We have now transitioned from the Turkish-occupied North Cyprus to the “Republic of Cyprus,” often referred to as “the Greek side.” I’ll let you read the linked Wikipedia article if you want to know why. Our first shock was that all the signs were suddenly unreadable, in a non-Roman alphabet script — though usually followed […]
Turkey 04 – Karacasu and Pamukkale
This morning we got up early for a long bus ride to our next hotel. On the road, Mehmet suddenly told the bus driver to stop, then back up a couple hundred yards. He had spotted a woman herding goats on the side of the road. In what became a common occurrence, he approached the […]
Turkey 01 – Istanbul First Impressions
We have just completed our first week in Istanbul, Turkey with 4 nights on the Asian side, and 2 nights. We will next go on a photo tour of Western Turkey, before returning here to Istanbul to stay a couple months. This post is therefore just our first impressions of the city. We are doing […]
New Year’s Eve 2015 – Monigotes
This year we decided to check out Salinas, on the coast of Ecuador, for New Year’s Eve. You can read our first blog, covering the actual NYE event here. This is an addendum post about the huge variety of monigotes or años viejos that we saw in town. These doll-like figures are made from paper-maché […]
Turn Left At The Cow (Puyo)
On the fifth day of our road trip to the Amazon (aka Oriente), we decided to take an unplanned side trip to Puyo, about a two hour drive north of Sucúa, where we spent the first few days. We had wanted to visit the monkey refuge known as Fundación Los Monos Selva y Vida a […]
Cañar Animal Market
Two and half years ago, in November 2012, we attempted to visit the animal market in Cañar, which is 70 km NE of Cuenca at 10,400 ft elevation, and is supposed to be the largest such market in Southern Ecuador. Unfortunately, our driver that day did not understand what we wanted, and by the time we […]
Symphonic Fly Fishing
I have fished exactly once in my life, in the 1970’s using lures on the Deschutes river in Oregon. There is a story behind that one episode, but that would be a diversion here. For the last couple years in Cuenca, I have heard periodically about a local fishing guide that teaches fly fishing. I […]
Patricia and The Big Rat
We finished our month in Argentina with four days at the Estancia Don Joaquin (Estancia is what they call a working ranch in Argentina) in Esquina. Though fairly close to Iguazu Falls, the only way we could reach it was to fly to Buenos Aires, and then take an overnight luxury sleeper bus. Though the […]
Poor Niagara!
We recently completed a three day visit to the Argentina side of Iguazu Falls. The falls span an area of 1.7 miles wide, and sits on the border between Brazil and Argentina. When First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt first saw the falls, she is reported to have said “Poor Niagra!” There are actually approximately 275 waterfalls […]
Toro!
For decades, we have wanted to see a bullfight. Not that I endorse cruelty to animals, but I do like seeing different cultures and their customs (the USA ain’t the arbiter of morality to the world…). Though we have been in Mexico at least 50 times, plus to Spain and other Latin American countries, but […]
