Cuiaba, May 22-26

Cuiabá, in the state of Mato Grosso (lit. "thick bush"(forest)) was my 2^nd stop. This city is in the interior of Brazil and known as the hottest city in the country, sometimes referred to as Brazil’s armpit. :) At least it’s dry there, not humid. It is a kind of junction for the Amazon (tropical, hot & humid), the Pantanal (a large swamp-like area), and the Cerrado (a semi-arid climate). Here’s a picture of its location in Brazil.

Either Cuiabá or the nearby touristy town of Chapada dos Guimarães is also the geographical center of South America (there is a dispute as to which, but my sources say the real one is in Chapada :)). Here I am on what is left of a monument there – Cuiabá people tore it down because they say they’re the real center!! I would never have known what it was if I didn’t have my guides! :)

The next picture is of a street in Cuiabá, nicely decorated in green & yellow for the World Cup (soccer games). More on that later….

I stopped here to visit a couple I had gotten to know in Three Hills. They are new missionaries living in Cuiabá for now, though she grew up near there. I had actually seen them as recently as March. His parents (in Three Hills) sent a bunch of presents for them with me, so I was quite a bit lighter after that! :) Here’s a cute picture of them.

I stayed here for 4 nights (May 22-26) and was able to see quite a few things & eat lots of yummy food that I hadn’t had yet. (We ate out 3 nights, which was fun and quite cheap in comparison.) I had pamonha (the corn paste wrapped in a husk that you see below), espetinhos (skewers with meat or cheese or chicken), pasteis, churros (oh, deep-fried goodness!), manioc… so YUMMY!!!

One day we went to the Indian training school that their mission has near Chapada (an hour away & up in the mountains). The first picture shows one of the buildings that they’re still working on & some staff houses. (Almost all of them here were made out of this orange brick.) The wooden building is the dining hall, where we ate lunch.

In the afternoon, my hosts had a meeting and I ended up hanging out with the kids for most of the time. Here you see Indian & American kids playing together in a big pile of dirt. :) (Don’t worry, “Indian” is what they’re called here; it’s not derogatory.)

This is a picture of me in an Indian headdress that my friends bought that day from a Caritiana lady (that's the name of her tribe). It’s made with macaw feathers – the bright blue ones are for sure a macaw's, and the smaller downy ones might be too. (I am told they bring their supplies in from the tribe when they come to school, and that they don't kill the birds to get the feathers. They "just" pluck all the feathers out and I guess leave them to walk around naked for a while, till the feathers grow back & they can fly again. Awwww....)

While were were at the school, we went for a quick trip to a nearby waterfall called "Véu de Noiva," or "Bride's Veil." It was super foggy that day, so we could hardly see it from the lookout point. Thankfully, there was a trail that went over the river and around to a spot close to the waterfall!! There we could see it really well. :D I took lots of pictures of it, but here's one. I love how green & mossy it was at the bottom. Supposedly you can walk behind it, but I think I would slip & fall as soon as I set foot on it. :P

This picture kind of shows how foggy it was. The red cliff is what all the mountains around here look like, but which I hardly got to see because of the fog. I love when there's white skeleton trees mixed in with all the green ones. It looks really cool. (Click on this to see it better.)

We went to one other lookout place, where on a clear day you can see all the way back to Cuiabá (an hour's drive)! Unfortunatetly, because of the fog we hardly saw anything - just tree-covered rolling hills right below us. We couldn't even see the ridge of cliffs beside us. Sadness. But that's how it is when you live up in the clouds! You also get lots of lightning bolts!

Have a good weekend, everyone!