Buenos Aires, Argentina - January 15 to 18, 2008

We arrived in Buenos Aires in a summer heat wave - 94 degrees upon landing at Ezeiza International Airport. However, overnight there was huge thunderstorm that ran through the city, knocking over trees and downing power lines throughout the province. I slept through it all but many were awakened, even in the fancy and comfortable Alvear Palace Hotel.
The restaurant at the Alvear Place Hotel in Buenos Aires is listed as one of the best in all of South America.

BA (as the city is affectionately called) is very cosmopolitan with shaded streets and well dressed people. It feels like a mix between Beverly Hills and New York City.

And there are many outdoor cafes where people read the newspaper, kiss affectionately, or argue politics over a cup of strong coffee.

However, I chose to spend Wednesday out in the Pampa's, or countryside where we visited an estancia (ranch).

The gauchos came riding out with colorful flags and put on quite a show of horsemanship for us.

Here, two gauchos are riding at full speed with a very small wooden spool or needle. At full gallop, they try to pin the rod through a small ring. Many attempts were made and twice they got the ring!

A guachiño

Iguaçu Falls - A World Class Waterfall!

Our Explorer jet on the tarmac at Foz do Iguaçu Airport. This 757 is nice!
A close-up view of two people standing on the platorm - which seems to be embraced by falling water!
The spray from these falls creates rainbows everywhere!
A slow shutter speed will allow the water to appear as a drapery. These falls are powerful.
Wayne at Iguaçu Falls, January 14, 2008
The Falls!
Iguaçu Falls, January 14, 2008

More Amazon - January 15, 2008

Our group took a cruise on the river to the "Wedding of the Waters", where the muddy Solimoes meets the tea-colored Rio Negro. Here is a view of a few of the colorful Amazon river boats

As we cruised along the river front, we saw many riverside favela's or shanty towns.

Later that night our group saw an Amazon dance show

South America Journey Begins - January 11, 2008

South America! Evoking visions of tanned womens dancing with bananas on top of their broad-brimmed hats. Monkeys swinging from tree to tree. And me, temporarily escaping the throes of a snowy Flagstaff winter for a little summertime fun. 90 degree days! The sun staying up until 8:30 PM! Ahh paradise. Swimming pools, movie stars. Oh... wait I almost forgot - this is work.
North Coast of Cuba

After gathering in Orlando, Florida, we boarded our private jet for a 5 hour, 30 minute flight to the city of Manaus on the Amazon River. Bright sunshine with small, fleecy clouds greeting us at 33,000 feet as the north coast of Cuba came into view beneath our wings. One of the jobs I have taken on for these trips is to move up and down the aisle to assist folks in seeing what is visible out the windows below us. It's a service I enjoy doing, especially since most people just don't think to look out the windows anymore. "Please lower your shades ladies and gentlemen for our in-flight movie. Shut out that horrible world outside and revel in the fantasies of our own human created environment, where we'll blow up 133 cars in the latest sequel of Terminator 16! Blah blah blah". People just don't look out the windows of jets anymore and so I try to go up and down the aisle to get people to look, in the hope they'll start to see.

Of course, there's a secondary thrill for me when we pass over places with emotionally charged names like Cuba. Invariably, someone will have a knee-jerk response to the word Cuba and these are ripe times to hear the kind of comments that you know you'll never forget. "The north coast of Cuba out the window just now Mortimer", I said to the gentlemen casually reading his Orlando Sentinel. "Cuba"!, he exclaimed. "Are we gonna leave a few bombs for Fidel" Not bad, but I've heard better. "Coast of Cuba below you right now Margaret". Puzzled and not quite sure whether to look or not, she asked me if we were allowed to fly over Cuba. "Why yes we are Margaret", I replied. "The last I checked we were not at war with Cuba and although our two counties have chosen different economic systems, its perfectly fine to fly over it at 33,000 feet". "Oh? Well alright, thank you", she said as she turned to see what it might actually look like. I move on.
Guantanamo Bay on the South Coast of Cuba

Not more than 10 minutes later we flew right over Guantanamo Bay and saw it out over the left wing. We still hold this small piece of Cuba as a kind of giant middle finger raised west in defiance towards Fidel's Havana. I almost wanted to say, 'There's that little torture chamber we've put in on the western shore of the bay", but I refrain. Apparently we are allowed to fly over Guantanamo Bay as well.

North Coast of Venezuela

An hour later, the north coast of Venezuela comes into view and as I run up and down the aisle, there were more wise-crack remarks thrown out towards a perceived enemy. I wonder where these people develop their hate? Their government? The media? It's all of the above. They are very kind folks for the most part but their never challenged, never questioned patriotism almost demands that they create demons and diss them whenever they can. As I start to get a morbid sense of pleasure out of noticing their contradictions, Mortimer grabs my arm as I pass by and shouts, "I like that you're here with us Wayne. This is fun"! Luckily, I caught myself just before I whispered under my breath, "Mission Accomplished".
The Rio Negro Shining in Afternoon Light

The great Amazon came into view before too long and after landing in Manaus, we went to the grand old Opera House, built in 1896 with money from the great rubber boom.Manaus Opera House at Night with Moon Here we had a private performance of classical music which was flawless! The trip has begun!

New Snow in Flagstaff

Wayne shoveling snow at home. This picture was taken by Helen. We got 18 inches of fresh new snow in downtown Flagstaff on January 7!

The New Year Brought in at Phantom Ranch

Helen and I walked down to Phantom Ranch at the bottom of the Grand Canyon to celebrate the coming of the New Year. The weather was cold and crisp with a little ice at the top. We were visiting friends and got to stay in a warm bed at the ranger station. Here are a few pictures. Enjoy.

View from the South Kaibab Trail towards Utah Flats

View east from Utah Flats, December 31, 2007

Helen with our friend, Ranger Bil (One L) VanderGraf

It was very cold and windy on the way out! January 1, 2008

The Sinking of the MV Explorer

Many of you may have heard that on November 23, the MV Explorer sank while sailing near the South Shetland Islands in Antarctica. For those of us who have worked on expedition vessels, this event was as tragic as the loss of a loved one. The Explorer, known affectionately as "the little red ship", was the first expedition vessel built for eco-cruising. Lars-Eric Lindblad had her built especially for the Antarctic and it is somewhat fitting that she now resides in that special place.


I took this photo of Explorer while we were sailing on the Amazon River in Brazil between Manaus and Iquitos, Peru.

Many people I have sailed with through the years we on board when this tragedy happened. Bengt Wimar was the captain at the time of her sinking and I sailed with Bengt numerous times to Svalbard, the Mediterranean, and the Amazon and Caribbean. Leif Skog, who was not on board at the time, was interviewed and quoted extensively in the press after the sinking, and questioned if "only ice" could have played a part. We all know that ice oftentimes holds rocks as inclusions from the icebergs land based, glacial origins.

We will forever remember this happy ship and all of the wonderful memories she gave to literally tens of thousands of lucky travelers. To think of her beneath 3,300 feet of icy water is a painful thought.

The Big Flagstaff Snow Storm, December 10 and 11, 2007

It just kept
coming down.














Just like the old days!













Lovin' it!!

The Fabled Galapagos Islands!

Our whirlwind trip "Around The World" came to a fitting end while cruising in the Galapagos Islands. It was here in 1835 that Charles Darwin observed finches that had altered their beaks slightly on different islands. They had done this to access the seeds that they ate, themselves having evolved differently on each island. I gave a final lecture on "Darwin, the Geology of the Galapagos, and Future Trend in Climate Change", as we cruised to four different islands in our three night stay here.

As I sit here at Sky Harbor International Airport in Phoenix and wait for my final flight home, I am reminiscing about this fantastic journey "Around the World". We traveled 28,266 miles on the private jet and together with the extra miles on my two commercial flights, the total mileage is over 32,000 miles. All in three+ weeks too! Certainly, it's not the number of miles that harbor the rewards. It is the experiences and the impressions that I am moved to write about. I truly feel that 'we don't take trips' so much as 'trips take us'! And this one seems to have changed me in very subtle ways. Unlike a very few of my fellow passengers, who seemed to too easily get miffed when things didn't go as planned or places did not resemble the familiar surroundings of their home, I chose to look first at each place and culture, without too quick a judgement of what it was. I chose to see what these 10 countries had to offer in terms of their unique lifeways and differing worldview. In Egypt, the newspapaers always write passionately and informatively about topics of world significance. Thus, their population is extremely engaged in world and local affairs. (I say this as the television monitor here in Phoenix updates me regularly on the last movie star arrest or some such item that sounds like so much "fluff"). In Viet Nam, the people look forward to growing both their national and personal economies - so that their larger society can benefit and move forward. There is less of an emphasis on personal gain there. Iran also is passionate about their position in the world and to me it looked a lot like America - divided politically and socially. The huge difference there is that they actually know something about America, Just about every American I spoke to about Iran had only an evil idea about the place - as if the people there had three heads or something. Ironically, the Iranians seemed to love Americans but were confused about our governments' attitude towards them! Togo and Benin were certainly a step back in time as people there live simply and grow their own food for the most part. Poor, friendly, and quite content with their lot in life. And the Galapagos was like another planet with the fresh lava flows, surreal creatures, and familiar desert air.

As I think about all of this (admittedly too much stimuli in such a short period of time), I realize how blessed I am to have all of these wonderful and unique travel opportunities, and how lucky I feel to get out there and actually learn something about other places. It is so rewarding to see first hand how other people live and think, rather than have someone else (the media, my government, a corporation) tell me what it's like out there. I can assure you - anything you think you might know about some place is invariably just a sterotype that gets imprinted in our brains as a "truth", when actually it is nothing like the truth. I wish that every American could go to Iran and talk to the people there. I hope everyone gets the chance to see the Great Pyramids in Egypt, the temples of Kyoto, and experience the hospitality of the Moroccan people. If they did there would be a lot less suspicion in the world and much more love.

Enjoy these pictures of the Enchanted Islands! And thanks for reading and commenting on the blog! South America starts January 11 but who knows, I may write more in my cyber-manuscript.

Wayne
The Galapagos Legend - A Very Happy Ship!

A view of Isabela Island and some of her lava flows. This is the largest of the 13 major islands and is oftentimes active with running lava.

Here is a close-up look at a pahoehoe lava flow on Fernandina Island. You can almost imagine it moving.

These marine iguanas were having a party on the rocks at Santiago Island.

These are some of the incredible cactus to be seen in the Galapagos.

On little visited Rabida Island, we saw some prickly pear cactus that grew on tall columns. This one was flowering!

Salvador Brazil

Our first stop in the southern hemisphere is the old capital of Brazil, Bahia de Salvador. Once the port for the slave trade and the sugar fazenda's (farms), Salvador has retained much of its old colonial charm as seen in the following pictures. I have been here many times before but it is nice to come back and see it so much more spruced up.


Street scene in Salvador. Our hotel is visible on the far skyline and is an old convent that has been converted into a five star property (the cheapest rooms here are $600). Too bad we're so busy during the day and have to be away seeing things. I would love to be here with Helen and live it up with her at this place!


These women are part of the old culture of Salvador and walk the streets letting folks take their pictures. The weather is quite tropical but we are experiencing a "cool" spell while here and the temperature is only about 80 degrees.


We took a nice all day drive inland to the little towns of Santo Amaro, Cachoeira, and Sao Felix. This is a view of Cachoeira along the banks of Paraguaçu River. It's colonial architechture is more preserved than in Salvador.


We visited a very colorful market and saw all kinds of exotic fruits, which here are as common as apples and oranges to us. These are cashews believe it or not. The nut is inside the stem of the fruit, which must be roasted before eating. They are quite fresh and delicious!


We also visited a cigar making facility where they are hand rolled in the old fashioned way. I like the idea of a good cigar but in the last few years smoking them has made me a little bit sick so I avoid them now. Still, the fresh tobacco did smell good.

I will not be able to make a timely posting from our ship as we sail around the Galapagos Islands for the next three days, so I'll probably add some photo's of that stop by the end of the weekend. Thanks to everyone who has posted comments or written to me personally about the narrative and the pictures. I'm becoming quite the techie with my new digital camera and my wireless laptop computer. Geez, I surprise myself!

Visiting Tropical Africa - Togo and Benin

I hope you won't mind if I do not write too much. The trip is nearing its end and to tell you the truth, I am exhausted. Remember that I returned from 23 days in Nepal trekking to Everest Base Camp and then after only 3 days at home, traveled for this trip. I'm still having fun but will let some pictures do the talking!

I will say that after visiting Togo and Benin, no one on this trip will think of a place like Iran as being so "different". Tropical Africa is a colorful and hectic world unto itself and must be experienced to be believed. The roads are poor, nothing seems to work properly, and there is virtually no wealth. Yet the people endure and smile easily. A tough stop for some indeed on our trip but one that puts many of our previous stops into clearer focus. Each trip has its own cadence and lessons to be learned - if only we allow ourselves to be moved by the things we see, hear, and touch.


Here is our jet on the tarmac in Lome, Togo. We used it to fly 250 miles for a day trip to Benin on Nov. 12.


We got to see a voodoo ceremony in Togo's capital, Lome. These are some of the women who were entranced by the music.


Children love to have their picture taken here and fight for preferential positions in front of the lens. They seem to always respond to adults (like me) who make faces at them so they'll do the same!


This is a rather poor view of the Togoliese countyside. The annual wind off of the Sahara Desert brings much haze to this part of Africa this time of year and visibility was quite poor. However, you can get a sense for what the Sahel looks like (Sahel is the transition from Sahara Desert to tropical areas). This picture was taken on the way to Benin in NE Togo.


Here is a view of a Somba house in Benin. These very odd looking stuctures are made of adobe and the cones at the top are granaries for storing millet, soybeans, and other grains. We saw lots of these and got to go inside for a peek.


Ceremonial cones in the front of the houses.



Africans love to dance and it seemed that everywhere we went they were dancing. Some was pre-arranged for our benefit but this one was totally spontaneous under a big tree. The guides had to give an impromptu payment for this one. Quite colorful and too bad there is no video to hear it!