Bonito
BRAZIL
Barbecues in Bonito
By LYNDI
Sunday, September 30, 2010
On all of my tours through western Brazil we stop at a little holiday town called Bonito which is literally “pretty” in Portugese. The tours spend two or three nights there in order to allow passengers to do some of the great outdoor activities that Bonito offers or just relax in the cute little town. But this only really works if the weather is nice, so considering it was pretty cold and a little rainy while we were there, three nights was more than enough time.
Kim, Steff, Luke and Keryn all did Bonito’s most famous tour on the first day we got there called the Rio do Prata. It’s been recognized as the cleanest river in the world and you can do a snorkeling excursion. In Bonito the rivers run through natural limestone which cleans the water and purifies it, making a crystal clear underwater view for any snorkelers. However, it comes at a price. The river is carefully protected – you can’t even wear sunscreen or bug spray while snorkeling – and unique in the world, so they charge a hefty R$180 price tag (approximately US$110) for the half day excursion.
Aaron decided he would snorkel about 100 times for about the same price and gave it a miss. Instead he rented a Honda 200cc motorcycle at Hotel Refugio for R$60 for the day and took it around town and on all the little dirt paths. I joined him for awhile and we went to the different parks in the area and got some salgados and cokes for lunch. (Salgados, by the way, are these amazing little stuffed sandwiches that are everywhere in Brazil. Aaron and I have easily become salgado addicts.)
In Bonito the paved road only lasts for about 1/2 a mile and then is all dirt and pot-holed, so it gave Aaron plenty of skill practice on the motorcycle. The bumps that Aaron found pretty fun nearly threw me off the back (hey – when you can’t see the road and anticipate the bumps, your balance is quickly diminished) so I had to ask him to give me a heads up. From then on out, I would hear a small voice from the front murmuring something, only to quickly discover he’d been saying “3, 2, 1” so that I’d know bumps were ahead – so despite our best efforts I was still nearly dumped in cow pastures. I spent about two hours on the bike and then had to go back to work (yes – getting paid to travel through South America means I actually have to do some work too) and Aaron continued off on his own.
Because food prices are much higher in Brazil than they were in Bolivia, all 6 of us went in search of some nice street food for dinner. We found a nice street food option where for R$7 I got a chicken skewer, rice and yucca and Aaron got an enormous R$5 burger.
The next day was Keryn’s birthday, so we went to the local public park with a bunch of barbecue supplies and fired up the old grill. It was pretty chilly and we had little rain spurts, but overall the weather held out for us. Luke had a little set of speakers, and Aaron and Kim made some amazing steaks, chicken and potatoes, we had plenty of cervejas and Aaron even did a little bit of snorkeling in the really cold river on a nice cold day. The same fish that you would find in the famous Rio do Prata swim in the rivers at the local park, so Aaron was constantly surrounded by enormous Sucuri fish. We didn’t realize they were man-eating fish until Luke cleverly tried to hand-feed them and they nearly bit off his finger. Don’t get between a Sucuri and a Cheeto.
We then semi-surprised Keryn with a birthday cake (you’d have to be pretty thick to not see or hear us transporting and unwrapping and trying to light candles on a windy day on a cake on your birthday) and then headed back to town around 4pm. We had a card game marathon in the hotel’s outdoor lobby, a few more beverages and then went to Taboa Bar that night for some hot wine.
All in all it was a good stay. If the weather had cooperated a little bit more it would have been nice, but our friend El Niño is lurking this year to make sure we don’t enjoy too much dry weather. So we headed down on Sunday to a small and ugly border town called Ponta Pora and then were off to Paraguay the next day.
