Long time no talk! Bonito, Pantanal and Visitors!

So, it’s been a long long time since I blogged! (apparently a little more than 2 months—Whoops!)  Life has been SO SO busy!  Long story short after my second trip to Brasilia, the Summer/Winter continued to zoom by.  My parents came to Rio and we had some delicious meals at some fabulous restaurants in Rio.  Who knew that Rio had such fabulous gourmet food?!  I guess I/We do now!!   The weather here in Rio was rainy/cloudy which was a bummer, but at least they had been here before, so there wasn’t a lot of pressure to see “THE SIGHTS”.  After a few days of bad Rio weather we headed to Bonito and the Pantanal.  I had been the Pantanal before, four years ago, but I had never been to Bonito before. 

So, first we went to Bonito.  The city of Bonito is basically composed of one small and rather deserted street.  But, the natural sites of bonito were GORGEOUS.  There were 3 main activities we did in Bonito.

These were some cute pay phones there.

We went to the Blue Lake Cave.

Then we went snorkeling/floating in a river with tons and tons and tons of fish, in wetsuits.  Getting in and out of them was an adventure in itself.

The next day we went to a private farm used for eco-tourism which was gorgeous and had tons of waterfalls on it.

That afternoon we made our way, on a long and bumpy car ride to one of the most gorgeous eco-resorts I’ve ever seen, which was in the Pantanal. We saw lots and lots of animals. And had delicious meals and fresh squeezed juices everyday. And there were capybaras outside my window every am. Heaven.  Here are some photos from the trip!! Enjoy!! 

The lodge which was right on the lake. 

A pantanal sunset

Wild pigs with their babies

An armadillo!

The Giant Anteater

My dad and I took a plane ride over the Pantanal. It was great to see the whole landscape.  Another guy who was in the plane barfed--gross! 

Leaving the lodge

After my parents left Brazil, I hustled over to Campinas which is a large city near São Paulo.  One of the largest and best universities called UNICAMP is there.  Also, the main advisor for my project works there.  I went for a few days to do some research in their archive and also to meet with my professor and to talk to some of the people at his research group.  It was a really productive trip! And, Campinas has one of the biggest malls in South America, so I made one or two visits there.  They had a huge Wal-mart there, were they had “Trackers” who skated around on roller skates and did price checks and other random tasks. It was great!

Soon after I came back from UNICAMP, one of my BFFFFFFS in the world, Wilson came to visit. And we had tons of fun around Rio doing lots of touristy goodness! And beach stuff! It was a blast!

At the beach!

At a samba club!

Once Wilson left I got back into the swing of work and normal life.  The weather has been pretty cloudy/rainy recently, so beaching hasn’t happened.  I hope the weather gets nice soon!!!

Next week I’m off to Vitoria for a conference!! I’ll blog on that when I get back!!

Beijos,

 Hannah