Montreal is an island and a city. The Metro is well situated and all 68 stations are beautifully presented with art work in them all. The Metro was completed in 1966 in time for Expo 67 and the centenary of Canadian Confederation. The Olympic site from 1976 is still as breathtaking as ever. The Velodrome has been turned into a Biosphere where you can see and smell penguins ... among other things. In the downtown area can be found a quarter sized replica of Notre Dame. I have only visited this once ...way back when I started to come to Montreal [View Full Entry]

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I am in an Ibis Hotel ... basic and clean ... not as fancy as an Ibis in Europe. The only draw back about this hotel is that it is some distance from the centre. I thought of taking the bus. By watching the roads and the bus service I came to a very quick solution that I would be much less frustrated by simply taking a cab. On the morning of my only full day in Manaus it finally stopped pouring rain after mid-day. I took a taxi to Teatro Amazonas. It was definitely worth the six day trip [View Full Entry]

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The Santarem, as the boat is called, leaves Port at Belem and proceeds up waterways that are not always called the Amazon. A myriad of channels and tributaries are encountered as the Captain and his crew steer the ship ‘up the Amazon’. The two story metal ferry boat can carry up to 400 passengers. The majority of these people would be sleeping in hammocks in the two decks below the two stories that house the bunk bed cabins and on top of those the ‘suites’ which have one big matrimonial bed. On this trip there are an estimated 250 passengers. [View Full Entry]

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Arriving late at night I saw very little of the Belem and definitely saw no mango trees. The mangoes in the market are huge but there are few trees to be seen even in daylight. The taxi woman who went thru all the red lights drove at break neck speed. I thought she was in a hurry to get back to the airport to meet another flight. Have since discovered everyone drives fast. The Hotel Itoaca is a quite a few wrungs below the one I had left behind in Brasilia. It is clean and the people are friendly. The towels [View Full Entry]

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Now this is a town you only need to visit for one sleep especially if you have no car. And what a sleep it was … no sex ...yet the sleep was sublime. My perfect room had feather pillows … 500 thread Egyptian … real sheets; not the see thru kind … enough towels for a sauna party … a posterpedic mattress … the rainforest effect shower head … only thing missing was a friend to share the 12 hours I spent in the room. The room was so fine I sang an aria under the water fall! I did [View Full Entry]

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From the bus station by taxi to the Icarai Hotel in Niteroi, across the bay over the 13km bridge, the cost was R$55. I enjoyed myself at the hotel. The restaurant food was good. The breakfast was tasty. The coffee was OK until milk was put into it. Bus number 33 to the ferry stopped at the corner. Bus costs R$1.90 and can be paid in cash. The ferry cost R$2.40 per ride. In the Metro one ride was also over R$2.00. The Metro was a bit of a disappointment ... it was a far walk to find one and [View Full Entry]

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Rain! Rain! Rain !… a real downer Every store, shopping plaza, travel agency, art gallery and museum was closed Metal roller blinds closed the windows … no window shopping Buffet, buffet, beefet ..food by the kilo … some as costly as R$33 .. depends on the quality of selection Rice and beans on the menu … and not a minute too soon … really need fibre Good looking hunks galore ... everywhere! Women’s shoes are either high heels, high wedges or super thin almost no soles Metro, bus and ferry service every good … Metro a bit [View Full Entry]

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Paraty & Jabaquara Campground, January 25 to 30, 2008 Visiting the Pantanal was scraped because of … wait for it … too many mosquitoes! Turns out the hidden agenda was a six day stay at Jabaquara Campground. This place is situated along Jabaquara Beach. People walk out from the town to sit by the water. There is no surf to speak of. The beach sand is not free of beer bottle caps and other refuse ... would not lie here or walk barefoot. Paraty is an old, pleasing town on the Atlantic coast, four hours from Rio and closer to Sao [View Full Entry]

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Paraguay, Asuncion, and the lovely blue hotel in a sweltering Concepcion are left behind. Bonito, Brasil lies ahead. The trip across the border was tedious. At one point on the way to Bonito we first past and then retraced our steps to go to China Shopping. This was a HUGE, really HUGE store that sold everything at outrageous prices … in dollars! Also found in the complex was buffet food sold by the kilo. On offer were vegetables, vegetables and vegetables. Since my system shut down in Asunción, meat has not been on the menu. When everyone had satisfied their [View Full Entry]

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Too much intake ... not enough elimination. One theory was a 24 hour bug ... NO. Another theory was food poisoning ... NO. And I do not get diahrrea! Have never ever been so out of control of my bodily functions. Because La Jefa was taking forever to find a place for the group to sleep, it was the weekend , S.A. holidays in January and February ... school vacations don't you know. I was forced by an exploding system, to seek refuge in the nearest hotel. Too bad it was the one that cost $75/day ... that's dollars! Because I [View Full Entry]

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