Bonito

From São Paulo I took an overnight bus to Campo Grande (in Portuguese, you pronounce your d's like g's). What a crazy trip that was! I had to take the local bus to the metro to go to the big bus station. Along the way, I would somehow get someone to understand what I was trying to do and then they turned into my personal escort. The most extreme was this very sweet man. He showed me his wedding ring for assurance. He took me to the station I was told I needed only to find out I needed a different one instead. Then he paid for both of our fare to get back on the metro to get to the correct station. He did not leave my side until I was sitting at the correct platform for my bus to Campo Grande. I could not believe it. The whole ordeal took over an hour. I was incredibly humbled my his generosity. I am certainly going to be nicer to foreigners from now on! Mind you, he only spoke Portuguese. I still can't believe it. But I got on the bus and have done just fine since then. I think I need to stay out of big cities for a while. They are quite confusing. 

One thing I have been very unhappy with is my lonely planet book! For Central America and Italy it was wonderful and very helpful. But for this trip it is not. It has the tiniest blurb about each city and NO maps! That is the main point I have it and it lacking so many! There is much room for improvement in my opinion. 

Anyways, my looong bus ride was quite hard. The first of many, I'm sure, but still hard. It also was raining all day. But I still got great views of the countryside on my way to Bonito. There were pastures forever. It is flat in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul and it looked like the land had no end. With red soil, white cows with humps on their backs and green green fields; it was mesmerizing. An occasional side road would appear with a small overhang alluding to a farm or home and I would look down the road and see no sign of said civilization. 

Finally, I got to Bonito and got a bed for the night. It was still rainy so I just relaxed for the evening. I was invited to make dinner with 3 Israelis which was lovely. We made schnitzel, mashed potatoes and an awesome salad! Oh I had been craving a good salad! And for dessert we had pineapple. Then we played pool and relayed travel advice. 

I went on an excursion to Gruto Azul, which was very pretty. It was a massive cave with many varieties of butterflies at it's mouth. Then you descend into the cave to get close to the crystal blue water. I can't wait to put up the pictures! Afterwards, I went around the small town checking out the shops with my new friend, Johana. She is from Puerto Rico and is the best connection I have made so far in Brazil. We went to an herb shop and tried this great new tea! It is called Tereré and is served cold. It is similar to Maté but with no added caffeine. Very refreshing. We went out to dinner and our friend Jim from London joined us. It was a great group and I felt the most comfortable yet with them. We had a dish called "Table of Fish" in Portuguese, which included a soup, salad, rice, stew, and 3 different kinds of local river fish. It was all very good and we had a lot of leftovers. Then the three of us went to the one bar in town and played drinking games. It was really fun. And two of the hostel employees joined us late in the evening. 

Bonito is exactly what it's name means: beautiful. It is certainly a small country town but it is so quaint! It is really close to the Pantanal which is known for it's amazing wildlife and it spills a bot into Bonito. But in general it is slow and sweet. Easily can spend extra days there. It reminded me a bit of Davis with all the biking around town and everyone knowing your name. 

I went on another excursion while in Bonito called Rio do Prata. We were taken to a famous river in the area that is called "clear eyes" in Portuguese and boy was it that! It was the clearest water I have ever seen. We saw some great big river fish and tons of monkeys in the trees. It was a true rainforest/jungle experience. I would look into the water and see Durados and other large fish or small cooorful ones by the dozens and then look outside the water and see amazing birds, large canopy, blue sky, hear the insects and see the adorable monkeys. I love monkeys! They are so cute. Caymans and alligators are also native to the area but I didn't see any. At only point, I swam through a school of big fish where there must have been at least 50 in number. I just floated tiward them. The fish would get really close and then dodge out of the way at the last second. There were also large underwater springs that bubbled vigorously. We later have a giant Brazilian lunch. I don't like the desserts here. They are too sweet. But I'm sure some of you laugh when you read that because I think most things are either too sweet, too salty or not spicy enough, which is very accurate for most of the cuisine I have had in Brazil so far. 
At Rio do Prata I met a very sweet Israeli. He was also traveling alone so we did errands and made dinner together that night. A couple of the hostel employees seemed to like me and demanded we celebrate my last night. So we went out in Bonito to all three of the bars it holds. It was a sweet town and I have very good memories already.