From around the world people come to admire the splendour of the red, orange and gold trees as they blaze thru October. The leaves no sooner turn a brilliant colour before they drift to the ground creating a magical carpet only the silks of India could duplicate. Living in the forest, I pass this splendour each time I drive out from my house to the local highway. The road leads left, off Blueberry Hill, bringing me past flaming Sumach, orange-red Sugar Maple and gold-disced Poplar. The whole of the Greater City of Sudbury is under the effect of this annual autumnal paintbrush. The stark white skins of the Birch gain vivid contrast against the burgundy undergrowth of the laurentian rock scape. Living amongst the drama does not lessen the effect of the grandeur. Every tree quivers ... read more

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 up the Amazon. In total since Rio with two flights and six days on the river (minus 6hrs), I have travelled 8566kms to get here. When the Opera House was originally built it stood in ... read more

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 and sheets are reasonable new. The elevator works and there is air conditioning in the room. A restaurant attached to the hotel and next door serves breakfast, lunch (buffet/kilo) and dinner a la carte. The ... read more

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 a far walk to get somewhere when leaving the station. Connecting with the bus routes is an important and necessary piece of information. The travelling back and forth was easy. What made it difficult was ... read more

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 Paulo. Its importance was great when gold was discovered in Ouro Preto. The Golden Trail is a stone pathway into the mountains thatwas used by mule trains and slaves to get to the gold fields. ... read more