Brazil 2025 part 6

   Our next three days at San Francisco ranch go like this. Up at 4:30, eat breakfast at five o’clock, load on the touring truck at 5:30.  We are taken back to headquarters around 11:00 a.m., eat lunch at noon, try to take a nap before going on our afternoon drive which starts at 2:30. Back to the ranch at 5:30, eat supper at 6:00, back on the truck by 6:30 and do a night drive that ends around 10 p.m.!

    The first day we meet up with a research team that are studying Crab-eating fox and Ocelots to see how each species is doing on this ranch compared to other parts of the Pantanal. The team have live traps set and are trying to capture a crab-eating fox whose collar has lost power. The team leader has informed Fred that they have captured two foxes, (neither one turns out to be the collared fox) and we go to the first area to watch them release the canine. The fox is amazingly calm until they open the cage door. When the cage door is opened the fox bolts for freedom and never looks back. We meet up with them at the second site and again, no agitation in the cage by the fox, but as soon as the door is open the little fox is a blur as it runs from the human spectators.

   This afternoon Paul and Fred end up in a contest on who can find the most Marsh Deer. The deer are an endangered species but not on this ranch. The deer do so well here because of the ranches main crop which is rice. There are water canals and boggy areas that the deer love plus they graze in the rice fields.

At the end of our afternoon drive as the sun is nearly down our driver spots a giant anteater! These are the oddest-looking creatures! The anteater is in a pasture, and the South African man asks if we can try to get closer to the anteater on foot. Fred agrees that this will be okay. It is a hopeless attempt as the anteater keeps walking away from us faster than we can close the gap. Once we are in the pasture Fred spots a second anteater on the edge of the field. You can tell it is an anteater, but it is not close enough to document with a photo. Paul had hoped we would see an anteater, so he is quite happy.

     We do not see much on our night drive and Fred tells us we have the misfortune of a full moon while we are here. During a full moon mammals are not moving around much. We do see a couple of foxes, plus a barn owl diving for prey. The highlight was spotting a cayman killing a huge snake in one of the canals. No chance for a photo darn it.

     Today the native South Africans are going home so our group is down to six. This morning, we see myriads of beautiful birds, a couple of fox, and Marsh deer. Fred tells us that we have seen nearly two hundred species of birds!  

    We arrive in the parking lot and discover that a busload of people has arrived for a day at the ranch and they are waiting to eat lunch. Thankfully Fred has arranged for us to be at the head of the lunch line.

    This afternoon it is really hot which is not made any more comfortable by the hot wind that is blowing. Thank goodness for my neck cooler. Again, we see lots of birds plus the Marsh deer contest is continuing. Fred is winning. The rest of us are helping Paul if we see a deer that Paul overlooked. We point out to Fred that he has an advantage because he is sitting on the chair that is affixed to the top of the truck cab which gives him a clearer view. He just shrugs his shoulders and laughs.

   Tonight, the Indian couple decide not to go with us on the night drive. The man seems to be bothered by mosquitos, but Paul and I have not been bothered by the pests. They chose the wrong night to stay behind because we have not driven far when our spotter finds a giant anteater. We sit and watch the animal nosing around in a pasture for a while then move on. Amazing.

    Towards the end of our night drive the truck driver picks up speed. Our spotter and the driver are talking excitedly to one another. Soon our spotter shines his light on a walkway that is built out into a boggy field (these walkways are made to allow people to get through the marshes). There is a magnificent jaguar walking on the wooden structure. The big cat soon disappears into the darkness. We had no expectations of seeing a jaguar here, so this was an incredible bonus. We were all getting a little sleepy, but this certainly woke us up!

    On our third day we have a unique experience of watching the farm crew loading fertilizer into a plane. We watch as the plane takes off and begins dropping the fertilizer on the wet rice fields. Paul and I have also enjoyed looking at the farm equipment that we have encountered on these drives. The San Francisco Ranch is 15,000 hectares which is nearly 37,000 acres! Fred told us there are around 7500 head of cattle, counting cows, calves, and feedlot animals. I do not remember how many acres of rice they had. Fred also informs us that fifty percent of the ranch’s income comes from tourism.

   Later we sit and watch as some cowboys are moving a herd of yearling bulls. They are bringing them out of a pen onto the road. All goes well until one bull suddenly decides he does not want to leave the pen. After evading the two cowboys on horseback several times, the bull attempts to go through the fence. He is unsuccessful in getting through so the renegade gives up and walks through the gate. We watch as the cowboys and cattle move on down the road then return to the lodge for supper. These cattle were headed for a feedlot. They do not steer their bull calves.

    Tonight, our game drive was very sparse though we did watch a pair of crab-eating fox hunting in some tall grass next to the road. Although the pair worked hard, they came up empty.

    This morning, we begin our long journey home. We eat breakfast at five and return to our room to finish packing. Paul left our room for some reason and soon came back in to inform me that there was a Hyacinth Macaw in a tree behind our building. I grab my camera and get some shots of the beautiful bird. Paul tells the other people in our group about the Macaw, and they all go unpack their cameras to photograph this hard-to-find Macaw. A great way to end our time here.

    The Colorado couple and Fred are not going with the Indian couple and us to the airport because their flights are later. We take a photo with Fred; tell him he was a great guide and give him a well-earned tip. We say goodbye to Fred and the couple from Colorado and load up for our last road trip in Brazil.

   Our trip home was a long one but the complete opposite of the debacle of getting to Brazil, meaning it all went smoothly. It was a great trip but as always so good to get home.

Brazil 2025 part 5

    A cold front came through last night with strong winds and the riverboat was sailing into the wind and waves. I woke up several times and could feel our ship hitting waves and rolling a bit.  Paul slept through the night and never noticed the waves at all. Consequently, we are behind schedule as far as where the captain had hoped to be this morning.

Paul and I went outside at five a.m. to look at the sunrise and came right back in. It is chilly and with the stiff wind, it is not comfortable. What a change from yesterday. After breakfast we load up in the speedboat.

    Although our boat driver stays as close to the edge of the river as he can, we are traveling into the wind. This means the wind-created waves are coming straight at us.  The river is rough and at times there will be a wave that is three feet tall, (I asked Paul about the height, and this was his estimation). Our driver must speed into these large swells to make it over them. This maneuver sends a spray of water into the boat. This is one time it is good to be sitting in the middle seats! We hardly see any birds, I assume they do not like the wind or the temperature.  Fred must see the discomfort of his charges and asks us if we want to go back to the riverboat. Every one of us agrees we want to return. Some explorers we are!

    We decide to go back out on the speedboat this afternoon, this is our last chance to explore by speed boat after all. At least the sun is out although it is still windy. We must cross some rough water but then our driver turns into a side channel which is protected from the wind, (and much smaller than the Paraguay river). We see a Toucan, a Trogan, and a Great Horned owl with two chicks in a nest so this alone was worth the trip. We arrive at a crystal-clear pool of water where a lot of the group had hoped to swim and snorkel, but it is just too cold.

    Fred sings for us one last time and gives an educational talk on Macaws. He also brings the cowboy-hat wearing chefs out and introduces them to us. We give the incredible cooks a much-deserved round of applause for all the delicious meals they have prepared for us.

    Tonight, the KC Chiefs are playing in Sao Paulo. As crazy as it seems, Paul and the man from Colorado can watch the game on the tv in the dining room. Not exactly roughing it are we?

    Today the riverboat delivers us to the town of Carumba. Upon seeing the slot where the captain must maneuver the boat into, I cannot see how in the world he will manage it. However, with seemingly little effort he pulls into the space next to another riverboat. Before we disembark the crew lines up in the prow of the boat. We shake hands, thank them for taking such good care of us and give them a well-deserved tip.

    There is a van waiting for us at the boat dock. Some of the crew loads up our luggage and we climb into the van. We are driven into the historic part of Carumba where a young woman is waiting for us. We climb back out of the van and take a walking tour in the old town of Carumba. As we walk, the young woman fills us in on the history of her town as we admire the colorful buildings.

    When our tour is over, we crawl back into the van and are driven to a house that is now a museum. The museum was the home of a wealthy couple who left the house and their belongings to the city with the intent for it to become a museum. It is filled with beautiful furniture, has a big library, and a large room dedicated to Don Quixote. The man was obsessed with Quixote. There are Quixote paintings, statues, toys, and books he collected in many languages.

    Our next stop is visiting a man who is famous for constructing guitars from native wood. We are given a tour of a room filled with memorabilia and guitars. He also strums on one of his creations while he sings to us. We end the tour in his simple workshop which is behind his house.

    Our last stop before lunch is at the top of a steep hill. There is a statue of Jesus that looks like a replica of the famous statue in Rio de Janeiro. There is also a nice bird’s eye view of Carumba.

   Time for lunch, which is in a museum dedicated to cowboy life in the Pantanal. Fred has outdone himself here. Our table is set up in the middle of the displays, and a trio of men are serenading us as we eat. We are served ten different dishes, one at a time. Though the food was delicious, and the portions small I do not think anyone was able to eat everything.  The guitar player and accordion player are excellent. They both have great voices too but when the guitarist sang on his own, I literally got goose bumps. What a haunting voice this young man has. The song I remember clearly was “Easy like Sunday Morning.” Yes, they mostly sang American songs.

    It is time to journey to the San Francisco ranch, so we say goodbye to and thank our knowledgeable guide. I tell her that her English is superb, and she thanks me for the compliment.

     After three hours on a very rough highway and some dirt roads we arrive at our destination. The first thing we see when exiting the van is a pair of Macaws eating from the unique bird feeder. The feeder is the top rail of the wooden fence that has been hollowed out. When everyone is finished snapping photos of the Macaws, Fred leads us to one of the owners who is waiting for us. The young woman points out the restaurant, the office, informs us where to drop off our laundry, etc. We are shown to our rooms which are spacious, simple, and very clean. There are three beds, a half dozen wood platforms attached to the wall to set your luggage on, a small bathroom, and air conditioning. It is all we need.

    We eat supper at 6:30 but it is not just our group. The ranch has many guests here. Most are Brazilians who come for one night to enjoy the country life. They are taken on drives in trucks that carry sixty people. No thanks! The guests also enjoy the pools, hammocks, liquor, and the buffet. Our supper is good but a step or two down from our meals on the riverboat.

    After supper we go on a night drive. I am a little uncomfortable with the spotlighting but that is the only way you will see anything. We get lucky and our spotter finds an ocelot hunting by the edge of the road. The small cat catches what our spotter thinks is a guinea pig. We watch from a distance as she gobbles it down. We sit and wait and sure enough the ocelot comes towards us with no fear at all. She goes into a field and this time we clearly see her pounce on something. Since it does not take her long to consume it the guides figure it is a mouse. Cool, we had hoped to see an ocelot and that can be checked off the list.  We also see crab-eating foxes and some owls. I also am surprised at how the animals and birds don’t seem to be affected by the spotlight. We get back to our rooms around ten o’clock, tired but happy.

Brazil 2025 part 4

    This morning, I wake up with an unhappy stomach so make the decision I had better stay on the boat. We cannot exactly pull up anywhere on the riverbank for an emergency stop! Pit stops are only allowed on open sandy beaches and those can be few and far between.

Paul waves at me as the speedboat backs away. Naturally, I feel some remorse as I watch the group leaving without me. The good part of my staying on the riverboat is that today we will be on the move and heading up the river. Another good thing is I can stand up and walk around plus there is an awning to stand under and escape the hot sun! Paul and I are both sick of sitting all the time! We do walk laps around the upper deck when we are on the riverboat to get some exercise.

    I observe the crew prepare to leave. The youngest member goes ashore to untie the huge rope that has kept the riverboat moored to a tree during the night. It takes three men to get the lengthy rope pulled back onto the ship. One of them is in the water pulling the rope to the boat, another man pulls it through a hole in the ships side, and the third man wraps the rope around a bar on the other side of the ship. This is all taking place below me, so I have a bird’s eye view of the process. It takes a lot of strength to get that rope back on the ship and secured.

Once we are moving up the river, I stand in the prow and observe the river and the shoreline.  I see birds everywhere, spy an iguana sitting on the edge of the river, and watch a pair of Hyacinth Macaws fly in front of the ship. I did not have my camera in hand so there is no photo of the Macaws.

   I also watch the Brazilians going about their lives as we drift by their homesteads. One homestead has laundry hanging on the line. There is a man and woman preparing to leave in a small boat. Maybe they are going fishing?  A couple of cowboys are driving a small herd of cattle down a road. We wave to each other and by the time I think to take a photo, they have disappeared behind a grove of trees. The riverboat is amazingly quiet which is a nice change from the speed boats. I really am enjoying this!

I watch the crew clean the ship, swabbing the decks and washing windows. This ship is always very clean and well kept. After they finish, I do some laps around the top deck and see several of the crew taking a break on the deck below. I go to our room and get the photo book I brought with photos taken at our ranch. The men do not speak English, and I sure do not speak Portugues but photos they understand. The crew crowd around the man holding the book and one of them points to a photo of cows and says “bison”? No, I reply, they are Angus cattle. Several of them say Angus as though they recognize that word. The photo that gets the most reaction is one of our cows lined up eating hay with snow on the ground and snow on the cattle’s back. All of them react with an ooh or even brr. They hand my book back and thank me for letting them see it, (I think).

    Fred and the group return to check on me late morning, and I am feeling good enough to go with them on a short jaunt before coming back for lunch. Paul tells me they saw Marcela and Ousado but the best sighting was a Tapir! Boy am I sorry I missed seeing that odd animal. I tell myself that we saw two tapirs on our first trip to Brazil so that makes me feel better. Paul has a photo which looks good on his phone, but it is too pixelated when it is blown up to post on the blog.

Our adventure this afternoon is going up a side channel that is very shallow with lots of water hyacinths. Fred must use a pole to check the depth of the water to make sure our boat does not bottom out. There are caiman everywhere and more beautiful birds including Roseate Spoonbills. Unfortunately, it is so blasted hot that everybody agrees we should return to the riverboat early.

   Fred sang for us and gave a great talk on caymans and howler monkeys tonight. The best thing on the buffet in my opinion was the French fries! They were cooked perfectly. We have not had many potato dishes so I ate my fill of them! I love potatoes and am not fond of rice and beans which is a staple in Brazil. Okay, the stroganoff was excellent too.

     This morning Paul and I go out to watch the sunrise but are soon chased back in due to clouds of mosquitos. We have had very little trouble with these pests so far which is kind of surprising.

   We do not leave until 6:30 this morning as Fred is taking us to a place where we can take a walk. Yeah!! The Indian couple decide to forgo this as Fred warns us that there will be mosquitos and the man seems to be a mosquito magnet. It was not a tough hike although in one place there were a lot of loose rocks which made you watch your step. We saw a Pale-crested woodpecker which was new for us and a tiny woodpecker about the size of a wren. When we got out of the timber and onto a dirt road, Paul spotted a jaguar track in the dust. We are just glad we did not run into the big cat on the brushy trail. We walked a couple of miles and boy did that feel good.

    The Indian couple are waiting in the speedboat when we get back. Our boat driver takes us down a river canal which leads to a huge lake. There is a mountain range in the background so the scenery is stunning. As we motor on, there are lakes and water canals as far as you can see. This means we see huge flocks of water birds, flying, perching, and swimming. It is just surreal. We end up in Bolivia for a few minutes; the border is marked by a white post sticking up out of the water. No, we are not supposed to go into Bolivia, but we have not seen a soul since we entered this beautiful area so figure we are safe. Oh yes, the riverboat is now traveling up the Paraguay river.

     This afternoon we are going to visit what Fred calls the shopping mall. A group of women decided to start weaving crafts from the water hyacinth stems. Fred always brings his groups here because he so admires the innovation of the women. Also, very few tourists come here so they need all the help they can get. Everyone finds something to purchase. Paul and I buy a piece that resembles a capybara. I have no idea what we will do with it when we get it home but the ability it took to weave this piece is admirable.

  We leave the shopping mall behind and motor to the Pantanal National Park headquarters. I cannot remember how many acres the park is but do know it is huge. To patrol the waters and land of this enormous national park there are only two rangers! The head ranger is a personable woman who warmly greets us upon our arrival. We follow her to the office building and sign the visitors’ book. After visiting for a bit, with Fred translating, we head back to the riverboat. One thing Fred shares with us is how isolated the people who work and live here are, twelve hours by boat to a town!

    A wonderful day and I loved this scenic area. Not a bad way to spend your 49^th wedding anniversary!

I have included slideshows in this blog. Below are various birds we saw. Another slide show shows photos when we were touring the expansive waters. Just click on the arrows to see all the photos.

Brazil 2025 part 3

    I always make notes in a journal at the end of the day, and this is what my first sentence was for today. Jaguar heaven this morning! Can it really be better than yesterday?

We have not gone far on the main river when we experience a phenomenon that I will never forget. Fish begin jumping out of the river and one of them lands in the lap of the Indian woman. She jumps up screaming and runs over to my side of the boat. I get down and while trying to capture the flopping fish I keep reassuring her, (okay I am laughing too), that it is just a fish. She finally settles down, and I manage to grab our uninvited guest and toss it overboard. In the meantime, several other fish have landed in our boat. A crewman that is with us this morning is busy grabbing them and tossing them back. I know I should not have laughed as the poor woman really was freaked out. I am fairly certain I was not the only one laughing at her expense.

   We have some good bird sightings this morning before we join a few boats watching Marcela as she is getting ready to cross the narrow tributary we are in. Holy smokes! No wonder Marcela slept all day, yesterday. Her belly is huge! This beauty is either very pregnant, or she stuffed herself to the point of bursting. It does not take Marcela long to reach the other side and then she disappears into the woods.

We continue exploring and twenty minutes after leaving Marcela we cross paths with Patricia and Makala walking near the water. Patricia soon vanishes into the brushy cover, but Makala decides to sit down and stare right back at us. He soon becomes bored and heads in the same direction Mom did. Well, that was cool.

Our driver turns down another channel on orders from Fred and in a few minutes, we find Marcela sleeping in a tree! I guess that swim and short overland hike wore her out. Fred tells us this is one of her favorite trees. The guides obviously know the habits of the individual jaguars very well.

This place is a labyrinth of channels off the main river, and I have no idea where we are or where we have been. I do know that we find two river otters in the offshoot of the main river we are exploring now. These otters are not cute in my opinion. To me they look flat out mean. This couple do entertain us with their playful antics. They crawl up the muddy bank and slide around in the mud, then go down into the river and splash around. Suddenly the otters go on alert. Fred sees what they are upset about as he spots Ousado emerging from some trees on the other side of the river. Ousado approaches the water and is preparing to cross when he espies the otters. He stops and intently watches the otters.

I think all of us are holding our breath as Fred quietly relates to us that jaguar fear river otters. A group of otters will not hesitate to attack a jaguar and if you could see their teeth, you would understand why. After what seems like an eternity, Ousado backs up and takes refuge on the riverbank. The otters seem to accept his retreat and start playing again. Eventually the otters swim down the river and we follow them for a while. They can stay under the water a long time and boy can they swim fast! What an interesting encounter.

    Our boat is speeding off again and this time we are taken to a pair of jaguars in mating mode. Typical cat romance, snarling, lashing out with their paws, nothing that would suggest they wanted anything to do with each other. We sit here with several other tourists watching the jaguars’ antics but the two do not mate.  Regardless, a great way to cap off the morning!

It is a relief to be back on the airconditioned riverboat as it is sunny and very hot today. We are served another great meal. These chefs are something else. Fred regals us with stories of things that have happened with other clients of his which is very entertaining. I wonder if the fish encounter will be told to future clients.

    We are off at three o’clock, but the Indian couple decide to stay on the boat. Maybe it is too hot for them, and it is stifling hot. I am wearing a neck cooler, and I am so glad I decided to buy one and give it a try. I have no idea how it works but after soaking it in ice water, it stays cool for about three hours. I do not deal with heat very well and this device has allowed me to stay comfortable.

We find a jaguar grooming himself on a sandy beach. It turns out to be Ousado. Fred says Ousado is about two miles from where we saw him this morning. Fred tells us that this makes him feel more positive about Ousado’s health since he has traveled that far in a fairly short time. My question is how the old jaguar can stand being out in the direct sunlight?

    We meander down different channels, some quite shallow. When we are in the shallow tributaries, Fred asks us to all to move to front seats so the motor will sit higher in the water. This will keep the motor from getting clogged with the water plants. We go back to check on the mating couple which have stayed in the same area we saw them at this morning. There is no shade for the boat, so we are at the mercy of the late afternoon sun. Yikes, have I mentioned it is really hot? The two jaguars move around some, still making threatening noises and gestures towards one another. We move on after twenty minutes giving up hope that the couple will actually mate. When the speedboat is moving the breeze helps tremendously in cooling us down, so we are all happy to leave.

Fred wants to check on Marcella again. I think Marcela must be one of Fred’s favorite jaguars. After we have been there a few minutes, Marcela sits up on the big limb she was sleeping on. Everyone, (a few other boats are here), watch intently in the hope we will see her ambush the caiman that poked his head up not far from Marcela’s perch. Marcela looks at the reptile and then lays back down. What a tease she is!

Another beautiful sunset, great meal, and entertainment from our versatile guide.

BRAZIL 2025 PART 2

    We are up early, 4:30, and eating breakfast at 5:30. This will be our routine for the days we are on the boat. By the way, our boat travels at night so we are at a different place this morning from where it was moored last night. We load up on the speed boat at six a.m. and motor down the Rio Cuiaba river.

   A myriad of birds, caiman, and trees blooming in vibrant reds, pinks, and purples nearly overwhelm me. Fred is amazing on his ability to spot and identify every bird we see, also the trees and flowers. We have not been on the boat very long when it suddenly speeds up and we roar down the river. Since the other people in our group experienced the sudden acceleration yesterday morning, they know what is up and Paul and I have a pretty good idea too.

     We come upon a boat sitting still in the middle of the river and when we pull up beside it, there on the shore is a beautiful jaguar. Our first jaguar! I am pretty sure my mouth drops open and my heart definitely speeds up. The big male, who Fred identifies as Tomas, is busy eating a bird. A paltry snack for this big cat but Fred says even though the jaguar’s main prey are caimans they never pass up an opportunity for a meal. We sit and watch Tomas devour his big kill. He spends more time plucking feathers and spitting them out than finding a piece of meat to eat. When Tomas finishes his snack, he stands up and strolls into the brush and trees, disappearing from our sight. Tomas never even looked towards the boats that arrived to watch him dine, which tells you how acclimated they are to humans.

   We have learned from this experience that the guides share a jaguar sighting with other guides, which is good. There are so many side channels that the odds would go way down in seeing a jaguar if no one shared their good luck at spotting the beautiful cat.

     We head on down or maybe up the river, and I swear we have not left Thomas fifteen minutes ago and our boat is roaring down the river again. Here is the bad part of everyone knowing about a jaguar siting. When we arrive, there are probably twenty boats watching a female jaguar as she is hunting a caiman. We never see the caiman she is after but the big cat will splash into the water, then go up on the shore, walk along the shore a little way before going back into the water. More boats have arrived and are jostling for a better spot which becomes very irritating. The jaguar seems to have given up on her quest for the caiman, as she walks into some dense bushes that engulf her. Our boat and the others proceed in the direction she headed and sure enough the big cat comes back into the open. The jaguar shows no inclination of continuing her hunt. Fred asks us if we have had enough. We all agree we are ready to leave the chaos behind. There were probably thirty boats by the time we left.   

As we cruise down the river, Fred, and our boat driver, simultaneously call out “Jaguar.” Are you kidding me. I must be dreaming, how in the world have we seen three jaguars within an hour or so? Fred immediately knows this male jaguar because he is wearing a radio collar and he has quite a story behind him. Ousado was rescued after a devastating wildfire in this area in 2022. Ousado had been burned badly particularly his feet. I think Fred told us he was under human care for a year and then returned to the wild. He is the only jaguar with a radio collar.  Ousado is ten years old which is old for a jaguar particularly one that went through the trauma that he did. Fred notices that he is missing a back toe which is still raw. When Ousado stands up we see how bony he is and that he is walking slowly. Fred shakes his head and wonders out loud how much longer the old cat will survive. I would have to agree with our guides assessment.  We are joined by two other boats which after the last jaguar encounter is a marked improvement.  As we are leaving Ousado, other boats are speeding our way so we timed our departure just right.

    Our boat driver takes off and soon we have joined several boats that are clustered near a tree growing next to the shoreline. This is crazy. There is a jaguar sleeping in the tree though she is so hidden that all you can see is her head and front paws. All the staring human eyes and boat noise does not even wake her up. Fred identifies her as Marcela. The jaguars in the identification project are named and identified by the markings on their heads or unique spots on their sides. We stay for a bit to see if the snoozing lady will wake up and do something to entertain us but all we get for the time we are there is seeing her open her eyes once.

    Are you ready?  We are speeding away again and soon join a few other tourists in watching a mother and her big cub swimming in the river. How amazing to see cats leisurely swimming. Jaguars often choose to swim in the river to travel to another place rather than go overland. The pair swim near the edge of the river for quite some distance and their entourage of speed boats filled with humans follow slowly on the other side of the river. When the pair emerge from the water, we get a good look at them and see that the male cub is nearly as big as his mama. The cub named Makala has what looks like teeth puncture wounds on his hips. Who knows what put them there but maybe a male jaguar?  Patricia, his mother, slowly ambles into the cover of trees and brush with Makala not far behind although he is more curious about we humans and stops to look at us occasionally.

It is time to head back to the boat for lunch and as we arrive there is a family of capybara standing on the beach not far from where our riverboat is moored. Our boat driver takes us near the rodent family so we can snap some photos of the huge, odd-looking creatures. We have seen many of these giant rodents already, but the lighting and the little ones make for a good photo op.

Once on the boat we enjoy a wonderful lunch served buffet style. We have a couple hours after lunch to rest up. If anyone would have told us that we would see six individual jaguars within a few hours on the river I think all of us would have laughed out loud! I still have trouble believing our good fortune.   

    We leave for our afternoon exploration at three o’clock. It is hot, in the 90’s, but it is cloudy which certainly helps. Fred wants to go back and check on Marcela to see if she is still sleeping in the tree. Marcela has left the tree and is now napping on an embankment a few yards from the tree she had been in. Again, Marcela does not move or even open her eyes. I wish I could sleep that well. We do not stay long as there is way too many boats filled with patient people hoping the lazy jaguar will wake up and entertain them.

Our boat driver takes us down a small channel and we have not gone far when we join a few boats watching a female jaguar walking on the sandy beach. The lovely lady lays down but after a few minutes she decides that she is thirsty and walks down to the river to drink. Watching any cat lap water is fascinating to me as I do not see how they ever manage to get enough water to satisfy them. There are more boats arriving all the time, so we say farewell to the seventh jaguar we have seen today. Paul and I just shake our heads at this unbelievable day in Brazil. I guess the misery of getting here was worth it. Thanks for sticking with getting us here Paul!

   Fred decides we need to check on Marcela one last time and we find her in the same area, and she is still zonked out. Because there are a lot less boats we are able to see all of this slumbering cat. Marcela will probably start prowling once the sun sets and all these bothersome tourists are gone. We enjoy another gorgeous sunset before going back to the riverboat.

    Once we are on the boat, we all head to our rooms to clean up before supper. Our cabin is much like the room we had at the airport. A bed with room for luggage underneath it, a small wardrobe to hang clothes, and a bathroom. It is small but we will not be spending much time in here anyway.

   We head upstairs to the dining area and Fred is already playing the guitar and singing. Yes, our guide is multi-talented. He often sings popular American songs in English of course, but occasionally sings a Brazilian song in Portuguese. Fred then presents his “Fred talks” where he has photos he has taken on a computer about the animals he is educating us about for that night. I think tonight it was on capybaras. Fred also has a camera with those long lenses and his photos are stunning.  A wonderful meal is just the icing on the cake of this incredible, unbelievable day!

Heading to Brazil 2025

   Almost two years ago Paul and I shook hands to seal our agreement that we were finished with international travel as we headed back home from Egypt. Now we are heading for the Manhattan airport to catch our first flight on our way to Brazil. Why did we break our no travel pact? Because Paul found a tour that basically guaranteed that we would see Jaguars. Well heck, the one big cat beside snow leopards that we have not seen. After a few hems and haws from me, the decision was made to go.

    Ah yes, the wonderful part of any trip is the journey to get there. Pure sarcasm on my part. Our flight from Manhattan is delayed by an hour. No problem since we have an eight-hour layover in Dallas. We make it to Dallas and after a few hours, passengers begin to line up to board the plane that will take us to Sao Paulo. Ten minutes before actual boarding time an announcement is made telling us our flight has been cancelled. I guess since the crew had not gotten on the plane yet should have been a clue something was wrong. The weather is fine so it must be a problem with the plane, no explanation is given for the cancellation.

   While we are standing in line for hotel vouchers, Paul is already reaching out to Exito, the people that booked our flights. A young man from Brazil happens to be standing next to us and he asks us about the hotel choices that have come up on his phone app. Paul checks his phone and he too has the hotel voucher on his app. We tell the young man that none of the choices are great, but we will go with La Quinta over Motel 6 and Super 8. Ed goes with our decision for his hotel choice too. We also get meal vouchers you can use at the airport worth twelve dollars which makes our new acquaintance laugh saying you might be able to buy a cup of coffee for that amount. Ed gets on his phone and connects with the hotel who has a shuttle in route to pick us and other passengers up. Paul continues to work with Exito and now has a representative from the tour company making suggestions too. We have more confusion as we cannot find the shuttle once it announces it has arrived but Ed who is conversing with the driver realizes we need to go down one level.

   On the way to the hotel, Paul continues to correspond via What’s App, with Abigal our tour operator and Exito. We make it to the hotel, and before going to our room we make plans with Ed to catch the same shuttle in the morning back to the airport.

   I take my glasses off when we get to the room and hear something hit the floor. For crying out loud, one of my lenses fell out. Well, this is why you bring an extra pair. By the time I am ready for bed Paul and the people helping him have booked us on a later flight to Cuiaba that will still allow us to catch our private flight to Port Jofre with the rest of our group. I forgot that if our flight had not been cancelled, we would have been spending the night in Cuiaba before taking the final flight to Porte Jofre.

   I wake up early to find Paul on the phone again chatting with our tour and flight coordinators. Guess what? Our departure time was moved back in the middle of the night so a new set of plans must be made! Upon hearing what it entails I tell Paul maybe we should just go home. Paul considers this but decides we should try to follow through. I reluctantly agree. The new plan is that we will get to Sao Paulo in the wee hours of the morning, spend about three hours in an airport hotel, catch our Cuiaba flight, then be transported by a private driver and a guide to Porte Jofre. We darn well better see a jaguar!                      

    After eating a typical hotel breakfast, we join Ed and other passengers on the shuttle that takes us back to the Dallas airport. Our flight is delayed this morning due to heavy rain, but we do get off the ground around noon. Ed has joined us while we wait to board the plane. At one point he needs to go see if he can get his connecting flight to Cuiaba straightened out and asks if we will watch his carry-on luggage. Of course we will. When Ed comes back, he gives us a big box of Lindt mini-candy bars. We protest that we should be treating him for all his help. How kind is that?

    Paul and I opted for Premium Economy and boy is it worth it. We have two seats on the right side of the plane and our friend Ed is on the left side. Glad we were not in the middle where there are three seats. We arrive in Sao Paulo at 1:30 in the morning but our checked bag which is packed with trail cameras for the people that run the Jaguar Identification Project does not show up. There are several passengers who have luggage that does not come on the carousel. A young woman comes up to me and asks if our bag is a duffle. Yes, it is. She tells us that they found their duffle bag in the lost luggage area. Someone told them that the baggage handlers do not put them on the conveyer belt since they tend to fall off. I walk over to lost luggage and sure enough our duffle bag is sitting there. Thank goodness for that thoughtful person to let us know or we might have never found it.

   Guess who has been waiting for us all this time while we were looking for our luggage? Our guardian angel Ed. He and another Brazilian who works for American Airlines, walk us to our hotel which is in another terminal. Along the way Ed tells us where we will have to check our luggage in and points out the gate where our flight leaves from in the morning. A good thing they escorted us as we would never have found this hotel that is tucked away in a corner of the airport and at this time of morning there is hardly anyone around to help you. After our personal escorts make sure we have a room they leave to go to the other airport hotel. We enter our room at three in the morning. The first thing I do is hit the shower before laying down in hopes of a little sleep.

   We are up at 5:30 and out of the small room by six o’clock. It is a good thing as we walk into a mad house. People are everywhere. We go to the area where we think we need to check in our duffle bag, but Paul cannot get the woman who is standing at the entrance of the aisle to pay any attention to him. People keep pushing in front of him but eventually he gets confirmation on where to go. After getting the bag checked in, we proceed to our gate. Paul has the tickets on his phone, and he gets through just fine. He gives me the phone and for some reason my ticket is refused. The women running the gate will not let Paul back out and she points and tells me to go over there. Over where? I am freaking out that I may have to go back to the check-in area but Paul sees the line she is talking about and walks down to show me where it is.  I join lots of other passengers whose ticket codes were also rejected. I get through this check point with no trouble. Obviously, a rejected code is not unusual.

  Once inside we find the gate where we will be boarding and Paul goes off to buy himself a sprite. After sitting there awhile I am astonished to look up and see Ed. He tells me he wanted to make sure we found our gate. Paul shows up and we visit with Ed until it is time to line up to for boarding. I still find the kindness of this young man unbelievable. I will add that on our last trip to Brazil almost 20 years ago, our connecting flight out of Sao Paulo was cancelled. As we were talking about what we should do (no cell phones then) a young man came up to us and asked if we were the Miller’s. It turns out he was our guide, so he took over and solved our problem! What are the odds?

    We boarded our flight on time, but we are not sitting together, guess we were lucky they had 2 seats left on this flight. Once we reach Cuiaba, our duffle bag shows up, our guide, Zainia, is waiting for us and she takes us to the vehicle where Reece, the driver, packs up our luggage. Reece drives us to a barbeque restaurant where the waiters bring all kinds of meat to your table and slice off what you want at your table. You go through a buffet for the side dishes. I do not eat much but what I have is excellent. Paul tries small pieces of just about all the meat except the fish.

   We take off on our four-hour drive with most of the road trip on the Transpantaneira highway which is a very rough dirt road with around a hundred or so bridges. The last time we were here they were all wooden, but many have been replaced with modern bridges. These are small bridges. We see cayman, lots of birds, horses, cattle, and a few deer on our drive while we listen to Zainia tell us about what we are seeing along the way and some of her experiences as a guide.

Once we reach Port Jofre, we wait 20 minutes for our guide Fred to come pick us up in the speed boat. We see a hyacinth macaw plus other birds while we are waiting. The other six members of the group are also in the boat. We say thank you to Zainia and Reece then get on the speed boat. The boat driver takes us to the river boat where we will spend the next six nights. I assume that Paul and I will get off with our luggage but Fred says no, we are going with them to explore a river channel. We meet the group, a couple from Colorado, two more couples from South Africa but one of those couples are from India who moved to South Africa. The three men and the woman from Colorado have cameras with unbelievably long lenses on them!

    We see birds everywhere and Fred knows every one of them. No jaguars but we do have a gorgeous sunset. Paul and I are exhausted but we enjoy the excellent evening meal and find Fred very personable and knowledgeable. We visit with the other people in the group a bit but excuse ourselves early to go to bed as we are exhausted!

     We are up shortly after five and do a bit more packing. We go up to the dining room for an early breakfast and drop our tip for the ship crew in the box. This is one place that OAT does not take care of the tip. Upon returning to the room, we walk through the cabin and bathroom to double check that we did not overlook any of our things. We set our two large suitcases out in the hallway and lug our carry-on baggage to the observation deck. We are loading onto our coach by 7:30 and leaving this wonderful ship and the relaxing time we spent on her behind. Hussein tells us that the crew has four hours to get everything prepared for the next OAT group to board the Aida. This OAT group will be doing our adventure in reverse, sailing down the Nile from Aswan to Esna.

    On our drive to Aswan High Dam, (finished in 1970), Hussein talks about the displacement of thousands of Nubian people, (Hussein is Nubian), due to the Dam’s construction and the forming of Lake Nasser, which is named after the man who was president of Egypt at that time. Naturally this was an extremely traumatic event for the Nubian people and anyone else who lived on the land that was inundated by the lake.

    Our guide says the positive elements of the construction of the dam is that the annual Nile flood can now be controlled by humans. One other plus of the dam is that it generates a tremendous amount of hydroelectric power. Hussein also explains that the dam’s turbines are why there are no crocodiles in the Nile below the dam which is where we were sailing, (is that good or bad news?). The crocodiles cannot pass through the turbines as according to Hussein they would be chopped to bits. Hussein gives us the negative aspect of the dam’s construction, which is that controlling the annual flood has decreased the fertility of the riverside agricultural lands. This is because the rich silt ends up in the canals and reservoirs instead of being deposited on the farmland. The farmers have had to turn to artificial fertilizer which is no substitute for the rich nutrients found in the silt.

    When we arrive at Aswan High Dam, we see military presence here. I think this is where a soldier walks around the bus inspecting it before we are allowed to drive onto the dam and sees me looking at him through the window. The soldier gives me a big smile and a wink before he continues his inspection. There are two soldiers sitting on a wall along the dam road and if I remember correctly there was a tank at the dam’s entry point with a man looking out the top opening of the tank turret armed with a rifle. This is not the first time we have encountered the military; we have seen towers manned by soldiers with rifles, at the edge of towns. Most of us already know not to take photos of anything military but Hussein reminds us of this rule.

    We leave the bus and Hussein points out the restrooms and observation areas where you can look over the lake, see the Nile, and the original Aswan dam that was built by the British in 1902.  Paul and I take a quick look at the views and then go buy some potato chips from the vendor that is located nearby. We both have been craving a salty snack! All of us are back on the bus after a short time as truthfully, there isn’t a lot to see here but also because it is chilly and windy this morning.

    Hussein tells us that we have a four hour drive to Abu Simbel but we will stop at the midway point for a bathroom break. Once we are on the road, Hussein plugs in his phone and somehow this allows us to use our electronic devices. I don’t understand how that works but I know it is astounding that I can email a friend, play words with friends, and read on my tablet while traveling down the Egyptian highway in the middle of the Sahara Desert!

    There is not much to see along our route except sand but I still look out the window now and then. I do a double take when I see irrigation systems sitting in the desert. I point the rigs out to Paul, and he is as puzzled as I am. Paul asks Hussein why there are pivot irrigation machines out here. Hussein laughs and says because they are going to grow crops like wheat and corn. Our guide tells us we will see the growing crops in the Sahara farther down the road. What? But sure enough, we later come upon lush fields of wheat or barley, and corn fields that are dried down and ready to harvest. All of this is being done by the army/government. The ability to grow crops has been made possible because of canals bringing water into the desert thus the need for the irrigation systems in order to water the crops. It still does not answer the question we have on how you get any crop to take root in sand. Hussein admits he does not know but surmises that there must be a more compact soil just beneath the sand. Wonders never cease!

    At the rest stop, our group leaves the bus to use the restrooms. The water closets as they are called here, are surprisingly clean. Hussein gives us time to stretch our legs before we load up and continue our journey.

    We drive by an area where a stone wall has been constructed with a barb wire fence built on top of it. The combination stone wall and barb wire fence, I would estimate is eight or ten feet high. Hussein explains that this is another army project which the government refers to as a ranch. There is a lot of irrigated areas which are vivid green with growing crops, quite a contrast to the desert outside the wall. We see no sign of any animals, but they could easily be out there as we are only seeing a small part of the government “ranch.”  Hussein says the government will not answer the question that the people have asked on why they need such a barrier around the property. The wire that tops the fence is bent outward, which would keep anyone on the outside from crawling over the fence. Weird.

    As we draw close to Abu Simbel, Hussein gets on the microphone and says “Guys, you have stayed in two five-star hotels so far and although this hotel is nice you cannot expect it to be like those in Cairo and Luxor.” He reiterates this warning to us as we drive up to the hotel, telling us not to be too disappointed and try not to compare this place to our prior hotels. There is a stack of bricks piled up not far from the hotel drop off point which makes one wonder if there is still some construction going on. I tell Jennifer that I do not care at all if this hotel is not as fancy as our prior hotels but I do hope it is clean.

    When we follow Hussein through the door of the Seti Abu Simbel hotel, it does not take long before we realize we have been duped! Somebody in our group exclaims, “you were kidding us.”  Hussein is laughing as he got us to swallow his warning about the hotel, hook, line, and sinker! The rascal. Well played Hussein. This place is incredible. The hotel’s architecture is unique in that there are arches built off the main building which give you a cool view of the swimming pools, and rooms. It is stunning.

    We eat lunch in the spacious restaurant before we go to our rooms. Our large room is gorgeous, and has a cool mural painted on the wall above our bed. There is a balcony that looks out on Lake Nasser affording us a beautiful view. Once we have halfway organized our belongings, Paul and I walk the grounds of the hotel. We admire the lake views, the colorful bushes that are blooming in front of the rooms, the swimming pools, and well-kept grounds. It is too bad that we are only here for one night.

Slide show of various aspects of our hotel. We loved this hotel.

     At 4:30, Paul and I make our way back to the main part of the hotel. We are gathering in a small room to listen to a Nubian man whose family was one of the thousands that were forced off their land for the Aswan project. He is a well-spoken man who talks about the trauma to his family, he was very young, being uprooted from their land and moved to the desert. He remembers that they had to leave some of their cattle behind because there was not enough room on the boat. The man talks about the place the government moved them to which literally was in the desert with no grazing for the cattle. The houses were tiny and it was impossible to live the way they had before.

    Many of his family, (including this man) among others left and took jobs in other places like Cairo or even other countries. Those that stayed did make the uninhabitable area habitable through hard work and by getting water to their new home via canals. I do not remember if the government dug the canals or how that happened. They turned the desert into a viable place to live which is something to be admired.

   I believe that our entertainer was working in another country, when the president, (Assisi I think), put out a plea for the displaced Nubians to come back. The president promised them they could settle near the same area that they had been removed from all those years ago. Our speaker came home and ended up working with the people that manage the Ramses II Temple which is located by Abu Simbel.  At the end of his talk the man plays Nubian instruments and sings some Nubian songs for us. He has a nice voice, and it was a pleasure listening to him sing. I probably have some of the facts wrong and I know I have forgotten other things the man related to us but you can get an idea of what these people went through.

    After the Nubian’s talk, we follow Hussein to the bus and take a short ride to the temple that draws people to Abu Simbel. Tonight, we are going to experience the sound and light show that takes place at Ramses II temple. Hussein tells us that in his opinion this is the best sound and light show to experience in Egypt. We have to walk maybe a quarter of a mile to reach the bleachers and I am glad that I have my fleece on under my jacket. It is quite chilly this evening. It is dark by the time we get to the temple and Hussein points out a spectacular extra which is Venus, Jupiter, and Mars, in a descending line in the night sky. It turns out that Hussein has an avid interest in astronomy.  Our guide continues to amaze and surprise us.

    We have front row seats for the show and after we are settled on the benches, Hussein passes out recorders that will narrate the show for us in English. The sound and light show is spectacular with thundering music and animated scenes depicting the life of Ramses II and Queen Nefertari flashing across the temples, (there is a temple for Nefertari also).  On our walk back to the bus, Hussein stops at one place to point out different constellations in the sky. This was a great experience and a wonderful evening.

     Visiting the temples in daylight, driving to Aswan, visiting the spice market.

     Before we leave the Marriott, I should point out that this hotel has a lot of history behind it. The main area where we eat breakfast and where the reception desks are located among other things was built in 1869. The ruler of Egypt at that time, Ismail Pasha, ordered the construction of a Royal Palace to use for celebrating the finish of building the Suez Canal. He copied many elements in this Palace that were found in Napoleon III and Empress Eugenie’s Palace as he wanted the Empress to be comfortable in Egypt when she visited. Why Paul, Jennifer, or I did not take photos of the inside of this Palace or of the small courtyard in front of it I do not know. You will just have to take our word for it that the interior of the Palace was beautiful with its period furniture and grand staircases. The small courtyard was pretty too. The Royal Palace changed hands numerous times over the years until Marriott purchased it in the 1980’s. They added two towers that stand on either side of the Palace where guests stay.

    We board the bus this morning and on our way to the airport we are going to visit a historic Mosque.  While driving down the thoroughfare, our driver brakes to a stop and begins backing up. Everyone in our group is a bit stunned, and I hear murmurs like “what is he doing” and I think I say out loud, “why is he backing up”? Hussein begins laughing and informs us that the driver thought we were going straight to the airport and hence he missed the turn that leads to the Mosque. So, in this country, I guess it is okay to back up fifty or so yards to get to the turn that you drove by. The road we are on is a main avenue but the traffic is light compared to what we have seen and oddly enough I do not remember anyone honking their displeasure at us.

    The bus driver parks on a busy street, and we must walk down a narrow street to the mosque. This mosque has been historically preserved and is not used for worship. My main memory from this experience is that Hussein has us sit down on some chairs that are arranged in a half-circle while he talks about the history of the mosque. There are three half-grown kittens that decide people’s laps look much more comfortable than the floor they had been lying on or the kitties are hoping for something to eat. Unfortunately, the kittens are constantly scratching themselves, (can you say fleas), and their eyes and noses are a bit runny. Needless to say, no one wants them on their laps. The felines jumped up on four or five members of our group, who pushed them off their legs or laps quickly. The rest of us were not selected for the kittens’ attentions I am thankful to say. Poor little things, but the last thing one needs is a bite from a dog or a cat in Egypt or in other foreign countries where access to a rabies shot is not going to be easy to obtain.

    On our walk back to the bus there is another Mosque where worship is held that we are going to visit. When we arrive at the Mosque, I whisper to Hussein that I need to go back to the bus, (the bus is in sight of where we are standing) to take some of the medicine he gave me yesterday for my digestive problem. I brought the standard medicine with me but Hussein had told us in our initial meeting to take his medicine if we became afflicted as it works better than ours. Hussein informs me that he will call the driver to alert him to open the bus door for me. Was this caused by Caesar salad I ate for supper the night before last?  After swallowing the pills, I stay on the bus and take a little nap while awaiting the return of the group. When they get back Paul tells me that the main thing I missed was a man that sang for them in the Mosque.

    We arrive at the airport and must go through security as soon as we walk through the airport door. Men and women are separated into different queues because everyone is patted down, even though we do not set off the metal detector. We check in and receive our tickets, and check our big suitcases through to Luxor. We go through another security check, this time taking off our shoes and belts. Hussein leads us to our departure gate, where he hands us sacked lunches. Yikes, cold, mushy, fries and a hotdog type sandwich which is not warm either. I really do not want to eat anyway but choke a few fries down and two bites of the sandwich. Paul does not do much better than me, and I notice most everyone visits the waste can fairly quickly after receiving their lunch.

    Since we all checked in individually, none of us are sitting together on the plane for the hour plus flight. Once we land, Hussein leads us to the luggage claim. When the luggage shows up everyone points out their suitcases for the porters, who pile them onto carts. Hussein calls out “Follow me” and we trail our guide to the waiting coach. Yes, we have another security guard with us also dressed in a suit. In case you are wondering, our security guards are packing a pistol, but unless you really look it is hardly noticeable.

   Gazing out the bus window, my first impression of Luxor is clean air, no crazy traffic or constant honking, the streets seem devoid of garbage and there is a wide walkway along the Nile. It looks like a very lovely city.

   We stop at the Luxor Temple ruins on the way to the hotel. There is an Avenue of Sphinx that stretches for 1.5 miles which connected Luxor Temple and Karnak. It is an astounding sight to behold. Hussein tells us that this sphinx avenue was used once a year for the Opet festival by the ancient Egyptians. I think this avenue was built over many decades by various pharaohs.

   Hussein gives us twenty minutes to walk down the avenue and admire the stately sphinx. Some of them hardly have any damage while others might not have any facial features left. It is hard to fathom that this sphinx lined avenue is thousands of years old.

    Hussein gathers us up and talks about the ruins of Luxor Temple that stands a few yards away from the avenue of the sphinx. I will not even attempt to relay any of the information that Hussein shared with us. Mainly because I cannot remember! The enormous, ornate, columns towering above us, makes me feel very small. As we move inside where areas of the temple are more protected, the painted scenes are remarkably preserved. We wander around looking at paintings, hieroglyphs, and stone columns on our own. After exploring the incredible temple ruins, we proceed to our hotel.

   We are staying at the Sofitel Winter Palace and it is beautiful. We gather around Hussein who hands out our room keys. Hussein leads us down a long hallway to show us where the breakfast buffet is, also pointing out the elevators to us as we walk by them.

   Paul, Jennifer, and I look around a bit then make our way to the elevator. There is a staff member there who opens the door and we step into the old lift. Paul and I have our backpacks on plus we are carrying some hand luggage so the three of us nearly fill the small elevator car. A couple walks up and decides there is room for them and now we are squeezed together to the point we can hardly move. The elevator man shuts the door behind us.

   When the elevator stops on the second floor which is where our rooms are, the elevator door does not open. The man pushes on the door, but nothing happens. Paul is stuck clear in the back and is unable to give any help. The guy starts punching buttons and soon we have arrived at the third floor. Again, the door does not open, and I believe it is Jennifer that tells the fellow to pick up the emergency phone and ask for help. 

    He does follow Jennifer’s advice but since he cannot hear or maybe does not understand the person on the phone, he hands the phone to me since I am closest to him. I tell the staff member we are in the elevator on the third floor, and we cannot get the door to open. The man informs me that someone will be there immediately. For some reason the man could not resist pushing another button while I am on the phone, and we are now going down to the first floor. Are you kidding me! Fortunately, there is a staff member waiting outside the elevator and he opens the door just like you would open the door to a room. Obviously, none of us paid any attention to how the door on the elevator worked when we got on the old lift. We exit as quickly as we can and the three of us vow to not set foot on that elevator again. I think we are all dealing with some claustrophobia.  Walking up two flights of stairs is no big deal even with our hand luggage, hey we need the exercise anyway. I do not remember thanking the man that rescued us which makes me feel bad.

    Tomorrow, we visit the Valley of the Kings. Nancy

   Paul and I meet Jennifer at eight for breakfast. I still cannot get over the array and amount of food that is offered. We meet Hussein and our group at nine o’clock at “point X” and Hussein leads us to our coach. It is a big coach so there is plenty of room for our group to spread out. This morning we have a security guard escorting us. The man sits up front so when Hussein introduces him, I cannot really see him as Paul, and I are sitting towards the back of the bus.

   When we get off the bus at the Egyptian Museum, I notice a man wearing a very nice suit, scrutinizing us as we gather around Hussein. It takes me a minute to realize that this is our security guard. I suppose he is studying us so intently so he can recognize the tourists he is responsible for.

   Once we are clustered around Hussein, he calls out a phrase we will hear often on our adventure in Egypt. In a very melodious tone Hussein says “Follow me” and we dutifully line up behind our guide and walk to the museum. Hussein purchases our tickets and when he passes them out to us, he rapidly says the word “ticket” over and over. His quick-fire chant would make the best auctioneer in the USA sit up and take notice. We get to listen to his auctioneer chant whenever we must have tickets to gain entrance to the various places we visit. I love it and it always makes me chuckle!

   Because of the crowd of visitors in the museum, we must wait, or others must wait on us, as the guides stop at some of the most popular items to talk about the significance of the pieces. Hussein takes us to the Egyptian Rosetta Stone; well, it is just a cast or maybe even just a photo behind glass, hung on the wall, since the real Rosetta Stone is in the British Museum. Despite many requests from the Egyptian government asking for the return of the Rosetta Stone, the Brits are refusing to return it to its rightful owners (in my opinion). Anyway, this important tablet is what helped scholars break the mystery of the hieroglyphic language. This is because the same phrase on the Rosetta Stone is in three languages, Demotic, Greek, and Hieroglyphic. I have no idea what the Demotic language is.

    As we continue to be schooled about various items from Hussein, it becomes clear the man is a fountain of knowledge. Names, dates, and stories flow from him without any stumbling or pausing. We learn that Hussein is an Egyptologist, he also was an archeologist for a few years and then if I remember correctly, he became a tour guide.  I believe we have a superb guide although this could be premature since this is our first real outing with him. I can already see that Hussein is humorous, knowledgeable, candid, and very personable.

   I am not even going to try to talk about the various items and ancient history Hussein talked about. For one thing all the information Hussein is giving us is overwhelming, at least for me, and we were witnessing this in person. I would probably get most of the details wrong even if I tried to pass them on!

   After Hussein finishes showing us the highlights of this immense museum, he gives us directions on where to exit the museum and where our meeting place will be. We are then given an hour to explore on our own.

     Jennifer, Paul, and I wander around looking at sculptures larger than life and marveling at items so tiny you wonder how anyone found them. We go to Tutankhamen’s special room where they do not allow any photos to be taken. The pieces on display are incredible but the coffin laden with gold is breathtaking. The museum does have an ornate golden chair and some other items just outside Tutankhamen’s room where photos are allowed. The pieces are displayed in a glass case so the reflections from the glass make it hard to take a decent photo.

   The three of us do not use up the allotted hour. After a while you cannot take in any more of the thousands of ancient pieces on display. We find the exit which makes you walk through a gift shop, (surprise, surprise) and arrive at the meeting point. There are already other members of our group waiting there, so we were not the only ones to cut our museum visit short.

   We eat lunch at a nearby restaurant. Hussein had handed out a paper with two or three choices on the bus and we put our order in at that time. The preordering of meals is something that is done throughout the trip which sure saves time. Paul and I had ordered the beef kabob which was really a beef stew. It was very tasty.

   We return to the hotel for an hour and then gathered at “point X” for a trip to Old Cairo. It is here that our private security guard earns his pay. The congested streets, where cars and tuk-tuks’ expect pedestrians to make way for them, can be quite dangerous for tourists who are so busy staring at all the sights they forget to move out of the way. You just become oblivious at times due to the produce artfully displayed or meat dangling from a shop rafter, or intent on getting a good photo. This man is striding up and down, stopping cars, gently pushing us to the side of the street, and occasionally counting heads to make sure we are all present.  Twice, when I am taking photos, I feel our guard’s hand in the small of my back pushing me to the side of the congested street. Both times I am moved aside, a car brushes by and I scold myself for being so careless. I see our guard perform this maneuver on almost every one in our group, except Hussein!   Our guards’ eyes are always searching the crowd, checking out the people around us too.

   The crowds of people, the smog, and the areas of heaped up garbage here and there is the downside of this outing but overall, it was well worth experiencing.

   Tonight, we walk to a restaurant for our supper. Our guard is with us, I wish I could remember his name. The man has nerve, as he just walks out into the street and puts up his hand to stop the cars. Hussein is always leading us across the street, once our guard has stopped the cars, and urges us to cross as fast as we can. Geez.

    This morning we are meeting at nine o’clock to see the Pyramids. I admit I am excited to see these ancient structures. Imagine standing next to The Great Pyramid, the only survivor of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World! A structure that was built over 4,000 years ago by pharaoh Khufu and it is still standing. Amazing.

   The bad news is that the smog is thick this morning and when we arrive at the Pyramids of Giza the air quality obscures the blue sky. The good news is that the air begins to clear after a while giving us a clearer picture of the three pyramids. Hussein leads us to The Great Pyramid showing us an area where we are allowed to climb upon the pyramid. I am surprised that the Egyptian government allows tourists to clamber up and walk a short distance along the base of the pyramid. One man in our group elects to go into a tunnel of the pyramid but the rest of us decline the offer when Hussein tells us that there is one place where you will have to get on your hands and knees and crawl. I am slightly claustrophobic and crawling inside a narrow tunnel inside the pyramid does not sound like fun to me. Evidently it is not appealing to the rest of the group either. Ironically the man from our group that chooses to take on this adventure is 6 foot 4 inches tall!

   Once all of us are together, Hussein leads us to another side of the Great Pyramid to show us the place where archeologists had dug up a boat that was buried for the pharaoh to use on his journey to the next world. There is an area across from us filled with camels, decked out in colorful saddles and blankets. There are numerous horses saddled up too. The aroma of ammonia that permeates the air, smells like an enormous litter box that needed to be changed two weeks ago.  There is also the usual lamenting by the camels which is very deep and guttural but there is one camel that is really raising a ruckus. Paul and I soon find the bellowing critter when we notice about four handlers yanking and whacking on a recumbent camel. Oh good grief, there is another camel lying underneath the caterwauling camel. We are witnessing the mating of camels and the camel care takers seem to be very unhappy about it. The men finally remove the male camel who voices his displeasure of being taken away from his girlfriend but allows himself to be lead away. Well, this was an activity that was not listed among the sites we would see in Egypt.

   Hussein gives us time to wander around the pyramids on our own. At his advice we ignore the men riding camels or horses that ask to have their photos taken because if you take their photo, they will insist on being paid. I have a good zoom on my camera so I can get photos without them knowing it. The pyramids are so colossal that it is hard to get far enough away to get the entire pyramid in your camera frame.

   When we meet up with Hussein, we return to the bus and our driver takes us a short distance to an area where camels await us. Yep, we are going to ride camels. You must lean back and hang on to the saddle pommel if you want to stay seated on the long-legged creatures when they stand up. The camels grumble about this, but camels seem to complain about everything. The camel owners take charge of three of us. The lead rope of the camel behind you is looped around the back pommel of your saddle. Once everyone in our group is sitting atop their camels, we begin our trek towards the pyramids.

   The woman that is behind me has a camel that keeps trying to walk around my camel. I do not really want to have the rope pushing against me, so I talk softly to the camel and then take hold of the rope and pull back on it. This makes the camel fall back in line but before long it is striding next to me again. I talk quietly and pull softly on the rope several times on this journey which sends the critter back where he belongs for a little while. One time when I am tugging on the rope, I am rewarded with a huge camel sneeze while he is walking next to me. I am sprayed with a fine aerosol from the sneeze that settles on my face, neck and probably my shirt. Oh well, I just wipe it off and figure it could have been worse, like it could have been actual snot. The woman that is riding this camel tells me that she will remember me as the camel whisperer which I get a laugh out of.

   Paul is riding the camel bringing up the rear of our little caravan so I do not see him at all during our ride. The camel guide stops at a certain point where the three pyramids are spread out in front of us in the distance. He unhooks our camels, leads them to a certain spot and places the beasts’ side by side. The man asks for Paul’s phone and then has us raise our arms into the air and takes photos of us. Naturally, everyone in our group goes through this same ritual. Yes, the camel owners expect a tip for doing this and Hussein has told us how much to give them. Paul said our man told him it wasn’t enough but Hussein insisted we not give them more money if they ask for it.

   Camels are not comfortable animals to ride, their gait is very odd plus you do not have stirrups to steady yourself. I get somewhat accustomed to the sway of my camel and feel safe enough to let go of the pommel and manage to take a few photos atop this one-humped animal. Hussein rides past us and it is obvious he is used to riding camels. I wonder if he grew up riding camels? I don’t think I mentioned that Hussein is Nubian.

     Paul spots our bus up ahead and lets out a sigh of relief. He told me he was going to walk back to the bus if we had to ride them back to our starting point, because he was so uncomfortable sitting astride his camel. I have a feeling everyone was happy to get off the cantankerous animals and trade them for the comfort of our bus. Oh yes, getting the camels to lay down so you can get off was not easy to do. Many of them belly-ached about having to lay down but you the rider must hang on tight to the saddle horn and lean back in order not to topple off the front!

    Our next stop is to the Sphynx and I can’t even describe this massive statue in words. We aren’t allowed to go down to the base of the Sphynx, but there is a walkway that allows for great views of this intriguing work of art. Hussein gives us ample time to take photos. He talks a couple of the women in our group to stand in a certain place and purse their lips. I assume this looks like you are kissing the Sphynx.  While we are admiring the Sphynx, a deep guttural noise fills the air. One of the women asks Hussein if what we are hearing is camels, (I thought the same thing). Hussein doubles up with laughter and tells her that it is the call to prayer! I will say that the call to prayer in Egypt is nothing like what we experienced in Istanbul, Turkey when we were there several years ago. In Turkey the call to prayer was melodious and pleasant. I cannot say the same thing for Egypt’s call to prayer.

   On our way back to the Marriott, Hussein has the bus driver stop at a government bread bakery. All this place does is bake bread where the citizens can buy six flat loaves of bread for twenty cents, (I think). The workers welcome us inside the bakery and we watch one man form the loaves, two other men place them on a conveyer belt that takes them through the heating element, while another man removes the baked loaves as they exit the conveyer belt. It sure does not take long for the bread to bake. I wonder how many loaves of bread this bakery puts out in a day. I wished I had asked Hussein that question. There were lots of people lined up waiting to buy their daily allotment of bread.

   Time to call it a day and return to the Marriot. Tomorrow, we leave Cairo and fly to Luxor. Nancy

    Paul and I both woke up at 1 a.m. so we took a sleeping pill and got a few more hours of sleep. Once we got up and around this morning, Paul and I went down and toured the grounds around the open-air restaurants before meeting Jennifer for a late breakfast. The breakfast is a buffet, and it is huge. Just about every kind of food you can think of is offered. Cheese, cold meats, fruit, lots, and lots of bread, hot or cold cereal, eggs however you care to order them, pastries and so much more. Paul and I are not big breakfast eaters, so I stick to fruit, oatmeal, a croissant and one small pastry. I think Paul and Jennifer might have had an omelet.

   After breakfast we walk with Jennifer around the same area Paul and I toured earlier and inspect the beautiful fountain, manicured trees, and the large pool.  The staff tending to the grounds are very friendly. Since we have the morning to ourselves, we decide to walk to the Nile River. We ask one of the hotel staff directions and he tells us to exit the Marriot grounds via the parking lot and turn left. He tells us the Nile isn’t far away and when we ask if it is safe to go on our own, he assures us we will be fine.

   We do not walk far when we catch a glimpse of the famous river, but we cannot see a way to get down to the Nile nor do we see any kind of a walkway along the river. The biggest problem is there is a very busy street between us and our goal. Hmm, there are two young men dressed in suits standing on the sidewalk not far from us. We decide to approach them to see if they might speak English. No, they don’t speak English, but I gesture towards the Nile and say we want to go to the Nile. They seem to understand this and beckon for us to follow them. The two men lead us down the sidewalk a block or two and point out some stairs leading up to a bridge. The problem is we need to cross the street through heavy traffic and the three of us are not keen on running this gauntlet.

   Approaching us is a young man who is walking along the edge of the busy street.  I inform Paul and Jennifer I am going ask him if it is okay for us to cross the street here as we haven’t seen anyone dodging the traffic to get to one side or the other. I smile at the young fellow and ask if we can cross here, gesturing to the other side of the road. He doesn’t answer me but he puts out his arm and I take it. He then watches the approaching traffic carefully and when a small break comes, he hustles me across with Jennifer and Paul close on our heels. How kind was that?? I thank him and he touches me on the shoulder and smiles, then he dashes back across the street.

   We walk along the congested road to the staircase only to realize these steps are leading up to a bridge where the traffic is even heavier. I guess the first fellows we consulted thought we wanted to cross over the Nile. Paul rules out going up the stair steps as it will not take us next to the Nile, only over it. A man at the top of the stairs begins yelling down at us in Egyptian and pointing in the opposite direction of where we were headed. He comes down to where we are standing, I suppose we look lost, and begins talking to Paul. Of course, Paul can’t understand a word he is saying.  The friendly man indicates that we should follow him and feeling fairly safe in broad daylight and the fact that there are three of us and one of him we let him lead us back in the direction we came from. We arrive at a side street where he points across the road and sure enough there is the Nile. The problem is the riverbank is lined with riverboat casinos and restaurants so we cannot walk down to the Nile. How the heck did this guy know what we wanted? We smile, thank him, and wave goodbye as he continues on his way.

    Paul and Jennifer decide to just walk onto one of the boats, naturally I follow them.  When we get inside the large boat, there is a man in a uniform sitting behind a desk. He looks up and smiles at us and when we walk over to the window to gaze at the Nile the man walks over to us and unlocks a door that leads out to a small balcony. We step out and gaze over the wide Nile. Okay, it isn’t exactly clean, there is garbage, particularly plastic floating on the water. Across the way there are three large pipes spewing what I hope is not raw sewage into the waters of the Nile. Still, it is the Nile, and one cannot help but marvel that three Kansans are gazing over this famous river. After Paul proofread this, he reminded me of the enormous McDonalds sign, the golden arches standing out against a bright red background, that we saw across the river. Good Grief.

   When we step back inside the boat, we thank the man that let us go out on the balcony. He nods his head in acknowledgment, smiles at us, and locks the balcony door behind us. So far, the Egyptian people we have encountered have been so friendly and kind. We check out one room on the boat before we leave where clothes are being offered for sale. I spot a lovely top and seriously consider buying it. You can see in the photo why I was so attracted to this unique blouse. Just kidding.

   We manage to cross the busy street on our own and walk back to the Marriott. We all go back to our rooms. Paul takes a nap and I go sit on our balcony. Our balcony looks out on the lot where buses unload guests. Jennifers room looks out on the manicured lawn near the outside eating area. Our view isn’t pretty, but it is rather interesting to watch the various buses either loading or unloading tourists.  

   We eat a late lunch in the same outside restaurant where we had such a good meal last night. Paul and I order a saffron shrimp dish to share, and Jennifer orders a minced lamb dish. I do not care for the shrimp at all so Jennifer is kind enough to share some of her lunch with me which is quite tasty. We take our time eating and marvel at all the people smoking with hookahs while drinking beer and nibbling on snacks. When one fellow next to us leaves his table the doves and sparrows move in. He has left a bowl of peanuts on his table and the beautiful doves are feasting on them. It is hilarious.

    When we met Hussein yesterday, he had given us a time to meet this afternoon at point X (the lobby of our wing of the hotel). We will be meeting our group for the first time. Once the sixteen, well fifteen as one woman is not feeling well and has stayed in her room, of us have arrived at point X, Hussein leads us to the other wing of the hotel to a meeting room. Hussein goes over some things with us and then has us introduce ourselves, tell what state we are from, and inform everyone how many times we have traveled with OAT. I believe there is one couple where this is their first time with OAT and then Paul and I are the next lowest having taken two trips with OAT. The most astounding is a woman who is traveling by herself, and this is her twenty-seventh trip with OAT! That is amazing.

    Our group has two women from Minnesota that are friends traveling together, a woman from Arizona and a woman from Pennsylvania that are traveling together, a couple from Colorado, a couple from California, a couple from Connecticut, a couple from Minnesota, a woman from Maryland, the one who has made 27 trips with OAT, and we three Kansans. As you can see this is quite a diverse group. On first impressions everyone seems to be very nice. I would guess the age range of the group is early 60’s to mid-80’s.

   After the meeting, Hussein walks us to a women’s craft store that isn’t far from the hotel. We have to cross a few busy streets and you can imagine getting sixteen people across safely is a challenge. The cars are constantly honking, and I literally plug my ears with my fingers at times just to get some relief from the noise. The smog is really bad, and you can literally taste the air. We country people are not used to breathing in such nasty air.

  When we arrive at the building where the women’s craft store is located, our group follows Hussein up a couple flights of stairs to reach the craft store. There are all sorts of homemade crafts such as jewelry, purses, knitted items and so on. My favorite of everything offered are the wooden crafts. There are a couple of items that are tempting to purchase but I have no room in our luggage to get these lovely creations home. Many members of our group do purchase some things, including Jennifer. Jennifer found a cute Christmas ornament and a knitted eyeglass holder, both of which will be easy to tuck away in her suitcase.

   Supper is on our own again, so we choose to eat in the international part of the Marriott’s open-air restaurant. There are other restaurants to eat at inside the hotel, but they don’t have the atmosphere that the outside venue has. The couple from Colorado joins we three Kansans and we have a nice visit with them. Paul and I split a meal again, a club sandwich, which is good. We had a beer and they brought peanuts and chips with our beer, so we had more than enough to eat.

   Tomorrow we are going to the Egyptian museum and to Old Cairo. Nancy