This morning we were up at 6:15am and had a lovely breakfast, followed by a boat trip up river. It was a bit cloudy = perfect!
We stopped for a swim in a little opening part way through the morning. It was lovely. The water, not too cold (and we all know I am the cold-baby!); the current, surprisingly faster than expected. The water is quite clear as the sediment falls to the bottom from the manganese, and there a hyacinths everywhere that filter the water - who would have known?!
Back to the pousada about 11:30am, we had an extravagant lunch waiting for us - salads, sliced beets and tomatoes, rice, potato casserole, beef ribs (from their own cattle, here at the fazenda), sweet potato casserole, baked eggplant with tomato and cheese, and probably a couple more things I'm forgetting! Plus, dessert! Candied pears and guava with homemade cream. Everything here is homemade from scratch.
After a siesta from 1:30-3:30pm, we met for juice (like England's afternoon tea), and then headed to the horses for a horseback ride through the fields to see what we could see!
It was quite wet, but as it's just the beginning of rainy season, the horses are used to much more water.
Mom was riding behind me when my horse stopped to poop. Her horse kept going around, but didn't worry about "taking it wide." End result? Mom wound up with horse-poop-clump rolling down her pants and off her shoe. Out of the times she's ever ridden, this was the first "poop incident."
It rained for part of our ride, but didn't stick around long. We saw a marsh deer, a pampas deer, more birds, rheas and babies, and some peccary (black pig-type things that graze on grass)... And cows! This pousada (guest house), like many, is also a fazenda (ranch), so they have a lot of land and many cows. The cows are Nelore, from India, and very good for this region as they are drought-resistant, and also live well in the wetland when flooded (their hooves do not soften).
Horseback riding ended about 6pm. We unsaddled, walked back to the pousada, and had a before dinner drink with Gary & Paul (a very nice couple from Belgium who came the same day we did).
Supper was again extravagant, with many salads, a corn/egg/onion casserole (delicious), homemade pasta and sauce, marinated beef, rice, baked potato (each sliced with ham/cheese melted in the slices), and scrumptious chicken wings (falling off the bone in a thin savory tomato/BBQ type sauce).
After dessert it was 9pm and time to get ready for bed, as an early start at 6am tomorrow.
Happy birthday to my wonderful Kaidee!
💜 Krystle
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