Life in Cáceres Begins - The First Month

It's been a little over a month since we made our cross country move and we are now settling in. There have been a few hiccups along the way.

Take phone and internet service for example. After more than three weeks and four different installers, we believe that we finally have everything working properly. Things don't usually get done right the first time in Brazil. Our street is a great example of that.


The morning after arriving here, we found this hole dug out in front of our garage. The workers told us that they are preparing the road to be paved and they needed to dig this hole to see about water drainage.




It's almost a month later and it's still not paved and they've dug up that hole three times. Next year is an election year so the mayor is scrambling to pretty up the city and make people think he is actually doing something. Sounds like things are the same all over the world.

Course it gets worse when it rains. See for yourself

We had been here a couple of days when the rain poured down. It was a welcome relief from the continuous 100 degree heat but it made a real mess in front of the house.

Inside the house wasn't much different. The house had been empty for several months and many of the ceramic roof tiles were broken or cracked. We were scrambling for buckets for Lewis's room, our room and the kitchen. Thankfully all the broken tiles have been replaced.

That's great news because our rainy season is just beginning. Between now and the first of April we will get about 24 feet of rain. I'm not joking.

Even though we've had these difficulties, we are growing to love Cáceres. I think we will stay for a long, long time.

Getting Ready To Move

Now has come the time to say goodbye to the beach and move to the jungle. We've been living in Balneário Camboriú for about a year and a half. It is one of the most beautiful places on earth. We are moving to Cáceres, Mato Grosso (which means "thick jungle") right at the heart of the Pantanal wetlands.

Last week we spent a week there preparing for the move. Here are some highlights:

This is our new home. It is the nicest house we could find and we really like it. There are several fruit trees such as coconuts, acerola, cashew (it is a fruit) and pomagranates. It is a little larger than our present house (thank goodness!) and it has a nice yard which we have missed. There is also an office space for me.

While we were there we decided to go fishing. It was a beautiful and hot day on the river but we had a wonderful time. Anna borrowed my camera and took some nice photos.

This is an eagle that we watched for about a half an hour. He would swoop down and grab fish out of the water.

We threw a prianha to this Jabaru stork. They stand well over three feet tall. He washed the fish first and then ate it. It was pretty amazing to watch.

This was Anna's first fish of the day, a nice big barbado catfish. They are real fighters but Anna wouldn't give up. Lewis caught seven piranhas that day. Marilze caught a dorado and is still bragging about it.

Everybody wanted to see the caiman crocodiles. Anna took this very nice shot.

Our last evening there, Anna took this stunning picture. There is no sunset like the Pantanal.

If you want to see more photos, just head to my flickr page at:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/westnashvillegringo/

To Russia With Love

I published this on my fishing blog as well because it is one of those stories that deserves to be mentioned more than once.

Everybody has at least one unbelievable story to tell. I have a new one it might just be one of the most unbelievable stories I have ever heard.

About two months ago, Eric Hanson, a longtime friend, was traveling to Russia. He was flying on S7 airlines and during the flight decided to look at their inflight magazine.

He started flipping through the pages and since it was in Russian (which he doesn't speak), he was just really looking at the pictures. He opened to an article that was apparently about piranhas. Being an avid hunter and fisherman it piqued his interest. When he turned to page 114 he saw something completely unexpected.

That is really me in the bottom left hand corner holding a piranha. Eric was shocked to say the least. He mailed me a copy of it when he returned home.

Evidently S7 copied this picture from either our website or my Flickr page. Either way, they didn't ask permission but I figure Russia is probably a lot like Brazil and they could care less.

It would have been nice if they had mentioned our business or fishing in the Pantanal but they didn't. They didn't even mention my name or Brazil.

I've written S7 requesting they acknowledge what they did and at least mention our website.

I'm not holding my breath.

You can see more of our pictures at:

http://www.fishbigfish.com/

or

http://www.flickr.com/photos/westnashvillegringo/sets/72157600059492377/

AWOL or MIA?

OK, I haven't published anything for over two months and I sincerely apologize. My good friend Kerry Woo (the master blogger) told me this is a major no-no.

I do have an excuse. After my laser surgery, my vision in one eye came perfectly into focus. The other is perfectly out of focus. As you can imagine, this has caused me some difficulties. I can't drive well at night and I get disoriented when I do. I also have extreme difficulty reading.

These last two months may be the longest stretch of my life I have gone without reading a book. I have equal difficulty reading the computer screen.

It has gotten better as my mind has evidently compensated. I will have surgery on the other eye in a couple of weeks that will hopefully correct it.

I apologize for not posting. I will try to post as much as possible. After the surgery it should be more often.

Celebrating 20 Years

On wednesday this week, Marilze and I celebrated 20 years of marriage. We decided to get away for a couple of days and visit Canasvieiras beach in Florianopolis. Floripa (as the locals call it) is an island and our state capital. It is beautiful and we had a great time.

We stayed right on the beach and our balcony overlooked the ocean. This is the view from our balcony. It was overcast and a little chilly but that didn't bother us.

We were shocked at how few people were there. The stores didn't open until almost 5pm. Most of the time we were the only people on the beach. We felt like we had it all to ourselves.

We've been fortunate enough to have 20 very good years together and I expect to have many more.

A Request From The United Nations

Yesterday I received an email from Franz Dejon of the United Nations Energy Program requesting the use of some of my Pantanal photographs. They have asked to use them for Biodiversity Day which is May 22. They are hoping to bring awareness to issues like global warming and it's effect on different ecosystems.

While I don't agree with them completely about global warming, I am all for anything that increases awareness of the Pantanal wetlands.


Back in the day I was published a few times by the Westview for some sports photos but the photos they have asked for were from my first attempt at wildlife photos.


It's an honor just to be asked to be a part of this event. You can find out more about Biodiversity Day at this link:


http://www.biodiv.org/programmes/outreach/awareness/biodiv-day-2007.shtml

A Blog Can Be A Dangerous Thing

I could write a blog solely telling stories about Mike Christian and never run out of material. Mike is a friend who I've known since college and he is the type of person who will say anything to anybody at anytime. He is more fun to hang out with than anybody I know. "A sense of entitlement" comes to mind when I think about Mike. Not that he thinks the world owes him anything. It's just that he's not going to play by your rules. Or anybody else's.

After working merchandising for a couple of Christian bands (and starving) he got some gigs with bigger groups. He's traveled with David Lee Roth, Alice Cooper, Tim McGraw and many others. He's been on the road with Lynyrd Skynyrd for the last couple of years.

Now he has started writing a blog. This from a guy who wouldn't email me a few months ago because he didn't like typing.

He's blogging about working behind the scenes at the Rowdy Friends Tour, which includes Lynyrd Skynyrd, Hank Williams Jr and .38 Special.

He has some great road stories. My favorite is the one where I guy walked up to his booth and said, "Give me a medium t-shirt and a 2X for my old lady".

I can only imagine what he is going to blog about. He'll probably write something he shouldn't and get fired. Whatever he does, it should be a fun ride.

Check out his blog at:

www.nashvegasvending.blogspot.com

And his Flickr page has some excellent photos of the tour:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/fishbigfish/

That's Bull

Saturday, just two days after my LASIK surgery, I was feeling pretty good so Marilze and I decided to drive to Blumenau, a city about 40 miles from us that was founded by German immigrants.

On our way back I decided to stop at a tourist store. Kind of our version of Stucky's. This place had a small donkey for kids to ride and this huge bull that actually had a saddle on its back. They would let you climb up if you wanted but I wasn't about to do that. I'm still suffering with back problems from a mechanical bull ride six years ago.

They let me hold the reins and Marilze snapped the picture. This is by far the biggest Brahma bull I have ever seen. The hump in the middle of its back is called the cupim and is absolutely delicious. When I first tried it (more than 20 years ago) I thought it would be tough but it is more tender than any other cut of beef.

I tried to get Marilze to climb up on it so I could take a picture. Since I have no picture to show, you can imagine what here response was.

Going Under The Knife

I haven't been writing much this week because I was working updating our fishing video and preparing to update our website. The new website should be up by the weekend and you can see the new video in the post below this one.

I have also been visiting my eye doctor. Just before we got married (almost 20 years ago) I got some fiberglass insulation in my right eye. About 7 or 8 years later, tiny piece of it started working their way back out of my eye. It was a painful as you can imagine and left a lot scars.

I went through a procedure where they shave off the top layer of your eye to reduce the thickness of the scars. More pain. Excruciating pain.

I have had a lot of problems with nightblindness, especially driving at night. I see halos around streetlights and headlights. It can be really annoying. My eye doctor said I was a good candidate for PTK, a type of LASIK surgery.

I will have the surgery in about 3 1/2 hours. He is also going to correct my vision so I won't have to wear glasses any longer. I've been wearing glasses for over 30 years so the idea of not having to wear them is awesome.

I will give regular updates about how I am doing. According to my doctor, my recuperation time is about two weeks.

New Video for Rio de Vida Fishing Excursions

Check out our new video with all new scenes and clips from our Pantanal fishing excursions. Our website is being overhauled as well and should be up by the weekend.

If this gets your heart pumping about fishing the Pantanal, pick up the phone and call us - 1-800-582-2105 and reserve your place for the fishing adventure of a lifetime.

Beach Hopping

Since this week was spring break, we decided to enjoy our surroundings a little and visit several of the beaches around where we live. On Wednesday we went snorkeling at Lagoinha Beach. It was amazing. Swimming with thousands of fish in crystal clear water. I don't have any pictures of that because I forgot to take my waterproof camera but I definitely will next time.


On Thursday we went to Florianopolis. That is the capital of our state (Santa Catarina) and the city is an island. We had never visited the beaches there and they were spectacular. We saw these huge sand dunes where you can rent snowboards to ride down them. Anna and Marilze thought it would be easy to slide down them. It wasn't.


Right next to the dunes was Joaquina Beach. It was beautiful.


There were huge waves and a lot of surfers. They were holding a surfing competition and some of the surfers were excellent.


We bought grilled cheese sticks from this guy. Believe it or not, he had charcoal burning inside that can and would hold cheese on wooden sticks inside the can until they were grilled. It was pretty good.


Florianopolis not only has beautiful beaches but is surrounded by high hills where you can take some spectacular photos.


We had a great time. Marilze and I plan to go back in a few weeks for our 20th anniversary. This time we'll leave the kids at home.

You can see more of my photos at

http://www.flickr.com/photos/westnashvillegringo

Odd things you see traveling

Whenever I travel, I enjoy looking at the natural beauty of where I am but I also love the weird and odd things you find along the way. This house is definitely one of them. It is just a couple of blocks from Pr. Jorge's house and the owners saw fit to put some art on the roof.








The object on the right is a cuia or a hollowed out gourd. People from the south of Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina use these to drink chimarrão which is a steaming hot green tea also known at maté. They put no sugar in the tea and they drink it using a bomba or metal straw. The best are made of either silver or stainless steel.

Once filled a person will drink everything in the cuia and then refill it with hot water. He then passes it on to the next person. Everyone uses the same straw. It is highly cultural. I´ve been to shops and restaurants where the owner will off his for you to drink from.

When you travel to the south of Brazil you will see this everywhere you go but generally not on people´s roofs.

The object in the middle is a rooster. Can´t figure that one out.

Everywhere you go in Brazil you will find hamburger stands that are known as pitdogs. Don´t know why they call them that but most of the time the hamburgers are lousy. When we lived in Goias they would put peas, corn and potato sticks on your burger. I once asked for onions and they looked at me like I was an idiot.

Pitdogs in Brazil come in all shapes and sizes but this one is shaped like a giant Coke can. What´s really weird is that it is right in front of the house where I always stay in Passo Fundo and I´d never seen it before this trip.

Didn´t eat the burgers there so I have no idea if they are any good.

This is the most explainitory bathroom sign I have ever seen in my life. We stopped at a gas station in Lages, Santa Catarina on the way to Passo Fundo. I saw this and didn´t think to take a picture. On the way home we stopped there again and this time I was prepared.

The sign says: "Don´t urinate on the floor - Throw toilet paper in the trash (Brazilian plumbing doesn´t allow us to put paper in the toilet) - Flush after use - Maintain this bathroom clean"

Coming 'Round The Mountain

We had a great trip down to Passo Fundo and on the way back we decided to go the long way home and visit Rastro River Mountain. Pretty spectacular place but better than the view was the road driving down it.

It is an 8km stretch (about 5 miles) and has 284 curves. Most of them are hairpin curves that trucks and buses have to stop, back up and maneuver in order to get around. There is no way to see how twisted the road actually is unless you were to photograph it from a helicopter or plane.

It is also extremely narrow without any shoulder. Trucks and buses passing each other would have to slow down to a crawl to make sure they didn't rub.

This is in the coldest region of Brazil and it snows pretty often. It was hard enough to navigate it on a sunny day much less with snow or ice.

What surprised us more than anything was the wildlife. There is a station on top of the mountain and immediately a group of guaxinim came running up to us.

They are from the raccoon family and they would eat right out of your hand. I started thinking about when I had to have rabies shots a few years ago and stayed away form them.

We rounded a curve when we saw this rascal sitting on the retaining wall. Thankfully there was an observation point about 500 ft after we passed him. Jânio and I ran up to him to take pictures. We were in the middle of a narrow two lane road with buses and trucks coming from both directions but we really weren't thinking at the moment.

People told us that this species is aggressive but as soon as I began to take his picture, he turned his back on us. I started yelling at him and he turned around and gave me this look. A truck was coming by then so we had to get out of there.

All in all it was a lot of fun and we had a great time seeing a part of Brazil I didn't even know existed.

Road Trip!

Tomorrow morning at 6:00 AM, I'll be hitting the road once again heading down south to the state of Rio Grande do Sul, the southernmost state in Brazil. I am going to Passo Fundo to visit two of my favorite people in the world, Pr. Jorge and his wife Soni.

Last year I went to visit them for the first time to help them start a church and just fell in love with this couple. Actually you can't not fall in love with them.

Soni may be, besides my mother of course, the best cook on the face of the earth. She always comes up with things I've never heard of and they are always delicious. Jorge is no slouch cooking himself.

His slow cooked ribs are something every human should consume at least once in their lifetime. The Gaúchos (people from Rio Grando do Sul) are well known for knowing how to cook meat, especially ribs. Jorge poured a pound of rock salt on the back of this rack and then let it cook for about six hours without ever turning it. The salt transformed into a thick sheet that he broke off just before beginning to slice the ribs.

I thought they would be too salty to eat but I was pleasantly surprised. Definitely the best ribs I had ever eaten.

Pr. Luís, his wife Edna, and Pr. Jânio and Lúcia who are visiting with us will be along for the trip. It should be a great time.

The drive there is through a beautiful mountain range so I will be taking plenty of photos to share.

Big Crocodiles in the Pantanal

One of the best things about visiting the Pantanal area of Brazil is the wildlife. There are more than 30 million caiman crocodiles. We went out a couple of nights looking for them. There were more than I ever dreamed of.

Our indian guide Arnildo could spot them a mile away. It was great fun and I can't wait to get back up there to do it again.

Dorado Fishing

I put this video up on our FishBigFish blog but I wanted to put it on this one as well. Rogerio and I had a great time and fishing for dorado might just be one of the best things on earth.

The audio is in Portuguese because I was the only one there who speaks English.

Hope you enjoy.

Back at the Beach

Rogerio and I got back about 3am Friday morning from our week long trip to the Pantanal. It was great. We got in a few days of fishing as well as all the meetings we needed to get things in line for this season's fishing trips.

That was my first fish I caught there. It's a five lb dorado. Dorado is one of the fightingest fish I've ever seen. It makes 2-3 feet leaps out of the water trying to jump off your hook. They are beautiful and pretty tasty as well. We ate a ton of fish and I ate caiman crocodile for the first time. Delicious.

All in all, one of the best trips of my life. Can't wait to get back up there again.

I'll be reporting on the details of the trip on my other blog at www.fishbigfish.blogspot.com

Heading North

The last few days I have been pretty lax about updating this blog. I have been really busy because I am heading to the Pantanal wetlands tomorrow.

This is one place I love to visit. As some of you know we are starting a fishing tour business to take Americans fishing on the Paraguay River, which is the main watersource of the Pantanal. Just so you can grasp what this place is like, it is 25 times larger than the Florida Everglades.




I honestly had never seen as much wildlife as I did on my last trip there. It is pretty amazing. And there are millions of caiman crocodiles.

This is my favorite picture I've ever taken. I was about 5 feet away from this badboy. 'Course I was in a boat. Mama didn't raise no fool.

Anyway, Rogerio and I are heading up there for a week of meetings with government officials, hotel owners, tourist agencies, etc. We are also planning on 3 or 4 days of heavy fishing.

I plan on blogging throughout the trip if possible. No wifi there but there are a couple of internet cafes.

If you want to see my other photos from the Pantanal, they are on my Flickr site:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/westnashvillegringo

You can also check out our site for Brazilian fishing excursions at:

http://www.fishbigfish.com

And our fishing blog at:

http://fishbigfish.blogspot.com

US - Brazil Ethanol Partnership

Today's edition of USAToday has an article about the US and Brazil entering into a partnership to increase the production of ethanol for use in automobiles.

Over the years I have had a lot of Americans ask me about alcohol car use. I keep hearing these wild numbers given in the press and for the most part, they are not true.


The US and Brazil together produce about 70% of the world's ethanol. Both countries want that to increase to weaken dependency on foreign petroleum. Last week President Lula was in Washington to discuss this and President Bush will be here next week. Pretty much everyone in South America wants this to happen except Hugo Chavez. He says that Bush's trip here is "destined for the depths of defeat".

Brazil started producing ethanol for fuel in 1975 under the direction of General Emilio Garrastazu Médici during the time the military ruled the government. His idea was to break our dependence on oil as petroleum was not yet being produced here. Now Brazil is 100% independent for most fossil fuels other than diesel and some petroleum bi-products.


While most US ethanol comes from corn, ours is from sugar cane. It is relatively cheap to produce and process. Ethanol production has created over 1 million jobs in the country.


In the beginning, ethanol sold for about 1/3 the price of gasoline. This was an incentive to get more Brazilians buying alcohol burning cars because a gasoline engine cannot burn pure ethanol safely. Today's Brazilian gasoline is a mixture of 76% gasoline and 24% ethanol and cars seem to have no problem.

The early ethanol cars caused a lot of problems. This is a picture of a 1992 Chevrolet Opala Dipolomata. Our first car in Brazil was just like one this except is was a 1988 model. Back then they didn't change much from year to year. There is very little difference between the 1992 model and the 1972, the first year it was produced.


Because ethanol is harder to ignite than gasoline, our car had a small 1 liter gas tank under the hood that would be injected into the carburetor to help it start. On cold mornings (50 degrees or so), even the gasoline wouldn't help. As soon as we were able we sold that car and bought one that burned gasoline. I've never owned another ethanol car.


In 2003, they began introducing flex engines that will burn ethanol or gasoline. In 2004, 11% of new cars were produced with flex engines. A year later the number jumped to 80%. This year Fiat has introduced a new car with that not only runs off ethanol and gasoline but also natural gas.


The main problem I have with ethanol is the price gouging that is going on here. It is extremely less expensive to produce ethanol than gasoline but the price is nearly the same.

I stopped by my local BR station and took a photo of their price board. You have to understand those prices are in Reias (pronounced hey-ice) and are for liters, not gallons. Here is a conversion:


Regular Gasoline - R$2.58/ltr = US$4.57/gal
Super Gasoline - R$2.62/ltr = US$4.65/gal
Premium Gasoline - R$3.00/ltr = US$5.32/gal
Ethanol (Alcohol) - R$1.799/ltr = US$3.19/gal
Diesel - R$1.989/ltr = US$3.52/gal


Don't cry to me about what you are paying at the pump! It looks like ethanol is a great deal less expensive than gasoline but the numbers are deceptive because ethanol produces 30% less miles per gallon than gasoline. That makes the cost of the ethanol jump to US$4.19. While that is still a significant savings, you can buy alcohol for human consumption at roughly the same price.


At one point in the mid 90's, ethanol was more expensive to run than gasoline so manufacturers all but abandoned producing alcohol engines. Not until the flex engines were introduced was there a significant rise in production.


Taxes and greed have caused the price of ethanol to be nearly double what they should be. Natural gas costs less than half to operate and many people are converting their cars, though the cost is high and prohibitive for most Brazilians.


I think ethanol is a great alternative and the infrastructure is in place for it to continue to grow and develop. If the government would convince the ethanol producers to lower their prices to close to where they should be, Brazil will see tremendous growth in this industry and become a world leader in renewable fuel sources and that is not even including bio diesel, which is quickly on the rise.


Check out the article in USA Today. I think you will find it interesting.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2007-03-01-us-brazil-ethanol_x.htm