Brazil, a beautiful country

Our start in the beautiful nature of Brazil

We started in the Pantanal, in the northern part below Cuiabá. From the pousada we hiked, ride on horseback and made a safari by jeep and boat. All this in beautiful surroundings, where we spotted many birds, capybara's, rheas, monkeys, caimans and parrots. And as icing on the cake we even saw two jaguars.

From Cuiabá we drove by rental car to Chapada dos Guimarães a few days later, where we hiked for 2 days. Although completely stung by mosquitoes, we enjoyed beautiful caves and swimming in the clear waterfalls during a trekking through a beautiful natural park.

Lots to do in Rio de Janeiro

After a week in this beautiful nature of Brazil, we flew via São Paulo to Rio de Janeiro. There we stayed in a very nice hotel in the middle of the Santa Teresa district. This is a quiet neighbourhood, where there is a lot to do. Together with a guide we explored the city. We visited the statue of Christ via the cogwheel track, climbed the sugar loaf mountain by cable car and we watched the mosaic staircases of Selaron without other tourists. Petra, our travel specialist at Sapa Pana Travel, had also arranged a typical churrascaria for us during lunch. A barbecue restaurant where they pass the tables with skewers of meat and fish. Here we didn't eat so much meat, but a lot of salad and fish. The offer in this restaurant was overwhelming.

The next day we cycled along the beach of Copacabana and Flamengo, together with a Dutch guide. From here we cycled to the old centre and back via the cemetery with the famous graves. A very nice experience that took more than 4 hours. In the evening we went out to two typical restaurant/cafes where the carioca's, inhabitants of Rio de Janeiro, meet. On our "free" day we visited the botanical garden and the beach of Ipanema. We visited so much and we still have the idea that we only saw a small part of the city.

The Africa of Brazil

After Rio de Janeiro we travelled with a domestic flight to Salvador in the north. A totally different city, full of old Portuguese colonial coloured buildings. This is the most African looking city of South America and that is also immediately noticeable. On the streets we see many Afro-Brazilian women in beautiful coloured dresses, who like to pose for the tourists. We found a busy and lively centre due to the book festival. Throughout the whole centre there was cheerful music. The next day we explored the sights of the city with a guide. We tasted the traditional capoeira, a combination of music, acrobatics, dance and fighting. Petra arranged a workshop for us with the son of the man, who gave capoeira great fame.

Ending at the beach of Morro de São Paulo

After this dance class we travelled to Morro de São Paulo, one of the many Brazilian coastal towns. The intention was to go by boat, but because of the bad weather both on the outward and the return journey we travelled a large part of the journey by bus. When we arrived there we were brought to our hotel. Situated on a quiet beach with a delicious cuisine, we spent the last 4 days of our trip thinking about the places in Brazil we would like to see in the future.