Highlights:
Randomly stumbling across
Daniel, Tracy and “The Pineal Gland” university. I cannot begin to explain the
impact this had on my way of thinking. Wisdom was abundant here and I learnt a
tremendous amount from Daniel.
Lowlights:
Not seeing as much of the
Pantanal as we originally wanted to.
Places:
Delicias Caseiras: this was
a restaurant we would go to in the mornings to eat delicious pastels and drink
sucos.
Fizenda San Fransisco: a
farm about 2 hours out of Miranda that runs Pantanal tours. We went on a night
tour where we managed to see: capybara, owls, alligators, deer, baby jaguar,
amongst other animals.
People:
Daniel: Wise beyond his years,
intelligent in an unconventional sense, truly understands the purpose of life,
very giving, kind-hearted, naturalist (always presented himself to nature in
the nude),
Tracy: Daniel’s wife,
American, studied literature, was writing a book, great cook, very friendly,
easy to converse with.
Alan: Indian looking,
one-legged, beard, one of the happiest people I have ever met, adrenaline junky
(popped a wheelie on his bike with one leg), very friendly, participates in Capoeira,
nothing could get him down.
Students: we taught a few of
Daniel’s students at the Pineal Gland University. They were very friendly and
keen to learn.
Scientista: A crazy guy who
was very animated and was always laughing, one day he came to Daniel’s place
and was going crazy with a whip, cracking it repeatedly. Daniel also told us of
a story of where he shot a gun at the roof in a bank because someone told him
it probably didn’t work and why would they give you a gun.
Activity:
Taught English classes: we
helped Daniel with some of his English classes.
Capoeira class: Alan took us
to a Capoeira class, where we observed them in action. Was an awesome sight,
especially seeing someone with one leg perform some manoeuvres most 2-legged
people can’t.
Foods:
Piranha Churasco: the fish
hardly needs any spices as the flesh has a great flavour naturally.
Hapidura (unrefined sugar):
tastes much like sugar cane, we used this in our coffee instead of refined
sugar. It’s apparently much healthier for you.
Granadilla dessert: consisting
of cream, granadilla, condensed milk.
Pastel de palmetto: A pastel
that contained cheese and palmetto which is like soft, palm tree chunks.
Botauva: also known as
Indian chewing gum, this is a fruit that tastes like mango but lasts forever,
hence why it is called chewing gum.
Drinks:
Sucos(juices):
Acai: juice made out of Acai
pulp, to die for!!
Tamarindo: this juice tasted
much better than I originally anticipated.
Guiaba: tastes like Guava,
but was very faint.
Cupaco: a white juice, had a
little bit of a bitter taste, i didn’t like it much.
Music:
Gabriel O Pensador : a
controversial Brazilian rapper with profound lyrics.
Raul Seixes: a Brazilian
rock composer with deep lyrics (in both Portuguese & English).
