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Back from Brazil

A very varied trip to Brazil – it began in the Pantanal, a wonderful wildlife area. On our first drive out we saw over 70 different kinds of birds – this rose to over 100 during the week. Jaguars remained elusive but hyacinth macaws are as exotic as they sound and we got very close to a giant ant-eater. Fantastic guides who took us driving, walking, riding and on the Rio Negro. Myself and another woman swam with caiman – the shortness of the swim was mainly because the temperature had dropped from 30° to 16° overnight – well not only that! After leaving the Pantanal where we stayed at the Fazenda Barranco Alto we went to Ouro Preto and from there  to Congonhas, Tiradentes and Mariana where we saw colonial churches and  had a very special organ recital in the church in Tiradentes. The last, and very contrasting destination was Inhotim – a quite extraordinary modern art place which was the brain child of Bernardo Paz. There are already over 30 pavilions in beautiful landscape with artists such as Matthew Barney, Giovanni Penone, Doug Aitken, Chris Burden and Janet Cardiff and George Miller. There is a waiting list of 80 other artists hoping to get in. This was all during the football – I was so sorry about Brazil’s defeat as we had watched quite a few matches with Brazilians on tv.