Sunday, 10/6.  On the road again.  The Blog continues.  As a reminder (to myself), I maintain this blog as more of a ship’s log than a beautiful essay on world travels.  Sentences may not be complete, flowery language may be missing.  Hopefully the photos will show what the prose does not tell.

I’m writing this from a hotel room in Annapolis.  There was a convenient juxtaposition between a Naval Academy mini-reunion (43 years) and my trip.  Met old friends and their better halves. Watched an incredible football game.  Spent far too much money on far too much food and wine.

Four days in Rio de Janeiro on my own, then an 18 day Overseas Adventure Travel (OAT) tour of Patagonia, beginning with Bueno Aires.  An extension will take some of us to Iguazu Falls, a competitor of Victoria Falls in size and beauty.  The base tour includes a four day cruise in and around Tierra del Fuego (Cape Horn, Strait of Magellan, etc.) with twice daily zodiac rides to shore.  OAT warns to distraction the varied weather we may have.  I’ve got layers of cloths and thick skin.  Our Trip Leader has already communicated twice by email and once on the phone.

Patagonia is well known not only for it’s variety of nature but also the diversity of humanity.  Natives (rare), German, Spanish (Basque), British, even Italian.  They brought their culture and it all meshes sloppily (I’m told).  Nature, though, is the prime purpose of the tour. I’m sure we’ll gain more reasons to believe that the earth is warming. Adding to the excitement is Argentina’s political problems and collapsing economy.  I look forward to it all.

It all begins Tuesday morning on Copacabana Beach, which is now playing second fiddle as an attraction to nearby Ipanema Beach.  Every web site warns of the dangers of Rio.  I’ve got a day and a half of [protected] tours.  Otherwise I’ll be on the beach, where danger is less than elsewhere.

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