Horses to the Rescue

When you go adventuring, you never know what’s going to happen next.

            I joined a birding group that was birding Eastern Brazil in 1998.  Because of business constraints, I could not join at the beginning of the tour, but rather caught up with them about halfway through.  The tour was organized by the now defunct, but legendary Ornifolks organization led by  Mathew Flannery from St. Louis.

            Mathew had hired an Englishman by the name of Gerald Kay to guide the tour. Gerald was an expert on Eastern Brazil birds and where to find them.

            I arrived in the afternoon at the airport in Belo Horizonte (a city of 6.3 million) and waited to be picked up. 

Figure 1: Belo Horizonte Airport

The others were supposed to arrive in a van being driven from Serra de Canastra, a well-known birding spot.

It wasn’t long before I heard Mathew’s booming voice.  “Hey Ian, we are over here.  Bring your gear and get in the van.”

            I put my gear in the back and hopped in.  The 12-passenger van had every seat filled.  There was a total of 12 of us, the 2 Ornifolks organizers, the leader, and 9 participants.  

Mathew said, “ Hey folks, this is Ian.  He is an Ornifolks regular.  He has been with us in Ecuador, Peru, and Colombia.  He loves to bird.  You folks can introduce yourself to him when it makes sense.  He knows all of your names from the pre-trip registration.”

            I said simply, “ Glad to meet you folks. More later. I have heard a lot about many of you and have birded with a few of you before.”

            Mathew jumped in and said, “ Ian, this is Eduardo, our driver.  He has been with us since he picked us up at the Rio de Janeiro airport.  As you know, we have already been birding for 22 days.  Gerald has shown us a huge number of birds including many, many endemics. “

            “Hip, hip, hooray.”, came from the others in the bus.

            Mathew again said, “ We will be staying at the Hotel Esplanade here in Belo.  It is quite comfortable.  Off we go.”

Figure 2; Hotel Esplanade-Belo Horizonte

            Eduardo drove us to the hotel.  As we disembarked, he said, ” I have to take the van to the garage.  It needs a bit of maintenance.”

            As we got off the van I said, “Hello Don.  Looks like we are room-mates again.”

            Don to me, “How have you been since that very rough time in Colombia?”

            Me, “Smooth sailing since then.  I am tired. I am heading for bed early right away.”

            In the morning, I organized myself.  I have always been sun-sensitive, so I wore clothing that covered as much skin as possible.  Long-sleeve shirt. Long pants, neck kerchief, gloves, and broad-brimmed hat.  Insects were also an issue, so I had sprayed my pants with permethrin before coming and had plenty of both spray and cream insect repellent.  Because I also have some potentially serious health issues, I always carried my personal first aid kit.  It consisted of  Band-aids, gauze, adhesive tape, tums, aspirin, doxycycline, diarrhea meds, EpiPen for allergic reactions, Ventolin for asthma attacks, Flexeril for back cramps, and more.  Of course, I also had my binoculars and bird book.  I did not carry a scope or tape recorder.  I counted on the leaders to provide these.  I carried all the loose items in a fanny pack.

            Don and I headed for breakfast.

When everyone was assembled, Eduardo announced, “Sorry folks but the van will not be ready right away.   I am afraid we will get a late start to Januaria.

            Gerald spoke up, “Yes, we are driving to Januaria today. It is about 365 miles from here but will take at least 8 hours. We just have to cool our heels until Eduardo is ready.”

            I chatted a bit with Ken, “Do you still live in DC?”

            Ken, “ Yes. You still in Sterling?”

            Me, “ Yes.  We should share a meal sometime.  I really enjoyed my time with you in Ecuador.”

            Ken, “ Indeed.  It’s too bad you had to miss the first half of the trip.  Gerald really knows his stuff.  And the sites like Itatiaia and others close to Rio and Sao Paulo are really excellent.”

            Me, “ Yes, I just couldn’t get away from work.”

            Gerald interrupted, “ Hey folks.  Gather your gear and get your box lunch from the front desk.  Eduardo should be here soon.”

            Eduardo arrived, we jumped in the van, and were off to Januaria.  Conversation was mostly about the birds to be seen around Januaria.  We arrived about 7:00, too late to bird.  We ate and settled down for the night.

            Up early, we gathered for breakfast and were briefed by Gerald about the next two days birding around Januaria.  That is just what we did for the next two days.  Absolutely terrific birding.

            On the third day, at breakfast, Gerald laid out the planned itinerary for the day.

            He said, “ We have another long day in the car.  We are headed to Ibotirama about 350 miles and close to 8 hours again.  We can probably get a little birding in if we don’t dawdle on the way.”

            Eduardo added, “Unfortunately quite a bit of the road is under construction, so we probably won’t make very good time.  However, I do know a back road alternative should  it get too bad.”

            Off we went. Trouble right away.  Going was impossibly slow.

Figure 3: Construction on the way to Ibotirama

            Ever resourceful, Eduardo said, “Not far up the road there is a turnoff that will put us on a dirt road that will take us around all this.  That’s what I am going to do. Right, Gerald?”

            Gerald, “Sure, you know best.”

            For the next four or five hours the going was great.  Good birding, no traffic, and making good time.

            Then we came to a small stream that had to be crossed. Ouch.

Figure 4: Our van stuck in the stream

            Gerald, “ Everybody out. Let’s see if we can push it.”

            The water was up to our waists as we got out. We tried to push the van with no avail. Not only was the van stuck, but the engine had died completely.

            This was the days before cell-phones. 

Eduardo hollered to us from the other side of the stream, ”Take it easy folks.  I am going to go for help.  There is a village not too far from here.”  With that he took off running down the road in the direction we had been headed.

He was back in about an hour with several villagers and a team of two horses.

Figure 5: Horses to the Rescue

            The villagers got into the water, hooked up the team to the van, and soon had it pulled out of the stream.  Eduardo got in the van and tried to start it.  No luck.  It wouldn’t turn over at all.

Eduardo spoke to the villagers, “Can you tow us back to town?  Can you put us up for the night while I try and make further arrangements using your telephone?”

They agreed.  We jumped into the van and the horses towed the van and us to the village.  It was very basic.

Figure 6: We stayed in a village like this

            One of the villagers guided us to a group of huts.  There we got into some dry  clothes  and slept on the floor.

            By the morning, Eduardo had worked some miracles.  He had hired taxis to get us to the next city of Carinhanha and a nice hotel.   He had also been able to hire a new van and send the water-logged van back to Rio for repair.  The rest of the trip was clear sailing.

            Thank you Eduardo.

            I am pretty sure you have no idea about where in Brazil any of this takes place.  The next figure is a makeshift map to give you some idea.

Figure 7: Brazil Makeshift Map