Mission 2 - Week 21 (Pantanal #1)

Last week we went on our trip to the Pantanal (Cuiabá) and it was great.  I made all the plans and arranged transportation, hotels, tours, places, maps, etc. for the nine of us that went (1 couple backed out).  Instead of a narrative, we decided to put in pictures and just caption them - which will give the reader a pretty good idea of what fun we had!
To the grandkids - I have four "fake" pictures of animals that aren't real (2 Blogs, Part 1 and Part 2).  See if you can find them all!

Parrot -Mid-sized (there are three sizes here - all
represented in these pictures)

This is a type of hawk, beautiful wing colors when it flies.

Elder Russ Anderson by a "Termite Mound", the termites
build them to keep from drowning in the wet season.

Bird with long beak - I wish I knew all the
bird names, but I don't!

We walked out to an observation tower to look around,
I only had my telephoto lens so this is all I got!

I took this on the walk to show all the mosquitos
that were out - tons of them!  But we used repellent
and hardly got any bites the whole three days.
(all those little specs are mosquitos)

I love the flowers in the Pantanal, but this is actually
just a type of grass that is white at the base of the leaf
and then green farther out.  Cool.

We found this guy on the lawn in front of the "Pousada"
where we stayed - it's like a hotel but it also feeds you
every meal.  This lizard is about 2 and half feet long!

Coming into the Pantanal we found that the wet season is
really wet, the road was hardly passable because it was more
like a river than a road in some places.  These birds were taking
off as we approached them.

There was also a lot of water in the Chapadas where we
went on Saturday.  The kids who have been here will
notice that there is no beach at all - it's completely full
of dirty water (usually clear).

Even the bigger falls in the Chapadas is muddy water,
and a lot of it - much more than usual.

Here is a picture of the nine of us that went on the trip.
Anderson, Sonderegger, Burke, Harris, and Sister Cox

Love the flowers, this won't be the last one you see.

Mom and I looking over the Cuiabá valley (center #2
of South America)

And here are the nine of us in Poconé - the entrance
to the Pantanal.  Oh, they repainted the arched entrance!

This bird had just grabbed something to eat, might
be a small fish but I couldn't tell.

I just really liked this shot because it looks like the bird
is just taking a leisurely stroll through the water across
the road.  Why not fly?  Wouldn't it be easier?

This is a very pretty bird that I got in flight.  I managed
to get a few birds in flight, even with the telephoto.

These are two Macaws (Arara here) I got in the tree, and
then flying away down below.

I love their coloring.

Another type of hawk, waiting for it's prey.

This gives you a little better idea of what the road into
the Pantanal was like.  There were times when the water
was up to the door of the big van.

Saw this Paraguayan lizard along the road.  We had never
seen one here before and on the way in we saw three of them.

This is a Blue Heron, pretty whether standing or flying.

I thnk this is a White Heron and not an Ibis, but like
I said, I don't know all the bird names.

This guy was funny because as we approached in the
van, he took off running and ran along in front of the
van for at least a quarter mile.

This is Mom's favorite bird, a tuiuiu (pronounced 2-U-U)

This is one of the most dangerous animals in the Pantanal,
but you rarely see them - it's a Jaguar, or an Onça in Portuguese.

I told you the last flower wasn't the last, and neither is this one.

This is an Emu (E-Moo), related to the Ostrich.  I know,
you never would have guessed it, right?

They do a lot of cattle hearding in the Pantanal and we got
caught in the middle of a cattle drive right down the main
road.  Might have several hundred cows in the herd.  (Oh, and
there were cowboys on horses driving them)

I got some really fun "reflectoin" shots
on our boat rides.

Another reflection, check out the plant
that looks like it's mirrored.

This was probably my nicest hawk in flight picture, so I
couldn't resist touching it up a little in the photo editor.

We saw plenty of alligators, although not near as many as
on past trips to the Pantanal - due to the wet season, they
can move around quite easily... Scary!

I took this when the guide held out a fish
on the end of a stick for the alligator to
jump up and eat - open wide!

Don`t know the name, but these birds dive under the
water to catch fish for their meals.

Another reflaction shot, very pretty
day on the river.

I know they're cool, but I think this
is the last reflection picture.

We were told this is the largest duck
in the world - or it grows to become
the largest, this one isn't all the big!

Gorgeous flowers, and very unique as well.

Poser hawk, I just named him!

R.O.U.S. - Rodent of Unusual Size, a Capivara (story later)

I didn't think I got this picture because we
were passing by in the car and I quickly took
it out the window.

Another Tuiuiu with it's huge nest, we didn't
see any baby birds though.

Another hawk shot.

So, these are the smallest parrots - parakeets (sp?)
I think I forgot to say that the Macaws are the largest.

Where you would normally see grass lands, during the
wet season it's all covered in water.

Ditto

Along comes Mr. Alligator and ...