South American Adventure

Native Toucans fly freely in the open air resort at the Sofitel
Cartagena Santa Clara where we stayed in Colombia.

I was invited to present my research at an International Spine Instructional Course held in Cartegena, Colombia on October 4-6, 2008. Having never been to South America and with the rumors of serious crimes including kidnappings, I have to admit, I was nervous about going.

Cartagena, Colombia street scene outside of our hotel

To make matters worse, our flight was delayed causing us to arrive on the day the conference started, rather than the day before as planned. We were literally shuttled from the airport to the conference center to go on stage 30 minutes later. Maybe all of the activity actually eased my concerns.

While its good to be cautious, I have to admit that my imagination of Guerilla's capturing me and holding me ransom was probably a bit extreme.

I found the Colombian people charming and the doctors at the conference shared the same challenges and earnst for learning that I have found most anywhere.

Cartagana is a historic old city with a Caribbean charm all its own.

Situated on the northern coast of Colombia, it was founded in 1533 by Spaniard Don Pedro.

The city has a huge wall and fortress to protect its riches of gold and emeralds from looting Pirates.

Historically, Cartegena was a major trading port which still holds true today. Yet, as tourism grows in Colombia, the city has become a favorite South American destination.

Following the conference, we toured the city by horse-drawn carriage with a tour guide to tell us all about the sights we were taking in.

Cannons point to the sea atop the fortress walls and you can feel the history of this far away place deep inside of you.

We stopped off in the square most notably famous for where the public slave trading used to take place. It evoked a somber feeling.

The architecture and colors of the city to be as impressive as the warmth of the Colombian people we met.

With the conference behind us and having traveled to another Continent, my friends Robert, David and I set off to explore. We were off to Brazil and Rio de Janerio.

If you've never been to Rio and stared at the statue of Christ the Redeemer commanding over the city - add it to your bucket list. It is an amazing sight.

The statue rises 120' atop of Corcovado mountain and has become synonomous with Rio since it was erected in the early 1930's.

We headed up to the statue of Christ on what appeared to be a clear day. The winding road up the mountain seemed endless and you get a real appreciation for the work it took to even begin to erect such a statue.

Upon arrival, however, the Christ statue was amidst the clouds and subsequently, we couldn't see the top half. After waiting for a few minutes, the clouds softly passed to reveal the awe-inspiring structure to the roaring applause of all those that were there.

The view from the statue of Christ the Redeemer looking out over the city and sugar loaf.

The beautiful vistas looking out over the natural landscape reveal the city which has filled in the foothills to the sea all under the commanding hug of Christ.

We ventured over to sugar loaf and took a cable car to the top of the mountain for a different perspective of Rio, the statue of Christ and the marvelous views.

In Rio, we stayed on the famous Copacabana beach. Strolling along the beach at Copa and Ipanema, you just can't help but hum the song, The Girl from Ipanema, over and over again. Of course, I sang it out loud ... making up my own words.

Sugarloaf mountain rises up out of the Atlantic some 1300 ft., and is comprised mainly of quartz and granite.

It's a favorite destination of rock climbers who we watched from the safety of our glass encased cable car.


For me, while I loved being up close to the statue, my favorite view of Christ the Reedemer was from afar.

Seeing this powerful yet humble symbol high up above the city with his arms outstretched to the people and his back to the heavens is unforgetable.

From Rio, we flew three hours to Campo Grande, Brazil, to then catch a small 4 passenger plane to take us another hour into the Pantanal.

Aerial view of Rio Negro tributaries while flying in.

The Pantanal is the largest freshwater wetlands in the world. At first glance, I was reminded of my trips across Alligator Alley in Florida - yet, the Pantanal is nearly ten times the size of the Florida Everglades.

We landed on the private grassy landing strip of the 29,000 Acre Barranco Alto Eco-Lodge.

We were greeted at the plane by our host, Lucas Leuzinger, a biologist who runs the lodge together with his lovely wife, Marina.

After getting our things unpacked, we sat down for lunch with the other 5 or 6 guests who were staying at the lodge.

We learned of their adventures at the farm, such as tracking the Jaguars and Pumas, and the other activities available to us during our stay.

The peaceful and natural beauty of the lodge was truly another world. The tranquility of the terrain with the incredible trees and winding river with wildlife abound made for a completly unique setting.


That afternoon, we set off on an open air safari to get a feel for the place.


If you look at the left side of the track, you can see that we were sharing the dirt path with an ostrich.

Soon, we happened on some Capybara, large rodents, who enjoy both land and water.

The Pantanal lies in the western part of central Brazil and abounds with forests, rivers and lagoons. During the rainy season from October through March the area floods and plant life explodes. Then in April as the waters recede, over 600 species of birds return in vast numbers and variety.

To my liking on this trip, I officially became a bird watcher.

If you look closely at the photo you'll see two blue Macaws sitting atop of the fence posts.

These endangered birds fly free in the wild here.

We were told that the Hyacinth macaw
bird are monogamous with their mates for life and we often spotted them together in pairs.

On our safari we saw a giant anteater, foxes, feral pigs, giant otters, and several marsh deer.

Just being out in the open air together with nature was wonderful enough.

We also came across the playful ringtailed coati, a relative to the North American racoon.

If you look closely, you can see the baby ostriches, busy following their mother through the grassy plains.

Beautiful birds are everywhere in the Pantanal.

Looking up to the trees from the boat we were crusing in, these birds were keeping watch over the river for fish to swoop down upon as we drifted by.

Evenings were filled with good conversation during dinner and the opportunity for Robert and I to sit down on our research in the most quiet of settings.

Breakfast was at sunrise each morning with fresh fruit and juices followed by any number of morning excursions.

We opted for a boat ride dowin the Rio Negro where caymans were everywhere.

Caymans are closely related to alligators, except for their skin on its underside is reinforced with bony plates unlike alligators.


As we continued to explore down the river we spotted this white hawk, a spectacular raptor.

It hunts mainly snakes which it spots fom its perch or when soaring.

Also along the waterway was the Ringed Kingfisher.

As we watched this bird he swooped down and did a nose dive straight into the water to retreive a fish for lunch.

We also saw its cousin, the Amazon Kingfisher, who is bright green in color.

Having ventured a couple of miles down river, we beached the boat and went for a hike through the jungle.

Our guide had a machete to chop the brush as we made our way through interesting and foreign looking plants, flowers and trees.

These bananna looking clusters are a food source for monkeys and macaws.

A turmite nest rests high in the trees, with its trail winding up the tree trunk is visible.

Other raptors look for insects to eat and stiking rainbow colored macaws were seen in pairs.

Sunset in the Pantanal

The next morning, it was time to round up the horses and saddle up for a three hour safari on horseback.

Out of all of the activities that we enjoyed, horseback riding was my favorite. Now, I can't say the same, however, for the horse.

In Arizona, where I live, we have many kinds of cacti that I'm always proud to show off to guests.

In the Pantanal, I saw some familiar plants, but also many that I had never seen before such as this beautiful one.


Similarly, I've seen woodpeckers before, but never one that had a head like a cardinal. More importantly, I had discovered the inspiration for Woody Woodpecker!

It looks just like him, doesn't it?

We found this crimson-crested woodpecker working hard to retrieve insects beneath the bark of the tree.

Bison graze in the pastures freely as well as thousands of cattle at the ranch.


Our guide, Carolina, was extremely knowledgable about the surroundings, offering explanations of the terrain, species of birds and plant varietals throughtout each excursion we went on.

Adding to the experience was a native of the Pantanal, Fernando, who has always known the area as his home.

We came upon some armadillos and our guides had some fun catching them so we could have a close-up look before releasing them.

My horse is trying to figure out why he drew the short straw and had to carry me! Poor horse.

I had never crossed water before on horseback. We were taught two techniques - either extend your legs out in front of you, or flex them back. No one even got wet - except the horses or course.

Along this stretch we galloped ... which was great fun!

Giving the horses a break, we took a leisurely hike through the forest and I continued to notice these trees that grew right along side of palm trees and wrapped themselves around the Palms' trunk.

The tree actually appeared to be strangling the adjacent Palm, and growing at a faster rate so as to pull the Palm out of the ground, as if competeting with it.

I asked Carolina about this and she told me that the tree is called the Strangler Fig tree.

Carolina explained that as the Strangler Fig tree grows, gradually the roots wrap around the adjacent tree.

Eventually, the neighboring tree dies leaving the fig with a hollow trunk-which provides an important home and food source to many rainforest creatures.

Just like endangered animal species in Brazil, trees too have become put at risk from heavy logging that has taken place over the past couple of centuries.

Luckily, the Brazilian government has begun to stop the poaching of the forest.

On an afternoon excursion we found a flock of Jabiru stork.

These Jabiru Stork stand four feet tall and have a wingspan of 8 feet. Their blood orange colored necks are uniquely characteristic of this species.

On another hike, we were lucky enough to come upon a Stork nest.

The nest of twigs is builed by both parents around August-September in tall trees.

The baby Stork occupied the top of the nest, while parrots used the bottom of the nest for their own uses.

At sunrise early the next morning, we thought we'd try our hand at fishing - Pantanal style.












We began by trolling for Dorado and David was first up.

When I say, "Fishing Pantanal Style," I mean without a pole and the wound line alone in his hands, David was trolling and Bam - fish on!

When I heard we were going to fish for Dorado, I was confused, as I knew Dorado as spanish for Mahi-Mahi from my fishing excursions in Mexico.

The Dorado in Brazil, are fighting game fish that resembles a golden trout. They are regarded as a prized fish to catch, and ferocious predators of the South American waters.

After trolling for a while, the temperature continued to rise and the late morning sun made the thought of swimming a great idea.

We beached the boat and the three of us jumped in and swam for a bit before getting out. Each teasing about feeling a nibble from a Pirranah.

Little did we know, this was the spot our guide had selected for us to do some Pirranah fishing.

Well, we didn't have to worry about scaring the fish away. We used beef for bait, and casted from shore into the river and pulled up pirranahs just as fast as we could get our lines in the water.

Check out the teeth on these fish!

The Caymans had a real interest in our fishing skills and stood by at close watch (like 5-10' away!).

Each time one came closer, I moved further.

This fishing partner of mine was literally 4 feet away. Just a little too close for comfort, despite me being assured that they don't attack humans.

Ya, right.

Nevertheless, we kept the larger Pirranahs which made for a terrific Pirranah soup for dinner, and we tossed the smaller ones on the shore where our Cayman friends quickly feasted on our catch without having to work themselves.

I also pulled in a large tiger catfish, that put up a nice fight and reminded me of my old "Bullhead" fishin' days with my Dad and brother, Joe.

This was another trip of a lifetime - my first to South America - which only made me want to go back again.