Date: Fri, 15 Aug 1997 03:39:54 +0900 From: ss66428 <ss66428@hongo.ecc.u-tokyo.ac.jp> To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com Message-Id: <aabcdefg3113$foo@default> Subject: Brazilian Expedition 13
To all,
Finally on to the second part of my travels in Brazil, with the
account of my trip to the state of Goias. But first a comment I forgot about
the last trip. I seem to have discovered the type location for D.ascendens and
D.spiralis (synonyms of D.villosa and D.graminifolia, respectively) described
by Saint-Hilaire. These were supposedly collected near the town of Diamantina,
at some mountains called 'Serra de Curumatahy'.
On the asphalt road parallel to the Serra do Cabral I saw a sign
pointing in the opposite direction (east) which read 'Curimatai'. Asking
around, I discovered that following that dirt road for around 35km is a town
by this name which lies at the base of some mountains and that there are nice
waterfalls (observation: in case any of you don't know, I'll teach a simple
formula for finding CPs in Brazil: mountains + waterfalls = CPs!!!).
Curimatai is not on my road map, but my calculations showed that it is
about halfway between the Serra do Cabral and Diamantina, being located on the
western part of the highlands that surround Diamantina. Either the name of the
town changed or Saint-Hilaire made a small error, but little doubt is left
that it is the correct place. One more to explore in the future.....
After 2 weeks CP hunting in Minas Gerais, I spent 10 days in Sao Paulo.
But obviously not resting, just partying 24h a day! These 10 days flew by too
fast and I considered not going to Goias, only I knew I'd regret it later and
forced myself to put work before pleasure (if you can call CP hunting work...).
So I made the ultimate effort of waking up early on a Monday, the 17th of
March, and stopped by at the mechanic's for a quick check-up. This took longer
than I expected and I only headed out at around 10am, leaving me no time to
explore anywhere along the way as I had wanted to.
After 10 long hours on the road, many bateries replaced in my walkman,
a single bathroom stop, lunch in the car, and over 1000km, I arrived at the
nation's capital: Brasilia, located in the eastern part of Goias, in a tiny
Federal District. Before finding a place to spend the night, I drove a bit
around this planned city built to be our capital in the 60's, and which I
hadn't seen since I was a kid. The wide avenues and smooth traffic are a
blessing, compared to chaotic Sao Paulo, and the architecture is really grand.
Next day I was already ticking to my usual hectic CP trip routine,
where the old time-is-money becomes time-is-new-species-of-CPs, and which
drives any acompanying friends mad! I woke up at 7 and was out in my car in
about 10 minutes. My destination that day was the Chapada dos Veaderios
National Park in the northern part of Goias, near the border with Tocantins
state (for those of you who have old maps, this state was created in 88 and
takes up half of the old Goias). It would only take me around 4h to get there
so I decided to spend the extra hours exploring around Brasilia and the
Federal District, as well as the road to the Chap.dos Veadeiros.
Using my road map, I aimlessly headed west, hoping to find interesting
CPs once outside the city. Entering a residential neighborhood still very
close to the city center, I saw a nice hillside by the road. It looked rather
dry and its proximity to the city indicated that I would most likely NOT find
any CPs there. But at the beginning of all CP trips I'm always a lot more
impetuous and still have the patience to stop at every single place that shows
any glimmer of a possibility or harboring CPs.
Thus, not expecting much, just acting on a childish impulse, I grabbed
my backpack and left the car under drizzle, passed under barbed wire, and
began climbing the hillside. I was barely paying attention to the ground,
which is not very wise, considering I'm partially colorblind and have trouble
seeing small reddish Drosera. Trying to keep my balance on the steep incline
with loose rubble which was slightly wet because of the drizzle only took up
more of my attention. But finally (I guess I must've slipped and my face came
closer to the ground) I did see it. And I remembered Fabio's words: "Ai meu
Deus!!!"
To be continued....... with the discovery of a new Drosera, maybe the first CP
species discovered inside a city (!!!), as well as
several other interesting CPs around Brasilia.
Fernando Rivadavia
Tokyo, Japan
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