Paraguay

Day 672,
75 147 km since the beginning of the journey,


The border-crossing between Brazil and Paraguay was quite peculiar. Peculiar in this sense that actually there was no real border between the two countries - but just a street in the centre of the town and that was the Border. On one side there is Brazil and a town Ponta Pora and on the other side there is Uruguay and another town named - Pedro Juan Caballero.

Bonito, Gruta Lago Azul

Day 669,
74 169 km since the beginning of the journey.

There is an interesting grotto About 20 kilometres from Bonito there is an interesting grotto, in the bottom of which is lake of very clear and transparent blue water. In order to visit the place pre-registration is necessary. The tourism companies in town sell the vouchers, the time of the visit is fixed and only then it makes sense to go to the place. Every half an hour a group of 15 people is allowed to go down to admire the lake and there are four groups moving around at the same time. I had seen the picture of the place before but the sight was more powerful than expected.


Starting descending from the top

Brasília

Day 667.

Brasilia is the capital of Brazil, the city's name is derived from the name of the country. As early as in 1891 the Brazilian Constitution accepted the clause that in future the capital of the state - Rio de Janero - would to be transferred to a new city.

In 1956 during the election Juscelino Kubitschek promised that when he is the president the country would get the new capital. The town planning competition was won by the architect Lucio Costa and the architect Oscar Niemeyer planned public buildings.

The plan - approved by Congress in 1956. The city – built on an empty place – resembles to the image of a bow and arrow, or a bird, or the shape of a plane. The selected location - 125 km away from the railway line, 190 km from the nearest airport and the nearest paved road was 600 miles away, and the wood and the steel had to be brought from a distance of 1200 km (source: RG Brazil).

Pantanal and Transpantaneira

Day 664,
73 798 km. since the beginning of the journey.



Pantanal is waiting ahead. Pantanal is considered to be the world's largest wetland area of 140 to 195 thousand km2 and extending to three countries - most of it is in Brazil and a part reaches to Bolivia and Paraguay. Pantanal is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Ubatuba 1

Having visited Santos I drove along the coastal road up towards Rio de Janeiro. There is also a motorway from Sao Paulo towards Rio de Janeiro, but as soon as I have begun to talk to somebody about visiting this area I have always been suggested to ride along the ocean-side road, it is said to be more beautiful and more interesting .The distance from Santos to Rio de Janeiro is a little over 500 kilometers, that is - in theory one could get there in one day, and there will be time left over as well. This is in theory, if we look only at the map.

As there are wonderful views of the ocean and the beaches by the road and many interesting towns - such as Ubatuba and Paraty, then one can`t help spending much more time. I have been advised to consider taking one week and although this seemed to be too long in the beginning and how one could spend a whole week to cover 500 km, then looking back - it is a perfectly proper recommendation. I arrived at Santos on November 9 and at Rio - November 15 in the evening, so all together it took 6 days.


Some intermediate places to make a stop - Ubatuba was said to be the only city through which the Tropic of Capricorn runs , so again the time has come when the sun will appear directly in the zenith . Again - in theory, because in practice the sun was behind the gray clouds and only warm rain met the head.