I'm back in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania now, but I thought I'd share a couple stories from my recent trip to Brazil.
Chapada Diamantina is a lovely national park, and home to one of the last remaining original stretches of the Atlantic Rainforest on the planet.
It's also home to some rather scary flora and fauna.
In just a few days in Chapada Diamantina, I saw
A. A spider approximately the size of a hamster. When we saw it (driving), Adriana stopped the car and did her best Crocodile Hunter impression.
"Look, Ryan! Look how huge this tarantula is! Come closer! You can see from the markings on its back that its incredibly poisonous! Come on, come closer and take a better look!"
B. A snake about 20' long, with around a 6" radius
C. Poison Oak's Evil Cousin. Gigantic. Oozing sacs on the leaves. Adriana told me the story of a tourist travelling with her who decided to take a leak onto this plant, touched the plant during said leak, and, errrr, was exceptionally unhappy for the next 2 days.
D. Two African Killer Bees. In our guesthouse bathroom. Did I mention Adriana is deathly allergic to bees? Or that these guys were exceptionally aggressive?
This (unfortunately) led to single combat between Ryan and the bees. They were armed with their stingers and natural aggressiveness; I was armed with a spraycan of bug poison and a shoe. I emerged victorious. There can be only one!
E. The most incredible waterfall Id ever seen. Not the largest, but a truly beautiful and magical spot on Earth.
It's also worth mentioning that I met a number of Adrianas friends in the park (since she leads tours to Chapada Diamantina several times a year, she knows a number of people). One guy wouldn't let me leave his guesthouse until hed given me a bottle of his homemade moonshine (cachaca) to take home. Good stuff. Good people. :-)
On the way back from the national park to catch a flight in Salvador da Bahia (Brazil's 4th largest city), we encountered a 35-km. line of stopped trucks. There had been an accident around 15 hours earlier. At that point the Federal Police showed up, and instead of clearing away the accident as quickly as possible, they set up a roadblock and only let cars drive past for a $400 fine. Being unwilling to pay the $400 fine, Adriana and I waited several hours, getting to know the nearby citizens. One enterprising fellow was selling coffee; another, bottled water.
The play covered a significant portion of Jesus's teachings (including the Sermon on the Mount), and the majority of the events from the entry into Jerusalem, to the Crucifixion, to the feast of Pentecost. The theater was several square kilometers in size, and the audience (over 10,000 people) walked from scene to scene it really felt like we were in Jerusalem, 2000 years ago.
It was a very beautiful and spiritual experience. The play had impressive special effects, but the most wonderful was the incredible lightning that occurred throughout the play, in the distance.