Category: Brazil, 2014

Drenched in sweat and rain

May 6

Our last full day in Brazil starts with a 4:30 AM ride that turns up nothing amazing.

Breakfast, again very good, back at the lodge. After photographing, mainly toucans, around the lodge, in light that is not very good, we set out on foot at 7:30, towards Eduardo’s Uncle Tutu’s cattle farm. It’s already sultry and overcast. Eduardo says it will rain. Heat means a lot of sweat, which makes the bird watching, and walking, less enjoyable.

Arrive at Uncle Tutu’s cattle farm as Uncle Tutu is heading out. Bird life on Uncle’s farm is different and about as amazing as at Jaguar. Mercifully, it begins to cool a bit after awhile, as we get a very light drizzle. Somebody from Jaguar comes to pick us up, and we get into the truck as it begins to rain, then pour very hard.

Get drenched walking the very short distance from the truck to the dining room, but the cold and damp actually feels good. Lot of rain comes through the roof and we sit in chairs that rest in puddles. Carol heads back to our room in her rain jacket to read. I stay in the dining room and pour over a couple hundred photos I took this morning to whittle them down for the blog. The whittling is a very imperfect process, as I eliminate photos based on tiny thumbnails. So, I’m not necessarily working from the best photos, and I can do only very minor work on them before posting. So, with those excuses, here’s a selection from this morning, including one of Uncle Tutu.

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After yet another good lunch, we wait until three for an afternoon drive, anticipating that the rain will have let up by then. But it has not, so we wait another half hour, then set out in what is still a very steady rain. The rain has had the salutary effect of cooling things off dramatically, enough so that I’m comfortable wearing my rain jacket for the first time this trip.

Major sighting this afternoon is a tapir, which we see for about three seconds as it runs across the road. The tapir is a large, horse-sized animal that lives on a vegetarian diet. Jaguars may try to attack them, but, if they do, the tapir runs into the woods and knocks the jaguar off with the brush. A few other very nice bird sightings, including the capped heron and the purple gallinule, but low light permits only poor photos. Also saw two cavys (rodents). Below, too, are pictures of the famed Transpantaneira Highway and one of its many wooden bridges.

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After dinner, a last night drive in an effort to spot a jaguar. We find fresh tracks, but, despite valiant efforts by Eduardo, fail to find the actual jaguar. As Charlie Brown would say, “Curse you, Red Baron!”

4 comments to Drenched in sweat and rain

  • The birds and animals are amazing as is the photography. Best of all is Carol.

  • Barbara Sandler

    Wish your last day had been more moderate. Both in terms of heat and rain. But I’m guessing folks don’t go to Brazil for the climate.

    Love the bird photos, the horse reflected in the puddle of water, the amazing display of protective coloring. And, of course, Uncle Tutu!

    Safe travel home.

    Love, B

  • Paul McLoughlin

    Just picked-up on Brazil; brilliant, Kanter, brilliant. Was particularly taken by Namaste because Jodi and I just returned from a trek at Annapurna in Nepal. Awesome.

    We’ll talk on your return. Love to Carol—wonderful seeing her in the Great Outdoors. Safe travels home.

  • Zoe-Bug

    LOVE THE BIRD PICS! And I think it would be Snoopy who would say, “Curse you, Red Baron!”

    Zoe-Bug

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