Let me start by saying I was a bit hesitant about booking a 28 day cruise. 28 days? That is exactly twice as long as the longest cruise or vacation we’ve been on so far. AND I would miss Thanksgiving with my family. Was I crazy? Well yes, I think I was. But this was an opportunity that doesn’t come along very often. As a matter of fact, there are only about 12 to 18 cruises that go up the Amazon River each year. That isn’t very many when you consider how many ships are cruising the Caribbean every WEEK. And, this would be the smallest ship we have ever cruised on.
Here is something that I just learned. What is the difference between a boat and a ship? You can put a boat on a ship but you can’t put a ship on a boat. Below is a picture of our baby ship compared to what normally sails in the Caribbean. It is Holland’s Prinsendam.
Well we booked it and then we moved on to trying to figure out how we were going to get a month’s worth of clothing, toiletries, snorkel and hiking gear in two suitcases. Then we moved up to three suitcases and then I finally threw in the towel and we ended up with 4 large suitcases – one for my clothes, one for Jeff’s clothes, another for toiletries and shoes and a final one for snorkel and hiking gear and books. I will freely admit a couple of things about how we packed. There were some clothes that I didn’t wear (although not too many) and I was absolutely speechless when we got back into the county and were in the customs line behind someone with a small 21″ suitcase and a backpack – and it was a lady! Now I definitely had limited the number of shoes that I took, but still – a 21″ suitcase? I don’t think I will ever evolve to that. She did tell me that she did laundry every day …. eh, nope!
At St Maarten/Martin we snorkeled and it was uneventful and then took the ferry across the bay and checked out the shops. This was our 3rd trip to this island this year! Isn’t the water beautiful? Back at the cruise terminal I found a Dr Pepper for Jeff. When we got back on board Jeff asked how many he could bring on board and they said as much as he could carry so he went back and bought all they had (about a dozen) and rationed them out over the rest of the trip.
Barbados was our second stop. We opted for a beach excursion which is about half the price of a snorkeling excursion. We’ve been pretty lucky in the past snorkeling right off the beach and have seen more interesting things on our own. This was no exception. We laughed when we saw the snorkeling excursion right out in front of us. Right off we saw a couple of sea turtles and then we hit pay dirt. We saw the most unusual fish that was working its way along the bottom, pulling itself with what looked like front appendages. They were a sand color and tended to blend in with the bottom. The water was probably about 20 foot deep so it was hard to tell how big these fish really were but from our vantage point they had a triangular shape like a moth but with bird type wings. I would guess they were about 18 inches long. I will try and upload a picture from my waterproof camera and post it at a later date but we found out from someone else snorkeling that these were some type of batfish although I haven’t found a picture that looks exactly like the one we saw. The website I looked at said they are rare to see in the Caribbean so we were LUCKY!! Jeff dove down to touch one and it unfurled its “wings” which were multi-colored when opened and accordion like, and then it swam (flew?) forward. I think there were about 6 of them … This was definitely the snorkeling highlight of the trip if not our total Caribbean experience, it was that cool!
From Devils Island, French Guiana you will probably recognize the pictures from the iconic movie – Papillon. There are actually 3 islands off the coast of French Guiana collectively referred to as Devil’s Island but they are actually called The Salvation Islands. Our stop here, as was the majority of our stops along the Amazon River, was a tender stop. I don’t know how, but we managed to get on one of the first tenders (which was intentional) because it was HOT and I wanted to get started exploring before the heat really kicked in! We had our hiking gear on as there were no formal excursions for this stop. We hadn’t been on the island for an hour when two things happened … the sky OPENED up and it poured for about 1/2 hour and we spotted spider monkeys. We had intended to walk the outermost trail along the island but somehow missed the cutoff and ended up carefully making out way through the foliage to the lower trail. The scenery was idyllic, picture perfect, and a camera can’t do the scenery justice or let you know how hot it is when the humidity is at or close to 100%.
This set of islands had been a penal colony for the French and the island we were on housed the families of the guards. There was primitive housing, a hospital and graveyards. This place would set the tone for the remainder of our visit to Brazil. There was no gift shop and a single non-functioning bathroom on the island. Had the country set up some kind of tourist center here, no matter how primitive, they could have made a fortune selling t-shirts and water.
This pictures tell the story here – a tropical paradise, but because the waters surrounding the islands are infested with sharks, maybe not so perfect, but beautiful nonetheless.
From Devils Island we made our way to Barra Norte/Marcapa – which was our first stop on the Amazon River, but only to pick up the Brazilian authorities. Since we arrived in Brazil in the early morning hours on a Sunday we anchored in the middle of the river waiting for the Brazil authorities to come on board. It was Sunday and they (the authorities) were in NO hurry! They remained on the ship for our entire trip on the Amazon River.
This was the first country that we’ve visited that we had to have a Visa. Trying to get that was an absolute nightmare! The helpline for a Brazil visa is located in India! Really? We also had to get a yellow fever vaccination along with Hepatitis A and we had to take pills to prevent Malaria while we were in Brazil.
At Santarem we tendered to the dock and then got into smaller boats for our excursion to Maica Lake and eventually piranha fishing. The dock was crowded so we tied up to another boat and had to walk through those people’s boat to get to the dock. At this location is a smaller “meeting of the waters” where one of the major tributaries of the Amazon joins in and the rivers run side by side for miles before commingling. We were able to see a lot of wildlife on this short excursion. We saw dolphins, kingfishers, a sloth, and a couple of iguana that made their way down to the river edge for a drink. We passed a couple of boys fishing from the waters edge as well as a fair amount of fisherman.
The banks here were probably 15 to 20 foot – as they were along the majority of the river. The Amazon is similar to the Nile River in that it floods every year during the rainy season. Homes along the river are built on stilts or made to float and the piers were floating as well – meaning they would rise and fall with the water level. We were there at the very end of the dry season. We were told that it rains every day on the Amazon during the dry season and during the rainy season it rains ALL day, every day. I can’t even begin to imagine how much rain they get to raise this huge river 20 ft.
We got off the Amazon and boated up a windy tributary but never saw the lake referred to in the excursion. We tied up to the edge of the river and were given primitive fishing poles – picture string and a hook wound around a spindle. Since we were fishing for piranha we were given a piece of meat for bait. I will refrain from a lot of detail here and tell you that the one thing that I wanted to do more than anything on this trip was catch a piranha. Well, that didn’t happen. I fed the piranha (over and over) and Jeff was the one to catch the piranha. There were about 30 people on our boat and about six piranha caught – the largest by the boat captain.
Boca da Valeria was a very quaint, primitive village on the Amazon River. We arrived early in the morning and anchored. I was out on deck walking while the crew was readying the tender boats. The village looked deserted. As I was walking I kept catching movement on the water out of the corner of my eye. I finally stopped and watched and much to my delight the movement was a pod of pink dolphins feeding. It didn’t take me long to realize that even though I had my cell phone camera with me there would be no way I could predict where they were going to surface next. I spread the word to everyone I passed and went back to the cabin to get Jeff. It was a beautiful morning, the water was glassy calm and the dolphins stayed in the area for quite a while. The water on the Amazon is so murky that the pink dolphins are supposed to be blind and rely totally on the sonar to catch food and get around. They aren’t entirely pink, more mottled with gray and pink with a large protrusion on the front of their heads. This was one of the most memorable moments of the trip and I’m sorry to say no pictures of the dolphins to share.
Once again, this was a tender port. We were told to take our “dollars” with us because the village kids would want to show off their animals and lead us around. When we got off the tender and walked down the gangplank we were overwhelmed by the village children (whose only English word they knew how to say was “hello”). One took my hand and started walking with me as if it was the most natural thing in the world. I can’t begin to tell you what we were surrounded by but I’ll try. There were probably a 100 children of various ages and a very large number of them held animals that you could have your picture taken with for $1. I saw so many sloths, I lost count. I saw the biggest grasshopper I’ve ever seen in my life – it was the size of a hot dog bun! There were a couple of cute little green birds sitting on twigs that two boys were holding. There were a couple of toucans and a spider monkey. We saw mostly women and children however there was one man dressed up in native garb that Jeff took a picture of.
We were told that we could walk on the trail to the next village and we found the trail easy enough but walked about twenty minutes and ended up at a locked gate. Along the way we saw the biggest, most beautiful royal blue butterfly. Once again, there was no way I was going to get a picture of it so I just enjoyed the moment. The trail led us through their homes which were all built on stilts. They all had big plastic containers that were built on pedestals that were used to catch water. They also had electricity and satellite dishes but no windows. There were small ditches that went from the house to the river where their used water ran. Can’t tell you about toilet facilities but I didn’t see any outhouses and didn’t smell anything foul.
Two interesting things happened at this village. The first was a group of 3 girls that passed us on the path. They were about 8 years old and chattering back and forth. We said “hello” and they all greeted us back and then continued walking and talking while sneaking glances back at us. They got out ahead of us and we came around a corner to see them coming out of the brush. Apparently, they knew where the papaya tree was because they all had a piece of fruit and munched on it as they walked. The second thing that happened was we came through a cluster of about 4 or 5 homes, built on stilts so we couldn’t see in, just hear the floors creaking as people were walking around. One woman was outside her home and she stopped sweeping the dirt and let us pass. Sweeping the dirt? That made me look around closer. There was no trash laying around. It was primitive but it was clean. There were roosters, chickens and ducks walking around everywhere and we could see a few head of cattle grazing down closer to the river. This cute little village was one of the highlights of the trip for me. I was talking later to the man who manages the jewelry store on the ship and he told me that he had run up the side of the mountain and had seen owls. I would have done that had I seen the trail … yeah well, maybe not the run part 🙂
Alter Do Chao is another little town on the Amazon. This one is billed as the Riveria of the Amazon. There was a nice sandy beach but instead of doing something on the river we took an excursion to an Arboretum which is a plot of land on which many different kinds of native trees, shrubs and flowers grow. It was hot and dry and the bus ride was long and not air conditioned. Wah, wah! I know I signed up for it, just trying to set the mood. This was a trek through a forested tract of land where the most interesting thing we saw was a rubber tree and a tarantula hole. Our guide took a machete and scored the outside of the rubber tree and the tree bled white latex. Too cool! He tried to summon the tarantula but fortunately, it didn’t cooperate. Now a history lesson, in the early 1900s, Brazil was the rubber capital of the world, the only place these trees grew. Henry Ford set up a town called Fordlandia in an attempt to get a corner on the rubber market. He planted the trees but eventually found out that they don’t “transplant” well and the entire project ended up being scrapped because the trees wouldn’t grow.
On this excursion we passed a “government” sociology experiment. There was a square mile of identically built two bedroom homes. The locals could “buy” a home for a really reduced rate but had to live in it for 10 years and take care of it before they would own it.
All wood items that we purchased had to be turned into the ship to be “frozen” for two days to kill any insects that might try to sneak on board. It is probably a really bad thing for a ship to get termites.
Manaus is the largest city on the Amazon River with 1.8 million residents. The city is surrounded by 2 million square acres of jungle which is hard to imagine when you are walking through this modern city. It is located at the convergence of the Negro and Solimoes Rivers commonly referred to as the “meeting of the waters.” These combined rivers are called the Amazon River. We passed this location about 6 in the morning and even though it was announced the night before only about a dozen of our fellow cruisers were on the observation deck to experience it firsthand.
Manaus was our first and only two day stop on this cruise. We got here early in the morning and would’t depart until dinner time the following day. The first day we were scheduled for a “jungle” trek. The second day we were doing a city tour with a stop at an eco park and a primitive zoo.
If you’ve cruised before you probably know there is a meeting place on the ship for excursions. Ours was in the main theater, which on our ship was a relatively small area. We arrived early, as always, and then watched out the window as the rain came in. Then we had to wait for the tour directors to check to see if our excursions would go ahead in the rain. We were prepared for our jungle trek and raring to go, but I’m sure the tour directors take into effect that there are a lot of elderly people on this cruise and a couple excursions were cancelled. Even though the tour directions say there will be a lot of difficult walking it amazes me the people that show up for such an excursion.
Anyway, we were a go and were led outside the ship to a waiting boat, in the pouring rain. At Manaus we were actually docked at a floating pier so we could come and go as we pleased for the next two days.
Our trip took us across the Amazon River to the other side. The ride took an hour to cross the river with the boat traveling at full speed. We landed on a sandy beach and made our way up to a primitive outbuilding where we met our tour guides. This was a jungle trek and “how to” survive in the jungle excursion. Once we were in the jungle the rain wasn’t as evident but it did continue. We were shown a type of plant the locals chew on that wards off mosquitoes, that contains chloroquine, which is what modern malaria medicine used to contain. The guides showed us how to set bow traps to catch prey, how to climb a tree (we watched a 60 year old climb a tree in about 10 seconds), how to call bullet ants to see if they are close to where you want to sleep, how to properly sleep in a hammock (there actually is a proper way – hint: leave one leg dangling over the edge) and how to build a lean-to. The jungle location was very similar to the Arboretum that we visited in Alter Do Chao but this excursion was much more interesting. It actually helped that it was raining because it kept the temperature way down. We would have been miserable had it been a typical, hot, humid day on the Amazon. The only disappointment was that we didn’t see any wildlife, well, beyond the bullet ants. No birds, no monkeys, no jaguars 🙂
This excursion ended on the beach with refreshments. Their local liquor is called 13 and it is a crude vodka that is served with a LOT of sugar and lime juice. I’m not sure of the proof, but two of them had me down for the count! Jeff bought a blow gun and I had drinks! and then we headed back across the river to our ship. It was a good excursion.
The next day in Manaus we had an excursion that had two stops. The first one was an eco park which I would describe as a sanitized jungle. The fauna was amazing and there were actually animals running around freely that we didn’t see in the actual jungle. We saw spider monkeys and agouti which is a close relative to a guinea pig but about the size of a jackrabbit (without the ears). This was also our first encounter with a pick pocket – and apparently one that was obvious enough that I spotted her. She was following along right at the back fringes of our group trying to blend in. Once I pointed her out to others in our group she left to meld into another group.
Once again, it was raining but it would have been incredibly hot if it wasn’t. There was a small museum on the grounds and the most interesting thing here was the largest leaf in the world and it came from the Amazon. Truly amazing! You have to see the picture to believe it.
Our next stop was the zoo which was located on a military base. Military service is mandatory for 18 year old males in Brazil. Our tour guide told us that the military was used mainly to build roads in the region. The zoo located on the grounds was primitive compared to some zoos that we have been to but the local animals they had were impressive. It is still difficult to look at a beautiful jaguar enclosed in a small pen rather than allowed to spend its life in the wild. The surprise of this part of the trip? Jeff found a tarantula on the outside wall of the entomology exhibit building.
During our bus ride between the two locations we got to see some of the city. A couple of things stand out. First, because of the humidity, the outside of most buildings is covered with black mold. The other thing that was hard to overlook were all the vacant and abandoned buildings. Our guide told us there was a law that the buildings couldn’t be torn down, they had to be rehab-ed. For whatever reason, most of what I consider to be prime real estate – closer to the river, was empty, decrepit, covered in graffiti and looked in fear of collapse.
We drove by the Arena de Amazonia which is a soccer (football) stadium which was constructed in 2014 to host the FIFA World Cup. Total cost – $270 million! They love their soccer here! When the Olympics were held in Brazil the soccer portion was here although the rest was held in Rio.
After our excursion we went back to the ship, had lunch, changed out of our wet clothes and headed out to explore the city, at least what was within walking distance. We had a map and were trying to make our way to the Opera House and St. Benedict’s church. The map we had was very rudimentary, there were a ton of people on the streets AND neither one of us speak Portuguese. Combine that with the fact that Jeff wasn’t entirely comfortable with us being out on our own … but, with only one wrong start, we found the Opera House. It was gorgeous on the outside but we would have had to wait to tag along with another tour and didn’t know how long that would be so we settled for ogling the beautiful exterior.
Directly across the street from the Opera House was St. Benedict’s square. It was a beautiful public space. The plaza was all hand laid pieces of stone in the most unique pattern. It was really well done and the effect was gorgeous. Across the street from the square and catty-corner from the Opera House was the church. It wasn’t much to look at from the outside but the interior was magnificent. I’ve toured a lot of churches in Europe and this one could hold its own. I don’t know if they were planning for a wedding but the center aisle and altar were adorned with bouquets of roses and the aroma was heavenly and hung heavily in the air.
On the way back to the ship we passed hundreds of storefronts selling everything from clothing to food to electronics. It was just a modern, bustling city. Because this town only sees at the most 18 cruise ships a year, the shops weren’t geared toward tourists. We also didn’t have any local currency. We did step into one store that appeared from the street to be a small grocery store. I always like to check out the grocery stores to see what is available and check out the prices. Plus, always on the lookout for Dr. Pepper for Mr. Davis (who by this time is severely rationing his stash!). What was amazing about this small store is how deceptive it was. If you’ve been in downtown Chicago and seen the small storefronts and go inside to find ladies shoes on the first floor, foundations on the second, children’s on the third floor … well, you get the idea, then you will realize what we discovered. This was the size of a Wal-Mart and was multiple stories. We made our way to the soda aisle, but alas, no DP! Wandering around the store we discovered an escalator in the middle. On the second level was a man with a microphone reading off a paper. Once again because we don’t understand Portuguese, we didn’t realize until we got up next to him that he was reading the sales ad – I have to admit, that’s the first time I’ve seen that done.
Manaus was the furthermost inland point that we made it to on the Amazon. It was approximately 930 miles upstream from where we entered. The headwaters of the river are even further inland but this was the furthermost point that our ship could go. We had the opportunity to visit the bridge while we were on this cruise and talking to the first mate I asked him why our depth wasn’t reported while we were on the river – it was only reported in the Atlantic Ocean or the Caribbean Sea. There was some incoherent answer along the lines that they didn’t need to measure while on the river,which makes absolutely no sense because it is so shallow compared to the ocean and sea. What he did tell me that I remember is that the shallowest water we encountered while on the Amazon River was 6 meters under keel. I don’t know about you but that seems pretty shallow for a cruise ship, even a small one.
Parintins is the second largest city in the Amazon region and is located in a region with the same name. This was our last stop on the Amazon River. The city is built on an island in the Amazon River. It is home to the Boi Bumba Festival that celebrates Amazonian culture through dance with competing groups. There are about 100,000 people that call this home. All the villages and towns that we visited along the Amazon River are isolated from each other. All of the trade and transportation happens on the river. There are no roads that connect these cities, although you can fly into some of the larger cities. We heard from more than one tour guide that Brazil was under intense pressure from the world to not destroy any more forest although daily we saw and smelled fires burning where land was being cleared. You could book passage on one of the passenger river boats to travel from city to city. A trip on a river boat from here to Manaus would take about 30 hours. When you rent passage on a riverboat you bring your own hammock and that is your space.
We didn’t book an excursion in Parintins. We just got off and walked around the town. They had a small market set up next to the tender dock where they sold more tourist items than we saw at any other stop and they would take American dollars. I bought some dried fish scales the size of pringles potato chips that the locals use for nail files (too cool!). Jeff got a t-shirt and I bought a dried, shellacked piranha (the only piranha I got on the trip!). They had a lot of native type jewelry and wood carvings. I did buy a brazil nut pod (about the size of an orange) that was decorated like an owl one direction and changed to a monkey when you turned it upside down.
Somewhere along the way we crossed the equator – actually a couple of times. The first time was the second day on the River and Jeff and I got up for the ceremony at 6:30 in the morning. Once again, we were amazed at how few of our fellow travelers choose not to participate in this unique opportunity – oh well, their loss. There is a tradition with sailors, a rite of passage, that takes place the first time they cross the equator. Before they cross they are known as Polywogs and after their initiation they are referred to as Shellbacks. It was an amusing show that was put on by the tour directors who played the parts of Neptune and his court and included the ship captain and his senior crew members as well as the Polywog staff. To sum it up, it involved a lot of slime, a dunk in the pool and kissing a fish … guess you had to be there, but trust me, a fun and amusing time for the polywogs and the ship passengers.
Speaking of crossing the equator. I’m sure most everyone has heard the song that refers to seeing the Southern Cross for the first time. Technically we were far enough south that we should have been able to see the Southern Cross but for a full or nearly full moon which kept the night sky much too bright. Oh well, have to save something for the next southern trip!
Belem was our last port of call in Brazil. We had to exit the Amazon River and travel south. The first morning off of the Amazon River and back into the Atlantic Ocean we were greeted by water that looked like chocolate milk. There was so much silt coming out with the river that it turned the ocean brown miles off shore.
While we had been scheduled to dock at Belem, because of the tides the water wasn’t deep enough for us to get into the port so we had to anchor closer to the ocean, tender in and then take our excursions from there. We choose a city tour which included a church stop, market and another eco garden tour. We had about an hour bus ride each direction from the port into Belem. While most of the towns, cities or villages that we had already visited were old, primitive and/or not up to date, Belem was just dirty and filthy. Graffiti was everywhere on just about every surface. Trash was layers and layers deep on the streets and poverty was prevalent and telephone and electric lines snaked along the streets in a thick and chaotic maze of twisted wires. This was our only stop in Brazil that we encountered outright begging and a police presence on the streets equipped with automatic weapons and wearing flack jackets although I never felt unsafe.
Our first stop was to the open market billed by our guide as the largest market in the world … ah, nope. It was big but not that big. There was just about everything here. Clothing, fresh fruit, cooked food, fresh and smelly fish market, nuts, flowers, animals. At the fish market it was interesting to see all the different kinds of fish although I will freely admit that I had to breathe through my mouth because the smell was extremely … fishy! The eco park/zoo was for the most part unremarkable and not as well kept as we had seen in previous cities, however, the lily pads were phenomenal. Our next stop was a church with a legend. The story goes that a farmer found a statute of the Virgin Mary in his field and took it into town and gave it to a priest. Out in the field again the farmer came upon the same statute. He once again took it into town to the priest and it once again ended up back in his field. The farmer finally decided that he was receiving a message directly from the Virgin and that he was supposed to build a church were he repeatedly found the statute. The town of Belem eventually built up around the church. Once again, this was a beautiful church. The original statute found by the farmer is the focal point above the altar. Once a year the statute is brought out and paraded through the streets. We had spent nearly two weeks in Brazil and this was our final stop in this country. Now it was time to start making our way home.
Our next stop was Trinidad and Tobago. We were scheduled to dock at Scarborough but when we got there the winds and the current were too strong and the captain was unable to dock the boat. I was really disappointed because I was looking forward to this spot and getting to snorkel. The captain had to get permission from the government and we ended up going to another side of the island and tendering into a quaint little town …that wasn’t expecting us! And because they weren’t expecting us there were no excursions. The ship quickly put together information on the location and passed it out to all the passengers. We could tender in and there was a very nice swim beach called Pirates Cove within walking distance but it involved a few steps to get down to the beach. We loaded up our snorkel gear and made it onto the first tender boat. Our instructions were to get off the pier, turn left and walk about half a mile and then take the steps down to the beach. There were two couples walking in front of us and two couples walking behind us with a “local” guide.
There were steps and then there were more steps and then there were more steps and then the steps turned into a rock laden path and then we arrived at the beach. It was a beautiful, pristine beach. The local following us had beach chairs which he set up for us and pointed us to the best snorkeling spot. We didn’t hesitate to get our gear on and get into the water and we were not disappointed. We didn’t see anything unusual but the water was crystal clear and the fish were plenty. We snorkeled from one side of the inlet to the other and back again. When we finally got out of the water our peaceful, secluded destination was being overrun by our fellow shipmates. We loaded up, intent on taking our time going back because the hundreds of steps that we had taken down to beach would now all be up hill and the day had heated up rather nicely. I have no doubt that this stop was much nicer than what we had planned on the other side of the island. And our local that had beach chairs for everyone? Someone asked him how he was so fortunate to own such a beautiful inlet and he replied that it wasn’t his … he was squatting on government land!
The next day was a sea day and I spent my morning walk watching about 4 or 5 kingfishers catching flying fish … incredible! Once again, too fast and too little to be captured by a phone camera.
Our final stop of the trip was Santa Domingo, Domincan Republic which is located on the southern side of Hispaniola. We hired a local guide who led us through the “old city” and then took us out to the “Lighthouse” which is a cross shaped museum where Christopher Columbus’ ashes are buried. On special occasions the top of the building has spotlights that when lit form a cross in the sky. From there we visited Tres Cenotes – three limestone underground pools where the ceilings have collapsed. Santa Domingo is supposed to be the second largest city in the Caribbean behind Puerto Rico.
This spot if reserved for a picture of Jeff in the skirt he was required to wear to cover his knees while we were inside the cathedral but I’ve been threatened with bodily harm if I do, so I will leave it to your imagination!
From Santa Domingo we made our way back to Ft Lauderdale. I was surprised to see that we went around the west side of the island, between Haiti and Cuba before returning to Florida.
And that was our Amazon adventure. I hope you enjoyed hearing about it as much as we enjoyed visiting.
Below are some miscellaneous pictures from our trip
