Tinasbeen

Photos from Brazil - Part One

(This post got named "Blog of the Day" in the World category on blogoftheday.org the night I posted it - how cool is that?)





In honor of my parents' current trip down to Brazil to visit my sister, I've decided to post a few photos from my own trip there this June - enjoy!

Marisa and I went to Ipanema beach as soon as I got to Rio - it was "winter," but that just meant it was around 80 degrees F instead of 95 - and not as crowded. This statue is at the south end of the beach - I like to think it's in honor of me finishing my dissertation a few days before I left for this trip ;)



But we left Rio pretty quickly, taking a bus down to Sao Paulo to catch a flight to Campo Grande, in the southwest part of Brazil. From there, we rented a car and headed further west to Bonito - "world capital of ecotourism" (if they do say so themselves). Self-promotion aside, it was amazing - we snorkeled in rivers that are as clear as aquariums and are filled with enormous (2-3 foot long) fish - I even had an otter swim in front of me! Marisa has all the pictures and video footage of that, though.

Another highlight of the trip was a brief visit to Buraca do Araras (which unfortunately translates to "Parrot Hole" in English), a newly reopened refuge for wild parrots and parakeets. Dozens of them live in a deep circular canyon, and we were the only visitors there that day - very cool experience. Here's a photo of some of the parrots in flight:



We even had a good time getting around - we had rented a little car, and somehow managed to get stuck behind two herds of cows in the course of five days. Driving through a herd of a hundred cows (with the cowboys' permission, of course) can be a surprisingly fun experience!



But our favorite part of the trip to Bonito was our visit to Cachoiera do Peixes (I'm pretty sure that's the name - it translates, roughly, to Waterfall of the Fishes). It's a working farm with gorgeous trails through a semi-tropical forest, lots of waterfalls (big and small), including a couple you could swim in, a zip line that you could take across a little lake and jump in, a huge homemade lunch spread (12 different desserts for 7 people - it was crazy), hammocks for napping after the huge lunch spread, and lots of interesting animals - including parrots and monkeys that would take food from your hand and a pack of five pomeranians and one chihuahua that would come along on the hikes and harass the farm animals. if you've never seen a Pomeranian chasing a bull, you haven't lived. ;) Here's a few photos:









OK, photos from the second half of the trip in my next post!

posted by Tina @ 3:40 PM