Before we ever heard of Wuhan, covid or 'the virus,' we set off for two weeks south of the Equator, enjoying a week on the mainland in Quito and its environs, including Otavalo to the north, as well as flying to Cuenca, a beautiful colonial city. Then we headed south before crossing the mountains for a couple of days in Guayquil before catching another flight to Santa Cruz island and boarding a small 'yacht' to explore a number of islands, animals, birds & fauna in the Galapagos. Returning home the prospect of covid  'locked down' our life in Tucson for the rest of the year.

Two week October celebration of 75th birthday in France (Paris, Brittany & Normany) proved to be a rainy, windy washout for all but 2 1/2 days in the City of Light. Got to American Military Cemetery & Omaha Beach for less than 1/2 hour because of the weather, but just that was extraordinarily moving. Stayed in Paris near the Louvre in Paris (very convenient for a stroll through the Jardins des Tuileries to the Musee de Orangie and its Monet murals; Centre Pompidou and its modern art, plus stunning vistas of the city; and a celebratory lunch at Le Taillevent, near the Arc de Triomphe). In Brittany, east of Renne, in a small village (La Chapelle-Thourarault), we 'relaxed' for a week in that rain & wind at the Maison d' hotes de l'Huardiere, a charming B&B, that also was a conduit for an unexpected arrrival of champagne from the Bethesda Berzoks.

     In August, we flew to Scotland for special two week, mostly sunny, venture beginning in Glasgow and on to the Isle of Mull for an exploration of the Duarte Castle, home of the McLean clan & possibly  one of Linda's paternal grandmother's ancestry. Inside the castle that looked out over the bay, by chance we met the current (28th) clan 'chief' Sir Lachlan MacLean, who chatted with us about the clan's history. Then we ferried bck to Oban, heading further northwest to Inverlochy (no sign of the Monster) and Ullapool before reaching the Castle Mev (residence of the late Queen Mum after King George VI died). Thurso took us to the Orkney Islands' Skara Brae settlement, and its 5800 years with momuments of standing stones.On to Aviemore via Dunrobin Castle (home of the Dukes of Sutherland) and around to Edinburgh for a couple of days.

EARLY 2019 'WALK WITH LIONS'

Toward the end of January, we flew to Johannesburg for a week before heading on to Zimbabwe and an extraordinary doubleheader: Victoria Falls, a reminder of an adventure many years ago to Iguazu, & a special opportunity to meet-and-walk with two 18 month old male lion 'cubs' that were being groomed for mates in a few months so that cubs from those unions would be introduced into the wild. After a black rhino safari (plus zebras) and evening cruise on the Zambize, we went for a day trip to Botswana to Chobe National Park for another safari finding elephants, giraffes, impala, wart hogs and a cruise along the Zambian border. In Namibia, after a short flight & an exhausting ride for several hours on hard gravel, we spent a couple of days at Sossusvlei Lodge and its tent-like cabana-bungaloos in the desert with massive sand dunes. North to Swakopmund & Walvis Bay  'visiting' with pelicans and seals  that came on board 'our' catamaran. and taking us to see tens of thousands of seals on island shore. A week in Cape Town took us to Cable Mountain, the Cape of Good Hope, the Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden, Stellenbosch and beyond to vineyards and Africa's southern most point.

To celebrate Linda's birthday in early April, we headed out to Provence for two weeks using an apartment rental (we had found 25 years earlier, yes 25 years) in the small village of Puybloubier in southeast France. We flew Royal Air Moroc to Marsaille with an overnight at the same Sheraton in Casablanca (where we stayed 5 years ago). Having rented a car, we used the little village of Puybloubier as our hub for day trips to Aix-en-Provence (Cathedral), Cassis (on the Mediterranean Sea), Orange (in a windy Mistral), Saint Remy en Provence (Van Gough's hospital & monastery dating back to 1000 A.D.), the Luberon Mountain region, Arles  (Roman ampitheatre), Saint Paul de Vence (birthday lunch at Colombe d' Or) near Nice, Avignon (Papal Castle) & Marseille (Vieux Port for boullabaise). At the end of October and in early November, we went south of the border again, this time to Michoacan for a week and the Day of the Dead experience with millions of marigolds in the city of Morelia & the surrounding villages of Tzintzuntzan,Santa Clara, Urapan, the island of Janitzio and cemetery of Cucuchuco (candle lighting). Los Mirasoles Restaurant, a 200 year old stone mansion offered a very special dinner after we walked the streets of Morelia & its colonial, pre-conquest highlights.

     Earlier in the year, we returned, as we often do to Mexico, this time to 2 cities where previously we had spent only a day or two: Queretaro and Puebla. In January we flew to Mexico City and boarded a bus at the airport going 3 hours north to Queretaro, a city of about 700,000, where we spent a week exploring museums, churches and restaurants in the Centro (downtown). Then we took an autobus southeast about 4 hours to Puebla, a city of 4 million. During our week there, we rented a car for a few days and went out to the to pyramid sites at Cholula with its cool (both stylish & climatic) tunnels excavated by archaeologists at the base of the world's 2nd largest (to Giza in Egypt) pyramid in the world. Another day, we went out to Cacaxla (1 hour drive) , impressive ancient ruins (600-1000 A.D.) sheltered under a hugh (about 4 football fields in size) metal roof. A third day, out (2 hours) to little known, but extraordinary ruins of Cantona, a vast, well-preserved Mesoamerican 'city' with 24 ball courts, 3000 residences spread out over 20 square miles, and inhabited from about 600-1000 A.D. Back in Mexico City (where we've been at least a dozen times, staying at our favorite Hotel Catedral) for two days before our flight home, we 'discovered' on the westside of the Zocalo, the Nacional Monte de Piedad, which (we learned after we went in) is Mexico's national pawnshop, filled with gold, silver jewelry & a sense of the untold stories & memories of how the items got there.

Mexico City at the Hotel Catedral never ceases to amaze and returning from a stop at Bellas Artas we wandered into a tented Templo next to 2 churches. A couple of hundred people, each with a white flag and cross apparently were celebrating 115 years of a 'special blessing (and we're the only gringos there). At Alemeda Park, we went to the Diego Rivera Museo where there was one of his wall-size murals; at La "Neuva' Opera; at a classic contina, we were treated as if we were royalty spending hundreds of dollars instead of just getting a couple of beers and splitting a huge dish of excellent mushrooms in garlic sauce. We also found more beautiful, colorful Rivera murals done in the 1920s at a government education building with open air courtyards. Another find was the Museo Soumaya, 6 levels (of art collected by billionaire Carlos Slim), including one devoted entirely to Sophia Loren; and then on to the studios of Rivera and Frida Kahlo, small separate buildings across the street from San Angel Inn for a special lunch of stuffed crabbed cakes. A week later, back in Mexico City, we spent a day at El Castillo, built for Maximillian y Carlotta, a huge castle with historical exhibits, and a special outdoor piano recital for romantics on Valentines Day. At the Supreme Court de Justica on the south side of the Zocalo, we saw 4 corners & 4 levels of compelling, unflinching murals of history, justice and injustice with one by Orozco...truths that would be impossible for political reasons to depict in the Supreme Court of the U.S. in Washington, D.C. Notably, as we emerged from the Mexican Supreme Court, there was a peaceful protest of hundreds of educators in the streets around the Zocalo.

    With a car rental, we headed on to Oaxaca for a week at the Casa Cid de Leon where we have an immense suite with 2 bedrooms & stone walls just a block from the Zocalo. Out by car to Tiacolula, one of the oldest markets in Mesoamerica for bowls of coffee and foamy chocolate with corn. Then on to Mitla & disappointing ruins, a site of 950-1450 A.D. At the Museo de Arte Prehispanico de Mexico, there was an extraordinary private collection from Oaxaca state going back to 1200 B.C. & up through Mayan & Aztec civilizations. Linda had a cooking class in Teotitlan, preparing a special meal with ingredients from a nearby market. Finally a return visit to Monte Alban, which was even more grand than remembered. A small village in 2000 B.C., the Zapotec site was at its height from 300 to 800 A.D. growing to the size of many football fields and several pyramids giving still another sense of the enormity of civilizations in the Americas before the conquest.

Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island & Montreal...two weeks in Canada going from the Bay of Fundy to Halifax (Halifax Garden's & Peggy's Cove) to Cape Breton (a very rainy Cabot Trail) & impressively large Fortress of Louisbourg, including Alexander Graham Bell summer house at Baddeck; Charlottetown & the house of Lucy Maude Montgomery, author of the famous book & television series, Anne of Green Gables House. In Montreal, at the Cite Museum of Archaeology, there was an extraordinary Mayan exhibit, produced with massive pieces flown in from around the world.

With some trepidation (see Hong Kong, below, earlier in the year), we went to and from New Zealand, via Fiji (R&R going & coming at Nadi). Landing in Auckland, renting car & heading south to Waitomo Cave with its unique 'glowworms' and then on to Wellington and the ferry to the South Island and Christchurch, still living in the aftermath of a devastating earthquake; on to Queenstown & the unique "Little Paradise Lodge" 20 miles west before returning to North Island & a week at Taupo and day trips to Huka Falls, Orakei Korako Thermal Cave & Rotura with its Whakarewarewa Thermal Village & much Maori history & artifacts. Auckland, including the Auckland Art Museum & a huge demonstration in the streets protesting the Transpacific Treaty, was a delight.

Early in 2014, we spent a 'weekend' in Hong Kong, and therein lies a tale that began with our intent to visit Myanmar (Burma) and Vietnam. Suffice it to say that the Myanmar portion of the trip will be done in 2017. The Vietnam segment is still to be scheduled. 'nuff said...

In February, we returned to Chiapas for the beautiful Mayan murals at Bonampak & then on to the eco-village Las Guacamayas, past the lake country with a glorious extended stop at Parador-Hacienda Santa Maria and then with solidarity to coffee plantation workers protesting conditions, we passed up a planned stay a the southern 'coffee fincas' and found, instead, the eco-village Sima de las Cotorras with its green parrots, flocking morning and evenings out and back to their sink hole home. Last year, we journeyed to Chiapas in Mexico with high expectations & boy were they surpassed.

Northern Spain in June made a very special 20th anniversary celebration get-away to the Basque and Castilla y Leon regions, including Burgos, Puixte Viesgo, the paleolthic cave & some original art (handprints & bison outlines), Bilbao, San Sebastian, Vitoria-Gasteiz, a spectacular Frank Gehry designed hotel at Elciego, the Monasterio de Valvanera and a farm house at Onati. Great cuisine, special sights and a very unusual 'soft drink' test administered by the police near Tolosa.

.Our adventure that March was to Morocco with stops in Casablanca, Essaoura, Marrakech, the Atlas Mountains and Fes. We rented a car & drove without any problems, though at rotaries in the cities the aggressive action resembled that of driving around the Arc d' Triomphe in Paris. People, who generally spoke French as a second language to Arabic were either helpful & very friendly or touting something that was self serving. Food was excellent. We saw extensive Roman ruins at Volibulus, a few hours west of Fes; and spectacular waterfalls on the way from Marrakech to Fes. We stayed are riads (former 'mansions') in the medinas of Essaouira, Marrakech & Fes. Lots of walking everywhere, especially navigating the medina souks. A trip of complex contrasts & contractions, much as was the case when we went to India.

The travel year began with a flight to Villahermosa, car rental & 2 week Chiapas journey to Palenque for overnight at Hotel Nutunun, a 'find' on a rushing river. Then south along the river to Frontera Corozal where we boarded a long speed boat back east to Yaxchilan ruins, an enormous 5-8th century site up steep stairs from Rio Usumarinta with a host of buildings & stelae, including a spectacular Grand Acropolis. No time (this trip) for a stop at Bonampak, so we rode in search (& ultimately found) Las Guacamayas, an eco-lodge hotel with thatched roof bungalows. A long, beautiful winding ride over, around, thru mountain ranges & valleys to Comitan with its church & museo & Temil Puente archaeological site. San Cristobal de las Casa, a good size city at 6000 feet & NaBalom, a garden archaeological-hosting haven with an oversized room & wood-burning fireplace. Day trips to El Romerillo, where there was a cemetary with earthen mounds & wood doors atop the graves; Chamula, a small tourist town with unique church (Iglesia de San Juan Bautista), filled with thousands of flowers & candles for the largest indigenous population in Chiapas. At Chiapada de Corzo, we joined Mexican tourist families on a very high speed boat up river, past monkeys & a crocodile to an electro-producing dam. Also out of San Cristobal were the Grutas de Pancho Nuevo, caves with electric lighting, wide enough for a small car. In Ocosingo, we reached the Tonina ruins with large ball court & breath-taking views from the top.

Then in March we flew from L.A. to Tahiti for a few days in Papeete before flying on to remote Rapa Nui a.k.a. Easter Island for a glorious week that exceeded our already high expectations (truly one of those 'don't miss' locations in the world). An island filled with many mysteries, subjects of many explanations. Rapa Nui also revealed a civilization, only one of 5 in history to develop its own writings, a form of hieroglyphics still undeciphered. We rented a car for the week to explore the many nooks & cranies.

From Easter Island, returned to the Tucson via Tahiti with excursions to the islands of Moorea and Bora Bora. We drove a rental car to Moorea, via the ferry. At the Belvedere lookout, we met a French couple that was traveling with the around the world with their 'worldly' 5-year old girl. We continued around the island, returning to Papeete by ferry. The next day, we flew Air Tahiti on a turbo plane to Bora Bora where we stayed at a thatched roof lodge (Mai Tai) with a bunglow room out over the water,  & swimming right from the room. A brilliant lightening storm on 'departure' night to day knocked out power before our return flight to Papeete. In Los Angeles, we stopped day & a for a quick visit to the Los Angeles County Museum of Modern Art.

Our 2012 travels began with our annual adventure to Mexico that took us to Mayan ruins along the Puuc Route and the 'colonial' cities of Merida & Campeche. From Valladolid  we drove to Oxcutzcab, via ruins at Mayapan in broiling, humid heat and overnight Hotel Puuc. Then on to Santa Elena with stops at 3 sites (Labna, Sayil & Kabah, each distinctive, grand, but lesser by comparison to Calamul & some others visited last time. Labna: late classic with 3,000 population & main structure stretching 450 feet of façade; Sayil is very spreadout with jungle paths & 10,000 people back 750-900 A.D. Kabah is split by road & we just see structures to the Norte & its Cooz Poop D.(pronounced Pope) with 250 Chaac (rain god) ‘masks’ massed produced for front of the building. Site is 850-900 A.D, but there are signs dating back to 300 B.C.-250 A.D. To Compeche City as a base to sites, including Edzna by car and the most spectacular structures seen that trip with trails reminiscent of those in the Rio Bec area. Grand plaza, acropolis and a small ball court. We stop at a good old Hacienda on way back for drinks. From Merida, we headed on out to Izamal for a look at the Convento & the ruins, which may be the third largest in the Yucatan. Very impressive, especially after climbing up to the apparent top & it turns out to be only midway.

Two separate trips to Mexico within a month was a first for us beginning with a week to Copper Canyon, San Carlos, Alamos, El Fuerte & Casas Grandes in January. A tour (very rare for us) picked us up near the Tucson airport and off we went with about 20 others, crossing around Nogales, on to San Carlos' nifty Marina Terra Hotel, for us upscale. A bay cruise and cactus garden visit & on to the charming colonial village & its 'House of Treasurers' hotel. A local guide takes us through historic areas & then on to El Fuerte through Mayo Indian territory to the Torres Hotel in another colonial charmer. Copper Canyon train winds from sea level, climbing to 8400 feet over several bridges through more than 20 tunnels and looking out at mountains & lakes. Overnight at Mason Taharama. Depart to Creel & to San Juanito for a short stop to see Julia, who had fallen at the canyon lookout, in the hospital. Long ride to Casa Grande & artists demonstrating firing of Mati Ortiz pottery. Next day to Paquime ruins, the World Heritage Site of a civilization with 50,000 people at its height. Huge acreage; many residences, one to 6 stories andthen we returned through Douglas, Ariz.

     A month later, our journey takes us to the heart of Mayan ruins in the southern Yucutan with a flight to Cancun where we pickup a car, driving on to Akimal & the Vista del Mar Hotel-Condo before heading south to Lago Bacalar (2nd largest to Chipallo in Mexico) & Amigos B&B. In Chetumal, an excellent Mayan Cultural Museo with a 3-story exhibit linking Mayan underworld, heavens & day to day living world. At Kohunlich, we see 200+ structures, stelae & uncovered mounds, 100-900 A.D. without any signs of tourists  until we're heading out...at times, a bit unnerving being by selves in the jungle with banyan Angkor-like trees. Plenty big & impressive. At Dribanche & Kinichna sites (300-900 A.D.), the former nearly 25 sq. kms with 3 major plaza levels. Rio Bec Dreams, jungle bungalows, is a dream come true with shared outdoor shower facilites under the stars before seeing Chicanna (500-700 A.D.) & Becan (600 B.C.-600 A.D., both impressive ruins with plazas, columns, designs...all before Calakmul, home of 60,000 people, 500 B.C.-800 A.D., a site on par with Tikal & Palenque, all political rivals. Structure II has a 5 acre base, and from the top El Mirador can be seen with high powered binoculars. Althought Bob was breathless on reaching the pyramid's summit, unexpectedly a half dozen tourists from Russia arrived a few minutes later, also quite winded.

Tucson-San Franciso-Narita-Bangkok & taxi to Royal Hotel & tuk-tuk ride to Wat Poh complex with huge (block long) reclining budda & then ferry to Wat Arun (Temple of Dawn). Flight to Chaing Rai, expecting our hotel to be nearby, we learned from hysteric taxi drivers that we're still 2 hours from Imperial Golden Triangle Resort where the Mekong River borders Myanmar & Laos. After a couple of days, we taxi (one hour) to Chiang Khong for long slow boat river crossing to Laos' Hoo Xai, where we got visas & walked to guest house accomodations. Our long boat tour down the Mekong to Pak Beng with 1/2 dozen others in a leisurely fashion to a jungle lodge with thatched roof luxury cottages & mosquito netting over king bed. Beautiful heavy mist next morning up & down Mekong with a stop before lunch at Ban Ban village...mostly women selling woven goods...with Buddist temple & later stop at PakOu caves before we reached Luang Prabang & Sala Prabang Hotel.for several days. Then we flew turbo prop plane to Vietiane & the city sights there, including Budda Park sculpture garden out of town by municipal bus.

Two weeks in Mexico: a week in Guadalajara at the high rise Golden Shores Express with a rental car: first item on our agenda was to find a Mexicana airlines office to 'explore-confirm' the feasibility-tickets to the Forbidden City on the Forbidden Island off of Florida. Mission Impossible, accomplished! Out to Guachimontones conical pyramids, a newly named Unesco world heritage site (just north of Teuchtitlan) dating back 2000 years to 400 A.D. with circular steps ring the pyramids.Lunch just outside town overlooking the east side of Laguna de la Vega, looking west to sun & pelicans: great view, great food with many families and us the only gringos.Back in the city, we wander east of Independance Plaza to the Institute Cultural Cabanas with its noted church chapel and Jose Orozco murals & to Governor's Palace with its Orozco mural and the Templo Explorio, a church with stained glass reminiscent of La Chapelle in Paris. Day trip to Lake Chapala, Tlaquepaque & Tonala. Then we spend a week in Tequisquiapan with a day trip to Queretaro & an overnight at Xitlan after driving over the Sierra Gorda & Sierra Madre mountains to the spectacular Las Pozas jungle architectural & sculpture wonder of the Englishman Edward James.

A week in the Forbidden City on the Forbidden Island that we have anticipated since the inauguration day of President Obama. We get there through Mexico City, staying at the Melia Hotel. Typical tourists sights, along with Europeans & Mexicans, reminiscent of the barbarian hordes seen on Greek Islands. Hemingway hacienda, virtually untouched for 60 years, more stunning than Key West. Municipal bus takes us from one end of city to the other with a marina terminal. Excellent food for tourists; local people friendly & helpful as we take in the museums, plazas, Catedral & other churches. Amazingly, there is CNN, BBC & ESPN on television.

Three weeks in Greece beginning in Athens at the Acropolis & the recently opened New Acropolis Museum with a short walk to the Parthenon. Getthing around the city on the Metro, we spend hours at the National Archaeological Museum & the Ancient Agora, off Monastraki Square. Due to my car rental screw up, we headed off by bus to Delphi, which is impressive, but not nearly as Ephesus or Pegamon in Turkey. Municipal  buses through villages & valleys to Kalambaka & Meteora monastary, built atop stunningly, beautiful mountains. More buses to Thessaloniki & local sights before flying to Crete on dual props. A walking tour a la Frommer of Irakion, the archaeological museum & out to the famed, rightfully so, Knossos, the Minoan palace, 3500-4500 years old. Municipal island bus gots us to Rethymo for a day trip before we ferry off to Santorini, where we ran into the barbarian hordes from cruise ships, apart from the day trip out to Oiy on the eastern tip of the island. Another ferry gets us to Mykonos & a christening of a baby in a church, much as we did in Cuzco (Peru) for the wedding. We also met a joyful couple from China on their honeymoon at a restaurant. Our flight from Athens to U.S. missed the connection in Madrid & thanks to Delta we overnighted there, a welcome airline error.

To Cancun & NY Times recommended B&B that turned out to be 'out of business.' Instead, in Punta Sam (miles north of 'the hotel strip') we fell into a hacienda & a couple of days later, we watched (at a Holiday Inn on the strip)  the Barak Obama inaugural 'live on CBS' (breathtaking & extraordinary) with Horst & Linda, new found friends. Tulum, was more than ho-hum, barely, because of hordes of tourists. Ek Balam & the eco-lodge (Eco-Genesis) & cottages nearby was much more impressive, as were the Villas Arqueologicas at Uxmal & the ruins at Coba & several ball courts & temples. Back in Mexico City & Hotel Catedral we headed to Museo Diego Rivera Anahuacalle (pre-Columbian collection)  circus classes & out to Tula of Toltecs, 700-1000 A.D, pre-Aztec & Mayans.

Rio de Janeiro: after a couple of  days at a beach hotel, we took the Metro to the Gloria neighborhod and found the flat of a Dutch TV journalist, who advertised in the New York Review of Books. We hit the jackpot with a 7 room apartment & rooftop in a neighborhood looking out at an airport a la NYC's LaGuardia. For a week (most of which was cloudy), we traveled within Rio by Metro, trolley bus & foot, north, south, east and west, finding museums, restaurants, cultural centers and gorgeous gardens. The mountains surrounding the city, accessible by tram, provided spectacular views.

Zacatecas, Guanajuato and Papantla, three beautiful and fascinating off-the-beaten track places in Mexico that gave us reason to continue our explorations throughout the country. Zacatecas was a small city filled with hotels, restaurants, churches and stores that incorporated ruins of the Spanish conquest. El Eden mine, which dated back to the 16th century, provided a super walk-mini-train tour and hosts an underground disco (we passed on the latter). A cable car gave majestic views of the city and valley and a folk art museum displays more than 2000 masks used in traditional dances and rituals. Guanajuato, several hours south by public bus, another small city, in a ravine, surrounded by hillsides and with a series of tunnels for pedestrians and cars. Narrow cobbled streets, a funicular and a university became the backdrop for a vibrant downtown area and nightly groups of troubadors provided a somewhat medieval atmosphere. Papantla, a two hour flight from Zacatecus to the east coast a couple hundred miles north of Vera Cruz), was another small city with its own distinctive character and nearby ruins, El Tajin, that reached its zenith from 600 to 900 A.D. The site was more than five square miles and several pyramids standout. Papantla was the home of the voladores, ritual flyers that twirl as the lower themselves from a 100 foot high platform with haunting music accompaning their descent.

India: after 13 and a half hours in the air (Newark-New Delhi non-stop), we spend a few days decompressing and overcoming jet-lag in Delhi (Red Fort, Cottage Industries & Agra (Taj Mahal)...streets teeming with people, tuk-tuks, cars, buses, taxis, urchins, Metro, horns, heat, and humidity during which the 6th anniversary of 9/11 and Rosh Hashana pass. Then off we go with wonderful wizards (guides), Martin & Carol Noval, north to a land that rivals Oz: first by train to Chandagarh where we and six others (friends from Tucson, NYC and a stranger from Oregon) board three SUVs for what proves to be a 10 hour journey north to Naggar, a hillside village where we begin adjusting to altitude and a world that features drums honoring a local goddess our first night there. On to Manali, a city of 70,000 where we negotiate for 2 Kashmari dress coats and jade necklace; visit an Hindu temple in a forest and rest at a lovely footlands hotel where we see thousands of sheep coming down from the mountains. Then the real journey begins on roads that quickly bump Cambodia from "worst-in-the-world" title, going thru passes at 13,000 and 16,000 feet in the Himalayan river (Spiti) valley with fluttering prayer flags, switch backs, bumps and bone jarring aches. Tabo's 2000 year old Tibetan monastic complex and the Ki temple in the hillside village of Kibber provide visual comfort and peace from electric black outs in villages and very narrow back road tracks. What goes in through Naggar comes back through Naggar and then on to Goshani for a farm house stay with cats, fresh trout and a village festival honoring three goddesses from the mountains (we were the only Westerners there, so it wasn't for the tourists). Stunning dance, music and dress! Then we head west for several days in McClod Ganj where ther Tibet government-in-exile and the Dalai Lama reside, just outside of Dharamsala. We have a private meeting (half hour) with Ogyen Trinley Dorje, a.k.a. the Karmapa, who Time Magazine said 'could be the Dalai Lama's successor.' We also came within 15 yards of the Dalai Lama as he headed into a Tibetan temple 'teaching' at which we had the good fortune to attend. Our Indian adventure continue with stops and overnights at Tarageth, a Maharajah's palace; Pragpur, an heritage village (not exactly Williamsburg) and the Sikh Golden Temple in Amritsar near the Pakistani border. The Temple complex was extraordinary, both visually and spiritually. Open 24 hours ever day for pilgrims, the temple is set amidst a lagoon setting (a mini-Venice, of sorts), reached by a walker's causeway. Volunteers prepare more than 30,000 free meals daily for pilgrims, and having dispensed with our shoes and socks to cross purifying pools, we qualified and partook of the dal & chapatti. We found the Golden Temple, a living, ever changing site that was much more impressive than the beautiful, but 'still' Taj Mahal in Agra.

Guatemala & Honduras, including the spectacular Mayan ruins of Tikal and, to a significantly lesser degree, Copan made for semi-Central American adventure this past February. Additionally, in Guatemala, we spent time in Guatemala City, the colonial city of Antigua and on the northside of Lago de Atitlan at the village of Panajachel with day trips to the marketplace at Chichicastenago and Santiago Atitlan. As was the case a year earlier in Egypt, poverty was evident throughout both countries. Yet, the jungle beauty of Tikal was every bit as magnificent as that of Mexico's Palenque or Cambodia's Angkor.

Amid increasing tension in the Middle East, our journey to Egypt & Jordan proved to be safe and spectacular, although at times confusing. People everywhere were friendly & helpful, especially at the Nuweiba ferry terminal (crossing to Aqaba, Jordan), where we were the only non-Middle Easterners among hundreds & hundreds of people. In Cairo, we stayed out in Giza with a view of the Pyramids from our room. We say them and the Sphinx up close & personal, along with Memphis and the stepped pyramids at Saqqara. In the city, the Egyptian Museum, Citadel, Coptic section, Khan ell-Khalili Bazaar, El-Azhar Gardens (an 'oasis' surrounded by teeming poverty) & Ben Joseph Synagogue, all were highlights.

Luxor's Temple of Karnak & the Valleys of the King & Queens, as well as, Petra in Jordan were truly wonders of the world, every bit as extraordinary as Angkor in Cambodia, the ruins of Palenque in Mexico and Macchu Pichu in Peru. A carriage ride carries us back to the 1st Century B.C. & Nabatean glory carved in to the rocks, and as many as 8500 people in Roman times. Amman & its Citadel & Roman Theater were better than expected. In general (always hard to do), Jordan appeared to be significantly more affluent than the poverty in Egypt, the latter, as in Cambodia, sad realities of life.

Back to Mexico for another 2 weeks: Mexico City & special cafe con leche breakfasts at Los Bisquets Obregon & Metro to La Villa Basilica, a huge eye-opening plaza with several churches, including beautiful modern architecture with a mass for more than a thousand people & nearby wonderful waterfalls with sculpture of Indians & Guadalupe. At Bellas Artes Theatre, 1930s art-deco with Diego Rivera reconstructed mural of the one destroyed by Rockefeller in the NYC Center. Museo Antropologie's 2 sections, Mexica (Aztec) & Oaxaca. Along Chapultepec Park & Museo of Modern Art for Rivera, Kahlo, Orosco & '30s school. To Plaza of 3 Cultures by Metro & the Zona Arqueologica Tlateloloco is fascinating for its remains & imagination of 4-5 temples built atop each other. To Cuernevaca for week stay at Rancho Cuernevaca, a mansion on 2 levels only for the Rosens and us. Bus out to Xochicalco, a collection of white stone pyramids that represent Toltec, Olmec, Zapatec, Mixtec, Aztec & Mayan.

Two weeks in Mexico: Mexico City & out to Teotihuacan, more impressive than Monte Alban, with temples of the Sun (3rd largest pyramid in the world), Moon, Quetzcatl and Avenue of the Dead. Another day trip to Cuernevaca. Back in Mexico City, the Catedral on the Zocalo, the Museo Anthropologie, Templo Mayor, lowering of the Mexican flag at the Hotel Majestic facing the Palace Nacional, Coyocan with the homes of Frida Kahlo (Blue House) & Leon Trotsky. Then by bus, for several days in Palenque, a Mayan strong-hold (100 B.C. - 800 A.D.), 90 square miles with 500 known temples amidst the jungle.

Sicily: great food, glorious ruins, unique islands, oppressive heat and a hospital visit that turned up tonsillitis highlighted our excursion to Palermo (a beautiful old medieval quarter with narrow alleys and a zillion churches), Agrigento (ancient ruins), Monreale (hilltown), Cefalu (beach resort), Milazzo (ferry port), Panarea (no autos, only motorscooters & golf carts), Stromboli (Ginostra-one of the last villages in Europe with one church, one B&B, one food store & 2 mules; no cars, 15 residents year-round), Messina (just across from mainland Italy), Taormina (top notch hospital; no English), Giardini Naxos (beach resort) and Syracusa (super farm house accomodations, huge Greco Theatre).

Bangkok-Poipet-Siem Riep-Phnom Penh-Sihanoukville-Phnom Penh-Bangkok. After a few days in Thailand & and overnight at the border, we went overland to Siem Reap across one of the world's worst dirt roads.At Angkor, we spent a week exploring the jungle ruins. A speed boat took 5 hours to Phnom Penh, Cambodia's capital with its palace, markets & teeming side streets. Then on to the beach in Sihanoukville after missing, by hours, riots that razed the Thai embassy & several hotels. Sun, sand & seafood eased our uncertainty caused by the closing of the Thai-Cambodia borders and suspension of all flights between the two countries. Cause of riots: a Thai soap opera actress allegedly told the press that Angkor Wat should be returned to Thailand. Or were they politically motivated by upcoming Cambodian elections? Flip a coin & either side could turn up.

Beijing-Xi'an-Guilin-Nanjing-Suzhou-Shanghai: While America celebrated Thanksgiving & remembered the 40th anniversary of JFK's assassination, a two week whirlwind tour of China opened our eyes to explosive growth & construction, friendly people of all ages, and a modern country with centuries of tradition. The past decade had brought dramatic change throughout the country, especially in the cities.To paraphrase a well-worn (though, in his case, disillusioned) Lincoln Steffens adage: we have seen the future and it is China!

Flying into Puerto Villarta, we boarded a bus down the Pacific coast to Melaque-Mazanillo & on to Pie de la Cuesta on the beach with between 500 & 1000 pelicans. We continued on past Acupulco to Puerto Escondito before heading north to Oaxaca on a twisty-turny road, reaching Las Golondrinas, an eclectic set of large adjacent, rambling rooms, a short walk to the Zocalo. Out to Monte Alban's ruins before heading to Puebla & the Hotel Colonial, across from the University of Puebla.