After classes were finished and finals were done it was time to travel around Brazil before returning to the US. My boyfriend, Seth, and I decided to travel around Brazil and see as much as our time, and budget, would allow. We spent some time researching locations and planned our trip for destinations primarily in the South of Brazil including Rio de Janiero, Iguassu Falls, the Pantanal, and finally Bonito. If you are anything like me before I visited Brazil, you probably haven't heard of many of these places except for Rio, but as I pleasantly discovered, Brazil has an abundance of natural and cultural destinations to explore.
Rio de Janeiro - We started our trip with a bus ride from Sao Paulo to Rio de Janeiro. We were fortunate to have an amazing location in Copacabana where we could easily go out to the beach, grab a Caipirinha, and relax by the beach, or take a subway to other parts of the city. While in Rio, we went to a botanical gardens, rode bikes around a lake in a hail storm, visited the Christ the Redeemer statue, and explored the downtown and historic parts of the city.
Foz do Iguacu - Our next destination was to Foz do Iguacu, or Iguassu Falls, one of the new 7 natural wonders of the world. Iguassu Falls is a sight that can barely be captured in pictures, and the best way that I can describe it is like the Grand Canyon of water falls. In one particular location, the Devil's Throat (check YouTube video below), millions of gallons of water converge and then fall hundreds of feet and the power of the crashing water can be felt from the platforms above. It was truly impressive to see the water crashing down the falls.
Cascavel - An unexpected stop
On our final day at Iguassu Falls I started to feel a bit quesy. I disregarded it at first, but by the time we got strarted on our 17hour bus ride to Campo Grande I started to feel really bad. Since I previously had abdominal surgery we decided to stop at the nearest town and head for a hospital. Not feeling well, I tried my hardest to communicate my ailment in portuguese to the doctor who spoke no english and was treated for dehydration and given an iv. We ended up staying in Cascavel for a day and a half at the advice of the doctor, and while it was probably best, it did cut some of our other planned activities short.
Campo Grande - Pantanal
After our time in Cascavel we travelled to the Pantanal via Campo Grande, which felt like the Serengeti of Africa. While we were there we swam in piranha infested waters, fished for piranha, ate piranha, and went on treks through parts of the wilderness to see the wildlife and outdoors. It was extraordinarily hot and dry, but a fun place, nonetheless.
Bonito - Rio da Prata
Our final visit before returning to Sao Paulo was to Bonito, which, as the name suggests, was gorgeous, and my favorite location that we visited. Unfortunately, because of my illness our time here was cut short, but we did have an amazing time in the Rio da Prata, swimming in the fresh water with schools of fish.
(I didn't shoot this picture, but this is what it looked like)
New Years - We rang in the new years in typical Brazil fashion wearing white and ventured out to Paulista Avenue. It was a very wet new year and we had to haggle for some ponchos as the police wouldn't let us bring umbrellas onto Paulista. While it wasn't Rio, which I hear is amazing, there were still hundreds of people on Paulista avenue, and we followed up New Years with some drinks and dancing until the morning. It was a great start to a new year and I want to wish everyone out there a great 2012 as well.
