Wildlife watching in Cuiaba

I have been back from a 3-day trip to the Pantanal, a place with natural environment preserved better than Amazon, according to LP´s comments.

I go there with a Dutch and a Swedish. We do boat trip, horse-back ride, forest walk, night walks etc. We see lots of colorful birds like oven birds, which use mud to build their nest like an oven; kingfishers; snail kyte, a kind of hawk which eats snails; common potoo, egret, parrots etc. We also see some mammals like capivara, a kind of animals which is always filmed in National Geographic channel to be squeezed and eaten by anaconda; deers, monkeys, crocodile-like caiman; ema, like ostrich or emu etc. Inevitably, we are welcome by lots of mosquitoes, which can sting us via shirts.

I thought he may be going to die, so I pray for Jesus´s help

The part I like most is a hut in the lodge where several hammets are hung. I like lying there enjoying the breezes and times with nothing to do.

After coming back from the Pantanal, I go to a national park called Chapada, where spectacular cliff and rock formation can be found. I have walked for hours under the burning sun and therefore feel exhausted. Later, I soak and swim in a clear stream with some locals and play below a waterfall, which cools down my body after sweating so much. A kind brazilian couple takes me back to downtown.

In Cuiaba city, I hang out with a local young kind man. He takes me to banks, exchange shops for money exchange; airlines and travel agents to buy ticket to Sao Paulo. I do not speak Portugese but English and a little bit Espanol, and he speaks Portugese, Espanol and a little English. We write, speak and use the phrasebook at the back of Lonely Planet to communicate -- another kind of experience.

I meet this man on the bus trip from Rio to Cuiaba. Shortly after the departure, a man falls to the floor of the bus with his head hitting the floor continuously and uncontrollably. His mouth is kept shut tightly and his body shivering. I do not know the term of the illness in English. The local young man and I help pull him up. Honestly, I thought he may be going to die, so I pray for Jesus´s help while pulling him up. Within seconds, the sick man stablizes and comes back gradually. Thank God.