Tropical PIF *DONE*

Hi all,

March has indeed been a fun month at TSD, so I wanted to really participate. I've been participating in several PIFs, but now I wanted to offer my own. After all, if I don't I will feel bad on April 1st with all the PIFs I'll win and not having returned anything...

I thought about what to offer and how to offer it for a while, and I'll take a tip from that dutch guy who posted a Netherlands PIF that was very interesting. That was nice, I didn't get to enter, but I read all about it with great interest.

But since I am Brazilian, here is the deal. Post a message about where you'd want to go for a trip in Brasil and why do you think this would be a great trip. Pics are welcome (can be "borrowed" from the Internet), cool stories also. If you've been to Brasil already, tell us where and how it was great (it *was* great, wasn't it ?). If you are in Brasil, tell us why people should come visit your place.

Keeping with the tropical theme, I found yesterday the following shaving cream in a store close to my place. It is different and nice, claims to contain açai, guaraná and lime, the first two being exotic amazon fruits that have interesting features. For example, guaraná has more caffeine than coffee. Should keep you awake after the shave... I'll add to that a few packs of the Gillette Azul blade that is manufactured in Brasil, in what is supposedly the last blade factory owned by Gillette.

Good luck, I'll choose the best message at the end of the day on March 31st, or early April 1st.

 

Excellent idea for a PIF. I've never been to Brasil but my perfect opportunity is coming up in a couple years. Here is what would be an absolutely amazing Brasil trip...

The cities I would visit are (in no particular order)...
Manaus, Fortaleza, Natal, Recife, Salvador, Cuiaba, Brasilia, Belo Horizonte, Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, Curitiba, Porto Alegre.

This trip would happen sometime between June 12th & July 13th of 2014.

It would be my perfect trip because I would see at least one World Cup soccer match in each stadium! Now that would be awesome. Soccer by day & all of the Brasil festivities by night. Splendid!

 

If I were to travel to Brazil it would be for one reason, and one reason only ... a rainforest canoe/camping trip. There's an outfit that offers guided weeklong trips originating from Manaus. Their description of the trip is as follows:

Early our second morning, after breakfast at the hotel, we will begin a 6 day/5 night canoeing and camping trip to explore a number of diverse environments including the Anavilhanas Archipelago (2nd largest group of fluvial/river islands in the world), the terra firma rainforest of the left bank of the Rio Negro river (richest rainforest in Amazonia), smaller tributaries of the Rio Negro river including the Arara, Jaraqui and Tucuman rivers and one larger tributary, the Cuieiras. Features of this tour include: beach and jungle camping, hiking, fishing and swimming sidetrips, and visits with local river people (Caboclos).​

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Pretty straight forward, but that's where my interest would lie.

 

Sounds like a great trip! You'd spend a lot of time at the airport, though... Belo Horizonte is where I live, so let me know when you arrive...

 

I wouldn't say straight forward at all! Sounds like a great plan. I've been invited to go to Anavilhanas, but never made it, I heard it is *really* nice. Hope you'll make it one day.

 

I'd like to go mountain hiking in the Serra do Mar. But I'd surely like to experience the Brasilian cuisine as well, and of course cachaça!

 

F1 baby! I would love to go to the race with three drivers(or more) in contention for the drivers championship.

Crying shame Williams gave Rubinho the boot, looks like they finally have a good car.

 

One word: Morena Baccarin

Liked her on "V". Love her on "Homeland".

 

Bahia !!! One of the best places for surfing on the planet! Never have got to surf (always have wanted to) and I think that would be the most awesome spot to start.....in the words of Patrick Swayze aka Bodhi (Pointbreak)...."You still dont understand what surfings all about do ya.....Its that place where you lose yourself and you find yourself".

 

Sergio,
I have wanted to go to Brazil for quite some time. I’m sure I have posted about my other hobby on TSD at some point. I keep and study tarantulas. I currently have 9 species of tarantulas and 2 of them are native to Brazil.

This is “Trillian”, she is a pink zebra beauty tarantula or Eupalaestrus campestratus.


This is “Magic”, and he is a Brazilian black tarantula or Grammostola pulchra.


One of the things I most enjoy doing, is giving educational programs on tarantulas. I go to schools, libraries, and community centers to show my tarantulas to people and teach them about them and hopefully clear up misconceptions that people have about them. If I can get a few more people to not be afraid of spiders, then I have done my job. And I do, over and over again. I’ve gotten a lot of people over their fear of them and by the end of the program, I’ve gotten several of them to actually hold one of them.

Here are a couple of pictures of me giving presentations, and I’m wearing a T-shirt with the Brazilian black tarantula on it.




Brazil is a haven for tarantula researchers. There are 184 species of tarantula in Brazil that have been formally described by science (probably many more). I could print out the whole list of Brazilian species, but that would probably bore you. That may not seem like a lot, but there are only 932 species of tarantula in the world. So nearly 20% of all tarantula species can be found in Brazil. If I went to Brazil, I’d get a guide and hike it into the rainforest in an attempt to find some of these amazing creatures and photograph them in their natural habitat. For tarantula enthusiasts like me, that is the ultimate thing to do. I have found tarantulas in the wild in Arizona and Nevada, but have never been outside the country to do so. I did find a couple scorpions while I was deployed in Africa, but nothing yet in Afghanistan. The excitement of finding a tarantula in the wild is hard to describe. It is one thing to see a tarantula in a cage in a zoo or private collection, but it is quite another to see it in its native habitat. I would compare the experience to walking into an antique store and finding a mint Gillette Double Ring or a Toggle. Yeah, it’s that good (Maybe better)!

Cont...

 

With 184 species to choose from, the diversity of species in Brazil is amazing. Many people don’t realize that tarantulas come in many different sizes, colors, patters and habitats. That is one reason some people are so drawn to keep and collect them. Some are terrestrial and live on the ground, many dig deep burrows under rocks and trees, and some are arboreal and actually live up in the trees. Here are a few pictures of some more Brazilian species to show you some of the diversity that can be found there.

Brazilian whiteknee tarantula (Acanthoscurria geniculata)



Iridopelma seladonium – one of the most interestingly patterned species


Avicularia geroldi – one of the brightest colored species.


The goliath birdeater tarantula (Theraphosa blondi) – This is the largest species of tarantula in the world, with a legspan of 12” is is the size of a dinnerplate!


So, yeah... Brazil? Sign me up!

 

In the early '60's I visited two of your airports on a flight to Argentina. Even after ~ 50 yrs I still remember the experience. Yes, would like to see more of your country.-).

 

I'd enjoy a trip to Brazil for two reasons: watch the Formula One race, and see a soccer game.

 

I've never been to Brazil, nor did I know much about it until this PIF arrived. Or should I say, did not know much beyond the scantilly clad beach beauties and Carnival of Rio de Janeiro.

I did a little research. Being a foodie, firehouse chef, and having auditioned (and getting to the final casting cut of "Master Chef"), I wanted to know more about Brazilian cuisine. Along the way I found little town with a big heart, centered around food. That town is Belo Horizonte.

Belo Horizonte organized a co-op between local politicians and farmers. In under a decade, they were able to abolish hunger in the once famine ridden town. The food and vendors are locals, and a great deal of people travel there often to obtain some of the highest quality regional cuisine there is to offer.

I don't want to get to far into detail, but this reaches me deeply. The ideas of fresh quality food, community generosity, and politicians playing nice in the sandbox, really make me want to visit.

 

Never been to Brasil but being a football fan I'm a great admirer of Pele. I would like to visit his birthplace (Três Corações, which I found from net of-course). When I was in school he came to India (1977) as a member of the Cosmos club and played a friendly match here in Kolkata. I was in the stadium and still remember the excitement of seeing him with my eyes.

 

Well guys, I didn't think running this PIF would be so much work! How can I explain to someone that choosing between Morena Baccarin and tarantulas is *not* that easy... Being a fan of Brazilian cuisine, Bahia beaches and Pelé doesn't make it any easier.

But since there is no hope anyway, keep'em coming...

 

After seeing what a Brown Recluse did to a friend's foot, no way.

 

Ouch! I had to look up brown recluse, and I agree, let me phrase it better, keep suggesting more cool things about Brasil that preferably do not involve spiders or other nasty critters. How does that sound ? Naturally, colorful tarantulas are not nasty critters...

 

Agreed! Tarantulas are mostly harmless. The venom from Brazilian species is not toxic to humans. A bite would hurt and swell up a bit, but would not be serious. Like a bee sting really. And you can't have an allergic reaction to tarantula venom.