Brasil - SP&Pantanal Day 10

Day 10 - Thursday, August 6, 2009 – Gruta do Lago Azul and Cachoeiras da Estância Mimosa

Sleeping well helps to start our day well. The alarm went off at 6:15 and we were ready for breakfast at 7:00. The sky was blue and it was looking promising for another beautiful day. It was 64º and 70% humidity.

Claudio and Rogério were waiting for us at the portico for our drive to the Gruta do Lago Azul, the Blue Lake Cave. The trip to the grotto took about an hour. We arrived at 8:40 to this 25 hectare state park run by the city of Bonito.

Access to the cave is very limited; groups are less than 15 and scheduled every 20 minutes so that only 305 people can tour it each day.

After a short trek though the trees we began our descent of 100 meters. The path was very steep with slippery irregularly shaped rocks covered with water dripping from inside of the cave.

There was no railing and no other light than the sun coming in from above through the mouth of the cave. At every level spot we stopped to listen to more information about the cave.

When we reached the bottom overlook we could see the crystal clear blue water of the lake. The lake is over 20 meters deep in most places, but there are even more caves back under the main cavern and depths of over 40 meters.

The temperature at the bottom of the cave was 72º and the humidity was 96%. The climb out of the cave was on the same path we used to climb down.

There have been no safety modifications or any improvements to the cave at all so it was interesting to see it in its natural state. We reached the top at 10:30 and had a chance to get a cold drink, and then Claudio took us to our next destination.

It was another hour’s drive to get to the Cachoeiras da Estância Mimosa, another farm with beautiful waterfalls. We had lunch right away at the lodge.

It was a wonderful buffet – very typical of the country side here in the Southern part of Brazil. We had beef, chicken, manioc root, and rice and beans. The salads and vegetables were very fresh and raised organically on this farm.

After lunch we changed into our swimming suits, put on sunscreen and insect repellent, and we were on our way to the waterfalls. With Rogério as our guide and five other people joining our group, we made our way to the first of the seven cachoeiras, or waterfalls.

We had fun swimming in the clear pools, but the cold water really took your breath away when you first got in! In order to get to the last of the falls we had to go by boat for a short trip on the Rio Mimosa.

We retraced our steps to get back to the car park where Claudio was there to greet us. There was a 5:00 coffee with 12 different kinds of cakes and sweets waiting for us at the lodge.

We enjoyed another taste of Brazilian hospitality and then paid our bill for the drinks for the day. As we have found that on these excursions meals are included but drinks, even water, are not.

We left the Estância at 5:15 and we were back at the hotel at 6:05. We agreed to meet Tia, Thomas, and Bob at 6:40 to walk to the town for dinner.

The plan was to eat pastel, a fried cheese or meat filled pastry, but the shop we had chosen was closed. We walked a bit through the one small main street until Thomas suggested a restaurant having seen a sign for pastels.

When the first one arrived, it was huge, about the size of an 8x11 piece of paper! We enjoyed the meal with the sights, sounds, and smells of my childhood in Brazil coming back to me as easily as my Portuguese!

There was a market on the way back to the hotel so we stopped to buy water and then finished our hike back to the hotel.

We had not had time to do the journal or look at the pictures of the day so it was another late night by the time we finished our homework and checked our mail.

I like your hats. Are you bringing them home as souvenirs? Sounds like another great trip.

Day 13: Azores & Madeira: Portugal's Unspoiled Archipelagos

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