Pontal du Sul, 30 days in Brazil.

Oi friends!! Greetings from the coast of Parana!!
We are currently studying marine biology and conservation at an extension of the Universidade Federal do Parana`s center for marine science and education on the beautiful coast! These last few days have been phenomenal! Leaving Curitiba was sad but this place is great! I got to say Brazil gets better everyday and my love grows, it grows so much!

We are learning about birds, so many birds!! My favorite one is the brown booby! The most magnificent creature I have EVER seen. We were working with the people at the rehabiliation center and got to see penguins, birds, sea lions and a turtle!! SOme of the folks much braver than I got to feed the penguins!!! So cute, my heart melted!! We have been taking walks on the beach and finding far too many dead birds but we have learned a lot from these deaths. We must be more careful with our damn consumption patterns because these behaviors hurt wildlife all over!

Yesterday however was the best day, arguably one of the best of my life. We got to take a boat ride to the Ilha do mel (Honey Island) hiked around the forest and in the sand. Went swimming in warm water, massaged eachother, splashed water and drank caipirinha`s on the beach ( in true brazilian fashion!) we drank brazilian beers and enjoyed the island and eachother and the magnificent ocean and trees and ahh!! Only words AHHHHH i loove it here!! On the way back to land they played music on the boat and everyone got down and danced for thirty minutes! I sat on the boat and drank a SKOL and could not stop smiling, damn i love these people, i love this place, thank god this exists, please i never want it to end!

We spent today surveying and mapping burrowing owl nests and they were so cute, then it rained on us and we were soaked and very unhappy but then we got to change and went back to the marine center to study macrofauna and benthic organisms and got invited to a beach party by cute brazilian hippies!! We are all excited to practice our portugeuse and make some new friends.

I am looking forward for the things we have planned for the week; dissecting a sea turtle, releasing penguins back into the ocean and more talks and more fun!

Viva Brazil.

Amor y Paz

Lazzuly