Years of Poems and Spirits

My turn to wake up early to take pictures. Again, bathed in the beautiful bird songs for about an hour. It was just wonderful.

Sunrise in the farm is very peaceful: animals grazing in the distance; leaves and branches swing gently as birds come and go; calm water in small ponds reflecting the morning sun. One thing we like about this lodge (it is just so hard to pronounce and spell its name, Xaraes or Sheharaaz?) is that the rooms are in the middle of the farm. When you step out and look around, it is nature all around you, not buildings.

Packed up for next stop. Before we left, Song took many pictures of the lodge: she loves this place, particularly the lighting fixtures. As our guide, Marcelo said, it is almost heaven—if there is no mosquito.

As we found a tourist guide book later, we found out that there are many farms like this in Pantanal. Each has something different: e.g. some has herd of caimans, some pet birds (even Tucans), some cattle herding trips, etc. Xaraes has a little bit of everything. It is a huge farm.

Suggestions to visitors: save the walk. Instead, do day long horse riding or canoeing along the river. Mamals are nice but birds are the main attraction here. One should feel the birds—not just watching them. They have to be appreciated within a rich setting: the land, the trees, the water, the sound and the lighting.

After a quick morning tour during, we said farewell to the lodge, fellow guests and the guide. Then went on a long drive to Bonito, our next stop. Less than half of the road from Pantanal to Bonito is paved. Felt like being stir-fried in a tiny Chevy sedan.

Had Brazilian BBQ for the first time at a road side restaurant. They taste wonderful—except they are all too well-done.

If there is any complain so far, it is the language barrier. Not many people in the places we have been speak English. It feels a bit awkward sitting in the car with a local for 5 hours not being able to exchange much information. We gestured wildly and guessed each other’s words intensely. It is a shame because the landscape is spectacular, particularly as we approach Bonito when marsh land was replaced by rolling hills covered by brilliantly green vegetation. Under the imposing clouds, the land feels open, warm and intimate.

But to appreciate this beautiful land, one has to travel long and hard, and doing so in almost total silence. The driver took a phone call while driving but took much longer to explain to us that it was his wife and they have one son named Lucas.

Encountered a herd of cattles on our way. They are probably in the thousands. Love the cattlemen/cowboys. They are much more real and rugged-looking (sun-burnt, dusty and exhausted) than the narcissistic Marlboro-men. One of our guides on the farm, Romeo, is a cattleman. He always has a knife and machete tucked on the back of his jean and used them masterfully. He looks quite handsome on a horse.

On our early morning tour, we saw a group of riders, all of us thought they were cowboys on the move and stopped the truck to stare. Alas, with their sunglasses and baseball caps, we realized they are just another group of tourists. I thought it was the funniest moment of our trip this far.