Instituto Butantan

day 9: (3-11-2008)

took a bit educational turn today, by going to Instituto Butantan. Took the bus number 701 to Butantan USP. but not knowing where i had to go out end up in a wrong place again. not far from the instituto though. The campus of USP is big, and different type (or maybe all) of the faculties are on the same ground. the Butantan Institute is close on monday so i couldnt catch a glimpse of the resarches they are doing around here. i especially would like to see the snake milking. 6 times a day the snakes are milked for their venoms. the institute was founded with the intention to research and to make anti-venoms for the snake bites here in the amazon. well i guess that was what they were doing. anyway, outside of the institute there was a big snake terrarium. and it was divided in 3 different area and each area hold different type of snakes in it but they were snakes that originated from the amazon like: Boa constrictor, cascavel and the jararacussu. Jararacussu and cascavel are poisonous. and the Boa not. The institute also has a nice garden, but it was close. anyway i'm going back to butantan again tomorrow. i really want to see the researches they are doing here. By the way, the hostel i'm sleeping right now is full with gringos. so no more spanish.. but i need to speak alot of portuguese anyway. and today i met a girl from the Swiss-german. she going to do a 5 months trip and just like me she started in Rio, in Itaguai near by Rio de Janeiro.