Brasil - SP&Pantanal Day 6

Day 06- Sunday, August 2, 2009 - Flight from São Paulo to Campo Grande and drive to Fazenda Xaraés, Mato Groso do Sul

Our alarm did not go off at 5:35 but Gennie was awake and up so we were on schedule. We took our showers, finished packing, and were ready for breakfast at 6:15. Tia was already for us with fresh bread, coffee, bananas, yogurt, and papaya.

Because of the flu outbreak in São Paulo, the start of school was delayed for two weeks. Isa invited her 11 year old grandson, Thomas to join us on our trip to the Pantanal.

Renata and Thomas were at the house at 7:00 to take Tia, Bob, Gennie and I to Congonhas Airport in São Paulo. There was no traffic on Sunday morning so we made the trip in no time at all.

Brazilian laws are very strict about minor children traveling without their parents consent. Renata and Isa had all of the paperwork and permissions in order so we had no problems checking in.

We said goodbye to Renata and then went through a relaxed security check. We found our gate easily in this small airport and waited for our flight to Campo Grande in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul.

The plane was not even half full so we had plenty of room. The flight attendant said I could move around to take photographs.

The flight left at on time at 9:50 and as soon as we cleared the nearby skyscrapers in the city below, we were above a heavy cloud cover and we were not able to see a thing but white.

There was an hour’s difference time in this western state. We landed in Campo Grande at 10:10. It was a very small airport and we went right to the baggage carrousel. We had to wait just a few minutes until all of our luggage arrived.

Outside of the arrival gate we met our driver, Weber, who was waiting for us with a 16 passenger van. We had lots of room; Gennie took the back seats, Isa had her own row, and Thomas and Bob were the backseat drivers. I sat in front with Weber.

We left Campo Grande immediately and headed west through flat pasture land with a few trees. The 2 lane road, BR262 was straight and well maintained. Weber told us there were 4 million people in the state and 22 million head of cattle.

Rancho do Pescador was our destination for lunch. We stopped at 12:30 and enjoyed plates of freshwater fish caught in this region, as well as beef, both served with rice and beans, fried potatoes, and a small salad of lettuce and tomatoes.

We were back on the road again at 1:30 continuing on west toward Corumbá near where we will spend the next three days. At the small town of Miranda we had a brief comfort stop.

The closer we got to the Corumbá area, the worse the road became. We had to stop for a 15 minute road construction delay and then continued on.

There was a cattle drive blocking the road and Weber stopped so we could take a few photos of the Pantaneiros. Their cattle are a variety of Brahma from India (Zebu) that can stand the heat and graze in these harsh conditions.

At 3:15 we entered the park and took a very rough sandy road to the Fazenda Xaraés. We traveled over plank bridges and when they were not fit to carry the load, we went into the ditches and the gullies to get through the draw.

We saw many species of hawks, egrets, and other huge birds, almost like emus. Weber is into driving and not nature so we will have to look up these many birds to know what we saw today.

After 20 minutes on the dirt road that I am sure had not been graded since the last ice age, we turned off at the sign that said Fazenda Xaraés, 12 K.

This path through the fields led us to our home for the next three days. As we unloaded the luggage and thanked Weber, we heard the many birds in this sanctuary.

Our host Nico asked us to sign in and we were given a brief tour of the facilities. Our room is very spacious and smells of eucalyptus, a smell near and dear to our hearts from previous trips to the family “farm” here in Brazil.

He gave us our itinerary for the morning, a canoe trip on river beginning at 8:00 AM! We are weary from our long day on the road so we will have dinner and post the journal.

We went to dinner at 7:30 and we invited Sadam Fujioka from Japan to join us as he was by himself. He is a computer music programmer/composer and we had a great talk.

He then brought over his computer and gave us a demonstration of his music using my name Garcia. Spectacular. He has played in Sao Paulo and now will go to Buenos Aires and Rosario in Argentina. Check out his site sadmb.com for free music software.

We checked our mail one more time, proofed the journal and then listened to the birds put us to sleep.

Question--you are not on a package tour. Where exactly are you going? What do you hope to see?

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Day 13 - Saturday, April 22, 2022 - Depart for U.S.

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