“A mind that is stretched by a new experience can never go back to its old dimensions.” Oliver Wendell Holmes Manaus is the most populous city in the Amazon basin and 1000 miles up the Amazon River from the Atlantic. Amazing Amazon, we didn’t think we’d actually see such a difference of color at the […]

Nautical Term ~ of the day ~ Touch and Go This referred to the moment when a ship’s keel touched the bottom and deflected off again. Again, these pictures were all taken in 2006. John went ashore without me this year and it was too difficult a walk for him, so only one or two […]

“Travel is about the gorgeous feeling of teetering in the unknown” First let’s enjoy the jungle a bit. We didn’t go on tours this time except the city bus tour, but a jungle experience was offered. However, we so enjoyed the jungle tour we took 13 yrs ago when we were younger and able to […]

“Don’t listen to what they say, go see”  ~  Chinese Proverb Paretins, Brazil is perhaps best known for its folk theatrical tradition known as Boi Bumba or “Bull Festival”. It’s performed by High School children, not professionals. The kids make their own costumes and do so in a contest, as are the festive floats built […]

“Not all who wander are lost!” Founded in 1661, Santarem lies at the confluence of the Tapajos and Amazon Rivers. Both run along many miles in the front of the city, side by side, without mixing, called “the meeting of the waters”.    The Amazon River has 1100 tributaries, 12 of which are over 930 […]

“The first condition of understanding a foreign country is to smell it.”  ~  Rudyard Kipling While still in the Atlantic, we began seeing debris in the water of small branches, pieces of wood some of which were blackened and also a change of color of the water from blue to brown.  There was a noticeable […]

O-fish-ally on island time. Part of French Guiana, the three Iles du Salut, or Islands of Salvation, were a much feared penal colony for the most notorious French criminals.  The movie “Papillon” tells of one such criminal. Too violent for me, I didn’t watch it.   We went ashore but we didn’t walk to the prison. […]

The easternmost of the Caribbean islands, Barbados is rich in British history and often called “Little England” for its lasting influence. Cricket matches and afternoon tea are common.  A bus tour took us past sugarcane fields and plantations.   Many of the islands are mostly Catholic, but Barbados is mostly  Anglican.  The below is the St […]

Nautical Term ~ of the day ~ Pipe Down This means “stop talking and be quiet”.  The “pipe down” was the last signal from the bosun’s pipe each day, which meant “lights out” and “silence”. My mother used that term quite often for us girls at bedtime, and we knew what it meant! Since we […]

Its better to travel and get lost, than never to travel at all. 2100 feet above sea level at the Mountain Top, home of the original banana daiquiri. It looks like they market the pirates who once lived on this island, like Blackbeard and Captain Kidd.