I awoke in the Ramada airport hotel at Belo Horizante - to a happy birthday from John and a card he had brought all the way from the UK. Today was also the day we started our next adventure in Brazil. We had a leisurely breakfast and watched the Olympics in the restaurant while eating and then I followed the triathlon on the Olympics website luckily just after Andrew Brownlee won we had a call from Fred our guide for the week to say that he was in reception. I hoped he wouldn't arrive before the triathlon finished --so that worked!
We packed up our things and went to meet Fred Tavares, our font of all knowledge for the next 7 days - he's a biology graduate who majored in birds for his thesis but is an all round expert on the flora and fauna of Brazil and - needless to say - guides all over Brazil !
Today was a travelling day and we headed off west out of the sprawling mass of the greater Belo Horizante which seemed to go on for miles, passing the football stadium and the road that are being rebuilt for the World Cup. Ultimately the two premier league teams who play there and their fanatical football crazy fans will benefit from the legacy of a 75k seater stand. ( a Belo team has just won the national league!) The Brazilians do however question the expense of stadia being built in the Amazon - Mannaos and in Cuiaba where there is no tradition of football and which will potentially lie idol.
Anyway on our 6 hour journey to San Roque the gateway to Canastra we discussed all things Brazilian, looked at the hilly scenery and I even snoozed, unsurprisingly. We stopped for lunch at a roadside restaurant and ate traditional Brazilian fare which over the coming evenings we would get very used to and enjoy. Lots of cooked meat and vegetable dishes kept warm over an oven fuelled by burning logs - you selected what you wanted buffet style - additionally there was a cabinet with salads so there was plenty for vegetarians. We drank fresh pineapple juice and finished with an ice cream and a coffee - the latter despite being a traditional Brazilian drink it is unusual for Brazilians to drink it after a meal as we do! But coffee with sugar added and hot milk duly arrived. Replete we set off to finish the journey. For the last hour when we were on more minor roads we stopped and looked at birds we saw - and we saw some good ones - white tailed hawk, savannah hawk, roadside hawk, peach fronted parakeets, seriama - the South American secretary bird - and had great views of the toco toucan - the bird made famous by the guiness adverts. We arrived at our hotel late afternoon and after unpacking went for a short walk - we tried to spot a ferruginous pigmy owl which was calling but it remained much heard but never seen. After a brush up we went for dinner at a local restaurant - same format as lunch - John however tried a pizza while I tucked into rice vegetables, beans and some very good potato chips. We also tried acerola fruit juice - one small berry has 5x the vitamin C of an orange - and it tasted good to.
An early night beckoned as we were scheduled for a 5 am wake up; 5.30 breakfast and 6.00am start. It did not take long to fall asleep. Birthday over for another year!!