I am alive, but slightly gone crazy. I spent more than two days on a train and then on buses.
I barely made it for the death train from Santa Cruz to Brazilian border. Instead of 17 hours of bumpy rides (train rides can be bumpy, did you know that?), I survived the while 19.5 hours. Saw real missionaries on the train - tall, blond, speak dutch (?), white hats, and blue overalls with a shirt.
Because of the delay, I got to the Bolivian border 5 minutes before closing, ahead of a big gringo group. To get to the Brazilian immigration office, which located in the town of Corumba at the bus station, I jumped to a minivan of a tour operator. The Swiss lady was trying to sell me Pantanal tours and turned out to be extremely useful. She just grabbed my passport and handed it over to the immigration officer in front of three stunned Bolivians. Needless to say, the border was basically closed (Saturday, open till 1 pm only) and a lot of other tourists had to stay in Corumba until the next day.
I decided to skip Bonito due to overcast and cold weather and off-season. To go snorkeling in those crystal rivers you need sun and a group of people, apparently. None of which I had at my disposal. I also decided not to do Pantanal tour as I did pampas in Bolivia, but here it was cold and three times more expensive. So I jumped on a bus to Campo Grande and there I changed for another bus to Sao Paulo. Two buses cost me about USD 150, which is insane. No food, no movies. I think I do not have any thoughts to think after these 50 hours.
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