Panama was a lovely surprise full of natural beauty. Panama City has the amazing Panama Canal and it was fascinating watching the boats being hauled through and the locks filling with water then decreasing. Panama old town is a lovely place to wander through with the canal on both sides and full of little cafes […]
Read MoreThis is a gorgeous island with crashing waves and stunning landscapes. The Moai and the history surrounding them is really interesting. The burial grounds are called Ahus. The Moai sit on top of the Ahu’s. There are over 1000 Moai on the island. The Moai all have different faces as they represent a particular person […]
Read MoreI had a wonderful time in Buenos Aires making new friends and revisiting old friends, dancing tango and taking lessons with the wonderfully patient Jorge Mendoza. Thank you Jorge for your friendship and warm jacket. It was a cold winter! I also attended the wedding of my great friends Evelyn Alarc and Olivier Kirstetter.
Read MoreAsuncion was a lovely city, modern but also with beautiful colonial buildings on the side of the Paraguay river. My friend Lenner from Salvador de Bahia was a wonderful guide and showed me round the city. We found places that were not even in the guide books. He exhausted me as we walked for miles […]
Read MoreA special birthday, a western party, skiiing and a Vegas wedding this family reunion had it all. The weather joined in and one day we would be knee deep in snow and two days later the snow would have cleared and we would be in shirts and hats enjoying the sunny days.
Read MoreMy good friend Lawrence came out to join me on a trip into the deepest Amazon. We flew from Manaus to Tefe and then a two hour boat trip to our lodges deep into the heart of the Brazilian Amazon. The lodges were amazing and we were surrounded by Caiyman. In the early morning pink […]
Read MoreI have no idea what this festival was about. I think it was for the children but being Brazilian everyone loves to dress up and party and drink and dance and play music and we had all of these elements at this party.
Read MoreOn February 2 boats are filled with flowers, bottles of perfume, cakes, and notes asking Yemanja to grant a wish. They go into the sea at Praia Rio Vermelho in Bahia. This is a festival to the goddess of the sea Yemanja or Iemanja a powerful Orixa goddess. The Orixa gods originated from Candomble which originated […]
Read MoreSalvador de Bahia is the very last place that slaves were bought and sold and consequently it is very African in its’ people, music and culture. People were shipped from Nigeria, Angola and Benin to here and Capoeira, which was a dance invented by the slaves in chains, started here. The dance uses mainly feet […]
Read MoreBonito (Spanish for Beautiful) is, as it’s name suggests, a beautiful place and well worth a visit. It has a small town with many shops, tourist agencies,hotels, pousadas, cafes and restaurants everything a traveller would need for their trip. You are surrounded by beautiful waterfalls, grottos, blue and yellow and red and green Maccaws, forests […]
Read MoreLavagem do Bonfim, On every second Thursday of January, the day of the Lavagem, a 10 km procession of people dressed in white with many beaded necklaces, march towards the church of Nosso Senhor do Bonfim where Bahian women will empty their aromatic water pitchers on the steps of the church, overseen by Catholic priests […]
Read MoreA great African band whose music and dance follow the Candomble religion which was brought to Brazil during the time of slavery. The dresses are the dresse of theOrixas which are teh African Dieties. Catholicism is blended with the Candomble African religion, as the slaves, who weren’t allowed to openly participate in their own religious […]
Read MoreBarra is an area on the coast of the Salvador de Bahia. It has glorious sunsets. The Museum of Art Modern had a wonderful evening of Jazz on a Saturday night. It was a great place to watch the sun setting as it is beside a small beach and the sun sets on the lovely […]
Read MoreOn Santa Barbara day the Baianas dress in red and white to both comemorate the Saint Barbara but also their Candomblé’s Orixá ancient African king of Oyô. I have taken some amazing photographs of the Bahia women in the white lace dresses and big almost turban like hats. The ladies are like something out of […]
Read MoreLencois is a very pretty little town with cobblestone streets, cafes, restaurants and trekking companies and you can walk everywhere. It is in Parque Nacional da Chapada Diamantina the stopping point for many treks and hikes through the forests. You can climb up large canyons, hike or camp, slide down natural slides near the waterfalls […]
Read MoreMorro Sao Paolo is a village on the island of Tinhare which has recently been discovered by tourists. To date there are only small petty thefts but very soon it will become like the mainland and the sex trade, drugs and theft issues will occur. We are trying to pre-empt the problem by building a […]
Read MoreExu or Eshu is an African Orisha (Orixa) from the Candomble religion as he is called elsewhere is the guardian of Streets alleyways, houses and towns. He is sometimes confused with Satan because he is irreverent and plays tricks. H.e also wears red and has a white face. This is wrong as he is not […]
Read MoreSanto Amaro da Purificação is an old and sadly decaying sugar centre. It is noted for its churches (which are often closed becauseof robberies), the most famous of which is the Igreja Matriz Santo Amaro da Purificação which has a superb painted ceiling by José Joaquim da Rocha. It is also the birthplace of Caetano […]
Read MoreThe architecture is a photographer’s dream with blue, pink, red and green buildings piled up upon each other as Salvador is very hilly and has many laderias (ladders) which are steep climbs on the way up and slippery cobbled streets on the way down. There is a higher and a lower Salvador. Higher Salvador is […]
Read MoreI landed in Bogota and spent time with my friend Jeannie who retired to Bogota. She is building a house /mini hotel in a beautiful place called Villa de Leyva. It is a colonial town surrounded by mountains and very pretty. I also returned to Quito to a great welcome. I had a fabulous time […]
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Photography, Travelling, Dancing,..
