In Cuiabá luckily the owner of the hostel picked me up from the airport. I was in contact with him for a possible tour in Pantanal....the information online about tours was either poor or the offers very expensive (4 days for minimum 700€!), so I hoped for this guy to offer me something cheaper or at least customized for a reasonable price. We drove to his hostel in the heart of Cuiaba, well rather the centre than a heart because this city was not charming at all, only the starting point for tours! I settled in and we talked out possible tours. It is not the main season due to lot of rain, so accessing the end of the 250km Transpantaneira to Porto Jofre was rather dangerous, the water covering streets after rain and making the crossing over bridges sometimes unable...you could get stuck in the middle of nowhere! The manageable tour was to half way which was until 70km before Porto Jofre, where we could access the river by boat to see the wildlife. The famous jaguars could be seen but only with dry river banks, so chances were limited. Anyway the offer for this tour 4 days and 3 nights including tours by boat and all meals was 2.500 Reais (about 650€)....nothing cheaper available, so I accepted it and we were about to leave next morning. The evening at the hostel was kind of weird...first there was only a Brazilian guy, that spoke funny things in broken English. Then an American guy living in Pantanal since 15 years and waiting for Russian tourists to take them to the Pantanal too. I was the only girl besides these two weird guys and the hostel owner. On the one hand I was glad having the room for myself, but somehow felt uncomfortable and thus slept bad.

The rooms well, basic I would say, but also little animals in the bathroom such as lizards and worms. Well ok, I will manage this night somehow and hope for the next pousada to be better. Just 1 hour after arrival, so nearly no time to rest, we took a walk through the forest and lots if mud, of course mosquitos, to where the boat was. We had taken a Brazilian couple with us....so guess what, we spoke only Portuguese again! Since the guide felt more comfortable with his language, most of the things weren’t translated. But somehow I didn't need many words to enjoy the beauty of nature...

Even we pasted some caymans, iguanas, birds and capybaras...

Getting off the boat we made our way back towards a viewing platform, built around a tree up to 23 meters height. We were rewarded by a beautiful sunset, which gave the best light to the dense jungle...

We got back to have dinner shortly after return to the pousada. Food, which was kind of good and so we sat in the dining room, which wasn’t a room rather open with mosquito net around it. Besides the Brazilian couple, there was also a French guy, that we had met at sunset earlier and luckily spoke English, and he also joined us for dinner....that was the limit of people in this place! To my surprise the couple spoke really good English, so why did we mainly speak Portuguese on the boat? Now my sympathy for the guide sank to a lower level, how selfish to choose the more comfortable language for him. Anyway, we spoke about the couple‘s experiences on their trip so far and they told me about this amazing place named Nobres / Bom Jardim and Chapade, where you can see many waterfalls and snorkel in crystal clear water with fish beneath a waterfall....I had to go there, even though it meant to discuss with the guide and he wouldn’t like it. But after this experience with the mosquitos and the place I couldn’t take it another two nights. Sounds kind of arrogant but I had seen many animals on safaris and other trips that I couldn’t expect 5 more boat trips would flash me more trip by trip. Let’s wait and see what he sais...
As we got in the car short after dinner to go for a little night safari drive, I spoke with him that I badly wanted to do this. Of course he wasn’t pleased in the first moment but tried to keep a smile and said he would have to calculate and let me know next morning. At least he wanted to think about it! Honestly, it was only the extra fee for gasoline since everything else just was transferred to other locations such as pousada and food. But ok, he probably had to check for alternative places to stay overnight because in low season not all the places were open.

Of course we didn’t see anything on the night drive and after him asking personal questions about my life - non of his business - I felt even more uncomfortable, but had to deal with it another 3 days!

The night in this place was horrible....the bugs in the bathroom and the loud air conditioning gave me hardly any sleep and next morning we met at already 5.40 am for sunrise. So again through this forest of mosquitos, but in the dark so you even couldn’t see if you were stepping into mud or animals shit....I used my own phone flash light because my guide had his flash light and just went first and fast! Well we got up the tree again, but unfortunately the sun was covered by clouds. At last we tried another boat ride to see animals waking up, but not much movement there either, so off to breakfast.

Finally we left the place for the next pousada not far away, but supposed to be more comfortable. Before we got there for lunch we drove down the Transpantaneira until 17km before Porto Jofre. So many bridges to cross, which were in worse conditions the closer we came to Porto Jofre or the deeper we got into the jungle. This was the only street this direction and every car had to take this, even trucks and they were heavy enough to destroy parts of the bridges. Sometimes my guide had to get out of the car to fix the wood. At some point we turned around to not get into worse problems.

And there it was, the next problem stopping in front of a bridge....two cows from a farmer had got stuck in a hole of the bridge, with 400kg unable to get out. Three men pulled with ropes until they finally freed the cow! A little later the whole herd blocked the road and moved slowly away when we approached.

Back in the pousada we had lunch and could shortly after get to our rooms. What a relief to have a bug-free and clean place with a

huge bed and towels....I could rest, wash some clothes and have a nap.

While fishing the brown collared sea eagle was watching us, waiting to get some fish. The driver then threw a fish in the middle of the river and there he flew, caught the fish in the water and off he went.

The clouds became darker and darker....suddenly a cayman swimming towards our boat and rested beside us, probably being hungry. What an amazing experience facing this creature so close! The driver took a piece of meet and fixed it to one of the bamboo sticks...

By that time heavy rain started and we speeded up the boat to get back....passing a beautiful rainbow when the rain slowed down a bit. Now this was a worthy boat trip with an unique adventure!
The evening started and so we walked along the road towards the forest to get the last sunset of the Pantanal tour showing its whole beauty in many different colours, every minute a more beautiful view.

After dinner we took the last night safari by car having the Japanese girl joining us. Besides some foxes and tapirs far away there was nothing more to see. So back in the pousada I could start my finally good sleep...

Quickly grabbing my swimming clothes and going to the next adventure, snorkelling with fish in a forest river close by! As we walked through the forest to the river, you could tell the different vegetation with more palm trees...this was the Southern border to Amazonia area.

Since there was hardly any information about activities in this area online, I had to somehow rely on my guide. By telling him about my wish to snorkel and see waterfalls, he had organized the vouchers the day before, so I had to trust that these activities were the only ones to do here since he hadn’t mentioned anything else. Anyway hardly anyone spoke English, so not easy to ask questions or get additional information!
The pousada I stayed at was simple and clean. The other nicer places were fully booked....he said! When I checked on booking.com, there were still some rooms available...but I didn’t want to start another discussion with him, so just accepted his suggestions.

The afternoon after snorkeling we first had coffe and a sandwich, but I was waiting to have some time for myself, so asked for a WiFi code in the travel agency, which at the same time was a pousada, and went there after showering in my place to organize some things online while sitting in a beautiful garden of the pousada. Later then we had dinner at a small local house, where the inhabitants grilled some meat themselves served with rice and farofa. To not spend to much time with the guide, I pretended that I was tired!
Next morning after breakfast at the same pousada we soon left for the waterfalls....the guide lost his voice the more time was passing, so we didn’t communicate much. He always was in a rush after I had finished my meals to go to the next activity. Well off we were at 8 am. The waterfalls were an hour drive on bumpy roads just as the Transpantaneira, but with amazing view on landscapes just as you can picture it from documentaries about the Brazilian forests! We arrived at the starting point and there I saw another missed opportunity the guide hadn’t mentioned, for an additional fee of 40 Reais (10€!) you could add zip lining from the waterfalls down crossing the forest. But as I asked him, he simply said „yes this would have been another voucher“.....so why on earth doesn’t he open his mouth to tell me what other additional options there were??! So what, I tried to ignore him and follow the group as we went up the forest climbing many steps until this amazing view opened up in the middle of dense forest....as if someone had put up a painting there, so unrealistic it seemed to have this natural beauty after endless seeming forest. But the beauty of the waterfall fitted perfectly in this variety of rocks and plants. Getting closer, you could see the crystal clear water, and again there were fish in the. We had become glasses to look under water, but without snorkel. So I didn’t really care about these, so enjoyed the swimming so close to a waterfall of this dimension! After about 2 hours we went back to the car. Had I booked the zip lining, I wouldn’t have to walk down, could have let myself slide down the rope. Oh well, didn’t care anymore...it was anyway really an amazing experience!

The following 3 hours were likely to be erased from the story about this beautiful trip, but need to say some words about it just to give an idea about how the situation can change from happiness to feeling uncomfortable!
We drove back and nearly any word came out of the guide‘s mouth, 3 hours of silence with a moody face! Without any comment he let my jump in a bank and supermarket to get some dinner, which I definitely didn’t want to spend with him. We got back to his hostel and he didn’t make any effort helping me with the bags out of the car, only caring about his own. At this point I asked him what his problem was! Some funny words I could understand that he didn’t feel good changing the plan and everything was complicated....didn’t really get his point, but also didn’t want to talk further without sense and seeing his face change into a little angy way! Couldn’t spend another night here with him close and the room not lockable. Within 10 minutes I packed my stuff, booked a hotel at the airport and ordered an Uber car to take me there. He didn’t like it, but at least he apologized that the lack of communication was his fault. This definitely was a mistaken human interaction, that I didn’t want to spend more energy on this!
The hotel was comfortable, clean and relaxing....finally a good night sleep to gain energy for my onward journey to the Iguaçu Water Falls!