Iceland is fantastic! The weather has been great, the sights amazing, and all is well with the World. Access to computers has been challenging, however: everyone has their own! To be honest, I´ve really enjoyed being disconnected from my website, email, facebook, twitter, youtube, et al. I´ve decided today to not bother with blogging for this trip. I´m going old school: pen and paper, camera for later, messages to family and friends - as for the rest: I´ll tell you all about it in September! I hope everyone is having a great summer. I wish you all well and I´ll see [View Full Entry]

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Well, here we go again. I am feeling stunned, to be honest. It only seems moments ago that I was saying goodbye to Bob in Rio, George on Fernando De Noronya. Yet here I am, almost a whole year later, distinctly melancholic, re-toothed, fresh from saying farewell to my delightful students (- it's funny how little they actually are when you see them at a swimming pool - working with them all year, you almost forget that they're kids,) and now preparing for the next adventure - a frankly bizarre combination of the North pole and the equator. I've a day [View Full Entry]

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Here it is, in all probability my last post from Brazil. I suppose I should be summarizing the experience, but I'm not convinced that is going to happen. I've been sitting around at the Maze Inn, in the heart of the Favella Tavares Bastos for the last few days soaking up the atmosphere and the events. There have been many soap opera like elements, many funny stories, many fascinating events. Among the most interesting has been the return yesterday of the film crew to the Favella. I sat around having a lovely time with Irene Jacob, talking about the stories behind [View Full Entry]

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The plane to Rio was delayed by three hours, so I had the dubious pleasure of arriving in Rio at 1:00am! I had organized a Hotel in an outer area up a gigantic hill called Santa Teresa, an arty community perched above a favella. I had passed through it on my way to the Cristo statue thing on my first visit to Rio. I paid for a radio taxi, the safest option, but we got hopelessly lost trying to find the place. It was 2:00am by the time I was ringing the bell waking up half the hotel to get in. [View Full Entry]

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It´s been a bit like waiting for a bus since I got back from the Pantanal. First the Italians left after we had a fun last night together. Next to leave was Mark. Another last meal. Yesterday, I was helping Joel and Laeso fish for tourists. They gave me a lift to the airport where I changed my ticket (at a cost of $100!). I spent the evening with Joel and two Slovenian doctors leaving on Joel´s tour tomorrow. Man, these Slovenians get around a lot, too! Rather than hang around here for a week in the sweltering heat, I´m heading [View Full Entry]

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I´m back in Cuiaba after a neat few days in the Pantanal. It wasn´t quite as wild as the Amazon trip, but, once again, I met some nice people and had a very pleasant time with them. The group formed in Cuiaba when I met two Italian tourists, a couple: the cute and friendly, if slightly wild Isabella, and her giant motorcycle racing boyfriend with the unlikely name of ´´Fred Innocent´´ - Frederico Innocenti. We found out about a Dutch couple showing up on a late flight that wanted a tour, so the fates seemed to have selected a group. The [View Full Entry]

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I´m going off line again for four days for a safari to the Pantanal. I´ll write again when I return to Cuiaba. See you on the flypaper, mike [View Full Entry]

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After the thrills of getting lost, the grey dolphins, the pink dolphins, the sloth, the caiman, the giant lilies, the mother tree, the haunting forest dazzling with reflections that disorient completely, the next day starts a little disappointingly. The Brazilian family are leaving. I´ve spent some time chattting with Sami, who turns out to be my age exactly, and who has a life story almost identical to George´s from Noronya (the story that is at the heart of my 14 song Anam Cara thing). Strange coincidences. Their story is not exactly an everyday life story. To find two stories like this [View Full Entry]

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The camera has been found!!!!!!!!!! Elso´s wife found it while cleaning yesterday. Elso has another tourist group going into the forest for 5 days, so the next challenge is getting the camera here. It´s a good job I´ve got 15 days left before flying back to Rio! Elso is a hero in my eyes - not just in the forest, where he protected me from the multiple perils - I was literally like a three year old, lost in a world of tarantulas, snakes, and caiman, but a hero also in his nobility. He didn´t have to be honest, but he [View Full Entry]

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I´m not going to beat around the bush - I´ve lost the camera. All the pictures from the trip are gone. I´ve taken over a 1000, plus videos. I went to Elso´s house when we got back to Manaus, the first gringo he´s ever invited to his home. I was quite honored. We sat together in the internet cafe while I did yesterday´s entry, then we got a taxi to his house where his wife, Paula, had prepared delicious food, and we sat around strumming guitars, watching the events in the street below as people came and went and danced in [View Full Entry]

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