Happy Belated New Years!

  Pantanal, State of Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil
Sunday, January 4, 2009

We are ringing in 2009 with a whirlwind tour of Brazil in honor of Cayden Effie Rowntree, the beautiful, bawdy baby daughter of Jill's sister Ellen and her husband John. John and Ellen have been living in Sao Paulo, Brazil for the last 18 months and were gracious enough to host us throughout this trip.

15 - Cayden Effie Rowntree

After a spending a few relaxing days of wining and dining and copious amounts of breast-feeding with the Rowntrees, we bid them a momentary good-bye and took off to the Pantanal, a vast alluvial plain on the western border of Brazil. Think of The Everglades, only ten times larger.

On our first day in the Pantanal, we took a jeep to a fazenda further into the interior to observe wildlife. There, we saddled up (How is it that Jay keeps corralling Jill into these damn horseback excursions?) and hit the trail. While wading through shallow lakes, ducking under low-hanging branches and traversing fields, we spotted a plethora of wildlife, including, capybara, the largest rodent in the world (exclusive of NYC subway rats), howler monkeys, deer, caiman, and more birds than we could count.

01 - Hyacinth Macaws

And yet, with all this wildlife, it turned out that the only animal we had a problem with was Jill's horse who managed to run her into a tree.

On our second day in the Pantanal, we took a small boat upstream to search for a good spot to fish for piranha. En route, we passed three groups of giant otters performing their synchronized swimming routines and caimans by the luggage-load. About two hours into the ride, we disembarked at a small beach and Alex, our guide, prepared everything we needed for piranha fishing: a bamboo pole, a length of fishing line, a weight, a hook and chunks of raw meat.

08 - Piranha Fishing

In all of 30 minutes, we and our two Dutch fishing companions, Angelita and Gerben, had caught enough for lunch with a few to spare for Gladys, the caiman who had been perched a short distance away from where we were casting our lines. We then headed back for lunch at the fazenda where Alex prepared a tasty ceviche from lime, ginger, peppers, soy sauce and our morning's catch.

Later that day we got back in the boat and headed downstream for a three-hour sunset tour. Our goal was to spot the elusive jaguar which had been seen along the banks just days before. While pulling up close to a bank to photograph an iguana, Gladys made a reappearance. Perhaps thinking we were there to offer her more piranha, Gladys nosedived off the bank and landed directly at our feet. Alex, who up until this point had displayed the lethargic, laidback manner of, oh, shall we say, a pothead, sprang into action. He lifted Jill up and over the back of her seat while Jay decided it was time to make a nature documentary.

12 - Holy Crap!

With our Dutch companions now seperated from us by about five feet and exactly one large reptile, Alex instructed Gerben to grab a rope so that he could make a lasso, Angelita trembled, Jill peeked over Jay's shoulder, and Jay calmly continued filming. After what felt like forever, Gladys realized that we had no piranha for her and she scampered through one of the chairs and over the side. Back to the five original memebers of our crew, we continued down the river hoping to spot a jaguar, but not pulling quite as close to the banks anymore. Unfortunately, we never did get to see a jaguar, but on the plus side, we still have all our extremities intact.