Getting there...
The week before I left for Brazil, Hurricane Dorian decided to head toward the Caribbean. Since I was scheduled to fly to São Paulo from Miami, I figured it would be a good idea to change my flight to leave from Dallas. Good move. Smooth flights and no delays—a virtual first for my international travels!
From São Paulo, I flew to Cuiabá—the starting point for the tour. I was a little worried about how I was going to get from the Cuiabá airport to my hotel, but it was wasted energy. Our local guide, Paulo Boute, was waiting there to meet me. It was immediately apparent that he was greatly admired by all of the other guides who had come to meet their respective guests. Everyone made an effort to come up and say hello to Paulo while we waited for one other guest, TC Yuen, to arrive. It turns out that Paulo knows EVERYONE in Brazil—and that made our trip pleasant and comfortable in ways I can only begin to imagine.
Paulo, TC, and me—Cuiabá Airport
©️APaige Baker, 2019
TC and I were the early birds—the other six people on the tour arrived the following day. The group had a lovely dinner with Mark Thomas, our photographer guide, and then we all retired to bed to dream of jaguars (or, in my case, of the equipment I accidentally left behind….sigh).
I still had plenty of gear though…. ;-)