Mini Josie collects pine nuts in Brazil

On some of the days that I was in my host’s city, I was able to explore some of the beautiful Brazilian natural landscape.

On the cold days, it is common to have something call “geada”. This weather phenomenon is when there is a thin layer of ice on the grass and other plants because of the low temperatures. When the sun rises, this ice layer melts and normally leave plantations, plants, and especially the grass burned. When I was exploring the outside, I was able to see the effects of the “geada”.

In this photo it looks like that there is ice in the grass, but is just the burn grass. Super cool!

I loved admiring all the nature, and all the different plants I saw!

Since it was autumn when I went to Brazil, I could see many leaves on the ground.

All these beautiful leaves are from one tree. It was like a leaf rug in the grass.

The view was so amazing that I just enjoyed sitting in the grass by the leaves.

One thing that's very cool about the cold weather in Brazil is that there is always still something green. In most places there is no snow even on the colder days, so many plants don’t die. This tree was super cool and green!

In some places of Brazil there is a tree called “Araucária”. It is a type of pine tree that has edible seeds called “pinhão” or in the plural form “pinhões”. They fall off the trees in the middle of autumn, so people collect them or buy them, and cook them. After they’re cooked, you peel the seeds and eat them. They are very delicious and nutritious! If you decide not to eat them, you can plant the “pinhão” and they will grow into another beautiful “Araucária”. However, it takes about 20 years for the tree to start to producing these seeds, and 40 years for the tree to reach maturity.

While I was there, I was able to collect these “pinhões”. My host said that I could take them as a souvenir and I loved the idea!

These “Araucária trees are so pretty and huge! Look how small I look when I hug the tree.

And this is how high they are. I became very sad when my host said that these trees are threatened with extinction. I loved to see these wonderful creations of the nature.

Another amazing sunset I was able to watch during my nature exploration.

When we finished the nature exploration it was late and we saw another beautiful “Araucária” in the dusk.

To see more of Josie’s adventures, click here to view her Travel Log!