Adventures with Julia

Friday, March 6, 2026

After 36 hours of traveling, we finally arrived in Entebbe and were taken directly to our near by accommodations for the night. Called The Boma, it was our first time in the place and we instantly liked it. It had only 14 rooms and was located in the middle of a fully grown tropical garden. After settling in we wandered around the garden admiring the pretty, blooming plants and ate an early, light meal. The bed felt wonderful and we were more than ready for it.

Saturday, March 7, 2026

But, wide awake at 4am, we packed and got ready for another long, but different sort of day. By 8am, we were in a 210 Cessna headed for Bungungu, a dirt strip at Murchison Falls an hour North of Entebbe. The pilot very happily flew us over and around the falls.

A few minutes later we were met by Thomas, a driver and guide who we know from years past. He works for our long time friend Jonathan Wright, who is now the proud owner of 7 lodges in Uganda. In fact, we are on our way to meet Jonathan at his newest lodge, Kulu Ora on the banks of the Nile, 20 miles north of the falls. But first, Thomas organized a boat ride down river to the falls with much critter watching on the way.

We saw dozens of hippo and crocodiles, 2 large elephants, 2 Rothchild giraffes, hundreds of Kob, several Oribi, Hartebeast, water buck, warthogs, baboons, Cape Buffalo and a multitude of birds.

Then we arrived at the falls and fought the current as close as we could get. Took a bunch of photos and then scooted with the current back to the starting point.

After the boat ride, we drove an hour and a half, some on dirt roads, through beautiful forest and Savannah to Kulu Ora. The Nile surprisingly appeared just as we reached camp.

The afternoon was quite warm and it felt good to stay cool. The staff told us we were at the beginning of the rainy season, but there are still many days without rain and this was one of them.

Dinner was at 7pm and there were 8 of us including a photography crew who were creating a photo brochure to promote the new lodge. It so happened that we are the first guests in the lodge and became helpers in the lodge shake down activities. I learned that Kulu means “running river” and Ora means “dry river bed”. Kulu refers to the Nile and Ora refers to a side stream next to the lodge called Kisangani, that is often completely dry.

The food was delicious as the chef, who is here creating a menu and training the kitchen staff, created and prepared our meal. The conversation was lively and fun, but Mark and I were ready to end the day by 9pm and could not wait to slip into bed.

Sunday, March 8, 2026

Up and out at 5:15 for our first game drive of the trip. No problem getting up early as we were still suffering from jet lag. A quick coffee, into the stadium-seating Land Rover, and off we went to see scenery, animals, birds and termite hills.

Jonathan joined us with high hopes for spotting lions. It was still dark and cold when we started out. With spotlights scanning the scene, we saw many pair of Kob eyes in the distance and night jars on the road. Gradually the sky lightened and the air warmed. I got a nice sunrise shot. We began to see more animals, especially Kob, but lions eluded us until almost coffee time when we spotted two one year olds.

Jonathan recognized them as brother and sister hanging out waiting for their mother. We spent a good bit of time looking for the mother, but gave up when it was time to go back to camp for breakfast.

The food is so good, it is hard to turn down the tasty choices, but I am trying to eat less. After breakfast, Mark and I spent several hours relaxing in our tent dipping in our pool. Lunch was at 2pm followed by another game drive at 5pm.

Driving along the dirt roads we saw a few giraffe, oribi, hartebeest, waterbuck and several worthogs. The scenery consisted of gentle rolling hills of forest and Savannah, all very green and pretty and loaded with Kob .

We had better luck finding lions on this drive. First we found a big male with 3 females. We watched them long enough to witness him copulating with the females 2-3 times each. Jonathan believes the girls have been taken over by this male, Nelson, because their previous dominant male, Tony, was killed or pushed out of the pride for lack of strength. Tony had been injured in a poaching snare and not recovered. After 3 weeks go by, a new male will take over, as Nelson is doing. Meanwhile, the two one year olds we had seen earlier waiting for mom, appear to have been abandoned by one of the ladies rather than allow them to be killed by Nelson, who would not permit Tony’s offspring to live.

After a good amount of time, we left Nelson and ladies to look for more game. Soon we found another group of lions with a handsome male, too young to be a father but showing lots of potential.

There were 5 other lions lounging around. No one looked hungry. There are literally thousands of Kob in Murchison National Park to choose from for an easy meal. We watched this group for awhile, but nothing much was happening as they were all sleeping.

We found a spot for a sundowner, had a drink watching the sun make an uninteresting departure and drive home in the dark. After another very nice dinner, Mark and I went to bed.

Monday, March 9, 2026

Out again at 5:30, we looked for Nelson and his ladies and found them finishing a breakfast Kob and continuing to copulate. One of the girls looked like she was trying to leave the group. We wondered if she might be the mother of the abandoned one year olds. She did not get far before Nelson retrieved her. Later we found the orphans looking hungry and forlorn, but apparently unable find some food on their own. Jonathan thought it would be good to have them captured and taken to a lion shelter.

We left the four behind and relocated the second group of 6. They too were finishing off a Kob. Otherwise there was not much action.

Back at camp, we rested and enjoyed our dipping pool until lunch. Feasted again and leisurely absorbed the afternoon on the edge of the Nile from our tent.

At 5pm we were off again driving around the park. We did not see any lions this time, but enjoyed the drive and scenery,

Dinner was at 8pm with lots of good conversation and bed at 9:30.

Tuesday, March 10 2026

Off again at 5:30 along the same track as other days. Encountered two female lion from the group of six just laying around. Carried on and found Nelson and the three ladies finishing another Kob and making more babies.

We spent some time helping Jonathan decide where to build an airstrip to improve access to Kulu Ora. Mark spent some time casting for Nile perch while Jonathan and I had breakfast on the river bank. The hotel staff had prepared a dish called “rolex” for us and cooked them on a small BBQ. It turned out to be an omelet rolled up and cooked in a tortilla. It was tasty, if a bit greasy.

The day was mixed with hot sun in the morning and cool rain in the late afternoon.

For a change, we have dinner at 7:30pm and head out for a game drive at night.

Saturday, November 15, 2025

At 9am we met our host for the day, Gustavo. We drove through the city to the marina where we walked to our yacht, Sea Devil, and headed out into the bay.

The wind was at our back and the skipper managed 13 knots all the way to our destination, the Rosary Islands, where we went swimming and snorkeling. The water was pleasant, but the coral was in very poor shape and the fish were few. Anyway, we enjoyed being in the Caribbean Sea.

Then we motored to nearby Sakai Island for a swim in the fresh water pool near the beach side restaurant. That was super as the water was clear and refreshingly cool. Then we had a delicious lunch of ceviche and French fries.

When we got back on the yacht, there was engine troubles and we bobbed around while the crew sourced the problem and, thankfully, got the engine going again. The wind was in our face all the way back to Cartagena and we were completely covered in sticky salt. But the wind kept the air cool. We could barely wait for showers when we returned to the hotel at 5:15.

Cleaned up and in fresh clothes, we walked the half mile to our dinner restaurant, Carmen. We arrived right at 7pm and were, as usual, the first people to walk in the door. By the time we left, however, the place was full of diners. We remembered to take photos this time and for you foodies, here is what we ate.

For starters we had Chorizo Del Mar—shrimp and fish sausage, sweet corn and local Costeno cheese cake, Caribbean crème fraiche, and coastal palm berry foam.

Mark’s entry was; Pez Palma—artisanal Colombian fish, coconut rice, fresh Amazonian heart of palm with peach, palm sweet and Sauer sauce.

Julia had; Cordero—Andean lamb collar and ribs cooked on the embers, hummus, cucumber, Caribbean sesame seeds.

It was all quite tasty, except the lamb collar, which was not as interesting as I had hopped.

The streets were packed with revealers enjoying the last night of the Independence Festival. Caribbean music was in the air everywhere.

I would have loved to see some salsa dancing, but there was no place nearby and we were both tired. Our air conditioned room and bed were a bigger draw.

Sunday, November 16, 2025

Departure day. We enjoyed a relaxed morning as pick up for the airport was not until noon. I took a walk into Santo Domingo Square, half a block from our hotel, found a place to sit and watched the scene. There were no tourists at first, but slowly more people came through the square.

In the square is a sculpture of Botero’s Gorde Gertrudi’s, where people pause to take photos, especially with three local ladies, wearing Caribbean costumes with fruit filled hats and looking for photo donations.

From looking at a photo of the church, I noticed that the church tower was crooked. A sign in the square confirmed it. Eventually, the Church of Saint Domingo’s doors were opened and I went in to find a very pretty church, with many burial stones covering the floor and an interesting statue of Saint Claver with the slave he converted as well as a striking statue of Jesus on the cross. Finally, it was time to head for the airport.

The concourse was full. People waiting for delayed flights plus on time flights. Even the lounge was full and taking no more people. We found single separate seats in the public waiting area and waited. It was 12:50 and our flight was scheduled for 2:20pm. Eventually some lounge space opened up and we moved.

Although it’s time to come home, I am ambivalent. It has been a wonderful experience and a happy time for the two of us as a couple. We agree that we will do more traveling, but with longer stays at each stop. We are already working on our next trip back to Uganda in March with time in southern Africa before or after Uganda.

Mark wants me to speak about my observations and feelings about our travels. Every trip, I observe that people are friendly, welcoming and generally happy being alive, wherever they have been planted. Even the poorest people smile and laugh and ask about us when language permits. The saddest part about traveling for me is the inability to communicate. Clearly there is a mutual desire to connect, but language differences inhibit both of us. I am grateful for the many English speaking guides we have had on this long adventure. We connected well with most of them, especially the ones with whom we spent several days. Without them and their knowledge and English skills, our adventures would have been much less rich and rewarding. Everywhere we go, we are asked which is our favorite country or place and we always give the same answer. Our favorite place is the one we are currently in. We have not found a country we did not like, although there are some, like Uganda, we will continue to visit. It is mostly about the people, and we have friends and now even family, our goddaughter Julianah, in Uganda.

And so this adventure ends. I hope you have enjoyed reading about our journey and adventures and will join us again wherever the next trip leads us.

Blessings to you all, weather you travel in body or only in spirit.

With Love,

Julia and Mark

Saturday evening, November 8,2025

During our last meal at the hacienda, we listened to 2 excellent guitarists and I wanted to include them and their music.

Sunday, November 9, 2025

We have left the coffee region and transited through Bogota en route to Santa Marta on the Caribbean coast. The process took 10 hours. It was dark by the time we passed through Santa Marta and arrived at the village of Don Diego, where we were supposed to catch a short boat ride to the ecolodge Tewimake, but instead we road in a 4×4 UTV over a narrow dirt track for 10 minutes and arrived at Tewimake wondering what we had gotten ourselves into. Without going to our bungalow, we went directly to dinner in an outdoor dining area. I had a delicious beef stir fry dish that came 15 minutes ahead of Mark’s meal, which was accompanied by a bottle of wine, from which the server had been unable to completely remove the cork and tried to serve us with bits of cork in the glass. Apparently the manager heard about the situation and came running with another bottle of wine and took charge of properly opening and serving us. We laughed a bit about the situation, finished our meal and walked up a rocky hillside to check out our room. It was a nice space, and we were soon in bed.

Monday, November 10, 2025

We woke up to find ourselves in an elevated room surrounded by a dense palm forest. Immediately out one side was a large dipping pool.

Out another side was an outdoor shower and an empty hot tub. We dressed and went to breakfast at the bottom of the rocky path. We could see the Don Diego River from the dining room along with very noisy Macaws scavenging from the empty tables.

At 9am, our guide, Emilio, met us in the dining room and escorted us to the river, stopping at ancient indiginous sites along the way. We had signed up to take a kayak down stream, but very shortly after getting into the kayak, we were sorry we were not in inner tubes like other people we saw. Emilio was very accommodating and before long we switched from our kayak to inner tubes.

Much more pleasant experience in delightfully cool water that combats the heat and humidity of the air.

The tubing ended when we reached the Caribbean Ocean and got out on the beach.

Emilio surprised us by escorting us to a shady gazebo with a prepared lunch waiting for us. This lunch was a charming surprise and just the right amount of food, including coconuts with straws to drink the contents. We were thoroughly enjoying ourselves when a woman on the beach walked over and interrupted us to ask if we were a king and queen and we should be thrilled to have such a wonderful experience. We assured her we were happy for the experience. She started telling us her story and somehow we managed to communicate that we would appreciate her departure. Her comments did remind us to be grateful for our many blessings.

With lunch behind us, Emilio signaled time to go so we got into a boat and motored back up river to Tewimake ecolodge and our bungalow, named Tima.

We spent the afternoon chilling in our Air Conditioned space and looking into the forest. In the evening we were entertained by intense lightening and thunder and then rain that lasted until about 8pm. We beat the rain both coming and going to dinner. The same thing happened the night we arrived and we were told it is a daily occurrence.

November 11, 2025

The Tayrona Region we were in is approximately a 4.5 hour drive NE of Cartagena nestled between sandy Caribbean beaches and the foothills of Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, with lush tropical jungles lining pristine beaches and 7 rivers that descend from the snow-capped mountains of the Sierra Nevada. The region’s name comes from the ancient Tayrona tribe who inhabited the region for more than a thousand years before colonialization in the 17th century and continue to live on through four indigenous tribes, including the Kogis, who have preserved the culture, language, traditions and beliefs over centuries.

This was the day we were scheduled to visit the Kogi people in their local village, called Tumguieka. It is home to about 890 people who wear all white cotton clothing. The men wear two woven bags with straps, one for things and the second is filled with coca leaves that have been dried. As a form of greeting, the men don’t shake hands but drop a handful of coca leaves into the other gentleman’s bag. The women just wear a necklace. The men also carry a poporo, a cup-like gourd into which they put seashells that have been cooked until they turn to powder. They use a stick to stir the contents in the gourd. They chew coca leaves and mix the leaves with the crushed seashells in their mouth. Because he is chewing calcium, his people believe their teeth stay strong. I don’t know about that. I just know his mouth looked awful. Anyway, the women do not chew coca leaves. Supposedly, the reason the men rub the stick on the side of the gourd is to transmit their thoughts, a form of meditation they call “Mumbar”. The people consider themselves the “older brothers” as they have been around for many more generations than we have. We are the “younger brothers”.

They live in mud houses similar to the Batwa people in Uganda. A few houses are built with woven palm leaves rather than mud.

These houses are used for special meetings of the men only. Most of the people are farmers. The few men in the village were either coca chewing thinkers or spiritual leaders having a meeting. Men marry at 15 or 16 to girls who are younger. They are monogamous relationships.

I managed a few photos of women and children. The guide told us there were older people who were 115 years old who live up in the mountains. We were surprised by that remark, until we learned they use a different Calendar. For them the moon is the cycle of time. There are 24 moon cycles for our 12 cycles.

It was an interesting meeting. Hard to imagine the different worlds we live in. Then we drove back to the river along the Caribbean coast and boated up river to our lodge. We had a quick lunch and were in our pool as soon as possible. After cooling off, we enjoyed a relaxing afternoon listening to the premature rain outside. I wondered how that experience would be if we were living in a mud house. I am grateful we are “younger brothers”.

Tomorrow morning we are up and away by 8am, as we are driving 4-5 hours to Cartegena, our last stop before returning home.

Monday, November 3, 2025

After a one hour flight from Bogota to Medellin, we arrived a little after three and met our new guide, Daniel. He wasted no time talking about Medellin, whose population is 4.5 million in a country of 51-52 million. Finally, at a very comfortable 7,500-4,200 feet in elevation, we were driving toward mountains and through tunnels, which separate the airport from the city. As we enter the first tunnel, he tells us it is 5.2 miles long and is the 2nd longest tunnel in South America. It delivers us to Medellin and, as we exit the tunnel, we are looking down on a city in a narrow valley surrounded by mountains. It is a lovely setting that immediately attracts our attention.

Daniel believes it is also the most successful city in Columbia because it has been very innovative in recovering from the violence of the late 80’s and early 90’s after Pablo Escobar. The city was founded in 1675 and has been growing slowly ever since. A major innovation is the transportation system developed in 1995. There are trains, busses and, especially, cable cars to move people around the city in addition to cars. There is no room for more roads and traffic is a nightmare for sure.

At our hotel, Elcielo, we chill the rest of the afternoon and take a 15 minute ride to dinner at a place called Alambique. The traffic was intense and driving was perilous. The restaurant was pretty funky in its decor, but the food was good. With no waste of time, we were back at the hotel and in bed.

Tuesday, November 4, 2025

We meet Daniel at 9am for a tour of the Museum of Antioquia that houses the work of Fernando Botero (1932-2023), a famous painter and sculptor from Columbia, who organized the art in the museum himself. Unfortunately, photos of his work in the museum are not allowed. Mark managed to find copies of 2 paintings and we were able to photograph his sculptures in the town square, where there are 28 pieces. An expert museum guide, Jose, gave us a 2 hour private tour that was superb. If only I could remember more of his comments. Botero was interested in volume, size and monumentality, political criticism and humor, not in making fat people. In his work you find normal sized elements as well at outsized ones. Each one of his paintings tells a story with wit, irony, insight and critical acumen. He started with oil, then moved to water color and then into sculpture in the late 70’s. He lived in Italy in the late 70’s and studied renaissance art and the passion.

What was interesting for me was the face of Bertero’s mother poking out of the doorway. She had wanted to visit France one more time, but died before the trip. Botero has her forever looking in on the French king. The Colombian flag puts her in place. Luis’s eyes, mouth, nose, hand and feet are normal in size and the colors are brilliant.

In the town square we photographed some of Botero’s sculptures.

Botero created thousands of works of art in his 91 years. It is said that he painted or sculpted every day right to the end. He had 3 wives and 4 children.

After we left the museum and headed for a cable car, Dan gave us a bit of information about Pablo Escobar, the cartels and cocaine. There was the Medellin Cartel, which Escobar headed, the Cali Cartel and the government. The latter two worked together to try to eliminate Escobar. In the 80’s and 90’s, Colombia was the world’s largest producer of cocaine. In the late 80’s, one lb of Cocaine was $100 in Colombia, $2000 wholesale in the US and $100,000 street value in the US. The US was the main market with Europe and Asia following. Escobar was making so much money that he even bought 4 hippos and kept them in his private zoo along with other animals. He helped poor people with one hand and killed other people with the other. In the end no one mourned his death, except his mother.

By this time, Dan had us riding 3 stops of the yellow line of the cable car system. It is amazing how much traffic is off the streets and riding the cable cars.

When we got off the car, we were met by another expert guide Dan had enlisted, Stephen, to show us through District 13, which had been an impoverished and drug infested neighborhood in the 80’s and 90’s and is now the in place to be with a focus on art and music. Stephen knew everyone in the hood and introduced us as we walked up and down connecting staircases. We stopped for tasty empinadas, visited art shops, bot a shirt for Mark, chatted with folk who spoke English and generally had a good time. Here are some pix from the walk and the impressive art.

The culture of District 13 or Comuna, as it is called is; Number 1–the DJ; Number 2–Breakdancers; Number 3–Rappers; Number 4–graffiti and murals.

The cable car system has helped the communities in more ways than transportation. It provides overpasses from one area to another, stops have been converted to libraries where people can read and study and companies and the govt have stepped up to buy food for the very poor.

That evening, we ate dinner at a place called Ocio. We had an interesting time getting there as our Uber driver had a difficult time finding the place. We did get good local, if a bit heavy, meals. I had pork shank and Mark had short ribs. After the long day we were ready to quit when we got back to the hotel.

Wednesday, November 5, 2025

Today was our day to drive out of the city and see some of the countryside. We drove up to 7,300 feet and what is known as the second floor, Medellin being the first floor. The 2nd floor is similar to the first in that it is a long and narrow valley. Many people including our guide, live in the 2nd floor as there is currently more room to spread out.

Dan told us there are six levels of wealth throughout each neighborhood or area of the country. If you live in a level 6 area, you are considered very rich and taxed a lot to help the lowest levels. Level 5 neighborhoods are also quite wealthy. It’s not only a property tax but a sliding scale for utilities. Levels 3 and 4 areas are about in the middle and pay only a little more than what they use. Levels 1 and 2 pay no tax at all and are helped by the upper levels. Apparently this is the way taxes work in all of Colombia. I rather like it. There is 8.7% unemployment currently, the lowest in recent history.

Finally we arrived at our destination for the day, the Alma del Bosque, “Soul of the Forest”, or home of the Piedrahita Family. The place is in the central Andies at 7340 feet and accommodates a stable of French saddle horses, 30 acres of hydrangeas and a couple of acres of orchids. It is quite an interesting place and we got a full tour of the flowers, but not of the horses.

They grow only white hydrangeas, which they then color as needed for clients. We saw all the stages of the production from, growing in the fields to being sorted, colored, bound, boxed and shipped. Hydrangias need cool moist air and lots of rain. Fortunately it rains 11 0f the 12 months of the year. A crop takes 8 months to grow. There are 50 employees working full time in the hydrangeas.

Then we were treated to a very nice lunch of tilapia and veggies outdoors near the gardens.

Finally it was time to see the orchids. We had been seeing the orchid building from a distance and were anxious to get inside.

It is quite a facility and we saw a handful of people tending to each orchid individually. We learned there are 35,000 species of orchid. Columbia has 42% of the species and 12% are here in this facility. The 6000 square foot roof lets in 33% of the natural light. The air is 60-95% humid and 1/3rd of the building is cold, 1/3rd is cool and 1/3rd is warm to accommodate the wide variety of orchids housed. All orchids have 3 sepals, 2 petals, one lip and one stamin.

From the garden we drove toward Medellin stopping in a colonial village for a coffee and a walk about. Saw a statue of Simon Bolivar, who led Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru Panama and Bolivia to independence from the Spanish empire in the early 1800’s.

Visited the church. Then home and dinner at a place called Colosus. The view was very nice looking over the city, but the food was just ok. Home to bed.

Sunday, October 26, 2025

As we begin to depart Brazil, we are struck with a few thoughts. Most of the places we visited were most interesting and enjoyable. However, the northern areas near Manaus and in Cristalino have been too hot and humid for us, in spite of being in the dry season. We will try to avoid such places in the future. We are spoiled with our California weather. We also realize how much we miss the wildlife in Africa. We saw a few new animals and birds in the forests and jungles of Brazil, but they do not compare with the wildlife we have experienced in the African savannah. We are ready to move on.

The effort to get to São Paulo and onward took most of the day. We boated out of the jungle, motored through the soybean fields and flew from Alta Floresta through overcast skies to Sao Paulo where we arrived in the dark at 7:30pm.

Our driver told us it would take 1 and a half hours to get to our hotel so I learned a few things from him, while we suffered through very heavy Sunday evening traffic. São Paulo has 11 million people in the city, 22 million in the metropolitan area and 45 million in Sao Paulo state. It is the most populated state in the country of 220 million. The ride reminded me of driving to the Bay Area after a long winter ski weekend. He was a pleasant looking man who admitted he had been married and divorced 4 times as was determined to stay single from now on. He loves to drive and has been chauffeuring clients like us around São Paulo for 30 years. Finally, we arrived at the Pullman Hotel. Spent a night there and flew out the next morning for Santa Cruz, Bolivia through solid overcast skies.

Monday, October 27, 2025

Our Santa Cruz guide, Marta, met us after we had spent an hour securing visas, an unpleasant and expensive ($160 each) process only for Americans visiting Bolivia. We had no problem getting visas for Brazil and won’t need them in Colombia.

As we drove through the countryside and the city of Santa Cruz to our hotel, she caught us up on the political and financial situation in the country. A new president was just elected. He is a center right politician named Rodrigo Paz, who is replacing a very corrupt socialist, Luis Arce, who had run the government for 5 years after Evo Morales presidency, both from a party called MAS which bankrupted the entire country. This period lasted 20 years. Bolivia is in a an economic crisis at the moment due to a lack of dollars and fuel, especially diesel. We saw hundreds of trucks lined up along the roadside waiting for diesel. Our driver, who uses gasoline, waited 4 hours yesterday to fill his car to drive us. The country produces natural gas, but its reserves are being depleted and will be gone in 2028. The country will have to buy fuel at that point. Sad to see this third world country not improve due to corruption. Annual inflation is currently at 23.32%. The local currency is called a Bolivian Boliviano, or a Bob.

Bolivia’s population is 12.4 -12.7 million. Santa Cruz is the largest city in the country with about 2.5 million. followed by El Alto and La Paz in third at roughly 812,000.

After arriving at Santa Cruz in the late morning, driving into town, checking into the hotel, and grabbing a bite of pasta for lunch, we went on an afternoon walk around the old city with Marta.

In spite of the gentle rain we encountered most of the day, we visited the old colonial streets with buildings made with wood columns and red tile roofs. La Recova Market, a narrow pedestrian street, retains its original arched corridors and keeps the colonial charm alive. The narrow street of vendors selling jewelry, leather goods, crafts and textiles was inviting, as was the town square and the Catholic cathedral. According to Marta, it and all churches in the city, are packed every Sunday.

Soon we found ourselves at the Museo Artecampo, a space dedicated to preserving the art of Bolivia’s lowland indigenous communities. We were treated to a private tour of the weaving workshop that represents the best work of 7 different indigenous community’s and were introduced to the experience of weaving.

After the weaving tour and trying our hand at weaving with the help of an expert indigenous weaver, we cleaned up and went to dinner at an asian restaurant on the 28th floor of the Green Tower, a new office building near our “unique” Boutique hotel. The hotel was rather funky, with photos of old movie stars and concrete floors everywhere and a 2 story apartment we stayed in until our departure at 4:30am. Glad it was only one night.

Tuesday, October 28, 2025

We landed in La Paz at 7am for a 1 hour layover to our flight to Uyuni. Unfortunately, our flight was delayed 2 additional hours. La Paz is at 13,327 feet asl and we were affected as soon as the cabin was open and unpressurized. We hoped we were adjusting as we sat in the airport waiting for our next flight.

Uyuni (Uyu =meeting; ni =place) has a population of only 33,000 and seems to be in the middle of nowhere. The main occupations are silver, zinc and borax mining, quinoa farming and tourism. However, the elevation is also high and our hotel, on a hill above the salt flats is at 12,194 feet asl. We arrived mid day, had some lunch and spent the rest of the day trying not to be miserable. Mark skipped dinner and I ate very little. He slept through the night, while I did not.

Wednesday, October 29, 2025

Explora Lodge is minuscule in the landscape.

We were up and on the road by 9am, in spite of our low energy. Our driver spent an hour and a half traveling over rough roads to a short hike up to a view point of the Tunupa Volcano (17,457 ftasl). I made it with Mark’s help.

Feeling slightly better, we were out again at 9am for a drive though the salt flats to a village called Cqueya to walk with the Llamas. There were many and the field next to the salt flat looked like a lawn. We saw many llama sporting red ribbons tied to their ears as decoration. Along with them we found two different kinds of flamingos feeding in the flats near the llama as well as the succulent plants they eat

Driving up the rough roads to a from the lodge, we encountered many rock pile fences as well as outlined farming areas and small round sleeping shelters built, according to our guide, around 900 BC. The most common crop was quinoa.

Then we found flamingoes feeding at the edge of the salt and learned from Elsa, our guide, that the ones with black tails were Andean Flamingos and the ones with no black tail were James Flamingos. They were both different from flamingos we have seen in Africa.

There were several people in the lodge, so we had dinner with 2 Brazilians, and 4 Frenchmen. Everyone spoke English, thankfully.

After lunch we had a bit of time to relax and then headed out for a cave an hour and a half across the salt flats and over an extension of the volcano. The Cueva Chiquini cave was interesting because the structures inside were mostly paper thin and very delicate.

Nearby was a man-made shelter for storing the heads of 15 ancestors. They looked like they were smiling.

On the way back to the lodge we stopped on the salt for a sundowner in time to watch the sunset.

It was a super view, but very windy and cold. I drank my hot tea in the vehicle. Even Mark opted for hot tea.

Mark and Elsa went outdoors into the night to look at the stars. I was too tired, still suffering from the altitude, and went directly to bed.

Thursday, October 30, 2025

Feeling slightly better, we were out at 9am for a drive through the salt flats to a village called Cqueya to walk through the llama fields on Baccharis grass at the edge of the volcano and next to the salt.

Along the way we saw succulent plants the llama like to eat. Most of the area looked like lawn. At one point we sat down to enjoy the warmth of the day. The place was very quiet. No people or cars. We could actually hear the small, nearby stream gurgle. Some of the plants we saw were green succulents called Sarcocornia.

Walking on the edge of the pan were some flamingos. There were two different kinds, some with black tails, Andean, and some without, James Flamingos. Quite a pretty sight with the salt flats behind them.

Nearby was another village called Chantani that had a museum by the same name. We stopped to visit and saw artifacts from the Aymara culture, particularly a manakin dressed in narrative clothing.

Outdoors was a stone and cactus garden. The cactus are just starting to bloom, both white and red varieties. Also in the garden was a small cave-like structure with 2 mummies inside. They were buried in the common local crouched position. Usually they were buried in large crockery vases. They were not big people when alive. Similar to the Batwa in Uganda.

Then we continued on the salt flats to our special lunch sight in view of Fish Island. Our photos tell the story.

Lunch SA’s a grand affair. More later.

Sunday, October 19, 2025

A colorful iguana outside our door bid us adieu and off we went to our next adventure`.

We lifted off Mirante do Gaviao Lodge beach in the seaplane at 7:50 with the same crew that brought us to the lodge. They gave us an equally delightful return to Manaus, flying low over the jungle

and very close to the river. Near Manaus we encountered the muddy Amazon again. Almost touching the water.

Although we have not been on the Amazon River at all this trip, we have been in the Brazilian state of Amazonia and people refer to the area as if being on the river.

The Pantanal, our next destination, is a natural region encompassing the world’s largest tropical wetland area, and the world’s largest flooded grassland. Located mostly in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso do Sul, it extends into the state of Moto Grosso and portions of Bolivia and Paraguay. (Refer back to the map of Brazils states.) It sprawls over an area between 54,000 and 75,000 square miles with various sub regional ecosystems that each have distinct hydrological, geological and ecological characteristics. Roughly 80% of the Pantanal floodplains are submerged during the rainy seasons, nurturing a diverse collection of aquatic plants and helping to support a habitat for nearly one thousand species of animals and many aquatic birds. Fishing is an important industry in the local economy and is also a staple food. Although much larger, the Pantanal has a habitat similar to the Everglades in Florida.

We will be visiting Caiman, an oasis in the Pantanal founded in 1987 with the purpose of conserving its flora, fauna and culture in the Pantanal Matogrossense National Park. “Thick bush” is the meaning of ”Matogrosso”. Our accommodations are in the lodge called Caiman on a 131,000 acre ranch that sustains many white Brahma cattle as well as thousands of birds, animals, amphibians, fish and bugs all being conserved and made available for tourists to experience.

We spent over 6 hours in a King Air C90A getting from the Amazon region to the Pantanal. The weather was so stormy south of Manaus that we bounced all over the sky and were forced us to divert around several storms cells. After a refueling stop in a place called Alta Floresta and another 3 hours in the air we landed on the Caiman airstrip in front of the Caiman lodge. Fortunately, the weather was cooler, barely humid and most pleasant. We felt comfortable again.

Waiting to greet us were a young lady named Laura and her driver named Coche. They were ready to take us on a game drive, so after checking into our room, we were in a safari vehicle on a game drive. We saw several animals and birds in short order and were cooler and happier than we had been anywhere in the Amazon. Our first sighting were several of the world’s largest rodent, the Capybara, then a crab-eating fox, a pair of turquoise-fronted Amazonia birds, which are actually green parrots, several pampas deer, like our deer only smaller. Laura told us we would have a different guide for the next three days as we will be on a special program for jaguar conservation. These are the animals I succeeded in photographing.

The drive with her lasted until dark and dinner at 7:30pm. The meal was buffet and included several pizzas, an attraction for us after weeks of Brazilian food…good but not like home.

Monday, October 20, 2025

Up at 5am and on safari by 5:30, we met our Jaguar conservation guide, named Rafael, and our new driver, Chipa. Rafael immediately began telling us about the early morning birds: a Burrowing Owl, a buff-necked Ibis, many big and noisy birds called Chaco Chachalaca and the largest birds of all, a pair of rhea, ostrich-like birds.

Then we saw a large anteater slowly eating its way through a termite hill. Anteaters apparently have bad hearing and vision, but a good sense of smell.

We stopped at a flower-covered watering hole and saw parakeets, green ibis, bare-faced ibis, large jabiru storks, a tiger heron, a falcon and a hyacinth macaw. Back in the plains and open grass land we spotted a Great Potoo and its chick in the crook of a tree. Very well camouflaged.

Tuesday, October 21, 2025

Here are some of the Pantanal creatures we say during our second day’s safari.

During the late afternoon game drive we saw a Marsh deer, the largest in the Pantanal, a grey rocket, similar to a small deer, and a yellow-billed cardinal. We did a lot of driving around to see animals and birds we could not photograph well.

Dinner was an interesting outdoor bar-b-que with the beef rolled on 2 inch thick, 5 foot long sticks and rotisseried. I was able to get some rare pieces and found it tasty. This lodge, unlike other places we have been, is completely full.

Wednesday, October 22, 2025

Another early start and an animal we saw frequently was a white lipped peccary. This animal travels in large groups and is always on the move. Mark managed to get this one to stand still for a photo.

At 9am it was time for breakfast and the air was getting hot. After breakfast, we headed for a shady spot on the edge of the pool. At 4pm we reconnected with Rafael for our evening game drive.

The heat of the day was fading and the drive was pleasant. Not long after leaving the lodge, we heard there was a jaguar sighting and off we went in search of it.

Finally, our driver and Rafael tracked the collared animal and we soon realized there were three jaguars; a mother, named Aroeira and 2 one and a half year old male cubs, Jatoba and Jacaranda.

But more than that, there was a Giant Anteater with a baby on her back that was challenging the jaguars. It was fascinating to watch the animals chasing one another and then backing off. No one was going to win this exchange. Unfortunately, the challenge took place in the woods and we struggled to see what was happening.

Tuesday, October 21,2025

A quick cup of coffee and we were back on the road for our second safari day with Rafael and Chipa. Having met our goal of seeing jaguar, we were interested in seeing what else the Pantanal had to offer.

Our first sighting was a bird called Crested Oropendola and its unusual nest. The bird flew away before I could get to my camera, but I did get the nest.

The bird is quite large for such a nest, but squeezes into a hole near the top and settles into the bottom, causing the entrance hole to close. Then we saw another Crested Caracara, and a herd of white-lipped peccary on the run.

There were many other birds and animals we were unable to capture with our iPhone cameras. Am sorry we did not have better camera equipment. In the middle of the day we chilled in our cool room. The day was exceptionally hot and humid. Too much even for the poolside.

On the evening game drive, Rafael told us another Jaguar had been spotted, so we headed through the countryside to find it. It was nearly dark when we came upon a collared female named Surian and her 2 year old male cub, named Dakari. I was only able to get snaps of Dakari.

Dinner was an outdoor bar-b-que with beef rotisseried on 2 inch round, 5 feet long sticks. When asked for thin rare slices, the server was able to shave off a few pieces. The meat tasted good.

We sat next to a couple from Geneva, who spoke enough English we were able to converse. Although they have children and grandchildren, they refuse to let kids keep them from traveling, an attitude we could appreciate.

Wednesday, October 22, 2025

Our third 5:30am safari start. We started off seeing a group of Copybera, munching on the grassy lawn, a bare-faced Curassow, a Pied lapwing, a cute antelope like animal called a Grey Bracket. Mark nicely captured a pair of Blue-crowned Parakeets nesting in a tree hole.

Then Rafael told us a BBC crew was working on a Jaguar project, so we headed to the site and took up a station out of the BBC crew’s way.

We sat watching a new pair of Jaguar, Arancy, a collared female, and her 7 month old son, Mocoha, for a long time. Tried to get good photos, but, not having a good, long, lense, we are hampered.

Late afternoon drive started with rain. Thankfully it was brief. The ponchos were very heavy. We drove for 40 minutes to the sight of a dead cow to see what was happening to it. These photos tell the tale.

Thursday, October 23, 2025

And so we end our very interesting adventure in the Pantanal. We have seen 8 different jaguars and many other creatures we have not seen elsewhere.

And so we fly onward from the Caiman Lodge airstrip to Alta FLoresta, then we have a 1.5 Hour drive and a 30 minute boat ride to our next destination.

Unfortunately, I have had several glitches with this post and some events are out of order. The content is all here, if dislocated. Please forgive the errors.

Monday, October 13, 2025

Sunrise and breakfast at 6am.

The captain motors slowly down river and into the Jari channel, an arm of the Amazon River, to a private home where the owner, a woman named Rosangela, gives us a tour of her forest preserve, which she called the Trail of the Sloth. She pointed out three sloths high in the trees but they were unphotographable. So we have included a photo of a Peruvian sloth you may remember from a post last year.

We also saw a couple of Potoo, nocturnal owl-like birds, though not related, that were asleep high in the trees. We were able to photo its backside. It feeds on insects and makes a very loud sound.

Of considerable interest were Sapucaia, Monkey pod trees, that are huge. The trees give great shade and produce huge fruits that are woody, pot-like and suitable for a monkey to use. Each fruit contains many edible nuts. The tree is a tropical hardwood used for making furniture, curing stomach aches and treating blood pressure problems.

Other things we saw include

Back on the boat I learned about the Brazilian flag. The words on the flag say “order and progress” in Brazilian. Green is for forests, yellow is for mineral wealth, blue is for the sky. The 26 stars below the text are for the 26 states and are displayed as they were on 11/15/1889 in Rio the day of the founding of the republic. The single star above the words is for the state of Pará, the last state added and the largest territory north of the equator. Interesting flag.

We spent more time on the beach and in the warm water trying to stay cool. Had a nice salad lunch and more beach time until 4:30 when we went ashore to visit the Coroca community. In this village there are 23 families with 70 people.

A middle aged man met us and told us we were about to visit a turtle conservancy, a stingless bee farm making honey and a small, palm frond industry making colored grasses that are then woven into crafts for sale. They also made tie dye shirts as a gift for us.

We walked to a small holding tank where 500 turtles are kept separate for several months while they grow. Each turtle produces 90 eggs a year, resulting in 3000 baby turtles per year. 80% are let go into the river and 20% are moved into a large pond where 5000 turtles are kept to reproduce. There are all sizes, with turtles up to 28 years of age. We watched the turtle keeper feed the turtles a bucket full of pellets.

From there another man led us to an area where stingless bees are kept in several boxes. He opened one box and extracted a syringe full of liquid honey for me to sample. It was delicious. Then he sealed up the box and told us the honey is harvested each year from September to November at the rate of half a liter per box per month. The bees extract sap from trees as there is very little flowering fruit growing in the forest.

The community makes crafts from a special palm tree called a Tucuma. The palm fronds are dyed different colors—primarily red, blue and yellow—to be woven into different objects for sale. Another man made tie dyed shirts in the vats of boiling dye for us. Mine will be red and Mark’s will be yellow. Meanwhile, we bought some soap and a small jar of honey. Hope we get it home without breaking it.

During our walks through the forest we learned about many different trees. The more important ones include:

Açaí, a tree which produces many tiny purple fruits that, when the pulp is boiled off the seeds, tastes like dirt, according to Mark. It tastes somewhat better with lots of tapioca popcorn and sugar. However, it is much better as ice cream, which we had after dinner.

Another tree is the Jungle Cacau.

Later in the day we visited another Community called Atodi. They are an industrious community as they run a hammock hostel, maintain a school for their children, cultivate medicinal plants and sell medicinal products, and operate a library project called, Vagalume, which means “firefly”. The community has 48 families and 143 people.

We met the management team of the community, toured the hammock hostel, visited the school and listened as the students reading to us from the book, “The Giving Tree” by Shel Silverstein.

One member of the team, Neucimar, stayed with me as we toured the community. At one point she put red dye from a plant called Urucun on my face and I wore it the rest of the day. She posed for me against a wall of indigenous art. At the end of the tour we all ended up near the beach at a table full of special cassava snacks and crafts. We tasted the snacks and gave the crafts a pass. The team prepared a flower shower ceremony that took us by surprise. We marched to the edge of the river and water with the smell of flowers was poured over our heads. It did smell like flowers, though there were no flowers in the water. Apparently flowers are allowed to soak in the water for hours and the removed. Fortunately, we were very hot and the water was cooling. It was time to say good bye and Neucimar and I gave each other a big hug.

Back at the boat, we had lunch and an hour to relax before visiting another community. This time it was to learn how cassava is processed.

In the community called São Marcos, which has 13 families with 50 people and is set up to manufacture cassava flour, as well as tapioca and tucupi sauce for community use. There are 2 species of cassava, one of which is poisonous, which is the one these people use to produce flour. The non-poisonous cassava is eaten without being processed.

The first step in making cassava flour is to peal the roots, wash and then grind them.

Next add water and squeeze out the liquid by hand into a pot that will eventually become, tapioca and tucupi sauce. Meanwhile, peel a batch of cassava root that has been soaking for 3 days and is about 1/3rd the size of the first batch.

Hand mix the two batches together and squeeze the mash into a tipiti, a long woven tube made of jacatana palm leaves.

Once all the cassava is in the tube, hang it from a post, slip a long pole through the loop in the bottom of the tipiti, secure the pole to a notch in bottom of the post and apply weight to the pole. Water will pour out of the tipiti for some time as more weight is applied.

When no more water comes out, remove the cassava from the tipiti, put it through a shaker to loosen the fruit, then cook it stirring constantly until it is completely dry. Finally, aerate the flour to remove the dust. At that point you have edible cassava flour and the poison is gone. The process took two hours and we were ready to get back to the boat, and the beach.

This was the last and special evening for us and the boat crew. It started at 7:30 when we walked off the boat in the dark and onto the beach, which had been transformed into an oasis.

Luminaries lit our path to a sofa excavated out of sand and covered with fabric and pillows. When we sat on it we were tickled to experience a sofa on the beach. Milena served us cocktails and we enjoyed the scene with palm fronds placed in the sand as trees, luminaries everywhere and our table prepared behind the sofa.

Soon we had dinner with a very delicious fish called Tambaqui that had been barbecued perfectly and was served with a variety of side dishes. Such an event is called a Piracaia, or “fish bar-b-que on the beach”. After dinner, Carlos started music playing and the dancing began.

Finally, the evening ended and we were off to bed.

Tomorrow will we have breakfast, enjoy the final leg of the boat ride, disembark and head for the Santarem airport.

Tuesday, October 7, 2025

Departed Salvador in mid afternoon and arrived in San Luis about 5:30. Hit the road in a 4-wheel drive truck for what we learned would be a 4 hour ride to Casa Oia, a hacienda near a town called Santo Amaro. Our driver spoke no English and our guide, Pedro, also known as Salim Rosa, made up for it as he talked non-stop. We did learn a bunch of information about his personal life as well as some details of interest to us.

Half way into the very dark drive on a fairly rough road, we pulled into a crowded truck stop and had a beer and a piece of pizza for $1.87. Cheapest food ever. Back on the road, Pedro kept talking, but refused to tell us about where we were going. So, at 8:45pm we arrived at a grass-covered, open-walled building and were met by the manager, who told us dinner was ready. So, without seeing the room, we had a tasty seafood risotto dish on an open veranda. To get to our air conditioned room in a separate building we trudged through sand. The outside air was very pleasant with a slight breeze. Mark suggested it felt sensuous. How nice. The room, however, felt cold. We were soon in bed with the lights off.

The history we learned from Pedro was that the French landed on a beach in San Luis Island in 1612 and started to build a settlement and a fort to honor King Louis XIII. In 1615 the Portuguese challenged the French, and, with fewer men but superior firepower, they beat the French in the battle called Guaxenduba that lasted only an afternoon. The area we are staying is east of San Luis and is called Lencois Maranhenses National Park, which is what our program says we have come to see. The park is 600 square miles in size and borders three towns including Santo Amaro, where we are staying. Maranhao state is part of the NE region of Brazil. It is mostly agricultural with soybeans and rice being the major products, 100% of which goes to China. There are 26 states and 1 federal district in Brazil.

In the top of the North East state of Maranhao, you will see the island of Sao Luis where the French lost the region to the Portuguese. Our adventure takes place just a bit east of Sao Luis near the town of Santo Amaro at a grass covered Hacienda called Casa Oia. We arrived at 8:45pm, met the manager and were escorted directly to dinner. I was not hungry, but could not resist the delicious seafood risotto. Then we walked through a sand pathway to our room and went directly to bed.

Wednesday, October 8, 2025

We were up early and out by 7am to see where we were. It looked like scrub brush to us and not interesting. After walking around a bit and enjoying a nice breakfast, we were told to wear our bathing suits as well as a cover up.

At 9am, we climbed into safari seats in the back of a pickup truck. Pedro joined us along with a driver and local guide. Off we went through the scrub land and grass plains, which eventually morphed into polar-white sand dunes, heading for a shallow, rain water lake. It took 40 minutes driving over the dunes to reach the pretty, warm water lake. By then the surprise was wearing off and we understood why our travel agent had sent us here. The scenery was otherworldly, never mind the intense wind that pelted our bodies with sand.

We waded in a good distance to get wet up to our waste, while the guys set up a shade cloth, chairs, towels and a table with snacks. They disappeared in the truck while we enjoyed the beach almost alone. An hour of sun and wind-swept sand pelting us was enough. The crew returned and we went back to the Casa Oia to cool down and get out of the wind. Lunch of local garden fresh greens and hake was served outdoors in the shade about 1pm.

In the late afternoon we rode ATV’s through the dunes and got some really nice images. Hard to decide what to keep.

Dinner was served at a table for 2 in the vegetable garden. The appetizer was a mini pumpkin stuffed with mushrooms, cheese and soft pumpkin and the entree was king prawns covered with tapioca popcorn, sautéed vegetables and black rice with mango. Delicious. Then—our usual routine—back to the room, get ready for bed and soon, fast asleep.

Thursday, October 9, 2025—our 32nd anniversary

Mark remembered our anniversary, while I thanked him for remembering. Oh well. Maybe I will remember one day.

After our experiences of the day before, we were ready for the day’s activities—A long drive to a different lake and a hour to swim and relax by the shore under a shade cover provided by our drive crew. We hoped for privacy on this lake, but, just like the day before, groups of other people appeared and took up space around the lake. I was feeling possessive, but realized that the lake was more than big enough for everyone there. We took lots of photos along the way and are struggling to keep only the best ones.

Back at camp for lunch at 2 under a cluster of cashew nut trees decorated with colored streamers, we were served a good beef stew along with rice, cassava, okra greens, fried egg and tapioca-coated plantain, my favorite part.

At 5pm we drove a short distance to a river and climbed into a 30-foot open boat for a ride to a sundowner on a sand dune. It was a 10 minute walk from where we got out of the boat to the sand dune where we watched the sun go down.

Unfortunately no alcohol is allowed in the park so Mark had put some booze in his water container and we had a real sundowner. We also got some nice photos. Back on the boat, the water was so shallow that we kept getting stuck in the sand. The boatman had to get into the water and push us several times. I felt sorry for him, but he seemed not to mind.

The day was not over. The manager told us dinner was to be a luau and to get ready for a 20 minute drive. Left camp at 7:40 and drove through the sand dunes in the dark. I felt very uncomfortable being in the dunes after dark, but the driver knew exactly where he was going and finally we saw lights in the sand. There was no luau, but a small table set for regular dinners. There was one other couple and ourselves. The meal consisted of crackers with baba ghanoush as a starter and mashed pumpkin with dried beef for the entree. We learned that this “luau” is served most evenings to different couples. While we ate, the waining moon rose over a tall sand dune. A nice, unexpected touch. there was just enough wind to keep us from relaxing and after an hour we were ready to leave. Fortunately, the other couple was ready to go also.

Friday, October 10, 2025

Travel day. Up 6, out at 9.

This photo should have been sent during our Rio segment, but I think it is important enough to send it now. It is a photo of baked heart of palm as it is presented in restaurants in southern Brazil. You cut it, pull a piece out of the stalk with your fork and eat. Quite delicious and very different than what we get from a jar in California.

Thursday’s October 2, 2025

We departed Paraty at 8am with new driver named Sassa, who had lived in the states for several years and spoke good English. As we drove along the coast headed for Rio we learned about him and other details he shared about Brazil. There are 27 states in Brazil. 17 million people live in the state of Rio and 5.5 million live in the city. 15% of the Rio population is very poor and live in more than 700 favelas, each of which consists of jerry-built shacks packed together on the outskirts of Brazilian cities. They have some electricity and water, but most often, no sewer. Pretty miserable conditions, compounded by drug gangs that steal, fight and hurt people. Sassa warned us to stay away from the favelas. Sounded good to us. He told us the minimum wage in Brazil is $300 per month and 27% of the population of the country live below the poverty line. Not even close enough to live on. Rio alone received 1 million slaves, while the entire US received only 800 thousand. Interesting statistic.

Soon we arrived at the home and gardens of Burle Marx, a famous landscape architect. On arrival we met our Rio guide, Mica, who joined us on our tour of the gardens. The garden guide was a man named Mateo. We learned much from him as we walked through the garden, park and buildings.

Turns out Burle Marx was a versatile fellow of many talents including painting, tile design and piano playing, as well as landscape design. He purchased 98 acres of land near Rio in 1949 and converted it into a lovely park and garden over many years. He was able to move onto the property in 1963 and lived there until his death in 1994 at the age of 84, without finishing his labor of love. He did give the property to the government, which has maintains the grounds and opened them to the public. His landscape talent and ideas spread around the country and he is famous throughout Brazil and internationally.

Brazil has 11% of the world’s 350,000 plant species, the most of any country.

The plants and names are listed here as best I can remember them.

In addition to the gardens we toured the buildings Marx used including his home and work spaces. We saw his ceramic collection, his piano and his own paintings.

Finally, we arrived at our hotel, the Fasano Rio de Janeiro. The room is not large, but it has a wonderful view overlooking Ipanema Beach and is interestingly laid out to take advantage of the tight space. In the triangular hallway is a stuffed chair in the shape of a woman. Mark took advantage of the opportunity.

After the garden tour, we had lunch a favorite place of Mica’s. The super dish we had was called Moquech, or Shrimp Stew. Excellent.

After lunch we drove to Sugarloaf mountain and rode 2 cable cars to the top for views of the city and The Redeemer. Mica paid $70 each for us to have VIP benefits. It was near dusk when we arrived and the platform was full of young people partying. We quickly checked out all the view locations using our VIP tickets to cut through the lines, and left. It was too crowded for our taste.

Friday , October 3, 2025

We met Mica at 8am for a very long day of sightseeing. First we drove through the city to the foot of hill where the Christ the Redeemer is located. On the way Mica talked about the Portuguese coming to Brazil. The Portuguese king when the country was colonized was John VI. He was followed by Peter I who declared independence from Portugal. His son Peter II was the longest reigning king and was good for Brazil as he promoted science and the arts. It was a cultural time. However, on 11/15/1889, Peter II was overthrown and exiled to Paris by a Coup d’ etat. Frequent coup d. etats occurred over the next several years. Then Balsonaro was elected President. Today, Lula is president. Regardless of popularity, he and Balsonaro appear to be the only two electable politicians at the moment, even though Balsonaro has been banned from running.

At the bottom of the Redeemer hill is the platform for the cable car. We paid $40 each and managed to get good seats in the car with Mica’s direction. No VIP tickets were available. The cable car passed through the world’s largest replanted urban forest. 100 thousand trees were planted by 11 slaves over 13 years under the direction of Peter II between 1861 and 1874.

Mica is a musician who sings and plays drums, writes and records music. So it was no surprise that he believes black culture permeates the country and that “Samba music is the father of pleasure and the son of pain“ He made samba sounds all day long. Fortunately, samba is very pleasant to listen to.

At the top Redeemer platform we threaded our way through the crowds to get vantage points. At 6’4” tall Mica was very good at that. And he knew all the best places to take photos.

We learned that the body of the statue was completed in 1931 by a collaboration of people; the head and hands were made in France by a French artist and shipped to Rio; the workers signed their names on the back of the Redeemer’s heart that they you can see in the photos.

The statue is 98 feet tall, the pedestal is 24 feet and the span from hand to hand is 92 feet. The statue weighs 2500 lbs. It is hollow except for a staircase. A lightening strike nicked the tip of the long finger on the left hand. It is barely noticeable. It was last cleaned in 2010. 2.5 million people visit the statue each year, 6.8 thousand each day. The Catholic Church, which owns the property, is doing very well.

On the way down, we captured a photo of a nearby favela and a pretty yellow plant called a shrimp flower.

From the Redeemer, Sassa drove us by several lookout points looking over interesting neighborhoods, favelas, small neighborhood clothing stores and art galleries. We stopped in one gallery where we could not help ourselves and purchased a painting by a local artist. I also bought some clothes, for which I have almost no room. Eventually we stopped for lunch at Territorio Aprazivel, meaning Pleasant territory, and had a wonderful fresh heart of palm. Again, I forgot to photograph it. We had never seen an actual heart of palm in its casing and cooked to eat right out of the shell. Very unique. Hope I get another chance to photograph one.

At 3:30pm we arrived at the Carnival Experience Warehouse for a tour of the facility. Boy were we in for surprises and treats. Met by a professional lady dancer, we were told all about the history of carnival going back to 1932 and shown parts of the current construction for the next carnival. After giving us the information, she had us dress in last year’s costumes, participate in a dance with other professionals, learn to play some samba drum music and have hats made for each of us. Mica enjoyed watching us make fools of ourselves and took way too many photos. It was all good fun as well as informative. We watched snap shots of last year’s parade.

There are 5 different major groups, with 12 clubs in each group. Each club creates a theme, designs and builds 5 floats as part of their theme, hires 3000 costumed participants in addition to primary performers and people on each float. The parade lasts 1 hour and 20 minutes with participants traveling along a straight stretch of roadway with bleachers on both sides. The top winners on the first day, repeat the parade a second day with winners being announced at the end of the second day. The cost for each production is about $4.5 million.

I picked up a couple more flowers on the way back to the hotel. We grabbed a bite in the hotel bar on the top floor and went to bed. It had been a very pleasant, yet long, day.

Saturday, October 4, 2025

Our one day without guides or an itinerary. Slept in and hung out in the room watching the Ipanema Beach scene. Went for a walk in the afternoon and had an early and delicious dinner at Zaza Bistro, a few blocks down the street. It was another good recommendation by Mica. Walked back o the room and packed to depart early in the am for Salvador.

We never found Hope and Crosby. Guess they moved on.