DIÁRIO DE BORDO FINAL: A viagem acabou!! / LAST TRIP DIARY: the trip is finished!!

Olá!!!!!

Depois de 04 sensacionais dias em Bonito, terminou agora a primeira viagem do ano rotário de 2009/2010 da Terra Brasil Turismo.


Conforme nosso último diário de bordo, os meninos estavam na Gruta do Lago Azul. Todos ficaram maravilhados com a beleza do lugar!! A Noite, mais um momento inesquecível. Tivemos um encontro com Rotary de Bonito quando os estudantes trocaram flâmulas, pins e doaram livros e em seguida o tão esperado TALENT SHOW!! Foi um total sucesso com mais de 11 apresentações de vários países diferentes!! O Rotary de Bonito também organizou a apresentação de um grupo de dança local, todos adoraram!! Depois, muita festa com direito a Dj!!

Os desembarques foram tranqüilos. Neste momento, todos os intercambistas já estão em casa na companhia de suas famílias ou a caminho de casa, e nós da Terra Brasil, só temos que agradecer a todos vocês, Rotarianos, pela oportunidade de realizarmos mais uma viagem bem sucedida, bem como aos intercambistas, suas famílias no exterior e anfitriãs. Gostaria muito de agradecer também nosso casal de Chaperones Isabel e Winderson Scholze, do distrito 4620 pelo apoio, atenção e ajuda. Ao nosso médico Dr Eduardo por cuidar bem dos estudantes! Gostaria de agradecer também a participação de nosso querido Jerry, representante do Rotary dos EUA: obrigada por toda a ajuda!! Daqui a 9 dias embarco para a tão esperada viagem ao Nordeste do Brasil de Novembro/Dezembro! Falo com vocês então em nossas próximas aventuras!



Saudações, diretamente de Belo Horizonte/MG,



Débora Labarrère

Coordenadora Geral de Viagens

Equipe Terra Brasil

_____________________________________________________________________________

Hello all of you!!!

After four awesome days in Bonito, our trip finished now.

According to our last trip diary, the students were at the Blue Lagoon cave. Everyone was amazed with the beauty of the place.

At night, another unforgettable moment. We had the meeting with Bonito’s Rotary club, so the students changed flags and pins, donated books to the public library and after this we had the so expected TALENT SHOW!! It was a total success with more than 11 different presentations of many different countries. The Bonito rotary organized a presentation of a local dance group: it was fantastic!! Just after we had a party with a Dj: we danced a lot! What a great night!

On Sunday morning we started our journey back home.

At this moment, all the exchange students are at home, with their host families or on their way home. And we, from Terra Brasil, would like to thank you a lot: Rotarians, Exchange students, host and natural families, for the opportunity to organize this great trip. I’d like to say thanks too to our Chaperones of district 4620, Isabel and Winderson Scholze. Thanks to our doctor Eduardo, for taking care of the students so much and thanks to our dear Jerry, representing the USA Rotary for all the help!!

9 days from now I’m going to the so much expected Northeast November/December trip! So, I’ll talk to you at the next adventures!

Our best regards from Belo Horizonte/MG,

Débora Labarrère

Tour Coordinator

Terra Brasil Staff

Estamos em Bonito!!! / We are at Bonito!!!

Caros pais, familiares, amigos, estudantes e membros do PIJ do Rotary,

Chegamos a Bonito na quarta-feira passada no final da tarde, conforme previsto.
A viagem foi tranqüila e muito agradável. As quase 7 horas que ligam o Pantanal até a cidade de Bonito passaram quase despercebidas. Assistimos filmes e muitos descansaram da festa da noite anterior!!
À noite, fomos para o centro da cidade para jantar e termos o primeiro contato com a cidade de Bonito.
Na quinta-feira pela manhã fomos para o Parque das Cachoeiras, onde tivemos oportunidade de nadar nas varias cachoeiras! À tarde, nos divertimos no passeio de bote (rafting) do Rio Formoso. Brincamos, jogamos água uns nos outros, cantamos enfim, nos esbaldamos!!! À noite, os estudantes tiveram um tempo livre maior na cidade de Bonito para jantar e compras.
Ontem bem cedo pela o delicioso snorkelling o Rio Sucuri. Todos ficaram maravilhados com a quantidade de peixes e com a transparência da água. Realmente inesquecível! Logo após o delicioso almoço na fazenda, visitamos uma escola pública local onde nossos estudantes fizeram pequenas apresentações e brincadeiras com os estudantes de lá: todos adoraram e foi uma interação muito boa!!
Nesse exato momento todos estão na Gruta do Lago Azul. Lá é maravilhoso e todos com certeza vão adorar!! A Noite, teremos o encontro com Rotary de Bonito quando os estudantes irão trocar flâmulas, pins e doar livros para a biblioteca local e em seguida o tão esperado TALENT SHOW!! Nossa viagem está chegando ao fim e, apesar de tristes por isso, os estudantes estão muito animados para hoje a noite, a última da viagem!! Em breve, mando mais notícias!!

Continuem ligados na Galeria de Fotos e vídeos da viagem.
Basta acessar
http://www.terrabrasil.com/fotos_detalhe.php?sec=Z2VyYWwvMjE=&ap_br=UGFudGFuYWwgZSBCb25pdG8gMjAwOQ==&ap_en=UGFudGFuYWwgYW5kIEJvbml0byAyMDA5

Saudações, diretamente de Bonito/MS,

Débora Labarrère
Coordenadora Geral de Viagens

____________________________________________________________

Dear parents, relatives, friends, students and Rotary YEP members,

We arrived in Bonito Wednesday evening, just like planned.
The trip was fine and we had a lot of fun during it. Almost seven hours between Pantanal and Bonito, but we almost didn’t notice, because we watched movies and some students slept to rest of the night before! Later, we went out to have dinner and our first contact with this nice town.
On Thurday morning, we went to Parque das Cachoeiras, where we had the opportunity to swim a lot at the waterfalls! In the afternoon, we had lot of fun during the Rafting at Formoso River. We made jokes with the water, sang songs together and enjoyed a lot!!! At night, the students had more time to have dinner and to make some shopping at Bonito downtown.
Yesterday morning we made the marvelous snorkeling at Sucuri River. Everybody was amazed with the lots of different fishes and the clear water! Unforgettable. Just after the delicious lunch that we had at the farm, we went to visit a school of the city. The students made small presentation and some jokes with the students: everyone liked a lot!!
At this exact moment all students are at the Blue Lagoon cave: it’s really beautiful there and I am sure everybody will love it! Tonight we will have the meeting with Bonito’s Rotary club, so the students will change flags and pins, donate books to the public library and also we will have the expected TALENT SHOW!!
Our trip is almost at the end, and the students are a bit sad but at the same time excited for tonight, the last night of the trip!! I’ll send more news soon.

Check the updated pictures of the trip at our Photo Gallery in http://www.terrabrasil.com/fotos_detalhe.php?lang=ZW4=&sec=Z2VyYWwvMjE=&ap_br=UGFudGFuYWwgZSBCb25pdG8gMjAwOQ==&ap_en=UGFudGFuYWwgYW5kIEJvbml0byAyMDA5

Warm regards from Bonito/MS.

Déora Labarrère
Tour Coordinator

New location / nova loclalização

Mapa de onde estamos / map on where we are

Trip Diary November 4th 2009

Caros pais, familiares, amigos, estudantes e membros do PIJ do Rotary,


Tudo bem???

Aqui no Pantanal está tudo excelente!! O tempo aqui está muito bom, ensolarado e os passeios estão sendo muito bem aproveitados. Estamos vendo muitos animais!!

O grupo foi dividido em 4 turmas menores e a cada manhã e tarde, cada turma está fazendo um passeio diferente: caminhada, cavalgada, safári e pescaria! Todos estão adorando os passeios e a pousada!! Aqui é maravilhoso!!

Ontem, a noite foi uma delícia!!

Tivemos um jantar tipicamente pantaneiro, com direito musica e fogueira. Depois, muito sertanejo!! Foi muito bom!!

Agora, todos os grupos juntos estão fazendo o último passeio no Pantanal, pois iremos prosseguir nossa viagem logo após o almoço com destino a Bonito, onde certamente teremos MAIS DIVERSÃO!!!

E de lá, aguardem notícias.

Continuem ligados na Galeria de Fotos e vídeos da viagem clicando aqui.

Saudações, diretamente do Pantanal/MS,

Débora Labarrère

Coordenadora Geral de Viagens
_______________________________________________________________________

Dear parents, relatives, friends, students and Rotary YEP members,

How are you??

Here is everything excellent!! The weather is very good, sunny and the kids are having a great time. It’s really dry here, so we’re having the opportunity to see lots of animals!

We divided the group into 4 smaller groups, so they can enjoy the tours better: trekking, horseback riding, safari and fishing! Everyone is in love with the tours and the place where our hotel is: here is marvelous!

Each morning and afternoon, each group makes a different tour.

Last night we had a delicious time: a typical dinner with pantaneira food and barbecue (typical from Pantanal) and a bonfire with lots of music. Later we danced a lot Sertanejo. It was an amazing night!!

Now the groups are making the last tour because later, after lunch, we will continue our trip up to Bonito, and from there we will send more news.

So don’t worry, everything is fine and perfect. Your children are having a lot of fun!!!

Check the updated pictures of the trip at our Photo Gallery by clicking here.

Regards from Pantanal/MS.

Débora Labarrère

Tour Coordinator

November 2nd 2009 - Anna Marie (Canada) and Benni (Germany)

Jerry asked the two of us to report on our first day in the Pantanal.
After a short breakfast and an even shorter night, we headed off to orientation. There, Debora told us the rules for the next few days, what we would be doing and introduced us to the staff. We also received Terra Brasil backpacks, badges, water bottles and sexy baseball hats. We had a delicious lunch, followed by a couple hours of free time where we got to enjoy the pool. It was wonderful to go swimming in the hot Brazilian climate. Then we finally got to take part in our first events in the Pantanal. We were split into four groups, one group went fishing, one went horse back riding and one went on a safari. Our group went on a three hour hike through jungles, plains, and desert-like areas. Where we were eaten alive by mosquitoes and we all got a little rosy from the sun. It was great to see such extremes in such a small area. We saw many blue macaws, parrots, toucans, monkeys, capybaras, and various other animals. After our hike, we all went straight to the pool where we spent the next three hours. It was refreshing and a lot of fun! As soon as the dinner bell rang, we all made our way quickly to the dinning room where we had a buffet. After dinner, about twenty of us set out for a short night time safari where we saw thousands of alligators and more capybaras. The guides used a high powered spotlight that light up all the alligators eyes. All we could see where their eyes glowing. Unfortunately, we didn't see any snakes. We finished off the evening with exchanging pins and cards with the other students. By the end of the night we all had a sleeve full of  German pins as there are 18 students from Germany...approximately one third of the group.
Overall, a great day in Pantanal, Brasil.

Lara Buechmann and Hannes Gohli - November 1st

Lara and I have just been assigned the task of reporting for you  parents and friends how our trip is unfolding. We will be trying to explain to you how we feel during this first day of November - what we have been up to and who we have met.

We hope you enjoy our stories and photos of this wonderfully, sunny day.

We woke up to a full red sun giving us two sitting at the front of the bus quite the sight to wake up to. It was a welcoming sight, as the night before had been a pretty rough one. A mixture of excitement and bumpy roads had kept us from a good night sleep.

Still, the anticipation of meeting new people and seeing new places has wiped the sleep from our eyes only one hour after waking up.

We just stopped in Aracatuba to pick up the next bunch of exchange-students, which has more than doubled our number from 13 that set off from Belo Horizonte yesterday afternoon, to 28 today.

Well, so far. We just stopped under a bridge to pick two more exchange students. As Hannes already wrote, the sight we can enjoy here in the front of the bus is awesome. We are driving through a very plain part of the country and to each side of us we can see the horizon – many kilometers away from us. There are many fields, forests, cows, horses – and the road, which clearly had seen better days.

Alright, so we just had our first proper stop of the day, where we picked up another couple of exchange students. Our group is growing in nationalities from Colombia to Thailand. There must be about 20 different nationalities all in all. Germany has the most representatives with 18 people. On the stop we got to know each other more. There are a lot of interesting characters and cultures in the group. Oh My god, two parrots just flew across the road in front of our bus.

It is almost impossible to describe this feeling – you are just sitting in the bus, trying to concentrate on your journal when two birds are passing and you recognize them, take a second view – and see: they are not only birds – they are wild parrots! THAT IS AWESOME!!!

So far we set our watches one hour back, it is now 5:30 pm. Six other exchange students joined the group and we have had lunch. McDonalds -  Jerry and another few guys walked through the Drive Through. There we met the other bus, which started in Cascavel yesterday. Now our group is completed and we are going straight to Pantanal.

Inside of the bus it is very hot, but if you leave it you will die of sweat. I really do not want to know how many degrees there are outside of our “house”.

We just had our last stop before our , by now with pleasure and longing, awaited stop at the hotel for a couple of nights. I just spoke with Jerry, our American chaperone, who informed me of the reason why we had a pretty major stop some time during the morning. Apparently we had an oil leak, which they kept pretty quite. However, our driver ingeniously solved the problem by stuffing a stick in the hole and fixing it with poxy. I furthermore discovered that we were once quite lost in one of the cities we picked some exchange students up in. So there have been some complications during the trip, that thankfully we resolved. Let us hope this trip continues to be under the lucky star it has been so far.

We are now on our last stretch of road surrounded by swamps and small trees. The countryside has very much changed over the course of our trip. Excited to see what is round the next bend.

                                                                                                        

The sun has already set and the full moon has risen, everything else around is dark. The time is 7:50 pm and a few minutes ago we killed a little alligator on the road. There are around 20 to 30 km left until we have to change the bus to drive the last 40km of dirt road to our hotel.

We have now finally arrived after 27 hours of intense, sweaty and yet exciting travel on the road from Belo Horizonte to Pantanal. The hotel is small, but quite wonderful. It has a swimming pool and is surrounded by two perfectly round lakes. We can not see much of them right now, as it is dark, but I am sure we will enjoy and appreciate the beauty and tranquility these waters have to offer. 

Localização / Location

Mapa de onde estamos / Map of where we are