With a beautiful mountain face to my left and a river to my right I rode out of Aquidauana. Following an old cattle trail, I enjoyed the beautiful views while the ponies walked along relaxed by the absence of cars. I whistled as birds flew over our heads. With nearby trees keeping us shaded from the suns rays, we thanked the heavens for the cool breeze. After being on a busy highway for most of our ride through Brazil, this cattle trail offered a much-needed break from the cars, trucks and sun.

At lunchtime we arrived in a small village called Camisao. As I rode down the main road, I saw a cluster of people in front of the post office.

“Are you the guy coming from Texas?” an elderly man asked.

I told them I had come from even further up, and they were in shock. They had heard an interview on the radio from Aquidauana the day prior and needed to see the horses to believe it.

“We have been here for four hours waiting for you to pass by,” a young boy told me.

After taking photos with everyone waiting, a man gave me a whip made out of medal chains.

“This is to protect you from the jaguars,” he said as he handed me the whip.

I thanked him and got back on the trail. That night we slept at a beautiful farm in Pirapitanga, another small village along the way. While eating dinner with a local family I was contacted by CNN in New York about doing a Skype interview. I was extremely excited for the opportunity, the only problem was that it was for the next day and I was in the middle of nowhere! I told the producer I could do it and the next morning Emma went ahead, looking for a sign of hope.

“I found a butcher shop that somehow has amazing Wi-Fi 15 kilometers up the road,” Emma said as we met around 9am.

With four hours until the interview I kicked the ponies up to get us there in time. Just after 1pm I found myself standing in front of a small butcher shop in the village of Palmeiras speaking live to CNN New York! Thank God for technology and my iPhone!

You can watch the interview here.