CLAUDIA & CARSTEN'S WORLD EXPEDITION

Poço do Diabo - Chapada Diamantina

After Salvador, we traveled inland to the city of Lençois, which is located in the area of Chapada Diamantina National Park.

Gruta da Fumacinha

Trapdoor spider's nest...

Fazenda Pratinha

Gruta Azul

View from Morro do Pai Inácio

Made us remember Roraima.

Poço Encantado

Poço Encantado

Poço Azul

Poço Azul

Poço Azul

Hiking around Lençois

Lençois

Lençois

Lençois is a small and pretty town. We liked it and lot.

Our hotel

Waiting for the bus to Brasilia

Brasilia

In Rio Negro, we met Marco, who lived in Campo Grande, close to the border to Bolivia. Since we would pass through there, he invited us to stay with him and his wife. The bus ride from Lençois was very long, so we stopped two nights in Brasilia. Brasilia is Brazil's capital and it was planned and built in 4 years, between 1956 and 1960, by architects Lucio Costa and Oscar Niemeyer. It looks very different from other cities in Brazil and we liked the architecture very much.

Catedral Nossa Senhora Apareceida

Probably one of Oscar Niemeyer's most famous constructions.

Catedral from outside

Outside of Palacio do Planalto

Official workplace of Brazil's president.

National Museum

Palacio Itamaraty

Headquarters of Brazil's Ministry of External Affairs.

Camara dos Diputados

Supremo Tribunal Federal

During this week, Dilma Rousseff had been inside this building being questioned about the Petrobrás scandal.

Model of Brasilia

This was the city's original building model. You can see it is shaped as a plane.

National Congress

National Congress

National Congress

Dois Candangos

This statue made by Niemeyer is called "The Two Warriors", however, locals call it "The Two Candangos". It represents the workers from other regions of Brazil, who moved here in order to build the city.

Palacio do Planalto

Ministry of Justice

National Theatre

Lunch

Calling from Bonito

After our trip to Brasilia, we continued by bus to Campo Grande and transferred to another bus to reach the small town of Bonito. Bonito is located in Matto Grosso du Sul, in the southern part of Brazil's Pantanal.

Serra da Bodoquena Park

We first went to see a park which has a huge sinkhole where red and blue Araras lived.

Araras

Tucán

Fazenda Sao Francisco

On the next day, we went to one of the local fazendas, where we could do a trip of the Pantanal. After what we had seen in the Amazon, this place was not interesting at all. It turned out to be a giant rice field where they would show you some animals. It was too touristic and we did not like it.

Chevy Chase Moment

OK, Pantanal do Sul...not very interesting. But we will be back another time to go to northern Pantanal and be able to see the jaguars. At this time of the year, December, northern Pantanal is closed for visitors due to rains and flooding.

Rio da Prata

This is definitely the place you cannot miss in Bonito. Rio da Prata (Silver River) is among the clearest rivers in the world and you can snorkel and see all the fish. It is fantastic!

Arara

Snorkel

Preliminary instructions on how to do the tour. We swim together, no talking, no fast movements because they scare the fish.

Happy campers

Cicadas

Our best friend

Maybe only because he wanted our Brazilian nuts...

Campo Grande

So after Bonito, we finally managed to reach Campo Grande and spent Christmas with our friends Marco and Yuki. Here we went to a local food market to have Japanese food. This Sobá was delicious!

Christmas 2015

We were lucky to be invited for Christmas to the house of Marco's niece. We had an excellent evening and we cannot express enough gratitude for all of our Brazilian friends. They are lovely people.

Brazilian Flæskesteg

Marco and Yuki

Parque das Nações Indígenas

Capibara

Bye, bye Brazil!

For this time...