Photo Diary - Bonito, Mato Grosso do Sul

Last week I had to travel to Mato Grosso do Sul for work, and since I was there, I took the weekend to visit one the most famous brazilian nature’s marvel – Bonito. The name of the place by itself, sums it up. It was probably one of the most beautiful experiences that I will ever have.
Not going to write much. This is one of those cases in which a picture is worth a thousand words.

Day #1 - Afternoon
Arrived in “Bonito” friday afternoon right in time to visit “Estância Mimosa” - a huge private property with seven different waterfalls and a beautiful walking track surrounded by a huge variety of wild animals (got to be careful with the alligators!).

Day #2 - Morning
Waked up early, had a nice breakfast and headed to the “Blue Lake Cavern”. If I hadn't seen it, I wouldn't believe it. Went deep in the cave, and at the end, there it was, a perfect blue lake.It’s really hard to believe your eyes when you’re there. Of course there's a scientific explanation for the blue water related with the limestone, but I leave that for your research.

Day #2 – Afternoon
After visiting the cave, it was time for the most unbelievable and beautiful adventure of the weekend, the so called “Flotation at the Natural Aquarium”. You enter one of the many small rivers in Bonito, right where it starts, and go down with the flow during 2 hours. I had never seen such clear water in my life. It kind of reflects as a mirror when you’re in the outside, and once you get in…. Well, see what happens below (no Photoshop or image edition of any kind was used).

Day #2 – Night
After a long day, it was time for a nice dinner and a walk in the city center (when I say city center I mean a 500m street and that’s it, it’s a very small city). I’m posting the menu available at the restaurant since it offered several types of meat that I had never tried before. As far as new experiences go, I had alligator meat (hard to believe how good it is) and ostrich (a bird with red meat!). Still had time to go for an ice cream having to choose from a menu in which I didn’t know 80% of the fruits.

Day #3 – Morning
Rise and shine! It was around 7.30am and I was already heading to the municipal riverside beach! It is probably the cheapest tourist option in Bonito but it really is worth visiting! A nice infrastructure where you can hire all the necessary equipment to dive in the river, feed the fishes and take several cool photos. Unfortunately I only had my cellphone with me and even with the waterproof case, the underwater pics weren’t so good.

In the end, this was a unique weekend with some of the most beautiful sightseeing I have ever experienced. It is not the cheapest option for tourism but it is totally worth it. Nature in its pure state. Thank you Brazil.