Pantanal

Highlights:
- On the drive to the pantanal we saw macaws, capybaras and emus which was a great start!
- We were on the guided activities with a really nice couple from Germany
- Seeing a caiman up close on the night boat tour which was cool
- Seeing a baby anaconda on the road as we were heading to the horse riding which was crazy to see
- Horse riding was more fun than expected, and we rode for an hour and a half through fields, deep water and woods - we saw caiman and lots of birds too
- Boat ride on the river was relaxing although we only saw some monkeys and a few birds - the best part was the sunset on the way back, and the full moon in the lilac sky
- The walking safari was fun, and we saw caiman, an armadillo, peccaries (wild pigs that we heard in the Amazon but didn't see!), coatis and monkeys
- A capybara visited the lodge every so often and was completely unbothered by us being there!
- Kayaking down the river was fun and we saw a tree iguana as well as some monkeys, and again enjoyed a beautiful sunset
- Floating down the river with two pool noodles, and forgetting about the caiman, piranha and anacondas that were likely swimming with us!
- Our guide at the second place was very interesting, and passionate about his job. He called himself 'jaguarman'!
- Walking around the grounds of the farm where we were staying was really nice, and we had a great view of a pair of blue macaws, and saw a deer and a snake too, as well as bone remains from a horse that a jaguar had eaten!
- We went on a night walk at 4am - we didn't spot any jaguars but we did see a crab-eating fox which was cool, and we saw a beautiful sunrise
- There were so many toucans and macaws in the trees at the place we were staying, we enjoyed just watching them hop and fly about
- We finally both caught a piranha when we went fishing!

Lowlights:
- A crazy long journey which included an overnight bus and a transfer and travelling for almost 24 hours
- The dorm we arrived at was tiny and full with everyone's stuff on the floor, and the bathroom door didn't lock. Thankfully we were able to move to the dorm next door which was empty and stayed empty for the whole time we were there!
- A lot of mosquitos - we got bitten quite a bit
- We didn't see many animals on the jeep safari or walk at the second place we stayed, and no luck seeing a jaguar!
- We had to take back to back night buses via Sao Paulo to get to our next place, which was pretty exhausting

Food and drinks:
- We had buffet breakfast, lunch at dinner at both places we stayed at which was really nice
- A highlight at breakfast was toastie makers, which we discovered were a thing at all Brazilian hotels!Lue lisää