Butantã with Tio for some slithery snakes

Being a spider, scorpian, and snake admirer, I had good childhood memories of the Instituto Butantã and wanted the boys, who share my interests, to be able to visit as well. Tio took us there and we were able to enjoy seeing the many snakes and other creatures. The is a special place in the world renowned for its research on venomous animals, its production of anti-venoms, and its production of vaccines (they produce 90% of all vaccines for Brasil). Speaking of vaccines, I discovered that the yellow fever vaccine that we paid nearly $400 for our family to get in the U.S. could have been gotten here for...FREE! (Side note: aparently, we didn't even really need the darn yellow fever vaccine because it is DENGUE that is a problem right now, not Yellow Fever!). Anyway, I'll be timing all future vaccines during trips to Brasil, if possible!

Aside from loving the snakes, the boys actually really enjoyed the part of the museum that focused on microbiology and immunology. There were lots of telescopes showing deadly mosquitos and viruses. The best was when they saw all the tiny moving things in the seemingly benign dried goo. I'm already a borderline germophobe and I think I succeeded at turning the boys into the same. I kept talking about that's why we wash hands and for the rest of the day, the boys were very aware of germs. They also were enthralled by the "man in black with the weird face". I've convinced myself that image we have of the grim reaper must stem from the fact that doctors during the era of the bubonic plague wore this crazy outfit to try to protect themself from the disease. Of course, everywhere they went had the mark of death...thus, the grim reaper? Anyway, the boys thought it was very interesting to learn that the strange nose was made like that so it could be filled with herbs and perfumes to try to lessen the spell of death.

After we left, we did a quick stop a the São Paulo temple so I could take some photos for my site, www.BusyBumbleBeePhotography. The photos were taken at the worst possible time, but I'll still try to see what I can some up.

The motorcycle photos are just to show how "motoboys" weave between cars and how many start out when the signal turns green. It is definitely the faster way to get around, assuming you don't get hit and permanently damaged!