Part 1 of our Brazil/Amazonian Adventure!

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Hi everyone



Happy new year! We were fortunate to be on Copacabana beach in Rio, with 2.5 million other people, watching the fireworks. It was great fun; everyone was in good spirits, wishing each other, spraying champagne around around and wading under the waves.





The next day we departed on our next tour,which takes us across Brazil, through the Amazon and to Cusco.

Our first stop was Ouro Preto, once the gold mining region of Brazil. On our way there, we stopped on to see

Aleijandinhos prophets, at the Basilica do Bom Jesus de Matosinhos. Aleijandinho, also known as Antonio Lisboa, was a famous sculptor from the region, not only because he created beautiful pieces, but also because he had a progressive debilitating disease, resulting in him losing use of his hands. As such, he created his pieces by strapping a chisel to his chest, and carving knifes to his arms, with assistants rotating the pieces for him. Amazingly talented! Ouro Preto itself is based overlooking lush hills, and we spent two days there browsing around the churches, museum and soapstone art markets.





The next day, we did a 600km drive, before settling in to bush camp. However, just as we were pulling up to our chosen location, we saw huge tarantula near by! It's safe to say I didn't sleep well that night!



Our next location was Brasilia. I've never seen a city like it.Built in the 20th century, over a 3 year period, it's ridiculously logical and well planned out. The center is shaped like a plane, and each service (hotel, entertainment, housing etc), is attributed its own sector. Further, each neighborhood, consisting of a few blocks, each have their own local parade of shops, primary school and religious building.We spent two days checking out the futuristic buildings and touring the city.





The day after consisted of another long day drive, before setting up bush camp. We saw an awesome moonrise! Our next stop was chapada dos guimaraes,where we spent two days doing bush walks within the national park, which is host to taipurs, pumas, snakes and other wildlife, and swimming in rivers and waterfalls. Whilst we were not fortunate enough to see these animals, we did see some foot prints, and some toucans!





In the next section of our trip,to the Pantanal, we were more successful in seeing animals. On our arrival, we went for a boat ride on the Rio Claro. Here, we saw howler monkeys, caimans and many many birds/hawks. The next morning, we went for a walk at sunrise. Although we did see a few birds, we were more successful at being targets for the mosquitos, and I learnt the hard way that leggings doesn't protect you from their steely determination to have a bite. In the afternoon, we went horse riding around the area, including wading through the caiman infested waters.....scary stuff!Then in the evening, went on a night safari, where we saw deer, caiman, foxes, owls and wild water buffalos. We are currently in the middle of our last day here, and this morning has definitely been my favorite! We saw an Armadillo,went in a boat ride, and then Piranha fishing, with both Ross and I managing to catch some!





This afternoon, we'll be going on a forest walk, before heading to Villa Bella and hopefully seeing pink dolphins! Internet access will be difficult, so will probably write the second part of our Brazil/Amazon adventure at the end of this tour. Until then!

Xxx

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