Bonito

double click to enlarge

Before heading to the Iguazu falls we decided on a quick detour to visit the small town of Bonito. The snorkeling was a draw for Brazilian tourists and meant to be rather special .

red earth of Brazil from window

We thought our scary bus rides were behind us in Bolivia but as night fell the driver decided to make up for lost time by flooring it for the last half hour into town - most unpleasant.

Anyway.....a pool, sprightly hotel room (all to ourselves again!) and the unreal crystal clear waters of the rivers soon made up for the journey.

Dave in pool with volleyball net (1 player each team quite tricky)

On hired bikes we pootled off into the sunshine to visit one of the cheaper priced rivers for snorkeling. This meant there were only 3 species of fish to swim with rather than 7, but it cost us 3 pounds as apose to 35 to spend the day there.

Here's our one speed less than mean cycling machines, but hey, if in doubt of quailty spray it gold!

Although the fish were mostly the one species: Dorado, (& fed so they hung around) it was very captivating swimming in their world. Especially when we went a little further up stream (not sure we were supposed to) it was a lot deeper, more rugged, with more interesting topography like massive submerged branches, it felt properly wild.

We spent hours watching them.

Heres some photos.....















We stayed the whole day, resting in the sun & drinking beer periodically, this is what we signed up for!

Spotted our first large monitor lizard scuttling across the grass at an olympic pace & met 2 naughty macaw parrots that flew around the park & knew how to turn the taps on in the toilets. They also decided to climb over the door into the cubical I was in, I`m sure I wouldn't have been quite so disconcerted had they not been working as a team (or so it seemed!). What did they want? What did they have planned for me? luckily I distracted them by singing (which was the last thing they expected) and made my escape.

small talk:
Nerdy nature lovers that we are we watched a group of ants role a bit of sausage the equivelent of miles to their nest. There must have been 30 of them with their pincers clenched around the meaty ball so that with every role another ants back legs took to the ground. An extreme workout watched by the extermely lazy giants. To some of you out there in the ether this is of interest, no doubt others will think we have lost it and need some focus (hopefully not too many of the latter though).

Joining us on this day excursion were two that had traveled with us from the pantanal. A swiss woman (who turned out to be a Pastor) & her giggly father (who turned out to be Gay). We found this out slowly though out the day as we realised he had changed his trunks 4 times, sporting a leather thong & fluro briefs at particular points.

Rare, we thought at the end of the day when we waved goodbye to the pastor and her gay dad.

It was a slow sunbaked ride back on our crappy golden heaps.

cows and termite mound.

fishy fountain

Bonito has a lot of front, one posh main street with overinflated prices for fishy trinkets & meals, then all the other roads leading off it are red earth dirt tracks. Looking for a cheap eat we were shocked to see our old friends the capybaras mentioned on a menu, how could they? we knew it was time to move on.

"So long and thanks for all the fish!"

more pics here