Spring has sprung!

This is the "berry" year: raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, bush cherries, and elderberries. We already are harvesting spinach and lettuce due to an early planting under "hoops."

The big row of plants just in front of the shed is full of garlic, planted last fall. Hopefully we'll have garlic to eat and store.

Return to Rio

We're back in Rio, flying out tonight for ATL and PHL. As we came back, we saw some Carnaval "mummer's" in Receife. For our last day, we walked the Copacabana beach - here are pictures of the beach and hotel.

More faces

For our faces today, we show Fernando, Rudolfo and Kaia, and Stephanie. Fernando, who is from Naronha, pulled Donna completely across Baia do Sueste to see turtles, a shark, a school of sardines and some very big fish interested in a few sardines.

Rudolfo and Kaia were our captain and first mate as we went snorkeling around Naronha,and eating freshly prepared fish (sushi and stew).

Stephanie is typical of Brazilians on the move. She wanted to learn English better, had difficulty getting a visa from the U.S.; Britain was too expensive; so she went to Queenstown, N.Z. for a degree in wine. Who knew you can study wine in college?

Maravilha

A place is just a place, but Maravilha on Naronha is very special. We chose a couple of pics from the surroundings to give a sense of the feel for our posada. One is the view to the bay out of the dining room, one a path to our room, and finally, a view of a wild lily bloom that lined the walks, and appeared each day in the flower arrangement at out table for breakfast and diner.

Good-bye Brazil

We wish all the best to Brazil, and all the warm, friendly people we met on this trip. We are particularly grateful to our guides, Teo, Ricardo, Marcelo, Carlos, and Celina. A very special thanks to our guide in Fernando de Naronha, Adrianna, who made the island stay really come alive, with beaches, boats, food, and most of all, snorkeling. Also, hats off to Fernando, Rudolfo, and Kaia, who led us in the water to sights we never imagined.

For our closing pics, we have chosen our mode of transportation on Naronha, the Yellowjacket," a view of Praia do Leao, one of the three (all tied for top three) "best beaches in Brazil," and all on Noronha. And Leao deserves every accolade! When we took the picture, we were the only ones on the beach, and it reminded us of The Lonely Planet. Later, a total of 16 people sat and swam on a mile-long piece of heaven on earth.

Finally, we had to close with a sunset over Naronha.

On the water

Today we took a boat ride around two of the "off" islands and the length of the northwest coastline facing Brazil (but 300 miles away). Our captain and mate were Rudolfo, who hailed from Receife (but has been in these waters over 20 years, and Kaia, a native islander who is one of the island's surfing champions. They know these waters! We ran with several hundred dolphins, but it is hard to catch moving dolphins above the water with a camera. Rudolfo prepared a delicious sushi, and a fish stew (onions, potatoes, garlic, ginger, soy sauce, and freshly caught fish all included) for lunch - mmmmm! The frigate birds loved a few morsels of sushi scraps.

More faces

A big part of any vacation is eating, but not at Micky Dees. Here are three faces - Fabio, the head chef at our posada, Maravilha. He trained at the Greenbriar, and next week, he is moving on to the Cateract Hotel in Iguassu, where we stayed at the start of this trip. Adrianna is a Brzilian from Sao Paulo who graduated from Cornell and is married to an American. Adriana's husband writes for Lonely Planet. Adrianna has guided us around the island made our stay here on Naronha memorable. The third pic is Rafaella (where else, also from Sao Paulo) who works at Mergulhao, a wonderful restaurant with sunset views, and cool breezes.

Faces of Brazil

At the risk of overdoing it, we want to start a section on "faces of Brazil." Here are three: Kamila (aka Michele for obvious reasons) who is from Sao Paulo, Carolina who is also from Sao Paulo, and a couple, Sergio and Renata. They now live in Sao Paulo, but Renata is originally from Rio de Janeiro, while Sergio is from Pelotas, a smaller city near theborder with Uraguay.

Baia do Atalaia - tidal pool

As a second dive, we went to a tidal pool that was only 3-4' deep. It is a breeding ground for baby fish. The water was clear, and we enjoyed the sights very much.

Baia do Sueste - guided

First, a confession: Pop Pop can't spell. We're on Naronha, not Naronah (oh, well). Today we went back to the bay for turtles, and saw lots of them (e.g., five big turtles at one time0. The water was murkier, so our pics today are for different fauna - a flying fish (the one I thought yesterday was an octopus), a skate, and a small lemon shark.

Baia do Sueste - a bay for turtles

Turtles! Pop Pop had the underwater camera in the pocket of his swim suit, when we saw a parrot fish and what looked like an octopus. Looking closer, it was a fish that had fins that loooked like wings. Yuuch - I forgot the camera. However, as soon as I remembered the camera, turtles showed up for a show.

Fernando de Naronah

We've arrived (after some glitches) on Naronah, a fabulous island. We toured the island today in a little go cart-type vehicle. Pictures include s rock just off our patio, one of the island's signature formations, and one of the very crowded (not!) beaches. Tomorrow we are off to see dolphins at 5 a.m.(can you believ it?) - then we look for turtles on Saturday.

More from the botanical gardens

Here are three more pictures.

Rio's botanitcal gardens

Over 200+ years old, and 3.4 million trees, the gardens offer beautiful, shaded walks to fend off nearly 100 degree temperature. Like yesterday, we'll put in two blogs of three pictures each (there's likely a way to go over three, but we haven't figured out how).

It is such a treasure to have the forest and gardens amidst 10 million people. Certainly, a form of environmentalism came early here (although our guide says they continue to have fights between the "energy for progress" people, and the hard core environment types who don't want to build dams, dig for oil, or do anything to create more energy).

Three added pics

I thought I had these pictures also, but Blogger allowed me only three.

Sugarloaf and Tijuca Forest

Everyone has heard of Sugarloaf, the rock that sits at the mouth of Rio's harbor. Today we took a cable car to the top (the cable car will be 100 years old later in 2012). Then we went to part of Rio's inner city park system (covering 20 square miles at the top of the mountains - in between which is the city). The Tijuca Forest has beautifully maintained trails, steeply winding roads, and lots of streams and waterfalls.

Rio and Christ the Redeemer statue

Well, it is actually larger than what it seems in pictures. The views are breathtaking - all over the place, because Rio is an enormous city (10 million people) built around one of the world's largest bays and ports. The mountains come right to the sea, which is not unique, but the beautiful beaches that transition the slopes to the sea are unique, at least to us. Pictures from yesterday include: Christ the Redeemer, boats in the bay, the beach just outside our window.

In the evening we went to a place called Vinicius Bar, down in Ipanema. Lots of locals watching a football (not Super, soccer) match. It turns out this was the hangout of the two guys who collaborated on The Girl from Ipanema, back in 1965. Unfortunatly, PopPop is still looking for a modern Girl from Ipanema, but hasn't seen one yet.

A day late

We could not "get connected" yesterday, after we arrived in Rio, so hopefully, we can get to two blogs today. Yesterday, we saw the Brazilian side of Iguassu, and then went to a spectacular bird park. Pics are from these two sites.