Caatinga

Barely after two weeks of being in Brazil, I've already been on field work. The destination was a town called Uauá in the state of Bahia. This region is characterized by a very dry climate which consequently has an effect on the vegetation called the Caatinga. Basically there are no big trees and instead mostly shrubs, thorny bushes and cacti which can be very annoying if you're a geologist roaming the countryside to find great rocks. Some of these plants do not only have thorns but also cause some kind of allergic reaction if you touch them .. like this one here which is called Cnidoscolus quercifolinus or commonly favela plant in Portuguese:

The next candidate is even meaner and likes to grow just in between the rocks but I don't remember the name:

 

Then there are of course the cacti which just have thorns (some up to 10 cm which is why hiking boots with a big sole are recommended):

People living in the Caatinga are generally quite poor and keep mostly goats and sheep. Occasionally you also stumble upon some donkeys and horses. To keep these animals alive, water is collected in artificial lakes.