Left our houseboat at 7am for the long haul road trip, in my case, to Cuiaba; my fellow travellers were off to Eco Lodge, where I had already been. We  farewelled each other on our next adventures.

A couple of gorgeous hyacinth macaws flew into a tree by the road as we were leaving the area, followed by a red macaw! Fabulous last vista of those birds. 

Cuiaba, like the rest of the country, was celebrating a national holiday, Independence Day, (since 1822). Nothing was moving! Relaxed in my hotel catching up on blog postings from the Pantanal (where there had been no internet).