Tuesday, January 6, 2015

Post Christmas Adventure #1 Morro do Finder in Joinville

Monday, December 29, 2014


We were pretty exhausted from all our late nights and it took us most of the day to get out and get site seeing.  First we made the 15 minute drive to the bay (Baia da Babitonga) right in Joinville to find out about going on the boat ride around the 24 islands on the bay, including one called South San Fransisco (Sao Francisco do Sul).  The boat is called Principe de Joinville.  We arrived right as the day cruise returned to port and we weren't able to find out much because it was so busy so instead we just walked around a bit and took some pictures.





Next we were off to a huge hill in the middle of Joinville.  Morro do Finder is part of a conservation effort so there's beautiful jungle and (supposedly) lots of animals.  After we parked our car, I hiked down the hill a bit to get a picture of the entrance of the park.  As I did I spotted what I thought was a iguana.  It spooked and ran into the bushes but then I spotted another one and was able to notice it in better detail.  It was the size of an iguana but it had shiny green scales!  It was beautiful!  I tried to call to my family but almost before I could even turn around it was gone.  That was about the only wildlife we saw on our hike.


This park had a giant hill with a steep rocky trail wide enough for a car.  Smaller hiking loops broke off from that wide trail and after hiking several minutes straight up, we took one of the loops to the right.  The kids were not thrilled.  The ground was wet and muddy from recent rain and it was hot.  Have I mentioned how hot it is in Joinville?  After only 10 minutes of hiking we were all wet with sweat and humidity--like clothes sticking to bodies, literally dripping with sweat wet.  But the scenery was definitely worth it.  We got to hike through tall viney, jungly trees (again, technically the Atlantic Forest but by all appearances--it's the jungle).










 We made it to the look out at the top of the hill, which was very old and dangerous.  The kids were terrified to climb up and it and I wasn't too excited about it either.  But we did and got some nice pictures of our city.  Then the clouds started to roll in and the kids were afraid we'd be caught in the daily thunderstorm so we hightailed it out of there.





Along our hike we did find a cool mushrooms and other growths.  At the bottom of the hill we let the kids play on the playground while I asked the ranger at the station about the lizard I saw and he told me that it was a largado and it's harmless.  He immediately identified me as a foreigner (Darn it!  I'm hoping to get my Portuguese back well enough that it won't be so immediate!) and told me a bit more about the animals he sees in the park--monkeys, toucans, etc.  But he said he usually only sees them when he arrives at 5:30 in the morning.  Anyway, he was excited to have me sign their guest books since I was a foreigner so I did that.

Our side hike was supposed to take us to a spring.  All we found was this rock that dripped some water and a sign explaining how the spring was here.



The white mushroom I found,  red growth at the base of a tree





 This reminded me of Fern Gully--that's kids movie about the rain forest.




Back near the playground, the kids found a inchworm, played on the stage, and then found a creepy looking spider as we were about to leave.  We made it to our car and just as we started down the hill away from the park, it started raining.  Whew!  What good timing--because when it rains here it POURS!  Anyway, that was a fun little stop to see a little more of this town we call home for now.

The whole map was in Braille!  There are lots of things with braille here.  Cereal boxes, cake mixes, pizza boxes--lots of boxed food items have braille on them.

The spider we found

The inchworm

Looking at Joinville from the Ranger's Station

Stage for educational purposes.  The Boss and Safari Girl put on a show for us.

The playground



Driving home from Morro do Finder--just to give you more of a feel for the city.


I thought this one turned out pretty!

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