The 6 o’clock morning bell woke us up at the single story lodge, where we occupied five of the six rooms. The rooms were well furnished, not elegantly but we did not expect elegance. The lodge was not the main one on the preserve but we all liked it. Each room had a balcony and the balcony door had three layers: screen, glass and the last one was a shutter to darken the room. The second bell sounded to announce mealtime. We had a good breakfast with a variety of dishes. I asked for and ate whites only scrambled eggs daily. Their coffee was excellent but they do not offer decaffeinated here or anywhere we traveled on this trip.
 
 

The Lodge

Our daily schedule was the same. At seven we rode the Safari truck and traveled on red dirt roads to a region of the preserve going though several gates of the fenced areas. Our guide, Bruno, was a veterinary doctor but decided to work in ecology. When he spotted a bird or an animal with his sharp eyes, he would very lightly tap on top of the cab of the truck. The driver, Ary, would stop and we looked. Sometimes we disembarked and walked different distances from one to two hours looking for wildlife and plants. We saw birds that I did not know existed. They were for the most part colorful and in flocks of various numbers. We saw howler, tamarin and other species of monkeys in the forest.
 
 

Anteater-Grant

When we were ready to resume our travel, Bruno would tap the cab again. I could not believe that Ary heard the muted taps. So I tapped myself, and it worked. Then I decided to ride with Ary to hear it for myself, and amazingly it was audible.

Wild animals were plentiful and some species were unique to the area like the giant anteater, which has a huge tail. When it carries its young on its back, it flips the tail over the young for protection. The funniest animal is the rhea. When it runs through the water puddles, it raises its wings up showing its white back. It is like people raising their skirts or pant legs when wading through wet areas. The capybara was most unusual because it looked like a huge guinea pig with its nose foraging in the grass.
 
 

Capybara (by Grant)	Comorant (by Grant)

The cormorant is an interesting creature. Since the bird has no oil, it dries itself by spreading its wings in the air. The wings are normal size for this kind of a bird. In the Galapagos, however, the cormorant does not fly since all its food is by its feet at the water edge. It had no need to fly and therefore, its wings shriveled to a small span. Comparing the birds at the two locations affirms Darwin’s theory of Evolution.

We went back daily at noon for a buffet lunch at the lodge. We ate when the bell rang. After the rest period one afternoon, we took canoes, which were stored under the lodge. The lodge was built on stilts because of flooding in the winter months. There was a field of weeds from the lodge’s edge to the river close by, about 200 yards away. The weeds were known locally as jaguar ears because of its shape. It appeared we were to carry the canoes to the river. To my surprise the water was covered by the weeds and was two meters deep, right by the lodge. We got into the canoes in pairs and paddled through the thick weeds. My partner was the driver, Ary. It was hard to navigate through the weeds because the dense roots extended down about 10 inches into the water. Ary and I were ahead of the others because Ary was strong and knew the terrain. When we got to the river, paddling became much easier. We passed caimans, but they just grunted at us; and they were not aggressive. We frequently saw a beautiful bird, the jackana. We did not encounter the anaconda, the huge snake. Water in this region was not clear enough to see any fish. At one time, Ary and I stopped to wait for the others, and I had my oar in tall weeds. Soon I discovered that fire ants had traveled up the oar and onto my feet and had stung me several times, until I brushed the ants off. We stayed on the water until sunset, which was beautiful to see, but not fantastic because the clouds were sparse. The water was very calm and the reflection of the sky was hypnotizing.
 
 

Paddeling through Jaguar Ears

The month of November is the beginning of the rainy season. It rained the week before, but not the week we were there. We had sunny blue skies every day. It was cool in the mornings and warm in the afternoon (mid 80’s), which was not what one would expect in tropical areas.

 The next day after breakfast, we were traveling on the safari truck when we passed by a cow with its sick calf. A dozen vultures perched around it and looked like they had already attacked his neck. Bruno called on the radio to some farm hands to look into the problem.
 
 

As we traveled on further, we were lucky to encounter a two-person team from the Blue Macaw Project (Projecto Arara Azul). This is an effort to save the one-meter long graceful bird. One of the team members climbed the tree using ropes and retrieved the baby chick, which he lowered in a bucket to his partner. The length, weight, and general health of the chick were checked and recorded. All chicks have names, and this one was named Chris. The macaw was almost made extinct due to poaching, but now it is healthy and its population numbers 4500 birds. While the team was working with the bird, its parents were perched on a tree limb close by squawking loudly in a synchronous manner. The macaw pair for life, and when one dies, the other does not mate with other birds. The pair arealways together. The sight of the couple flying with their bright blue long tails was beautiful. The macaw eats palm tree fruit by pulling it off the cluster, breaking it with his beak to get to the inside. Our driver, Ary, took one fruit and hit it hard several times with his machete before he broke it. This showed how strong was the macaw’s beak. There were different species of the macaw, which I had also observed in Costa Rica.
 
 

The Macaw (by Grant)	The Macaw Parents

 We boarded a houseboat and sailed through the muddy river dragging with us six canoes and a small powerboat used for emergencies only. Birds were plentiful, but we had seen most of them. After an hour of travel, we stopped and boarded canoes. We rowed in a small tributary looking for wildlife. We ploughed through several patches of jaguar ear weeds blocking our path in the river. In one patch, there were tall scrubby weeds and debris fell on us. The pristine narrow tributary was lined with tall trees. It was calm and quiet except for birdcalls. We continued our route until we encountered a large patch of weeds, which it would have taken us some time to cut through. We decided to turn back to the houseboat. We did not see anacondas, but we met caimans, which just grunted at us.
 
 

(by Grant)

The skipper and his wife had their little boy with them on board. They had prepared a nice snack for us. We had apples, tangerines, pineapples and cake. They also provided soft drinks. One drink I liked in Brazil was guarana, pronounced warana, it tasted like ginger ale with apple juice.
 
 

On the Boat (by Grant)	Kristin and Connie

It was evening when we returned to the lodge. The dark hours afforded us the opportunity to use a powerful spotlight to look for animals, especially the jaguar. It was not difficult to locate animals in the dark, because of the colorful reflection off their eyes. Their eyes looked like shiny lights. We encountered several marsh deer with their big ears and black legs. A herd of caimans was an interesting sight, because of the multitude of bright eyes. Foxes were out hunting in the dark. We saw other species, but not jaguars. It was interesting that the next day we found fresh puma footprints not far from the lodge.
 
 

Marsh Deer (by Grant)	Termite Hill

We returned to night safari next evening and our success in locating a jaguar was no better than the first attempt. When we stopped, we were attacked by mosquitoes, but we were prepared for them. Pat Sellers, who was the most prepared for possible eventualities, had a head screen which was effective. She also had a bag of sweets for us everyday. If we did not finish a bag, she combined it with the next day’s apportionment.
 
 

One day we had a BBQ lunch at the main lodge. We joined other tourists, whom we did not see on the open savannah any time for a nice spread. The tourists were from Europe and mostly Germans. There was one American group from California organized by the Oakland Zoo. The BBQ meat was roasted on big skewers and it was sliced off the skewer right at the table. The beef was tasty, but tough because it was grass-fed.

One afternoon, four of the group rode into the forest to explore on horses. Three of us, Pat, Susan and I hiked in another part of the forest accompanied by our guide, Bruno. We saw many howler monkeys, high up in the trees. The forest provided us with some protection from the sun on the hot day, but it was dense and thick with mosquitoes. Although I had long pants and a long sleeved shirt, I was attacked by chiggers and ticks. I found seven ticks, which I pulled off with Bruno’s help. The 20 chigger bites appeared later, and persist to this day - five months later, and three doctor visits.
 
 

One early morning, I went out on my balcony. When I closed the screen door behind me, it locked. I called to my neighbor, Kristin, and she answered. I asked her to come into my room to open the patio door. She first sounded startled. When I explained to her what had happened, she did go into my room and let me in. We had a big laugh about the incident.