Bonito, Brasil

The good part road to the farm where I booked a river snorkling tour. I heard a squaking noise and thought something was caught up in the bike. It turned out to be some birds in the near by grass. They were quiet once I dismounted the bike and I did not get to identify them. Not much farther after this a large green paraquete the size of a pigeon flew into my chest. My jacket was zipped down so I thought it went inside. I looked for him afterward but he was tough enough to fly away, even after bending my mirror over. Good thing my mirror took the initial brunt and also good thing it didn't hit my face as my visor was open!

A sort of vegetarian fish that was very common in the pools

Large trout like fish called something like the word "durro" Apparently a great sport fish

A colorful butterfly that happened to land close by after the swim.

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I was told that the farm was really easy to find and that it was close...only 52 km away. I decided that I'd give myself alot of extra time to get there and left a half hour early knowing that anything could happen.

I followed the directions, however, the directions did not indicate that 12km out from the town of Bonito the road turned to a rutted out and sandy dirt road that I could barely ride 60km/hr on. I did my best in panick mode thinking that I'd miss my trip weaving bobbing excessively now that my Progressive suspension monoshock is completely blown.

I ended up at the farm at 10:55 am and found a person right away who worked there and pointed to the map and asked if I was at the right place. Unknown to me I had my finger on the bird reserve 7 km down the road further. He started pointing back to the highway. I said in english.." You mean there are two river tour operators?" He had no idea what I said and smiled and said what everyone who doesn't understand says...."yes". I hopped back on the bike and rode to the bird reserve. I pulled into their santuary and immediately noticed that there weren't any snorkles or wetsuits hanging around. The woman who was working there was very helpful and phoned over to the farm to tell them that I'd be there in a few minutes.

I re-arrived feeling anxious, but I was aware that I was in for a good trip and didn't get to excited about the rigamoral. I was issued a wet suit, signed a waiver...(that's a first in a long time) and hopped into the back of a pick up truck toward the river.

To access the river we first had to navigate a path through the jungle for about 2km. From that point we entered the river and we were instructed not to let our feet touch the bottom so as to avoid stirring up silt in the crystal clear waters. (everyone got it except one dumb dude boomer age who kept standing up to unfog his goggles instead of rolling over onto his back like he was instructed..don't worry I told him).

The fish were very abundant and there were thousands of them ranging in size from minnows to monsters about a meter long. It was a pretty cool experience and the fact that it was a river environment I had a keen eye open taking notes as to where the big ones were hanging out for when I return to fly fishing again.

Tomorrrow I head into the wetlands to book a trip to the Pantanal.