On Our Way!

Our last Sunday (and last full day) here in Peroba.  Here comes the hard part, saying goodbye.  And currently we don't know when we are coming back, so that makes it harder.  Tomorrow we drive up to Recife, stay with friends there overnight, and then head to the airport Tuesday morning for the 29 hour trip home.  So excited to see BOTH our sets of parents when we get home to Canada.  Happy Mother's Day to our dear mothers!  We can't  wait to see you!

Here's a few photos of the last two weeks.  Like I mentioned, we decided to "go on holidays" as there was nothing else we could do.  So we checked out a bunch of different beaches around here, as well as the manatee reserve around an hour away.

What would holidays be without delicious watermelon!  This is at the beach in Barreiras do  Boqueirao.

This is the beach of Peroba, right where we live.

Last weekend was a full moon (the super moon you may have heard of).  This meant the tides were extra low and extra high, so we headed out to try find some cool animals.  This was the first hermit crab we found.

Shaun found a Brazilian and wanted to get a picture with the little kid.

We could walk out to the reef, but most of it was still around a foot under water, and it was actually really windy and not too sunny, so it was difficult to find sea creatures.

Suddenly we realized there were millions of hermit crabs all around.

Seth's last day of school.  He hadn't been as keen to go as the first little bit, but I would have it often in Canada as well, that I had to force him out the door and he was fine once he was there.  Notice how he's sitting in the very back of the class?  He told us a story a few weeks back how some kid was kicking him out of his seat, so I wonder if this is the fallout: he finds a seat that is far away from everyone!

Hazel in her class.  Notice she is right at the teacher's desk.  She definitely likes to play up her tears to get the teacher's attention I think!

To get to the Manatee Reserve we had to cross a river to a town called Porto do Pedras.   The Manatee Reserve is called  in Portuguese the Santuario do Peixe Boi.  Now unfortunately Shaun and I got ripped off by the guide we got a hold of, so I am going to explain how to get there yourself so you don't have to phone a guide.  You find the ferry pictured above on the south side of Japaratinga, through some suburbs of Japaratinga (Bitingui, Barreiros do Boqueirao, then Boqueirao, then Pontal).  When you get to the end you get to this ferry (called a balsa).  The ferry costs 10R each way.  You cross into Porto do Pedras, and take a left, drive through all the city, then past another little suburb, then you have to drive around 3 more km before you reach a sign on your left saying "Passeio do Peixe Boi."  You turn there and then drive and drive and drive down a sandy "road."  You will pass a sign on your right for the actual conservation project, but that is for people who work there.  You just keep driving.  Then you see a sign for the Passeios do Peixe Boi on your right, turn there and voila, a little parking lot.  For ages 6 and up it is 35R.  

This is one of the balsas. 

Porto do Pedras.

Once you go to the area where guides are, they take you on these boats in the river, where currently there are 10 manatee.  The river has a little fence towards the mouth of the river, to keep the manatee in.   My understanding is they will find injured or sick manatee, sometimes up in the Amazon or wherever, and bring them here to nurse them back to health and introduce them back into the wild.  The boats are not allowed to have motors.  Also, note that you should bring lifejackets for your young children as they do not have them.  I may be paranoid, as the river is not so deep, but the river also is murky.                                 

Lyla was not that enjoyable of a companion, particularly as she did not have a lifejacket of course. 

There was some beautiful scenery.

There is more of an enclosure where some are kept and where they are fed from.  They eat lettuce and carrots, and grow up to 500 kilos.

This is around as close as we got to seeing one :(
This one was eating, and they eat underwater.  They can stay under between 5 and 13 minutes and then only come up for a quick breath of air.

It's Breathing!

On the way back across the ferry.

We had lunch on the beach, and I think this was Seth's favorite part of the day: a million little crabs,  two starfish (he thinks), and other little animals.

I'll finish off blogging our trip once we get back to Canada and I unload the rest of my pics.  Ate Mais!  See you all Wednesday!

Love the Raaps