Decided to take a day off before we travel again. Mom and I enjoyed a sleep-in and breakfast, while others woke up for the sunrise tower walk. The morning activity was a photo-drive and visit to a bird farm (ready birds for release into the wild) and mom returned enthusiastic about her “best day yet.” Seems she saw vultures, stork, lots of nest-building parrots, and her favorite: a family of capybara.
My quiet time was spent with back therapy, meditation and reading. Lovely. Just “being” in this space is a wonderful experience as well. Felt like I needed the quiet, and mom enjoyed beating me at rummy 500. We played for a while in the “library”, thinking it would be good to get out of our room, but the shweddy nature of being anywhere outdoors sent us running back for cover.
Lunch was pleasant:
and we sadly bade the french family a fond farewell. They once again complimented me on my french, which made me feel great. Tried to nap (no luck), tried to upload photos to the blog (no luck) and finally decided around 5 that the heat had abated enough to get my fanny out to be in the Pantanal on my last full day here.
Then it was siesta time, and my finally checked out the hammocks in front of our room:
I walked on my own to the egret tower, which we hadn’t visited yet, and enjoyed the peace and quiet up on high. New bird calls, and the ever-entertaining sight of caiman bobbing up and down in a pond – still making me think of Captain Hook! – and cows and deer on the plains in the distance. I saw a caiman head for shore, but when it rose out of the water, it wasn’t a caiman at all….it was a capybara! I guess that wild, hairy pig wasn’t afraid of swimming with the crocodiles! He toodled along the path until he disappeared into the brush.
After about 45 minutes, I saw Chaco and Tom on the Howler Monkey tower, so is scurried down the 6 sets of steps, realized I didn’t have my flashlight (app) for the walk back in the dark, ran to the room, changed shoes and picked up my phone, and walked with a purpose out to meet them on the tower. I walked up oh so quietly and found them up on the breezy platform, Chaco relaxing, and Tom clicking away with his big lens. I got in on the action, as the male monkey, a female with a baby on her back, and another young female were all munching amongst the branches.
Check out how the male and female have the tip of their tongues stuck out at each other in the last photo. That kept us occupied until the sun really set low, and then it was sunset time. Took plenty of those
and then we walked back to the room for a shower and to get ready for dinner. Chaco and I headed out for a drink at the local bar (you’d laugh if you saw it – it’s just a covered area where we rented the horses, but he said there was music and gaiety galore last night) and at the end of the path, realized the bar was not open. So much for throwing one back with the locals!
Dinner was lovely, as always, with conversation about the Japanese coming to Brazil in the 1930’s to share information about agriculture and more recently the Chinese immigrating in and purchasing quite a bit of commodities from the country. Interesting to hear the perspective of our changing world from different members of it. Excellent flan, then back to the room to pack a bit for departure tomorrow and our 5:15 wake-up call.