?” That was the reaction from fellow travellers and Brazilians alike, when we told them of our plan to visit the Big City. It’s always a little stressful (understatement!) to enter a large town and to drive into a big city scores 100 on the stressometer. There are overpasses, underpasses, tunnels, low cables, […]
Leaving Barretos, and its Rodeo Festival, behind, we headed towards Ouro Preto and the start of the historic Estrada Real that leads south to Rio de Janeiro. On the way we visited Furnas reservoir and took a boat tour on the lake. We met a group of friendly young Brazilians on board and we joined them for a lovely lunch […]
Except it is. Traveling towards Rio from the Pantanal, we stopped at a roadside stall for a pineapple juice and got talking to a Brazilian fellow camper. Aided once again by Google Translate (English is really not spoken here at all!) we established he was heading to Latin America’s largest annual rodeo festival at Barretos. After checking the map we […]
The Estrada Park Pantanal is a 118km dirt road in the southern Pantanal that serves the farms located there. Fortunately for us there is also great wildlife in the area, predominantly birds, but with a few capybaras thrown in along with the odd jaguar. Oh, and not forgetting the piranha and caiman in the river. We set out early at […]
Leaving Foz do Iguaçu and the falls behind, we head north towards the vast Brazilian Pantanal. It’s a long journey to Bonito, our destination. But before we set off, we visit the Parque das Aves and have a very enjoyable morning in the bird park. The trip north is quite monotonous, farm after farm, silo after silo. Just before reaching […]