Brazilian Experiences

LIFE IN THE PANTANAL

The Pantanal is the biggest wetland in the world with plains, jungles and grassy fields as well. The first thing we did when we arrived there was to go piranha fishing with six caymans waiting to gulp up our catch. I know it sounds a little bit crazy, but I was not scared of the caymans, it made my mom a little uneasy though! The piranhas that we did not feed to the caymans, we fed to a tuiuiu (jabiru stork), that the people from the pousada(resort) raised and named "Pedrinho", which means little Peter. Pedrinho was not very little, he was about as tall as Ethan, and was only 5 months old. Other things we did was paddle in a canoe, we saw over 50 caimans on the river. I got to hold a baby one! On our truck rides and hikes we saw howler monkeys, foot prints of a crab eating fox and of a ocelot (like a jaguar but smaller). We saw a agouti, yellow armadillo, South American coati (like a raccon but wit longer snout and tail), three types of deer(red brocket, brown brocket and pampas) and capibaras walking right by our door step. We also saw lots of birds, the most exciting ones were arara azul, toucan, three types of parakeets, rhea, lots of birds of prey, like Savannah and the Roadside hawks, king fisher with a fish in it's beak, and lots more. On our last evening we went on a long horse back ride, we rode into a saltwater lake with water buffalos and thousands of egreats resting on the trees that grow around the lake. When I grow up I want to be a "Pantaneiro", do wildlife reaserch and have my farm in the Pantanal. By Nolan

SURF'S UP

We went to Ilha do Mel, an ecological Island with mostly jungle, miles of beaches and two tiny villages, Encantadas and Brasilia. We went to the bigger village, Brasilia. The villagres are made up of mostly restaurants, pousadas and little shops. The sand trails are only big enough for walking and biking. There are no cars on the Island. We stayed at Grajagan Surf Resort and learned to surf. I prefered the long board, and my brothers chose the short board, though they were harder to stand up on. The hard part was getting up on your board. The workers of the resort were crazy with us, one even went out in the water to surf with us. One of the days we went to caves that fills with water when the tide comes up. We also biked on the beach to an old fort that was built in the 1700's, with most cannons still intact. It was used to defend Brazil's coast against Spain. It was an awesome experience being at Ilha do Mel.

By Christian

Savouring Family Time

Shawn is returning to Bellingham tomorrow. We are all very sad, but we will reunite soon as our time in Brazil is rapidly coming to an end as well. We enjoyed our family time immensily! Since we updated last, we have lived as "pantneiros" and learned to surf! We have caught piranhas with caymans lurking on the banks around us! We rode horses into lakes with water buffalos and hundreds of eagrets flying around! We have seen forts and climbed hills to reach old lighthouses. Today we enjoyed a tasty dinner of picanha (Brazilian meat prepared by my brother) and looked for hidden chocolate eggs. Our time has been blessed by God and we are thankfull for a great vacation!

Update on the Trip

We picked up our dad at the airport, after not seeing him for about a month. As dad walked out of the plane, Ethan ducked under the gate to give him a hug. When he was here we did a lot of things, like go to an Atlético game, which is one of Curitiba´s soccer teams. They won 3-0 against the city of Londrina. The soccer fans here are crazy and wild! The next day we headed to the beach. We stayed at a beach resort called Atalia. It rained super hard part of the time, so hard that the parking lot was flooded. It was sunny one day and cloudy the last part. Right when we were leaving it started getting sunny again. We then went to the capital of the state we were in, Florianópolis, Santa Catarina. There were numerous sand dunes on the Island of Florianópolis. We rented sand boards to ride on, then we found a nice hotel to stay in for the night. There was a beach there too, so we went there, the waves were just right, and it was sunny and warm as can be. We went back home, and the next day went to my little cousin, Joaõ Maurício´s birthday. I played some good soccer there, with my friends Lucas, and Gabriel. Tomorrow we are heading to the Pantanal, so stay tuned. Christian

The Fun Weekend

On Friday we went to Vila Velha, a giant city of sandstone rock formations. At first I thought there were about four or five, but there were about fifty! Some were wedged in cracks, some in weird shapes, and most of them were higher than three storys high! the most famous was a formation that looked like a goblet, and it was called, well, "The Goblet". There were also pits a hundred meters deep, half filled with water, called furnas. There was also a forest right by it. What´s cool, is that there´s a trail running through all of this. On Saturday we went on a train ride through the jungle Mata Atlântica to a small town called Morrettes. We saw banana trees with giant leaves, we went over trestle bridges, through long, dark tunnels, past old train stations and ruins, and finally got to the small town of Morrettes. It is surrounded by the jungle, but very near the coast of Parana´. We ate lunch at a restaurant that served seafood and the common meal around there, Barreado. My mom agreed to do a play with the waiter in front of everybody. If you mix Barreado, (mushed up meat), with flour and pat it down to the bottom of the bowl, it will stick. Then the waiter dumped the bowl on my mom´s head, and nothing dropped! On Sunday, my grandma´s church was meeting at an old bible camp called Bethel, for lunch. My mommused to go there when she was little. There were lots of things to do, like swim and play soccer, but there was a big forest near, so I went there. There was a big streaam with a slippery log crossing it with fun trails. My mom said we never got so dirty in our lives. Now we are just catching up wit school work until dad gets here on Thursday. We can't wait to see him again!