Brazil

"The strenuous work, the sweltering heat, the few amenities, I loved every moment."

     My trip to Brazil was easily the best experience of my life so far. Anyone who has spoken to me about it knows this. I loved every moment of it and the only thing that I would have changed would have been to make the trip longer.

     Although it felt like I went to Brazil on a vacation or an adventure, I actually went there to work. I went with a group of seven American students to Brazil and teamed up with seven more Brazilian students and their teacher, a herpetologist, to help accumulate information on the reptile and amphibian species in an area within the Pantanal for conservational purposes. A herpetologist, for anyone that is wondering, is someone who studies reptiles and amphibians, not someone who studies herpes. Yes, someone did make this amusing mistake and that is why I am clarifying.

Our work was located in the Brazilian Pantanal, which is the biggest wetland in the world. The work was comprised of opening traps, collecting animals, taking measurements of the animals, and then releasing the animals where we found them. The traps were made of large buckets that were put into the ground with mesh fences following outward from them. The picture to the left shows one of the traps as well as a lizard that we found in it. The fences served as a wall for the animals so that when a snake, frog or lizard came upon it the animal would have to go along the fence and inevitably fall into the trap. In each bucket we placed a wet rag and a dish filled with water and covered it with a piece of cardboard. This insured that the environment inside the bucket remained moist for the animals so that they would not dehydrate or die from the heat. This process was hard work that lead to only a modest reward. Due to the fact that we went in the winter and it was "cold," I have this in quotes because the temperature probably got up to at least 32ºC (90ºF) most days, however the nights were much cooler, the reptiles and amphibians weren't very active. When we checked the traps, most of them were either empty or contained only scorpions, spiders, and ants.
  

     It was all worth it though. I've never seen so many animals living in the wild in my life. We would ride in the back of a pickup truck to get to each of the traps and along the way we had the opportunity to see a multitude of wildlife. I had the privilege of seeing tapirs, giant anteaters, little wolves, many deer, coatis, armadillos, and a large array of different bird species. As I looked upon all of these beautiful creatures I knew that places like this were where I truly belonged. The strenuous work, the sweltering heat, the very few amenities, I loved every minute of it.


     I also loved the people. Everyone seemed so much more friendly than the people that I meet here in this country. My professor told me that it's not uncommon to strike up a conversation with a complete stranger and then have them invite you over to their house for dinner. And, after meeting a few Brazilians I didn't doubt this one bit. In the mere ten days that I was in Brazil I made very close friendships with many of the Brazilian students that I had worked with. I was extremely sad to have to leave them all. But, I have vowed to return to this amazing country whether it be sooner or later.