The 2023 Brazil Journals, Chapter Thirty

Chapter Thirty

Goodness, Gracious, Great Snakes Alive!

Even if a snake is not poisonous, it should pretend to be poisonous.

--Chanakya

Virginia and I are watching a drama play out at the water fountain when Shelly comes striding toward us yelling, "I HAVE A SNAKE IN MY BATHROOM!!!"  

Deja Vu all over again.   The first time it was a frog.

She says she heard noises coming from the bathroom and when she opened the door, there was a long snake on her bathroom counter, knocking her things onto the floor.

Virginia and I grab our cameras and run to Shelly's room to see the snake.  While we angle for the best shooting spot, Shelly returns with a woman from the lodge who is holding a broom.

Darned if there isn't a snake in Shelly's bathroom!   Shelly gets all the best roommates.

"Get out of the bathroom and let her in," Shelly commands anxiously.

This snake cantilevered its body vertically trying to reach the window and escape before the lady with broom urged it to hasten its journey.

"No way, Shelly.   Photos come first," I reply laughingly.   "Photos or it didn't happen."

Finally we let the lady with the broom into the small area and she coaxes it out the open window, which is screened but the screen has been pulled away from the bottom corner.

It's a parrot snake, I say, just like the one Virginia and I were watching at the water fountain in front of  the lodge.   And that was a drama unfolding.

The water fountain in front of the lodge.

The white blobs are water droplets.   That bulge at right might be the frog.

This snake has swallowed a frog and there was a large bulge in the snake's abdomen.

You can actually see the bulk of the frog inside the snake.  The snake positioned itself  with water is running on the frog bulge, which I found fascinating.   Look how long it is.   My guess is five feet or so.

Octavio assures us it is only mildly venomous.   Which means, I tell him jokingly,  that you'll get sick and hope you die, but won't.

This is a very slender snake.

Such a pretty color.

Note how it uses its body to create a bridge and then comes back upon itself.

I find it uttering interesting, coming from a place where there are no snakes in the wild (just bears and moose), how snakes can use their own bodies to bridge an open space such as the snake is doing here.  

SO, I did some research and after finally finding the right keywords, found this:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8uubvO4Ids

Parrot snakes can attain a length of 68 inches, with 23 inches being its tail.

There was an afternoon vehicle excursion scheduled for the afternoon, but this happened:

Right at the end I swing my phone up and you get a glimpse of Lala the macaw staying out of the rain.

I went to my room.   This was going to last a while.

I was still trying to figure out if I had a cold or something else.   I had woken during the night with congestion.   Ah, it's a cold, I thought.   I took an anti-histamine and that was the last of the congestion.  No energy, achy body, yes.   But no congestion.

After a while, I looked out.   Still raining.   I went to tell the group I was going to skip the game drive.

Well, what better way to drive away the snake heebie-jeebies than chocolate?

Some more photos:

Grayish Baywing

Kiskadee

Hmmm.   Maybe a palm tanager

Same as above

Same as above

The 2023 Brazil Journals, Chapter Twenty-Nine

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Naps and Birds

 

 Blessed are the curious,

for they shall have adventures.

--Unknown

 

 

 

It’s 4:15 and there’s no alarm sounding from the cell phone under my pillow.

 

Now, 5 A.M., time we meet for breakfast.   All is quiet.

 

Then, 5:30, time when Vanderlay backs the boat out of its slip.  My pillow remains quiet.

 

Just before 7 A.M. there’s not a peep from the pillow, but I’m awake anyway and shut the alarm off before it rings.

 

I’m not late for anything.   Today, we got to sleep in because there’s no morning game ride on the river.   At 8 o'clock-ish, we will leave for the next and last lodge of this fabulous trip.

Photo from Araras website

 

The dining room is still open for breakfast, so I’m not hungry when we check out, pay our laundry bills, and load up in our van.  One hundred and forty-seven kilometers of dirt and gravel and 122 wooden bridges on the Transpantaneira highway as it crosses the Pantanal in the state of Mato Grosso to connect Porto Jofre with Poconé.   

 

We aren’t going as far as Poconé today, however.   We’re heading to Araras Eco Lodge, our last lodge, and from where we will make the final drive to catch a plane in Poconé and fly back to Sao Paulo in three days.

 

We stop along the way for a restroom break and Magnum ice cream bars.   As for me, I am still not feeling well so I stretch out across the seats and belt buckles in the back row of the van.

 

And then, we’re there.   We register at a lovely table in the patio and get our room keys.

 

One row of rooms.   Photo from Araras website.

The rooms as basic but have every thing I need, including a frog for a roommate!!!

My room.

 A very short video!!!

Dining room and bar.

Dining room

Our table.

Octavio and his wife Larissa.    They met when Larissa worked at this lodge.   Virginia is at left.

After lunch, I wander around the property and find caimans and birds galore.

 

 

Note all the rocks beyond the dugout.   That's where the birds are that I photograph from the spot where I am standing  to take this photo..   Nice having a 500 mm long lens.   

Note the vegetation in the above photo and then the almost-covered caiman in this photo.   Sneaky little things.

Rufous cachalote

Black-tailed tityra

Yellow-billed cardinal

Rufous cachalote

No caimans in the pool.

A little later, another find.   There’s a water fountain right in front of the dining hall that attracts all kinds of birds and other critters.   I sit on a padded bench under an awning that covers the length of the building and photograph birds to my heart’s content.

Yellow-rumped cacique

Yellow-rumped cacique

A nest box for hyacinth macaws.

This is Lala, a semi-wild blue and yellow macaw.

Her favorite perch is right above the entrance to the dining room.

She does take food from your hand.   This time, it's a banana.

Octavio says there are no big tours planned for this lodge.   It’s meant to be a couple of relaxing days before we head home, and that’s fine with me.    He does take Shelly and Virginia on a walkabout, though, and tomorrow there will be a short tour of the property in a large safari vehicle.

 

In the meanwhile, it’s naps and birds for me.

A UFO

Purplish Jays

Cattle tyrant

Probably a juvenile barred woodpecker.

Barred woodpecker.

And again.

Rufous-bellied thrush-like.   Yes, that's its name.

In the heat of the afternoon, Lala takes a nap on the patio with us.

Snoozing Lala.

The 2023 Brazil Journals, Chapter Twenty-eight

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Last Day on the Cuiaba River

I haven't been everywhere, 

but it's on my list.

--Unknown

 

 

 

I’m walking toward the dock when I’m treated to a white-eyed parakeet on a branch almost right above me.   I stop for a quick photo and then hustle to the boat.   

White-eyed parakeet.

It’s our final day here at Hotel Porto Jofre and our last day on the Cuiaba and its tributaries and lagoons.

 

It’s a beautiful morning, as they all have been.   It isn’t yet the searing heat and I'm not yet fully covered, but trust me, I will get there before late morning.

Protection from the harsh sun.

 

We are on the water more than an hour before we find our first jaguar of the day.   It’s hunting along the bank as they do.   For the most part, she’s in the shade but then, in a photographer’s dream, Alira the jaguar steps into the golden light of morning.   

 

Alira in the golden light of sunrise.

 

 

Dream shots, right there.

 

 

We stop to photograph some Black-capped Donacobious.

 

 

We enter a lagoon and see a couple giant river otters along the water hyacinth, but don’t stop for photos as their position is less than ideal.

 

 

Some birds in the lagoon:

The gorgeous striated heron.

Kiskadee

White-winged swallow.

 

 

On the way out of the  lagoon, we hear some plaintive cries and discover it’s one of the giant river otters.   It’s swimming back and forth, crying and crying and crying.   Octavio tells us it’s looking for the second otter.

A short video so you can hear the otter's cry.   Note that it begins with a sharp whistle.   

 

Speculation as to the second otter abounds.   One is that a jaguar got it, but Octavio assures us that can’t be the case as that is a rare, if ever, occurance.   

 

Another guess is that the second otter caught a fish and doesn’t want to share.   But, the crying otter search goes on far too long, unless the missing otter caught something the size of Moby Dick.

 

Nonetheless, my heart is heavy when we leave without the otters having a joyful reunion.   Later, we are assured the second otter appeared, but consider this:   what else would the guides tell you when you are concerned enough to ask?

As with most guided trips, they want you to enjoy the trip.  

 

We see another jaguar in the water but it climbs the riverbank and disappears.

 

In the afternoon, we spot a troop of howler monkeys in the trees.

A youngster.

 

An osprey takes off from the water and flies ahead of us.

 

Then, another jaguar is hunting and there are a number of boats lined up with passengers watching.  Next to us is a boat that makes a lot of noise as the driver shifts in and out of gear, trying to maintain his position.

A  missed strike at a caiman.

 

At one point, we are slightly behind his boat and the exhaust stink is awful.  I don't say anything for a while, but finally I turn around and ask Octavio if we can get out from behind that boat and he relays the info to Vanderlay and we move away.

 

Octavio says he wished “they” would not permit two-stroke outboards on the river for exactly those reasons--noise and stinky exhaust fumes.  Most of the boats are powered with four-stroke outboards, quiet, not noxious, and powerful.

 

More jaguars appear as we head back.   It’s Ti and her cub.

So-so photo with cell but it's Ti and her cub.

 

It’s too dark for my cameras, so out comes the iPhone for some so-so photos.

 

 And a short video:

And then, this part of the trip is over.   Tomorrow, a three-hour drive will take us to our next, and final, lodge before we begin the long trek home.

 

 

 

 

Jabiru stork

Yellow-rumped cacique and orange-backed troupial.

Splash splash cacique